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Researchers have found the newest and most infectious variant of COVID-19 It has already spread throughout the UK, with cases identified in South Wales and Scotland.
The Covid-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium sampled cases across the UK and found the variant in the South West, Midlands and Northern England, areas that are under Level 2 and 3 restrictions.
London and parts of south-east England were subjected to increased Level 4 restrictions last Sunday due to concerns about the new strain that scientists believe is spreading faster than the old form.
It could mean more areas are subjected to stricter measures, but Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has said no rule changes will take effect before Christmas day.
Here is the full list of areas in the UK where the new strain has been identified, according to data from the COG-UK monitoring group:
Scotland
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Six areas in and around Glasgow: Linwood, Newton Mearns, Airdrie, Bonhill and Lenzie.
England
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Near Rothbury in rural Northumberland
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Newcastle upon tyne
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Gateshead, near Low Fell
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Bishop of Auckland in County Durham
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Near Penrith in Cumbria
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Middlesbrough
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Hurst Green in Lancashire
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Cleckheaton
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Pocklington, near Hull
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Near Crosby and Kirkby, Merseyside
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Manchester
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Near Maltby in South Yorkshire
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Burton, Cheshire
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Near Matlock in Derbyshire
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Near Eakring in Nottinghamshire
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Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire
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Near Stafford in Staffordshire
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Leicester
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Upper Hambleton, near Oakham
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Dereham near Norwich
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Stowmarket near Ipswich
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Near Willingham in Cambridgeshire
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Kettering
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Kenilworth near Coventry
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Close to the Oldbury area of Birmingham
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Worcester
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Hereford
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Bristol board
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Near Bridgwater
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Near Exeter
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Near Dorchester
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Newbury near Thatcham
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New Alresford, near Winchester
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Near Billingshurst
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Dorking
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Near Hailsham
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Near Canterbury
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Central london
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Near oxford
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Welwyn Garden City near St Albans
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Near Braintree
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Stagsden near Bedford
Welsh
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Barry
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Bridgend
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Fishguard
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Low
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Newport
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Wrexham
Jeffrey Barrett, Covid-19 Lead Statistical Geneticist at COG-UK cautioned that there was a delay in the sequence data that was being sampled.
The most recent data in the study was from the first week of December when England emerged from the second national lockdown.
Dr Barrett said that the most up-to-date data from community testing also found that one of the mutations in this variant is “present in many different places in England.”
Professor Tom Connor, a genomics expert at Cardiff University, said this was the same for Scotland and Wales, which have sequenced more viruses in the last week than all of France since March.
Health chiefs in Cumbria have said the new variant is in the county And it could be behind some sharp increases in new cases.
Cumbria’s director of public health, Colin Cox, said rates in Eden district had risen to 345 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest in Cumbria to date.
Lancashire’s director of public health, Sakthi Karunanithi, said there was a “high probability” that the new variant was in the county.
The data showed that a sample had been collected in Manchester after Mayor Andy Burnham said there was no evidence that the strain made it to the area, but said that what public health directors “want to emphasize is that it is safe for people assume that it is already here or is about to arrive. “
Sharon Peacock, director of COG-UK and professor of public health and microbiology at Cambridge University, said there is no evidence to suggest that the new variant caused increased mortality, and there is no reason to believe that the vaccine that will be implemented in the UK will not. be effective.
However, Professor Connor cautioned that not enough time has passed to know if the variant leads to a worse outcome for infected people.
He said: “When you talk about the result, it is normally seen 28 days after the person has been diagnosed; with many of these cases showing up in late December, we are not at the point where you would have that result.” information to do that analysis yet. “
Dr. Barrett said 23 mutations of the virus were detected “all at once,” which is rare, suggesting it was not a coincidence.
He said: “It suggests that something happened, we don’t know what that something is that produced this variant, and it doesn’t happen that often because we haven’t seen it before.
“I think that the conjunction of very fast spread and many mutations makes this less and less likely that it is just a coincidence.”
New variants have been found in other countries, including South Africa, Denmark, and the Netherlands, prompting Germany to ban travel from those countries.
The cabinet’s Covid operations committee will meet on Wednesday to consider the latest data on the spread of the virus.
