New Covid strain: What are the symptoms?

Illness created by mutant virus ‘indistinguishable’ from that of other variants, says scientist

The surge of a new coronavirus strain in the south-east of England has sparked concern globally, after Boris Johnson said it could be spreading up to 70 per cent faster than the original version.

Many European countries consequently placed travel restrictions on the UK on Sunday, with dozens of other countries further afield following suit on Monday, including India, Kuwait and Peru.

France’s decision to stop accompanied freight from travelling across the Channel for at least two days has proved the largest challenge for the UK, as businesses warn about potential food supply shortages.

The new Covid-19 variant has certainly caused a lot of upheaval and has left ministers scrambling to resolve the travel chaos. But what do we know the symptoms?

Scientists have confirmed that the mutant coronavirus, dubbed VUI-202012/01, does indeed have a higher transmission rate than other forms of the virus.  

Peter Horby, chairman of New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), confirmed this on Monday, saying the variant “does have a transmission advantage over other virus variants that are currently in the UK”.

Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, also said that the mutated version is “clearly” being transmitted faster than others.

Importantly, Mr Vallance added that the new Covid-19 variant was not causing more serious illness than other versions of the disease.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, the scientific adviser said there is “no evidence that the disease course is any different”.

This view was corroborated by Professor Chris Jones, Wales’ deputy chief medical director at a Welsh government conference.

Prof Jones said: "We don't know for certain that asymptomatic people will demonstrate this variant but there is absolutely no reason to think that they would not.

"At the moment the evidence is that the illness created by this virus variant is indistinguishable from the previous Covid-19 illness that we recognise.

"So I would assume that people would be just as likely to be asymptomatic as before.”

The new highly-contagious coronavirus strain was first detected in September but did not become widespread until November - during England’s national lockdown.

Since early November it has shown “exponential growth”, according to Nervtag, the advisory group on new respiratory viruses.

Given the speed of its transmission, Mr Vallance said it was likely that coronavirus restrictions in England “will need to be increased in some places in due course, not reduced”.

Although  VUI-202012/01 is now most heavily concentrated in London and other areas of southeast England which are now under the new tier 4 restrictions, it has also been detected elsewhere in the UK.

Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford said on Monday that there were more than 600 cases of the new Covid-19 variant in Wales, adding that this is “almost certainly a significant underestimation’.

Other cases have also been confirmed in places such as Australia, Denmark and Gibraltar.  

Additional reporting by agencies