The incidence value in Great Britain has been falling rapidly for a good five days. But that could change again soon. A new corona variant is on the advance.
London / Oxford – Until a few days ago, the curve of the corona incidence value in Great Britain only knew one direction and that was up. But for a good five days the situation in the United Kingdom seems to have eased somewhat with a view to SARS-CoV-2. But appearances could be deceptive, a new variant of Covid-19 is already on the advance: variant B.1.621. The vaccination behavior in the UK is now decisive.
| Kingdom in Europe: | Great Britain |
| Surface: | 243,610 square kilometers |
| Resident: | 66.8 million (as of 2019) |
| Head of Government: | Boris Johnson (Conservative Party) |
| Head of State: | Queen Elizabeth II |
Currently, the 7-day incidence, i.e. the number of infections within seven days extrapolated to 100,000 inhabitants, on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, is 371.8 in Great Britain. For comparison: on Thursday, July 22, 2021, the value was 492.1, just below the threshold of 500.
Incidence in the UK: Fewer Covid-19 infections – almost 55 percent of all Britons are fully vaccinated
24,932 new infections and 14 new deaths were registered on Tuesday. Around 69 percent of all citizens have now been vaccinated against Covid-19 for the first time, around 55 percent now have full protection. There are currently 5001 people hospitalized in the UK and 699 of the patients are in intensive care.
The discovery of the new variant B.1.621 came at an inopportune time in Great Britain, as – at least in the English part of the country – last week on “Freedom Day” almost all corona rules were lifted. So far, the British health authorities have been able to detect the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in at least 16 cases, and the trend is rising. But the British experts from the health authority Public Health England (PHE) assume that the vaccinations will protect against this variant in spite of everything *.
New SARS-CoV2 mutant discovered in Great Britain: no severe disease course expected so far
The variant should also not bring a more severe course of the disease, it is said. Variant B.1.621 first appeared and was proven in Colombia *. This also fits in with the fact that the cases confirmed so far are all supposed to have occurred in connection with trips abroad. For this reason, too, there should currently be no indication that the variant is spreading in the country, according to the unanimous opinion of the experts.
The health authority is currently examining the new variant in the laboratory. In this way, the experts want to find out what the influence of variant B.1.6.21 on the original virus is. For this reason, contact tracking is being intensified and targeted corona tests are being used, reports rtl.de.
In the meantime, researchers at Oxford University have found out how variant B.1.1.7 – better known as the alpha variant – was able to spread so rapidly across the country despite the months-long lockdown. According to a report by the Ärzteblatt, the variant first spread from Kent to London. From there it was then spread throughout the country. Several superspreader events are to be blamed.
Since the alpha variant differs from the wild type of the time in various areas, experts suspect that it originated in the body of a so-called immunosuppressive patient. In the case of immunosuppression, the body’s own defense system (immune system) is suppressed – either through an illness, increased exposure or targeted medication – for example after an organ transplant. Only the identity of patient zero is not known.
Spread of the alpha variant of Corona: From Kent via London to the whole country
When the mutation first appeared – around September 20 of last year – the UK was not in a lockdown. As a result, the variant was able to spread unchecked across the country. At that time there were only restrictions in some regions of the country.
As the county of Kent is close to London and home to many capital commuters, researchers at Oxford University are currently assuming that this could be the main reason for the rapid spread towards London. Despite the lockdown, which came into force on November 5, 2020, the variant was able to spread from the capital to the rest of the country.
Fewer Covid-19 infections in the UK: vaccinations could be responsible
So why are the numbers of infections in the UK falling rapidly again now? A newly discovered mutation and fallen corona restrictions should actually lead to expect exactly the opposite.
According to experts, this could be due to the fact that the number of corona tests has been massively reduced. As the German edition of Business Insider reports, the number of tests has been falling sharply since March. In the past few weeks, around nine percent fewer tests are said to have been made than before. But can that be anything? After all, hundreds of thousands are still sitting in self-isolation at home, which leads to severe bottlenecks, for example in the grocery trade.
Fewer Covid-19 infections in the UK: warm weather and fewer events
If you believe the board of directors of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Scott Gottlieb, then fewer tests could be responsible for the current situation, after all, according to him, more patients have fewer bad symptoms due to a vaccination. For that reason alone, there is less testing because it does not seem necessary.
For this reason the government in London has just announced a new program. As “Spiegel Online” reports, 1200 more test centers are to be built. Thus, the UK would significantly increase the number of test centers to 2,000 within a few days.
There should also be new priorities. People who work in prisons, for transport companies, in garbage disposal, in energy supply or in veterinary medicine should be given preference. “Daily testing will protect our frontline teams while they continue to serve society and people across the country,” said UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Other scientists, however, blame the weather for the decrease in infections. It has become significantly warmer in Great Britain in the past few weeks. The fact that fewer major events are currently taking place in the country – the EM was over for around two weeks – could also play an important role, according to the scientists. * Kreiszeitung.de and merkur.de are offered by IPPEN.MEDIA.
Rubriklistenbild: © picture alliance/dpa/PA Wire | Nick Potts
