Health chiefs ready to act against new strain
A local health chief says authorities will “act quickly” if the more transmissible South African variant of Covid is discovered in the county.
It comes amid increasing concern about the discovery of the variant in several areas of the country, including Walsall.
The Government has confirmed 11 cases of the new South African variant have been identified which were not linked to travel.
On-the-spot doorstep tests, home testing kits and mobile testing units will be deployed in eight areas of the country in a bid to tackle the situation, with the health secretary saying he wanted to “come down hard” on the variant.
Liz Noakes, Telford and Wrekin’s director of public health, said the developments illustrated the need to follow current lockdown guidelines – designed to stop the transmission of the virus.
She said that there had been no recorded instances of the South African variant locally, but added that more than 70 per cent of all cases in the borough were now the UK variant of the virus – which also spreads more quickly than the original virus.
She said: “New variants of a virus develop all the time, and coronavirus is no exception. This just underlines how important the restrictions that we have been following for the past year are, because variant or no variant this is how we will prevent the spread of the virus.
“We need to get tested, isolate when we need to, wash hands, wear a face covering and keep our distance from others.
“In Telford and Wrekin the new UK variant of the virus accounts for over 70 per cent of cases but we are not aware of any cases yet of the South African variant.
Concern
“We will work closely with Public Health England and other partners should we become aware of a new variant of concern within the borough and act quickly.”
Rachel Robinson, Shropshire Council’s director of Public Health, also urged people to take maximum precautions to avoid transmitting the virus.
She said: “I do understand that this news will cause concern. We are aware that there has been a case of the South African strain of the virus reported in Walsall.
“We have not had any cases reported in Shropshire at this time but do expect to see further cases across the country and region as we move forward. Our priority remains the health and wellbeing of all Shropshire residents.
“Currently there is no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness, or that the regulated vaccines would not protect against it, but research indicates that it does transmit from person to person more easily.
“We also know that mutations form a part of the virus cycle and the scientific community is well prepared to analyse new variants and assess what action may need to be taken.”
