Javid says UK must act quickly over public health risk

London, October 19, 2021:

The new Covid variant circulating in South Africa that prompted UK travel restrictions is a "huge international concern", the health secretary says.

Sajid Javid said experience has shown "we must move quickly and at the earliest possible moment".

He said it might be more transmissible, vaccines might be less effective against it and it might affect one of the UK's major treatments, Ronapreve.

No cases of the variant have yet been detected in the UK.

Mr Javid told the House of Commons it was "highly likely" the B.1.1.529 variant had already spread from South Africa and Botswana, where confirmed cases have been found, to other countries.

Travellers from these countries, as well as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini, will have to self-isolate for 10 days, with those arriving after 04:00 GMT on Sunday required to quarantine in a hotel.

All flights from the six countries are also being suspended until the hotel quarantine system is in operation.

Other countries have also imposed travel restrictions on them, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for air travel to the European Union from these countries, and others affected by the variant, to be suspended "until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant".

Mr Javid said he was concerned the variant "may pose substantial risk to public health" as it has "an unusually high number of mutations".

He said as well as possibly boosting transmission and affecting vaccine protection, the mutations may weaken the antibody treatment Ronapreve, which is being given to the most vulnerable hospital patients.

"One of the lessons of this pandemic has been that we must move quickly, and at the earliest possible moment," he said.

"We're heading into winter and our booster programme is still ongoing, so we must act with caution."

South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana have identified just 59 cases of the variant, so far. Belgium announced on Friday afternoon it had Europe's first case of the variant, while Israeli media also reported one case involving a traveller.

Scientists say the variant has 50 mutations overall and more than 30 on the spike protein, which is the target of most vaccines and the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells.

Prof James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute at Oxford University, said: "It's bad news, but it's not doomsday."

The variant would "almost certainly" make vaccines less effective, but they would still work to some extent. New drugs to treat Covid-19 would not be affected by the variant, he suggested. BBC