The Cayman Islands government is reviewing its existing COVID-19 protocols as global concerns grow over the virulence of the new strain of the novel coronavirus found in the United Kingdom.
“The next repatriation flight is due to arrive from the UK on 5 January 2021, therefore the situation will be reviewed up to this point. If we need additional measures around that flight, we won’t hesitate to put them in place,” according to a government statement issued in response to queries from the Cayman Compass on Monday about the new strain.
The government statement said the Government Programme Board, which oversees the protocols for Travel Cayman, is discussing the new strain, which has been identified as variant ‘VUI – 202012/01’.
The statement noted, “We have some of most stringent protocols for quarantine and PCR testing both on arrival and at 14 days anywhere in the world. This puts us in a unique and strong position to protect the community from the virus.”
In a further statement on the issue Tuesday, officials said they will put additional measures in place around the 5 Jan. flight “as needed, to protect the community”.
“If our experts advise that we can manage any additional risk, we see the benefit in continuing flights to and from the UK given our close links,” Tuesday’s statement added.
Countries shutting borders to Britain:
India, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Jordan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.
Several other nations blocked travel from Britain over the weekend, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Canada. (Source: Reuters)
The new variant is said to be up to 70% more transmissible, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly, the BBC reported. Scientists reported that there is no evidence yet to suggest the variant makes the infection more deadly, and “at least for now the developed vaccines will almost certainly work against it.”
As of Monday, according to international media reports, at least 40 countries had banned travel from the United Kingdom where the mutated virus strain has been discovered.
The European Union and Canada have also issued temporary bans on incoming travel from the UK.
The British government, in a statement Monday, said the new strain also has been detected in Denmark, Australia and Gibraltar. Reports have also suggested that the strain has been found in Italy and the Netherlands.
More than 67,000 people in Britain have died of COVID-19.
The UK government has said 144 local authorities have identified at least one case of the mutated strain, although the vast majority of cases identified were in London and in other parts of the south east and east of England.
“We currently have no evidence that this variant causes more severe disease or higher mortality – but we continue to study cases to understand this better. We know that mortality is a lagging indicator and we will need to continually monitor this over the coming weeks,” the British government statement said.
It added that all viruses mutate over time and new variants emerge regularly.
“Backwards tracing using the genetic evidence suggests this variant emerged in September 2020 and then circulated at very low levels in the population until mid-November. The increase in cases linked to the new variant first came to light in late November when [Public Health England] was investigating why infection rates in Kent were not falling despite national restrictions. We then discovered a cluster linked to this variant spreading rapidly into London and Essex,” the statement said.
Evidence of increased transmissibility was provided to the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group and government ministers on 18 Dec.
According to Reuters, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged the US government to take steps to prevent the variant entering the United States.
British Airways, the Reuters report said, agreed to allow only passengers who test negative for the coronavirus to fly to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
US Assistant Health Secretary Brett Giroir, it added, said nothing had yet been decided on any travel ban.
On Monday, European officials met via video link to coordinate their response to the new strain.
The EU is on course to start vaccinations within a week after its medicines regulator approved the use of a shot from Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday.
The World Health Organization cautioned against major alarm over a new, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain, saying this was a normal part of a pandemic’s evolution.
“We have to find a balance. It’s very important to have transparency, it’s very important to tell the public the way it is, but it’s also important to get across that this is a normal part of virus evolution,” WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan told an online briefing.
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