So far one case has been found in Preston and four in West Lancashire borough. Blackburn with Darwen s public health director Professor Dominic Harrison said the council is closely monitoring the situation locally but said that so far there is no evidence the strain has reached the borough. He promised that if a case of the new coronavirus variant is confirmed appropriate action will be taken and communicated to the public. Professor Harrison said: “There is regular sampling of PCR tests to monitor for any appearance of new variants across the North-West and we will be alerted if there are any in Blackburn with Darwen. To date no cases have been identified.
RESEARCH showing that a single dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provides sustained protection against Covid and cuts transmission of the virus by two-thirds has been hailed by Blackburn with Darwen s public health director. New data from three trials found that the first shot conferred on average 76 per cent protection against symptomatic infections from three weeks until 90 days, and reduced transmission of the disease by 67 per cent. Professor Dominic Harrison said: “This is undoubtedly the best news we have had since the first vaccine was passed for use before Christmas. The validation for all of the vaccines by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority required vaccines to be assessed for safety and efficacy. They generally showed that vaccines would prevent hospitalisation and deaths in those vaccinated but the did not present or collect information on whether those vaccinated would also be resistant to either being infected or being infectious to othe
THE new South African variant of coronavirus has yet to spread to the Lancashire county area, its public health director has revealed. It emerged on Monday that infections caused by the mutated strain had been identified in part of Southport just over the border in Merseyside. Already door-to-door testing is under way to find any other cases and stop its spread. Lancashire county council s director of public health Dr. Sakthi Karunanithi and his Blackburn with Darwen counterpart Professor Dominic Harrison are both urging increased vigilance and adherence to lockdown guidelines to keep the new variant out of their council areas.
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