W.hile the country has been depressed about the restrictions of Christmas over the past few weeks. A new strain of the coronavirus came out a month or two ago, probably somewhere in the northeast corner of Kent, but went unnoticed for weeks. New viruses appear all the time, but they usually do not cause problems. And it usually takes a long time for a new strain – starting from just one issue – to become apparent to public health authorities.
In fact, we have one of the most complete and sensitive molecular screening systems in the world and that has allowed us to lift this weight relatively quickly. However, the virus has also spread rapidly – very quickly – and spread beyond Kent to Essex, London and elsewhere.
For his part, the government has also been working swiftly – putting Kent to level 3 after being locked out, despite many MPs angry at him. He then placed London and other parts of the south-east under similar restrictions as evidence emerged that the rise in cases could be the result of new pressure.
A week later and our initial fears seem to have been confirmed and the government has had to take action again. Will it be enough? We have to wait. But we should remember that this pressure went up quickly during the last lock. To prevent spread we need to impose even stricter restrictions. The virus appears to have spread much more widely than in the south-east, so measures need to be taken across large areas of the UK to get the desired effect.
And then we need to look at the state of epilepsy as a whole. We are already in much of the country with expanded hospitals and NHS staff under great pressure. Many people – and our political leaders – are tired of these restrictions. There was a surprising level of consensus in the first lock, although the steps were sad that they were the right thing to do. That consensus has begun to break down in recent months. If our first studies are proven correct, there is a new and very serious threat from this novel virus in the country. We need to come together – again – to beat it back, to buy the time we need to spread an effective vaccine.
John Edmunds, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.