India variant to be dominant UK strain ‘within days,’ scientists warn

Experts caution the ‘Indian variant’ will replace Kent as questions mount over easing restrictions

Diners at a Soho restaurant on May 17, 2021 in London, United Kingdom after restrictions were eased (Getty Images)

The “highly transmissible” variant that first emerged in India is set to become the dominant strain in the UK within days, experts have warned, after a 75 per cent increase was seen in the infections caused by it in just five days.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the strain is already “dominant” in the Lancashire hotspots of Bolton and Blackburn and as many as 2,323 confirmed cases of B.1.617.2 has been found across the UK.

Variant B.1.617.2, which was classified as a “variant of concern” in the UK, is leading to runaway outbreaks similar to the Kent B.1.1.7 variant that intensified the second wave in the country.

Microbiologist Paul Hunter said the B.1.617.2 variant is will replace the Kent variant, that was first detected in the UK and was more transmissible than the original virus.

“There is no evidence that the recent rapid rise in cases of the B.1.617.2 variant shows any signs in slowing,” he told The Guardian. “This variant will overtake [the Kent variant] and become the dominant variant in the UK in the next few days, if it hasn’t already done so,” professor Hunter said.

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty also raised same concerns on Friday and said B.1.617.2 is “more transmissible than the B.1.1.7, adding that it is expected to overtake other variants and become “dominate in the UK.”

It comes as the Boris Johnson government eased some of the lockdown restrictions in England, Wales and most of Scotland but delayed plans to announce an end to social-distancing rules till further review.

The variant has also threatened the government’s plan to end all remaining limits on social contact from 21 June with authorities now promising full details by the end of May.

The spread of the Indian variant has also put the British prime minister in a tough spot as he faced criticism from his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings. Mr Johnson also faced pressure on delay to adding India to the so-called red list of countries.

Mr Cummings took a public swipe at Mr Johnson calling the UK’s border policy a “joke” and based on “nonsense.”

Mr Hancock told the House of Commons there are now 86 local authorities where there are five or more confirmed cases.

The variant has been found in 30 per cent of coronavirus samples in England in the week ending 8 May, according to an analysis by Professor Christina Pagel, the director at the University College London of the Clinical Operational Research Unit.

Labour have accused the government of a “catastrophic misstep” and raised questions of delay in halting travel from India sooner to stop the spread of variant in the country. Labour’s shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, also hit out and said the UK had borders “about as secure as a sieve.”

Mr Hancock pushed back criticism by saying they had put India on the red list on 23 April, which was almost a week prior to B.1.617.2 variant was subjected to studies and two weeks before it was labelled as being of concern.