Covid variant may have spread in South London before it was discovered

The UK variant of coronavirus may have already spread into South London by the time it was discovered, data suggests.

Public Health England announced in a technical briefing that on December 8 they investigated a sharp rise in cases in Kent – which turned out to be caused by the new strain.

During this investigation they found that this mutation of the virus had already spread across Kent and North London – with a number of cases in other parts of the capital.

The WHO (World Health Organisation) has confirmed that the new strain was first identified in Kent on September 20.

The mutation, called the B1.1.7 strain, could then have spread locally and into London while the tier system was in place.

Prof Lawrence Young, Virologist and Professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Warwick, said: “The way that way that we managed things over September and October was not great and I don’t think the tier system was overly successful.

“It was very confusing and I think what we didn’t do is contain the infections well enough, because these things spread so easily as we are learning the hard way. So it’s so easy if people are mixing in shops or going on public transport for these things to transmit.

“If you look at the data that’s coming out it looks like it was in September sometime. It takes time for these things to spread. And by doing the sequencing it looks like in late September sequences were being identified that had this variant.

“But what happened of course is that it was detected then, and by mid-November it was around 20-30 per cent of all cases in London and in the east of the city and then three weeks later it was 60 per cent of that population. And it’s spread through the country.”

The virus is thought to have mutated in the body of a person with a low immune response, or someone who was immunocompromised.

It is believed to be more infectious than the original strain of the virus.

This is because the spike protein has adapted to become more “sticky”.

Prof Young said: “There are a number of changes in this particular variant but it looks like the N501Y mutation is probably important because it increases the affinity of the binding of the spike protein to the receptor that get the virus into our cells in our noses and throats and lungs, and it also contains other changes that might make it more efficient at infection.”

In the latest figures, the ONS reported that 70% of cases in London were the new UK variant.

This variant of the virus can be contained in the same way as the original strain – through face masks, social distancing and hand washing, for example.

It has also been confirmed that both vaccines currently being rolled out across the UK will be effective against the mutated virus.