South African coronavirus variant ‘more of a problem’ than the British one

A variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa is more problematic than the strain found in the UK, the UK Health Minister said as both strains continue to spread rapidly.

Health Minister Matt Hancock told the BBC on Monday that the variant found in South Africa was especially concerning.

“I am incredibly concerned about the South African variant, which is why we have taken the action we have taken to limit all flights from South Africa,” he told the BBC’s Today program.

“This is a very, very big problem … and it’s even a bigger problem than the new variant in the UK.”

Both the UK and South Africa are facing an increase in Covid-19 infections, which have been attributed in large part to new mutations in the virus that make it more transmissible.

The new UK variant was first identified in Kent, South East England in December. The UK authorities have notified the World Health Organization of its emergence.

Experts note that while the new variant allows the virus to spread more easily, it doesn’t seem to become more deadly. Nonetheless, British hospitals are under pressure from a dramatic rise in infections and admissions.

Questions have been raised about how the coronavirus vaccines will work against the new variants.

A number of experts have said they expect vaccines – such as those from Pfizer and BioNTech, and Oxford University / AstraZeneca – to protect against the new strains.

Earlier in December, Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, tried to allay fears about the variants, telling the BBC it was “very unlikely” that current vaccines would not work due to the latest mutations. The WHO has said that further research is needed “to understand the impact of specific mutations on viral properties and the effectiveness of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.”

Regius professor of medicine at Oxford University John Bell said on Sunday that the variant identified in South Africa is, however, concerning in this regard.

“They both have several different mutations in them, so it’s not just one mutation,” he told Times Radio. “And the mutations associated with the South African form are really quite substantial changes in the structure of the (virus’ spike) protein.”

He said there were questions as to whether the Pfizer / BioNTech and Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccines would be “disabled” in the presence of such mutations.

The team behind the University of Oxford shot examined the effect of the variants on the vaccine, he said, adding that his gut feeling was that it would still be effective against the species identified in the UK, but he was more unsure about the vaccine. identified species. in South Africa.

However, he told the radio station that if the vaccine didn’t work with this variant, the vaccines could probably be adjusted and that wouldn’t take as long as a year.

Coronavirus vaccines are the only ray of hope in a pandemic that continues to rage in the West. On Monday, the UK began rolling out the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine after it began deploying the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in December.

Meanwhile, restrictions on public life continue and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hinted that more restrictions could be introduced in England. Many parts of the country have already been effectively closed, with all shops but essentials closed and people told to stay at home as much as possible. Still, more restrictions could be introduced in parts of the country with more relaxed measures.

The UK has now recorded more than 2.6 million cases of the virus and more than 75,000 deaths so far, according to a figure from Johns Hopkins University, and the new variant of the virus has led to an increase in infections in London and the Southeast and has started to appear in other parts of the country.

In South Africa, more than 1.1 million cases and nearly 30,000 deaths have been recorded and the new species has become dominant in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

The variant originally identified in the UK has also been discovered in some European countries and the US, leading many countries to ban flights from the UK. The UK, in turn, has banned visitors from South Africa.