Highly contagious UK Covid-19 variant trigger spike in Covid-19 cases in SL

by Suresh Perera

The alarming spike in Covid-19 positive cases in Sri Lanka over the past few days could be associated with the widespread transmissibility of the highly contagious, mutant viral strain first identified in the United Kingdom, a senior medical official said.

There is every possibility that the virulent variant of the contagion may have sneaked into Sri Lanka before flights from Britain were suspended on December 23, 2020, says Prof. Neelika Malavige of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Sri Jayewardenepura University.

“The British Coronavirus variant has a higher transmissibility level, and that may be the reason for the surge, with positive cases peaking to almost one thousand in Sri Lanka on Thursday”, she noted.

When dealing with a highly contagious virus, numbers are bound to spiral as it spreads faster within the community. That’s why there should be a collective effort to ward off the threat”, she stressed.

The Sri Jayewardenepura University announced last week that the latest variant of B.1.1.7 lineage was found in Colombo, Avissawella, Biyagama and Vavuniya.

The Covid-19 British variant has already been found in 90 countries, Prof. Malavige said. “I believe the strain would have found its way to Sri Lanka around mid December last year before the British health authorities discovered it and alerted the world”.

The biggest threat of transmission of the virus is not so much on an individual-to-individual basis but through social and public gatherings, which leads to ‘super spreading’, she explained. “This kicks the balance”.

People should be mindful and avoid gatherings to help prevent community spread of the pandemic, the microbiologist remarked.

As the jab is efficient against the new British variant, the only answer to the raging virus is vaccinating more and more people as early as possible, she suggested.

There is a big demand for the jab but the limiting factor is the supply. It is true that the government has ordered more consignments of the vaccine to meet the demand, but it does not mean that stocks will arrive tomorrow,

The strategy should be to intensify the inoculation drive against the pandemic, which has impacted adversely on the country in economic, social and psychological terms, the Professor further said. “The temporary closure of schools have disrupted the education of children”.

Prof. Malavige said that Sri Lanka has done far better in managing the pandemic than Europe and other western countries, where thousands of people have succumbed to the contagion. Patients with co-morbidity such as diabetes and kidney diseases face a bigger risk in terms of mortality.

Describing Covid-19 as an “unseen enemy”, the expert on microbiology recalled that the virus was initially detected in Sri Lanka around January 2020. However, within a year, a jab was accessed to inoculate the people. This was done at super speed.

She said the health sector has gone that extra mile to control the transmission of the virus. However, without a collective effort, there’s no way of overcoming the challenge. Therefore, public support through adherence to specific health guidelines should be an integral part of the thrust to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

With the new viral strain raising concern and forcing a new national lockdown in the UK, experts have warned it may be up to 70 percent more infectious and about 30 percent more lethal than other variants.

This has led to global panic, the international media reported in the backdrop of Sharon Peacock, director of the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium, cautioning that “having ripped through the UK and rippled outwards, the Kent variant was now on course to sweep the world, in all probability”.

In Sri Lanka, Covid-19 related deaths shot up to 383, with 74,049 infections as of last Friday. The Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit reported that 66,778 patients had recovered from the virus so far.