Second 'highly concerning' new variant of coronavirus from South Africa discovered in UK

A second new strain of coronavirus has been discovered in the UK and is even contagious than the variant that has seen rates soar around the UK, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has revealed.
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At the Downing Street press conference Mr Hancock announced two cases have been detected of the new strain and both were contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks.

The Health Secretary also confirmed that more areas of the South and East would be entering Tier 4 restrictions to try and contain the first new variant of Covid-19 as he said the old tiering system was not enough to control it.

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Describing the latest variant, he said: "This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK."

The Health Secretary said both cases and close contacts of the cases have been quarantined, there are immediate restrictions on travel from South Africa and the Government is telling those who have been in contact with anyone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight that they must quarantine.

He added: "These measures are temporary while we investigate further this new strain which is shortly to be analysed at Porton Down."

From Boxing Day, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, those parts of Essex not yet in Tier 4, Waverley in Surrey and Hampshire including Portsmouth and Southampton but with the exception of the New Forest will all be escalated to Tier 4.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Pic: PAHealth Secretary Matt Hancock. Pic: PA
Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Pic: PA
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It means an additional six million people will be in Tier 4 of the Government's Covid-19 restrictions from Boxing Day.

He added: "Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset including the North Somerset council area, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire as well as Chesire and Warrington will all be escalated to Tier 3. And I'm afraid that Cornwall and Herefordshire have seen sharply rising rates and need to be escalated to Tier 2."

Nowhere in Yorkshire and the Humber, where the majority of the region is in Tier 3, will see their status change, and Mr Hancock said the tiering system was containing the virus in the North.

He said: "We know that the three-tiered system worked to control the old variant and is working now in large parts of the country especially in northern England.

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"But we also know that Tier 3 is not enough to control the new variant. This is not our hypothesis, it is a fact and we have seen it on the ground.

"We've seen case rates rise in some of the places close to where the current Tier 4 restrictions are in places like East Anglia where we are seeing a significant number of the new variant and we've seen case rates rise sharply.

"It is therefore necessary to put more of the East and South East of England into Tier 4."

In positive news, Mr Hancock said the current Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is being delivered in more than 500 sites across the UK, including care homes, with more to follow.

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And he said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has now submitted full data to the regulator for approval.

He said 116 local areas had signed up for community testing, with conversations ongoing with more, calling the rapid tests "extremely effective" at finding cases.

Summing up the current position, he said: "This Christmas and the start of 2021 is going to be tough. The new variant makes everything much harder, because it spreads so much faster. But we mustn't give up now.

"We know that we can control this virus, we know we can get through this together. We're going to get through it by suppressing the virus until a vaccine can make us safe. That's been our strategy. And that's what we must do.

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"We're not going to give up now, especially after so much sacrifice. And I know that some of these decisions are tough, but I believe that everybody, making the right decisions, and I believe that everybody will do what is needed to keep themselves and others safe, especially this Christmas, and I know from the bottom of my heart, that there are brighter skies ahead."

The Cabinet's Covid operations committee met on Wednesday December 23 to consider the latest data on the spread of the virus.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick acknowledged "it may be necessary to take further action" to curb rising case numbers.

The latest estimate of the R value, the average number of people someone with coronavirus infects, has increased to 1.1 to 1.3, up from 1.1 to 1.2 a week ago.

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The number of new infections is growing by between one per cent and six per cent every day, up from one per cent to four per cent last week.

The current tier levels in England are due to be reviewed on December 30 but that could be accelerated due to fears about the spread of the new variant coronavirus, which appears to be transmitted more readily than previous strains.

Mr Jenrick told Sky News: "We keep this under review, we are constantly hearing from our scientific advisers about what we should do."

The new variant is "very concerning" and is "prevalent probably in most regions of the country", he acknowledged.

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Following the meeting of the Covid operations committee a health official said: "Ministers have met today to assess what further action may be needed to address the rise in cases driven by the new variant.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions on Christmas Day could lead to increased cases and, ultimately, deaths.

Mr Jenrick said if the plans needed to change due to the new variant "we won't hesitate to do so". But later he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there will not be changes to the Christmas arrangements. "We are not going to change people's plans 24, 48 hours ahead of Christmas," he said, but "the strong advice is to keep it small, to keep it short and therefore to be safe".

Genomic researchers have found that the new variant, which is said to be 70% more infectious than previous strains, has already spread around the UK, with cases identified in Wales and Scotland.

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