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New Covid variant: Javid says UK must act quickly over public health risk





The new Covid variant circulating in South Africa that prompted UK travel restrictions is a "huge international concern", the health secretary says.

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Sajid Javid said experience has shown "we must move quickly and at the earliest possible moment".

He said it might be more transmissible, vaccines might be less effective against it and it might affect one of the UK's major treatments, Ronapreve.

No cases of the variant have yet been detected in the UK.

Mr Javid told the House of Commons it was "highly likely" the B.1.1.529 variant had already spread from South Africa and Botswana, where confirmed cases have been found, to other countries.

Travellers from these countries, as well as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini, will have to self-isolate for 10 days, with those arriving after 04:00 GMT on Sunday required to quarantine in a hotel.

All flights from the six countries are also being suspended until the hotel quarantine system is in operation.

Other countries have also imposed travel restrictions on them, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for air travel to the European Union from these countries, and others affected by the variant, to be suspended "until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant".

Mr Javid said he was concerned the variant "may pose substantial risk to public health" as it has "an unusually high number of mutations".

He said as well as possibly boosting transmission and affecting vaccine protection, the mutations may weaken the antibody treatment Ronapreve, which is being given to the most vulnerable hospital patients.