By Two cases of South African variant of Covid found in Scarborough borough.
The first case of the South African Covid variant to be discovered in North Yorkshire has been detected in the Scarborough Borough.
The cases are described as “isolated” and have been linked to international travel with no threat to the local community found at this time.
As the cases are not linked to community transmission there will be no “surge testing” in the borough, like has been seen on eight postcodes this week where the variant was found.
The South African variant contains a mutation which is believed to make the virus more contagious than previous variants and also has other mutations, which has led to fears that it could reduce the effectiveness of existing vaccines.
In a press conference on Monday, Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said new variants of Covid-19, including the South African one, have slightly more mutations in the spike protein which could cause “diminished effectiveness to vaccines”, though she stressed that the vaccine response was still “very good” overall.
This week, the Government ordered door-to-door testing for 80,000 people in eight areas where the South African variant has been detected.
