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Even though global testing and surveillance for the B.1.1.7 variant - first detected in the UK - is still quite limited, more than 3 dozen nations have now reported its detection over the past three weeks.
Thought to be between 50% and 75% more transmissible, its discovery has caused many countries to restrict - or even ban - travel to and from the UK (see Japan Bans Entry To All Foreign Nationals Over COVID Variant Fears).
Such measures are likely too little, and far too late, to halt its world tour. But they may buy some additional time to vaccinate people before it becomes dominant. At least, that's the hope.
Beyond its increased transmissibility, the impact of this variant (and others like 501Y.V2 first detected in South Africa) remain largely unknown. The CDC's latest update on New COVID-19 Variants states:
What we do not know
Scientists are working to learn more about these variants, and more studies are needed to understand:
Meanwhile nations, including the UK and the United States, are having to make policy decisions - such as whether to close schools, or ban travel - based on preliminary, and incomplete evidence.
- How widely these new variants have spread
- How the new variants differ
- How the disease caused by these new variants differs from the disease caused by other variants that are currently circulating
CNN is reporting we should learn more about the B.1.1.7 variant's susceptibility to the vaccine later this week.
For now, all of this appears very speculative, as hard data remains scant. But it does illustrate how concerned nations are over the rise of these (and likely future) COVID variants.
Today India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare published the following update on their fledgling search for variant viruses already in India.
Update on New Strain of novel Coronavirus from U.K.
Total number of infected now stands at 38
Posted On: 04 JAN 2021 3:39PM by PIB Delhi
A total of 38 samples have been found to be positive with the new U.K variant genome.
10 in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, 3 in CCMB, Hyderabad, 5 in NIV, Pune, 11 in IGIB, Delhi, 8 in NCDC, New Delhi and 1 in NCBG, Kolkata.
NCBS, InSTEM, Bengaluru, CDFD Hyderabad, ILS Bhubaneswar, and NCCS Pune have so far found no UK mutant virus.
The positive samples are being tested at 10 INSACOG labs (NIBMG Kolkata, ILS Bhubaneswar, NIV Pune, NCCS Pune, CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InSTEM Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, IGIB Delhi, NCDC Delhi) for genome sequencing.
All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated Health Care facilities by respective State Governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on.
The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the States for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing & dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.
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MV
Thirty-eight cases is likely the tip of the iceberg, as only a tiny fraction of positive cases are sequenced. Here in the United States, that number is about 1 in 300. Which is why these variants are able to spread, unnoticed, under the radar for weeks or even months before they are detected.
