Some 23 cases of a new Covid mutation – sometimes referred to as the Nepal variant – have been detected in the UK, Downing Street has confirmed.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said the “spike mutation” K417N is being investigated by Public Health England.
Amid growing pressure from medical experts for the postponement of the planned 21 June lifting of further lockdown restrictions, the spokesperson said there was “nothing in the data currently” to suggest that delay will be necessary.
But he said that a further assessment of the latest figures on cases, hospitalisations and deaths will be made over the coming week, ahead of a formal announcement on 14 June.
The K417N strain of Covid is believed to be a mutation of the Delta variant first identified in India.
Experts believe this mutation may have the potential to make vaccines less effective, and investigations are under way to determine if this is the case.
A fast-growing proportion of Covid-19 infections in the UK now involved the Delta variant, which is believed to have overtaken the earlier Alpha strain – first detected in Kent – to become dominant in the country.
By the end of last week, there were 12,431 confirmed cases of the Delta variant in the UK, up from 6,959 the previous week.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that the government was “absolutely open” to delaying the planned move to the fourth and final step of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown “if that’s what needs to happen”.
Step 4, scheduled for 21 June at the earliest, would see the lifting of “most” remaining Covid restrictions, with the reopening of nightclubs, the end of limits on crowds at mass events and attendances at weddings, and possibly the removal of guidance on social distancing, face-coverings and working from home.
But former chief scientific adviser Sir David King, the chair of the Independent Sage Group, said ministers should now announce a delay to the easing of restrictions.
“I’m very reluctant to say that we should not go out of lockdown on 21 June, but I think the figures are in now, and it will be wise for the Government to announce right away a delay in opening, just so that we can all plan for the post-21 June period,” Prof King told Sky News.
Asked how long the restrictions should stay, he said: “I would give a few weeks’ delay and see how the fingers are emerging. “So, I don’t know how long. “As the Prime Minister has said, it’s data, not dates, that we should be governed by, and that’s response as well.”
Prof King said the current Covid-19 figures are “evidence of another wave appearing”. “(There are) 5,300 new cases of the disease per day in the United Kingdom and we’re up about 2,000 on last week,” he said. “We’ve been discussing whether or not we’re going into a serious third wave … This is the evidence of another wave appearing.”
But Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said: “The prime minister has said before – and it still remains (the case) – that there is nothing in the data currently to suggest step 4 can’t go ahead at the earliest date.
“But we do need to look very closely at the data over this coming week… The health secretary was purely repeating what’s always been in the roadmap – that we will be focused on data and not dates, and that we need to make sure we have all the relevant information before making a decision.”
He added: “We can see that the cases are rising in the UK. That is due both to the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant and to a certain extent to the opening-up measures in step 3.
“What we need to examine is whether or not the link between cases increasing and subsequent hospitalisations and deaths has been sufficiently severed for us to continue with our roadmap at the earliest possible date. That work is ongoing.”
“The spokesperson said that reports of a Covid variant from Nepal had not been confirmed.
But he said that PHE was looking at “a small number of cases of the Delta variant which have a mutation of concern”.
Public Health England was classifying this a “spike mutation of interest” and had identified some 23 cases in the UK as of 3 June, he said.
