Up to six cases of Manaus variant of coronavirus detected in UK

LONDON (Reuters) – Up to six cases of a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus have been detected in Britain for the first time, English health officials said on Sunday .

Three cases were found in England and three more in Scotland.

Two of the three cases found in England were from a household in the southern Gloucestershire region that had a history of travel to Brazil. A third, currently unrelated case has yet to be identified, Public Health England said.

The risk to the wider community of the Gloucestershire cases was considered low, but as a precaution, officials quickly rolled out testing and increased sequencing of positive coronavirus samples from the area, PHE said.

The Scottish cases were unrelated to those in England.

The P.1 variant detected in Manaus shares some mutations with a variant first identified in South Africa and it may respond less well to current vaccines, PHE said.

Susan Hopkins, PHE’s strategic response director for COVID-19, said Britain’s advanced gene sequencing capabilities meant it was discovering more variants and mutations than many other countries.

At the end of last year, Britain detected a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus which is believed to have originated near London and which has led to a sharp increase in cases in the country and beyond.

“The important thing to remember is that COVID-19, regardless of its variant, is spread in the same way. That means the measures to prevent it from spreading don’t change, ”Hopkins said.

PHE and the system of test and traceability managers were tracking all passengers on Swiss Air flight LX318 from Sao Paulo to London via Zurich, which landed at London Heathrow on February 10, to test them and their homes.

The three Scottish cases were identified in people who returned to the country via Paris and London who self-isolated for the required period of 10 days.

“Due to potential concerns around this variant, other passengers on the three-person flight from London to Aberdeen are being contacted,” the Scottish government said.