Dr Susan Hopkins said R value of variant first found in Gauteng, South Africa, is now 2
The chief medical adviser to the UK Health and Security Agency has warned that a newly identified Covid-19 variant in southern Africa is the “most worrying we’ve seen”, with transmission levels not recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.
Dr Susan Hopkins said the R value, or effective reproduction number, of the B.1.1.529 variant in Gauteng in South Africa, where it was first found, is now 2. For an R of anything above 1, an epidemic will grow exponentially.
