Last modified on Tue 1 Jun 2021 12.34 EDT
Nearly three-quarters of coronavirus cases among University of Cambridge students last autumn have been traced back to a single nightclub, highlighting the risks of reopening venues in the next phase of the UK government’s roadmap.
Students who attended socially distanced events during freshers’ week and over Halloween were the source of the biggest infection cluster at the university, according to researchers who analysed the effectiveness of Cambridge’s coronavirus screening programme, which tested 10,000 students weekly at its peak and was the largest in the UK.
Genomic sequencing showed that the virus spread rapidly among students who mixed between households and courses on nights out. Cases fell dramatically once the second lockdown was announced, as students complied with the rules and socialised within households of six to 20. Further outbreaks were curtailed by the expansion of a PCR testing programme, which the university es
Pakistan and Bangladesh both had less cases of COVID-19 and had reported less variants of concern spreading. Yet, they were added to the red list before India.
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In its earliest development, the virus was first reported to be in China in 2019, however, like Ravindra Gupta, a clinical microbiologist at the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease at the University of Cambridge, said in a letter to the journal Science: More investigation is still needed to determine the origin of the pandemic.
Seventeen other scientists, including Jesse Bloom, who studies the evolution of viruses at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, agree with his remarks. Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable, the team of scientists, including David Relman, professor of microbiology at Stanford, said in the letter.
The nation needs to get out of lockdown, not linger in fear
The nation needs to boost its psychological immunity, which means masks and social distancing have to go
14 May 2021 • 8:00pm
When the first lockdown came into force on March 23 last year, I was telling friends we would be back to normal that Easter. A bit like Prince William, who less than three weeks earlier had questioned whether coverage of the coronavirus outbreak seemed a bit “hyped up,” I remained in denial even as Brits were stockpiling loo roll and beginning to clap carers from their doorsteps.
Looking back, April 5 2020 – a week before Easter Sunday – proved a pivotal date in the Covid calendar. As the Queen was making a rare broadcast to the nation, insisting we would “succeed” in our fight against the pandemic but may have “more still to endure”, Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital, 10 days after testing positive. With the Prime Minister’s condition described as “touch and go”, th