No evidence that ‘new’ UK variant transmits any more easily or spreads any faster – and it’s not ‘new’, WHO has been studying it for a while
Boris Johnson has blamed his Christmas u-turn on a ‘new’ ‘mutant strain’ of the coronavirus, claiming that it spreads more rapidly than the previous variants present in the UK.
But according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) this week, there is nothing to suggest it actually does spread faster – and it isn’t new either:
Not only is there no indication, as far as the WHO is concerned, that the new variant of the coronavirus can transmit more easily – and the WHO has been studying it for a while, so it is best-placed to know.
Boris Johnson delayed the second England-wide lockdown – and by insisting that schools must stay open during it (making the UK the last nation in the world not to admit that schools are driving the pandemic) he ensured that its success was reduced to nothing more than a small downturn. And now, with the lockdown lifted, the virus is spreading rapidly. Is the WHO misleading the world – or is Boris Johnson trying to cover his Tory backside again?
Phew, that’s a tough call…
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