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ases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 have been detected in London, the Evening Standard has been instructed.
A breakdown of instances signifies at the least one case has been detected in Harrow and one in Brent.
The Indian pressure, VUI-21APR-01, has initially been labeled as a variant below investigation relatively than a variant of concern, pending an additional threat evaluation by PHE specialists.
It was first detected in India, the place there was a 70 per cent spike in weekly Covid infections. India now leads the world in new instances, with greater than 200,000 reported in the final 24 hours.
Dr Duncan Robertson, of Loughborough college, who has been analysing the unfold of Covid-19, instructed the Standard: “We would not have full data on the 77 instances the variant below investigation first detected in India. We do know that at the least one case has been detected in Brent and at the least one case has been detected in Harrow.
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“It is evident that variants below investigation and variants of concern are in England and that detected instances are rising.”
He warned {that a} spike in Covid variants – some of which can be extra transmissible or tougher for vaccines to defeat – might trigger issues for the Government’s “roadmap” out of lockdown.
Experts have questioned why India has not been positioned on the Government’s “pink checklist” of international locations that will ban journey to the UK. Boris Johnson is because of go to India on the finish of April.
PHE declined to provide exact places for the 73 instances of the Indian variant detected in England however it’s understood that they’re unfold extensively and there aren’t any reported clusters.
Sources indicated the variant might not should be upgraded to a variant of concern, a course of that will activate surge testing.
There have been 600 confirmed instances of the South African variant of concern in England, together with 56 instances in the final week.
Surge testing has been launched throughout Wandsworth and Lambeth, and in components of Southwark, Barnet, Hillingdon and Harrow. Thousands of testing kits are being despatched to twenty faculties in Wandsworth on Monday.
