India variant could lead to serious third wave of Covid in UK

[Northerner]

It was all looking so good. After a brutal second wave in the winter, the lockdown combined with the swift rollout of vaccines forced infections, hospitalisations and deaths down to levels not seen since last summer. The vaccines performed better than expected, not only in preventing deaths, but in hampering the spread of the virus. Scientific advisers were confident about England’s cautious roadmap back to a life more normal: the worst, it seemed, was over.

Now, those same advisers are deeply worried that the new variant of concern from India, B.1.617.2, could undermine the hard-won achievement. The government strategy has been to ease restrictions as vaccines reach more people, aiming for a delicate balance that opens up society while preventing another wave that overwhelms the NHS.

Without the new variant, outbreak modellers advising Sage anticipated a modest third wave in July and August, with perhaps 4,000 to 11,000 more deaths, but nothing on the scale of the devastating winter wave.

India variant could lead to serious third wave of Covid in UK

Analysis: If B.1.617.2 proves highly transmissible, hospitalisations could peak again, models show

www.theguardian.com

 

[mikeyB]

All the more reason to vaccinate as many people as possible. The current vaccines have been shown to be effective against the “India” variant. There won’t be a third “wave”. We are at the stage where Covid is now a pest .

 

[Amity Island]

And how did this "india" variant get into the country?

 

[Docb]

The question I would ask of the writer of that headline is.... Define serious.

 

[mikeyB]

The India variant got into the country because our so-called government didn’t stop flights to and from India, even when funeral pyres were filling the streets. Why was that? Because Johnson was booked to go to India for trade talks. Meanwhile, flights weren’t allowed from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Money trumps common sense every time with this government, and specifically the PM, who can’t afford to live on £150,000 a year. I’m not surprised he can’t run a country.

 

[pm133]

Sigh!

Another day, yet another fear mongering headline.

I particularly liked the sentence: "But the new variant is here. What that means is still uncertain."
In other words, there is no bloody story yet!!!!!!

Dear Guardian journalist. Come back when you have something useful to say.

 

[pm133]

And how did this "india" variant get into the country?

Countries around the globe are asking the same thing about how the Kent variant got into their countries.

 

[Amity Island]

Countries around the globe are asking the same thing about how the Kent variant got into their countries.

pm133,

Regarding the likes of the new strain and all previous strains. Is there a good and bad time for mass vaccination? It seems to me that vaccinating millions of people during a pandemic runs it's own risks. Vaccines have nearly always been given pre-outbreak or pre-pandemic. The ones most of us get at birth are there to prevent an outbreak, but what happens when vaccines are given during a pandemic when the virus is out of control? Can the vaccines cause the virus to become a super vaccine resistant virus?

 

[mikeyB]

No, that’s not how vaccine resistance develops. There is no cause and effect. Variants have appeared even without vaccines.

 

[Loobyloo]

And now there's the Triple mutant Yorkshire variant....

What we know about the 'triple mutant Yorkshire variant'

AV.1 variant, which has caused 49 cases of infection in Yorkshire and the Humber region, was first detected in April.

www.aol.co.uk