Residents of Wandsworth and Lambeth say surge testing has ruined their plans to celebrate easing of lockdown as they face hour-long queues after 70 cases of South African variant were detected
- Ruth Hutt said officials were 'confident' they had traced most cases of the strain
- But warned there was a risk it had spilled over into the wider community
- More than 70 people in parts of south London have been forced to self-isolate
- Some 44 cases of South African variant were found in Wandsworth and Lambeth
- Department of Health is urging people in those areas to take Covid-19 tests
Ruth Hutt said there was a risk the mutant strain was spreading in the community
Residents of two South London boroughs said they were unable to celebrate the easing of lockdown restrictions after being urged to undergo PCR testing for the South African coronavirus variant.
Just hours after boisterous celebrations across English cities following the partial reopening of pubs and restaurants, hundreds of people queued patiently on Tuesday morning at special surge testing centres in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth.
More than 70 people in the two boroughs are being forced to self isolate after contracting the South African with all local residents instructed to get tested.
There were also long queues at Lambeth Town Hall and other sites in neighbouring Wandsworth.
Residents waited patiently at Brockwell Park’s surge testing centre for more than an hour as the long queue snaked its way along a hill overlooking the capital.
Ruth Clarke, 23 told MailOnline: ‘I was drinking outside a local pub on Monday night and was looking forward to going out for a meal tonight. Then I heard about this South African variant and thought I’d better get tested.
‘It’s taken the shine off the easing of the lockdown and ruined my plans. I was hoping that things were returning to normal but we can’t seem to get rid of coronavirus. It’s like a monkey on our backs.’
More than 70 people in Wandsworth and Lambeth are being forced to self-isolate after reportedly contracting the South African variant that could weaken the vaccine
People stand socially distanced as they queue to enter to take a Covid test at a mobile novel coronavirus testing centre in Brockwell Park in south London
Fitness instructor Deleoy Smith, 36 said: ‘Just when we had some good news about shops and restaurants reopening we now get hit with the South African variant. When will this ever stop.
‘Of course it’s made me nervous about going out. I was looking forward to going for a drink tonight with some pals but don’t think I’ll bother until I get my test result.’
Raymond Campbell, 29 who had taken a day off work to get a test said: ‘It feels as if the whole country is celebrating but not us.
‘I was planning to go into the West End of London tonight for a drink after seeing the party atmosphere there on the news. But this South African strain has got me worried again so I won’t bother.’
Officials revealed that a second testing site is to be set up at Brockwell Park on Wednesday to cope with the huge demand.
Scores of people queued outside Lambeth Town Hall where testing capacity is also set to be increased over the coming days.
Irene Sullivan, 67 who had just had a test said: ‘Having the South African strain in our area is terrible news, especially for young people in our area.
It came after everyone in Lambeth and Wandsworth was today urged to book a coronavirus test after a cluster of the troublesome South African variant was spotted in the two London boroughs.
Public Health England revealed last night up to 74 cases of the mutant strain were discovered in the council areas, in what officials called a 'significant' outbreak.
Health chiefs have now asked anyone over the age of 11 who lives in, works in, or travels through either borough to get tested. The variant, known as B.1.351, is of concern because it is feared it may be able to partially evade existing vaccines.
Dr Ruth Hutt, director of public health for Lambeth Council, insisted officials were 'fairly confident' most cases had been found.
But she added there was a risk cases of the variant had already spilled over into the wider community. A cluster of infections was picked up in a care home.
Dr Hutt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that residents of the two boroughs can still enjoy the easing of lockdown — but urged them to do so 'safely'.
'It is a really good opportunity now to mobilise all this testing just to check we don’t have any further cases of this variant in either Lambeth or Wandsworth,' she said.
Testing volunteers are pictured at the make-shift swabbing site in Brockwell Park this morning
The Department of Health has said 44 confirmed Covid-19 cases have been found predominantly in Wandsworth and Lambeth (pictured, Lambeth town hall)
Dr Hutt added that 'a lot' of the cases were picked up through asymptomatic testing, saying it was proof that there were 'really good testing processes in place'.
She said: 'What we want to do is a wider testing across the public of anybody who doesn’t have symptoms to check there aren’t further cases out there that we may have missed.'
Ministers have been fighting to stop the mutant variant from spreading rapidly. More than 540 cases have already been spotted in Britain.
Surge testing has been used in dozens of areas where the variant has been detected. Travellers are also asked to quarantine, in an attempt to stop cases being imported.
Surge PCR testing is available for people aged 11 and over who live, work or travel through these boroughs.
