Yet again, the UK’s defences against the virus have been exposed as faulty. Despite the vaccines, there are still dangers
It was a weekend of bright sunshine, with daffodils blooming alongside snowdrops in southern areas and a spectacular full moon, as families with children in England began readying themselves to return to school, with just one more week to spend at home (most pupils in Scotland and Wales must wait a while longer). The sense of eagerness for a return to something closer to life before the pandemic was palpable, with parks full and the longer afternoons holding out the promise of better times ahead. Then, on Sunday, came the announcement that six cases of the Brazilian coronavirus variant known as P1 have been identified, three each in England and Scotland, with the whereabouts of one of the infected people unknown.
This missing person arrived at Heathrow (from Sao Paulo, via Zurich) before hotel quarantine regulations were introduced on 15 February. So this bad news isn’t the result of anyone having disobeyed rules, although a test registration card was left incomplete. Hopefully they will respond to a public call for anyone tested on 12 or 13 February to come forward. But if any reminder were needed of the significant risks that remain as we inch towards a lifting of restrictions, the frantic efforts now under way to find this person should leave no one in doubt. While it isn’t known exactly how dangerous the P1 variant is, the reason it has sparked alarm is evidence suggesting that it is more transmissible than other variants and also, crucially, that it may be capable of antigenic escape. In other words, vaccines may not grant as much protection against it.
