UK Found Yet Another New & Potentially More Infectious Coronavirus Strain

The UK’s battle with Covid-19 is becoming increasingly difficult.

A new strain of the coronavirus was discovered spreading in the UK, which may be up to 70% more transmissible than the original virus.

Because of this new strain, termed B117, the UK government has been forced to impose lockdowns in certain areas, including the capital, for the festive period.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot proceed with Christmas as planned,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

If you thought that was the end of it for UK, you’re probably unacquainted with 2020.

UK Found Yet Another New & Potentially More Infectious Coronavirus Strain

Yes, believe it or not, the UK has found yet another new variant of the coronavirus, a few days after announcing the emergence of B117.

And just like B117, this mutated Covid-19 virus may be more infectious.

This newer variant has been found in Britain in Covid-19 cases linked to South Africa, according to Reuters. 

The variant was first discovered in South Africa last week, with the government saying it could have triggered a recent spike in infections.

So far, two cases of this new strain have been detected in the UK, both contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks.

B117 was already highly mutated, and unusually so, but this latest strain appears to have mutated further.

Close contacts of the two cases, as well as those who have been in South Africa in the last fortnight, or were in close contact with someone who had, will be placed under quarantine.

The UK will also impose travel restrictions on travellers from South Africa.

Meanwhile, several other countries have already barred travellers from the UK in a bid to prevent the B117 strain from spreading to their shores.

But these border restrictions may have come too late.

1 Covid-19 Case Carrying B117 Strain Confirmed in Singapore

The coronavirus makes its way across the globe pretty quickly, as we’ve seen this year.

And despite it being the festive period, the virus isn’t taking a break.

On Wednesday (23 Dec), Singapore confirmed its first Covid-19 case carrying the B117 strain circulating in the UK.

The confirmed case is a 17-year-old female who had been studying in the UK since August.

She returned to Singapore on 6 Dec and served her stay-home notice at a dedicated facility upon arrival.

She developed a fever on 7 Dec and was confirmed to be infected on 8 Dec.

She was included among the 21 imported infections reported yesterday.

All her close contacts had been placed on quarantine, and had tested negative for Covid-19 at the end of their quarantine period.

“As she had been isolated upon arrival in Singapore, we were able to ringfence this case so that there was no further transmission arising from her”, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

11 Others ‘Preliminarily Positive’

According to CNA, Singapore’s National Public Health Laboratory is performing viral genomic sequencing for confirmed Covid-19 cases who had arrived from Europe recently.

In addition to the 17-year-old, 11 other confirmed cases are “preliminarily positive” for the B117 strain, MOH said.

A total of 31 imported cases from Europe who arrived in Singapore between 17 Nov and 17 Dec were confirmed to have the coronavirus this month.

Fortunately, MOH said there’s “currently no evidence that the B117 strain is circulating in the community”.

To learn more about the B117 strain, check out this article.

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