21 Dec 2020 - 17:04
REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo
By Kate Kelland / Reuters
LONDON: A new variant of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Britain and prompting high levels of concern among its European neighbours, some of which have cut transport links.
The strain, referred to by some experts as the B.1.1.7 lineage, is not the first new variant of the pandemic virus to emerge, but is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the United Kingdom.
ARE THE CONCERNS JUSTIFIED?
Most scientists say yes. The new variant has rapidly become the dominant strain in cases of COVID-19 in parts of southern England and has been linked to an increase in hospitalization rates, especially in London and in the adjacent county of Kent.
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Vaccines are being approved. Now comes the hard part
The swift development of a safe vaccine represents a scientific triumph. Rolling it out at scale and inoculating a critical mass of the population will require no less ingenuity
Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire/PA Images
Soon after Chinese scientists shared their information about the coronavirus genome in January, the race to find a vaccine began. Pharmaceutical companies around the world began developing over 270 different Covid-19 vaccines between them, conducting multiple tests simultaneously to speed up the process and using funding from various governments. “There has been a very big effort,” says David King, Cambridge Emeritus professor of physical chemistry and former chief scientific adviser to the government. “And I imagine that we will soon have four or five of these vaccines, all fully approved by the drug regulatory systems.”
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A survey conducted by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has shown that a predominant majority (79% average) of respondents in Africa would take a COVID-19 vaccine if it were deemed safe and effective.
Conducted between August and December 2020, the survey interviewed more than 15,000 adults, aged 18 years and above, across 15 African countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda.
Data from the survey shows significant variations in willingness across countries and across the five regions in the continent, from 94% and 93%, respectively, in Ethiopia and Niger to 65% and 59%, respectively, in Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.