What is the threat posed by the Indian Covid and do vaccines work against it?

What are the latest developments? The number of identified cases of the Indian variant in the UK has more than doubled in a week, from 520 to 1313, according to the latest numbers. The regions with the highest numbers to date include Bolton, Blackburn with Darwin, Eriwash in Derbyshire and Bedford, all in England, and Murray in Scotland. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said on Sunday that it was “very likely” that this would become the case. The prevalent variant across the UK, just as the Kent variant did after its December debut. Cases are being discovered in new places every day, including Essex, Cambridge and London in recent days. “To be honest everywhere,” said a public health manager in the area where the first cases just appeared. How transmissible is it? This is the main question that concerns scholars and ministers. According to last Tuesday’s meeting minutes of the government’s Emergency Scientific Advisory Group (Sage), the advisors believe that the transmission of B.1.617.2, as the Indian variant is known, is “currently faster than the B.1.1” variant 7 “- the Kent variant. Cases multiply. In a week or less in some areas, according to Sage, they said that … “It is very likely that this variant is more transmissible than B.1.1.7, which is a realistic possibility that it is up to 50% more transmissible. . “How much threat does the new variant pose?” Hancock said Sunday that it could “spread like wildfire between unvaccinated groups.” He added that the “vast majority” of people in hospital suffering from the Covid virus associated with the Indian type had not accepted their offer in Bolton. Professor Sir Mark Woolport, a former chief scientific adviser to the government, said the pandemic was at a “risky moment.” Professor John Edmonds, a member of Sage, said that while the Indian alternative represented a “new threat,” the UK was in a much better position than it was before. On it before Christmas, shortly after the Kent variant was discovered. “I think we should be. Meaningful but not alarmed. “We’re in a much better place now than we were when we first hit the Kent variable in November, December,” Edmonds said. “Hospitals are now almost empty of Covid patients and two-thirds of the adult population have been vaccinated.” Do vaccines work against the Indian alternative? There is cautious optimism they do. Hancock said the “very early new data” from the University of Oxford had given confidence that the vaccines used in the UK – Oxford / AstraZeneca, Pfizer / Biotech and Modern – provide protection against it. As a result, the next planned step to safely reopen the community could continue on Monday, says John Bell, professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, likewise optimistic. He told the Radio Times this weekend: “In terms of severe disease, hospital admissions and death, I think the vaccinated population will be fine and we just need to work our way through this.” But Dr Kate Yates, a member of The Independent, warned Sage: “Vaccines do not work at 100%. If Covid is allowed to spread at high levels among the unvaccinated population, there will still be a small percentage of people who are vaccinated who may become ill and become very ill.”