Extra surge testing rolled out in Ealing after new South Africa Covid cases found
Additional surge testing will be rolled out in the London borough of Ealing after new cases of the South Africa Covid mutation were detected.
The extra measures are an extension of the surge testing launched in the West London area earlier this month following the discovery of previous cases.
People living in Ealing are strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 test this week whether they are showing symptoms or not, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said in a statement.
Other London areas including Lambeth and Croydon, along with parts of Essex, Norfolk and Surrey, are still undergoing surge testing as ministers scramble to fend off cases of “variants of concern”.
The South Africa strain of coronavirus includes the E484K spike protein mutation, which is thought to be partially resistant to available vaccines.
So far, Public Health England has identified 105 cases of the Covid-19 variant first identified in South Africa in late December, with 11 of those cases having no links to international travel.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said “it is vital that we do all we can to stop transmission of this variant”, as he called on residents to stay at home.
Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, has insisted there is “no evidence” to suggest that any of the “variants of concern” will take over in the UK. The coronavirus variant first identified in Kent is currently the dominant strain across the country.
Van-Tam yesterday announced that available vaccines “are absolutely working” against the Kent Covid variant and will likely reduce the risk of severe disease, hospitalisations and death from new mutations including the South Africa variant.
Van-Tam said people will likely require a booster dose of the jab specially suited to new Covid variants later on in the year.
It comes after the Prime Minister said earlier this month that the most vulnerable members of the population will likely need vaccine top-ups for new coronavirus mutations “every year”.
“As new variants appear, it will be more useful than ever to have vaccines that combat all variants,” said Boris Johnson.
“I think we need to be getting ready for a world in which we do have booster jabs against new variants in the autumn and maybe beyond. We should start to think about it as a flu jab — as something elderly and vulnerable people make sure they have every year.”
The government earlier this month announced it had ordered 50m doses of a new Covid vaccine being developed by German biotech firm CureVac that will target emerging coronavirus mutations.
Astrazeneca also confirmed it is developing a “next generation” vaccine that will likely be ready for distribution by the autumn.