New strain of Covid-19 in UK has not been found in Ireland

The new variant of coronavirus identified in the UK has not been detected in Ireland so far, according to Irish experts.

Based on the available sequence data the novel variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus has not been detected here, Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory has said.

The new variant is currently present in the UK and Denmark only, according to European scientists tracking the genetic mutations of the virus.

Dr de Gascun said this highlighted the continued importance of surveillance and maintaining public health measures.

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Immunologist Prof Paul Moynagh said people should not rush to be concerned over the newly identified mutation.

“This is what viruses do, and coronavirus is no different,” he said, pointing out that there have been thousands of mutations of SARS-CoV-2 so far.

“It’s possible that the novel variant might be more resistant, but equally the vast majority of mutations that happen in the setting of an evolving virus tend not to have a huge impact, so put into context, the SARS-CoV-2 acquires mutations at a rate of about one to two per month – obviously over the course of the last year thousands of mutations have emerged and some of those will confer a benefit to the virus and many will not,” Dr de Gascun said.

Prof Moynagh, from Maynooth University, said he would not be concerned about the potential of the mutation to affect the efficacy of vaccines, although it does involve a mutation in the spike protein.

There have been large number of mutations in the spike protein so far, he told RTÉ’s PrimeTime, and none of them have been identified with a problem.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, the UK health secretary Matt Hancock told the Commons that more than 1,000 cases of the new virus strain had been found in almost 60 areas, predominantly in southern England.

He suggested the new strain was growing faster than already existing variants but stressed that clinical advice suggested it was “highly unlikely” the mutation would fail to respond to a vaccine.

Public Health England (PHE) said that as of December 13th, 1,108 cases with this new variant had been identified. It has been named VUI - 202012/01 - the first variant under investigation in December.

British virologist Dr Chris Smith said this morning that despite being spread more quickly, the new variant of coronavirus may not be any “nastier.”

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Dr Smith said: “Once it infects you, once it gets in you, it doesn’t actually make you any iller,” he said.

“That appears to be the pattern at the moment and the other crucial question at the moment is ‘is that change sufficient to side step what the vaccine does to protect us?’

“For now the answer seems to be no, but that’s something we need to watch.”

Dr Smith added that the discovery of the new variant reassured him as “it shows the system is working.”

Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said there was no evidence the variant is more dangerous and said it would be picked up by tests.

British scientists said any potential impact on the Covid vaccine rollout from the new strain would need to be examined.

Prof Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London and a member of the British government’s expert advisory group Sage, said: “This variant contains some mutations in spike protein that is the major target of vaccines, and it will be important to establish whether they impact vaccine efficacy by performing experiments in the coming weeks.”

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said there had been several mutations in the virus, which was to be expected. But he warned: “This is potentially serious; the surveillance and research must continue and we must take the necessary steps to stay ahead of the virus.”

A spokesperson for the World Health Organization said it was in touch with UK experts on the identification of the variant. To date they did not have evidence that it was behaving differently, but they will follow developments. - Additional reporting agencies