PHE revealed yesterday there were 44 confirmed cases of the variant in the areas, and 30 probably cases linked to these individuals.
The chief medical adviser for NHS Test and Trace, Dr Susan Hopkins, said the clusters were 'significant'.
'It's really important people in the local area play their part in stopping any further spread within the local community,' she added.
'Around one in three people with Covid don't show any symptoms.
'By taking part you can protect yourselves and your loved ones and help us identify any possible new cases that would otherwise be missed, preventing further transmission and saving lives.'
The B.1.351 strain has three key mutations on its spike protein which help it 'hide' from the immune system, known as E484K, N501Y and K417N.
Covid uses its spike to latch onto human cells and the current crop of vaccines have been designed to train people's bodies to recognise that protein.
But any deformities make it harder for the immune system to spot and flush it out, allowing the virus to take hold.
No10's scientific advisers fear the South African variant — which has yet to take hold in the UK — may make the current crop of vaccines around 30 per cent less effective.
Analysis by SAGE found the strain can cause up to a 10-fold decrease in the effectiveness of antibodies in vaccinated or previously infected people.
While antibodies are not the only part of the immune response against Covid — white blood cells also help — they play a crucial role in fighting off the infection.
Nonetheless, experts are still confident the jab is strong enough to protect the vast majority of people from falling severely ill with the B.1.351 strain.
South Africa — which has been ravaged by the variant — has already suspended the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine, citing concerns it is not effective enough.
And real-world data from Israel last week suggested the strain may also evade the protection provided by Pfizer's vaccine to some extent.
But separate studies have sought to downplay fears, with one suggesting the Pfizer jab offers 100 per cent protection against the Brazilian and South African variants.
Researchers in Israel compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for Covid, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease.
The variant was found to make up about one per cent of all the Covid cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel's largest health provider Clalit.
But among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, its prevalence rate was eight times higher than those unvaccinated - 5.4 per cent versus 0.7 per cent.
This suggested the jab is less effective against the South African variant, compared with the original Covid and a variant first identified in Britain that has come to comprise nearly all Covid cases in Israel, the researchers said.
'This means that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine's protection,' said Tel Aviv University Professor Adi Stern.
The research cautioned, however, that the study only had a small sample size of people infected with the variant because of its rarity in Israel.
They also said the research was not intended to deduce overall jab effectiveness against any variant, since it only looked at people who had already tested positive for Covid.
Some previous studies have indicated that the Pfizer shot was less potent against B.1.351 variant than against other variants of Covid, but still offered robust defence.
It comes as England's Covid vaccination roll-out was expanded to over-45s today.
But the NHS website for booking appointments crashed just moments after the drive was officially opened up to younger adults.
Users trying to get a jab were told: 'The NHS site is currently experiencing technical difficulties. We are working to resolve these issues. Thank you for your patience.'
Other users reported being placed in a queue with a holding screen which read: 'You are in a queue. Lots of people [are] trying to book an appointment.'
Health chiefs have moved on to the next stage of the campaign because No10 hit its April 15 goal of offering everyone in the top nine priority groups their first dose three days ahead of schedule.
But shortly after the site crashed, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi tweeted that the problem had been 'fixed'.
Moderna's vaccine is also being dished out in England from today. But only 20 sites will get supplies of the US company's jab this week, as supply trickles in at around 150,000 a week.
Ministers have bought 17million doses of Moderna's vaccine, which is the third to be added to the NHS' 'armoury', alongside jabs from Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Moderna's jab — as well as leftover supplies of AstraZeneca and Pfizer that haven't been reserved for second doses — will be used to move on to the next phase of the roll-out.
Boris Johnson hailed the 'hugely significant milestone' in the race to inoculate the country, as he said the Government would 'move forward' on its next goal of inviting every adult for a vaccine by the end of July.
Despite moving on to the next phase of the roll-out, parts of England have still only vaccinated half of citizens over the age of 50.
Some areas of the country have stormed ahead and managed to reach more than 96 per cent of people in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and above, exceeding Number 10's ambitions.
But others have been sluggish for months, with large sections of their middle-aged and elderly populations still unprotected against Covid.
Official data analysed by MailOnline shows that 36 areas of the country have given a Covid jab to fewer than 60 per cent of people in the high-risk age groups.
London has had the least successful rollout so far and is home to six of the 10 lowest uptake areas.
Official data show that 36 areas have given a Covid jab to less than 60 per cent of people in the high-risk age groups. London has a large proportion of the worst-performing areas
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