LONDON – The coronavirus variable responsible for most cases in South Africa does not appear to have any competitive advantage that could dominate the UK, said the British government’s chief adviser .
Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy medical officer, said on Monday that the “most likely scenario” is that the South African variable will not “pass” on the wide British divergence first identified in late 2020. anytime soon.
The number of patients with coronavirus with the South African variant in the UK is still “small,” he said, adding that people should not be “worried about” such a potential. In the UK last week, a door-to-door test was conducted in strained areas.
“Early data do not suggest that the South African variant has a distinct transferable advantage over our conventional virus and therefore there is no reason to assume that the variant will capture Africa. South or surpass our usual virus in the coming months, ”Van- Tam told a news conference.
Early findings of an as yet unpublished study indicate that two doses of Oxford / AstraZeneca injection offer just “minimal protection” against mild and moderate COVID-19 induced by the South African variant. South Africa thwarted plans to roll out Oxford / AstraZeneca injections for frontal health workers during the small clinical trial.
Van-Tam said the Oxford / AstraZeneca injection was still “somewhat likely” to affect a “serious disease.”
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters that vaccines used in Britain remained “effective in delivering a high level of protection against serious illness and death,” the Health Secretary said. Matt Hancock, that “the government had a plan for what we should do if we needed to update the vaccines to work on new versions. “It also confirmed that around one in four adults in the UK has now received their first dose of vaccine.
Van-Tam was also pressured as to whether Britons could start a summer holiday either abroad or within the UK “How detailed are your summer holiday plans , in terms of crossing boundaries, in terms of home mix, as we are right now, I think we have to say the more you step into doing estimates of the unknown at this stage, ”he said.