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Three cases have been confirmed in England, but the third case has not been located. Public Health England wants anyone who took a test on February 12 or 13 and has not received a result, or has an incomplete test registration card, to come forward.
Dr Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London, said the person who fell through the system “highlights flaws in the quarantine policy.” Labor MP Yvette Cooper said ministers have been repeatedly told that current measures may be inappropriate.
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The epidemiologist says that the person who fell through the system “highlights flaws in the quarantine policy”
Dr Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London, told BBC Breakfast: “Sage has also reported that unless we have a comprehensive and managed quarantine policy at our borders, something like this would happen.
“But, unfortunately, it is something that we have felt quite satisfied with; now we are just seeing the consequences of that.
“Unfortunately, our contact tracing strategy has also failed in this regard, because particular mistakes were made.
“If this variant were to spread to the community, the real concern is that as the vaccine is released, if this variant is more resistant to vaccines than other variants, it could potentially increase in frequency along with the launch of the vaccine, if we don’t. t contain the pandemic.
“Therefore, it is very important at this time to focus our efforts not only on finding cases, but on reducing transmission, because this really increases the risk of adaptation of the virus and these types of variants increase in frequency.”
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Variations are a “global problem” when it comes to travel, says a Sage scientist
When asked what the new variants might mean in terms of travel, Graham Medley told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “This is a global problem; our government can make decisions about what happens in the UK, but cannot make decisions about what happens globally.
“But they can decide to what extent we have transmission that crosses borders.
“It is a risk and the government has to face the risks that new variants emerge elsewhere and then come here against the damage caused by the blockade and restrictions.”
When asked if more trips would risk the entry of new variants to the country, he said: “It is inevitable, the risk is never zero; places that have high levels of protection across borders still have outbreaks of the virus.
“You have to weigh that with what is happening in the country; right now, we have tens of thousands of people infected every day. Therefore, going to great lengths to prevent a handful of infections from reaching abroad must be proportionate.
“It’s a global issue, and if we stay globally connected, which I think we need to do, then it’s about the rate and the risk of this happening rather than whether or not it will happen.”
Challenges like the Brazilian variant could mean that the nation needs to “back off” in terms of loosening restrictions.
Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modeling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “It’s a variant of concern, but we’re going to deal with them in the next six months as we move towards relaxation measures (there will be challenges along the way) and there is always the risk that we will have to back off, and that’s what no one wants to do is really open and then close again. .
“So, monitoring these variants, monitoring in terms of what they actually do (sequencing, for example, viruses in hospitals), I think is a crucial step to know if this variant and other variants in the future, what impact they are having “.
Variation of Covid-19 in different parts of the country could be a bigger challenge for the government than new variants, says Sage scientist
Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modeling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “In a way, that will be the biggest challenge for the government in the future than the variants.
“I think we are already seeing, and when we start to open, we will see more variations in terms of prevalence in different parts of the country.
“At the moment, all the thinking that I’ve seen, but I’m sure there are others, has been largely national in terms of thinking about what data we need to guide the process of publishing these measures.
“But the data will show different things in different parts of the country, so the challenge will be what to do in terms of opening things up when in one place it says it’s a good idea, in other places it says it’s not ‘t?
“They are very old problems, these social and health inequalities have existed for a long time.”
He added: “We will have to look at those regional variations because they are likely to be as big as they were last summer and fall.”
Nadhim Zahawi defends UK border controls
“I would tell you that the border controls we have are quite strict,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
“Even countries that had quarantined hotels, like Australia, still have to deal with the variants that really challenge them in the same way that they challenge us.”
Lateral flow testing in schools is one way to monitor the spread of coronavirus – Dr. Hopkins
Public Health England’s director of strategic response told BBC Radio 4 Today: ‘Taking these tests regularly and getting used to them as part of our lives as restrictions ease will reduce transmission in the community and in schools. .
“We have already seen how it has been very effective in the NHS and social care in reducing outbreaks.
“We have already seen how they have been accepted by secondary and elementary teachers, and we receive daily reports on how grateful people are to have this additional tool at their disposal.
“We want high school kids to test their way back to reduce transmission and spread at school, along with all the other measures they have.
“And as people will know, we are also asking in primary school that the families of primary school children and their bubbles of support be tested, so that we also reduce transmission in primary schools. All of this is one more measure to help us control it. “
Dr. Susan Hopkins says South African and Brazilian variants are believed to increase transmissibility
“Manaus, in particular, reported that several people were reinfected with this variant, and therefore that suggests that having had prior immunity to the primary infection was not sufficient to reduce infection and transmission,” he said. “And that can affect the vaccine as well.”
However, Public Health England’s director of strategic response told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that although cases have been detected in the UK, the hope is that it does not become a dominant variant.
“I think the importance here is that, while we are under national restrictions, while we have very communicable variants that are circulating, then we hope that there are no other variants that can take over,” he said.
“However, as we begin to release national restrictions and schools go back to March 8, that is where the risk begins to increase, and that is why we are really taking drastic measures to prevent the spread of these variants.” .
She said everyone identified with the variant so far has followed the rules, quarantined and been tested when symptoms emerged.
She added: “We have not detected it in any person who has not had a travel history or who has not had contact with travel yet, so that is good news. But we are prepared to look for it in the communities, if it exists ”.
Surge tests in South Gloucestershire are a ‘precautionary measure’, says Nadhim Zahawi
He told BBC Breakfast: “It is really a precautionary measure because the family in question actually followed the rules very, very closely. But it is an important precautionary measure.
“Schools have received 50 million lateral flow tests, they have already performed around three million tests, even before we set the roadmap for reopening on March 8th.
“Teachers will be evaluated twice a week, even in high schools and colleges they will be evaluated twice a week.
“There is a great testing infrastructure in schools.”
PHEs are “pretty good” at locating variants of concern – Nadhim Zahawi
“Public Health England is working with the postal service to try to resolve more data points,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“Public Health England is quite good at locating these variants of concern, as we have done with the South African variant.”
When asked why the test could not be traced back to where it was carried out, he said: “Part of the reason is because if they have had a home test kit or a test given to them by the local authority , they must complete this test card for their details.
“That is why we believe that they have not been identified in the same way that a PCR test would.
“We are working with various data points to try to locate them, and not least, of course, to try to single out anyone who has had a test on 12 (February) to come forward if they haven’t gotten a result.”
