UK virus variant rapidly spreading in US

Washington: A coronavirus variant first identified in Britain is rapidly spreading in the United States, threatening to bring a surge of new cases as it doubles roughly every 10 days, according to a new study.

The paper was posted online on Sunday and has not yet been peer reviewed, but it does offer the most comprehensive look at the rise of B.1.1.7 in the country hit hardest by the pandemic. A team of scientists led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute analyzed half a million test samples collected across the country since last summer.

Rather than individually sequence all of them, they were able to identify a particular anomaly that was a "reliable proxy" for B.1.1.7. They also analyzed the full genetic sequence, a more time-consuming process, for 212 samples.

They found the variant was introduced at multiple points into the US in November 2020, and while currently low in overall frequency, it is set to become the dominant form of the virus by March.

The team added that transmission rate was at least 35-45 percent higher than more common variants, and its prevalence is doubling every week and a half. Britain saw devastating waves of Covid after B.1.1.7 became dominant there, and the variant has been observed in many European countries including Portugal and Ireland.

"B.1.1.7 is much more contagious - so it can quickly overwhelm a nation," Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, tweeted in response to the paper. Ireland had got its outbreak under control by late 2020, but in January B.1.1.7 triggered an exponential wave there that it is now recovering from.

The United States is the world’s hardest-hit country, with more than 27 million confirmed cases and 460,000 deaths, but its last wave peaked around January 8 and infections have been dropping since. There are fears that B.1.1.7 could trigger a new spike, and it is spreading particularly rapidly in Florida, according to the study.

The study’s authors called for the United States to build up its Covid genomic surveillance system. Current vaccines remain effective against the variant, while the use of masks drastically reduces transmission.

Meanwhile, South Africa suspended the start of its AstraZeneca inoculation programme over concerns the shot does not work on a new variant, with WHO experts due to meet Monday to discuss the vaccine already facing questions about its efficacy for over-65s.

A trial showed the vaccine provides only "minimal" protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 caused by the variant first detected in South Africa, a setback to the global fight against the pandemic as many poorer nations are relying on the logistical advantages offered by the AstraZeneca shot.

Africa’s hardest-hit nation was due to start its campaign in the coming days with a million AstraZeneca doses but the government decided to hold off in light of the results from the trial conducted by the University of Witatersrand in Johannesburg.

A World Health Organisation panel is due to meet on Monday in Geneva to examine the shot, which is a major component of the initial Covax global vaccine rollout that covers some 145 countries -- mostly lower- and lower-middle income economies.

Out of the initial 337.2 million Covax doses, 240 million are AstraZeneca shots, which do not require the supercold storage needed for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. There were already concerns about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca shot among over-65s, with a number of European nations not authorising it yet for that demographic.

Meantime, the Dutch government said on Monday it is extending until March 2 its night-time coronavirus curfew, the introduction of which last month sparked the country’s worst riots in four decades.

"The curfew will be extended... This is necessary because new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus are gaining ground in the Netherlands," the government said in a statement after a cabinet meeting.

As last report came in, nearly 300,000 primary school pupils in Denmark returned to their classes on Monday after five weeks at home, a first step in relaxing the Nordic country’s strict virus curb measures.

This particular start of the new school year however comes with some sanitary caveats, such as no mixing of different classes to limit transmission. Meals must be eaten in the classroom, but masks are not compulsory for students and teachers.

"I’m just looking forward to seeing my friends and my teacher again, and then I can’t wait to get rid of my family," third grader Charlie Boll Ostergaard from Copenhagen told the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Denmark’s 5.8 million people have been under a strict partial lockdown regime since Christmas. Non-essential shops, bars and restaurants, cultural venues, colleges, high schools and universities are closed and gatherings of more than five people are banned.