Focus Shifting to AV.1 Strain: After the B.1.617.2 Covid strain, attention in Britain is shifting to yet another variant. This one has been described as a ‘variant under investigation’, and given the name AV.1. So far 49 cases of this have been discovered, mainly in north England. This variant has been also seen in Greece and Chad. Tests are being
Focus Shifting to AV.1 Strain: After the B.1.617.2 Covid strain, attention in Britain is shifting to yet another variant. This one has been described as a ‘variant under investigation’, and given the name AV.1. So far 49 cases of this have been discovered, mainly in north England. This variant has been also seen in Greece and Chad. Tests are being carried out to determine the speed of the transmissibility of AV.1, and how seriously this can infect people. This will be followed by tests to determine how far vaccines can protect against it. With variant after variant surfacing now, medical authorities are planning already for a third booster jab that can protect people against the emerging new strain.
Experts ‘Very Concerned’ about B.1.617.2 Variant: The number of infections in Britain with the B.1.617.2 variant has hit 3,424 now, the highest reported after a month of a declining trend. The real number is expected to be up to five times higher than this, given the rate of rise and the reporting lag. This has led to fears of a third wave of the virus across the UK. Prof Andrew Hayward, an expert on infectious diseases at the University College London, told the BBC he was “very concerned”. He said, “I think what we can see is that this strain can circulate very effectively, although it was originally imported through travel to India, it’s spread fairly effectively first of all within households and now more broadly within communities, so I don’t really see why it wouldn’t continue to spread in other parts of the country.”
India Invited to G7 Health Ministers’ Virtual Meet: India has been invited to join the G7 health ministers’ meeting next month – virtually. The meeting is due to be held in Oxford on June 3 and 4. The aim is to bring major democracies together in the fight against Covid. Oxford was chosen as the venue because the University of Oxford developed the vaccine being produced by AstraZeneca. India started off as the biggest production house for this vaccine, but supplies to the world are held up because of domestic needs. The disputes over the Indian position are expected to surface at the health ministers’ meeting. Indian health minister Harsh Vardhan would be certain to offer a firm nationalistic defence of India’s policies.
EU Travel Curbs on UK Not Going Away: British holidaymakers had been surfing the net and packing their bags for a European summer, but the B.1.617.2 variant has now delayed all that, and could potentially cancel those plans. EU leaders have indicated they will delay their decision to reopen their borders to British tourists in view of the spread of this strain. The B.1.617.2 variant, which was initially found in India, is now present in 40 per cent of the UK, and the great fear is that its spread could outpace the current rate of vaccination. The EU is determined to block any further spillover of this strain into its nations through travellers from the UK. The B.1.617.2 variant has, however, already surfaced in many parts of the EU.
Sania Coming to England for Wimbledon and Other Events: The sporty summer season this year will bring in tennis player Sania Mirza to England, along with the Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams. Sportspersons joining major tournaments have been exempt from the current red-listing of Indian citizens travelling to Britain. Sania Mirza has sought two further exemptions, for her two-year-old son, and another for the child’s caretaker. Mirza will be competing in Wimbledon, and before that in the Nottingham Open, the Birmingham Open and the Eastbourne Open.
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