Two doses of vaccines either from Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer are over 80% effective in preventing infection from the transmission of the B1.617.2 variant, which was first identified in India, a new UK government study has reportedly found.

Serum Institute of India is producing the Oxford/AstraZeneca two-dose vaccines as well as Covidshield, which is being administered among the adults in India to protect against COVID 19.

According to the UK findings which are based on data from Public Health England (PHE) have revealed that the two doses provide 87 % protection from the B.117 variant, first discovered in the Kent region of England, and is considered highly transmissible.

According to ‘The Telegraph’ newspaper, the latest study’s findings were presented to a meeting of the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) this week.

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Earlier this week, the latest PHE statistics revealed that the case numbers of the B1.617.2 variant had risen by 2,111 over the past week to hit 3,424 cases across the country.

Dr. Jeffrey Barrett, director of COVID-19 genomics at the Sanger Institute, told the BBC, “I think it’s clearly growing, which anyone can see from the numbers as they are reported week by week.”

Talking about the rate of transmissibility of the variant of concern (VOC) first detected in India, Dr. Barrett said, “If I had to put a guess today it would be 20 or 30% rather than 50% (more infectious than the Kent variant). But there is still uncertainty, 50% might be a reasonable worst-case scenario.”

Meanwhile, in the Yorkshire region of England, PHE officials are closely monitoring a variant under investigation (VUI) which is showing high transmissibility.

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National Health Service (NHS) has further expanded its vaccination programme and announced that it will open bookings for people aged 32 and 33, adding to the over-34s cohort, from Saturday. NHS England said, ” the third expansion of eligibility in just one week comes as over four in 10 adults have now had both jabs.”

“Only days after we extended the offer of a vaccine to 34 and 35-year-olds, we are now rolling out the invite to 32 and 33-year-olds – an incredible step forward in the biggest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history,” said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

“This is truly a testament to the heroic work of our amazing NHS and care staff, volunteers, and local authorities across the country who have helped deliver over 50 million jabs at lightning speed across England, keeping us on track to offer a vaccine to everyone by July,” he said.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that they are ramping up testing and genome sequencing of sewage and wastewater in the drive to track down all variants of COVID 19, including the B1.617.2 variant.

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A new laboratory in Exeter, south-west England, opened last month is dedicated to analysing wastewater, making it one of the biggest wastewater processing labs in the world. Increased genomic sequencing of sewage samples is expected to provide more clues to where variants of concern may be circulating undetected in communities. It can pick up evidence of variants from infected people and continue to monitor sewage after surge testing has ended in an area.

Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency Dr. Jenny Harries said that sequencing wastewater samples provides an additional detection system for variants of concern and enables us to respond more effectively to outbreaks and protect citizens. “This innovative programme supports the work of Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace to help us understand where the virus may be circulating undetected,” she added.

From around 500 different locations in England, the wastewater samples are taken and sent to the laboratory at Exeter Science park. Environment Agency scientists analyze the samples to quantify the amount of COVID-19 present.

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Dr Andrew Engeli, Programme Lead at the Joint Biosecurity Centre said, “as infections fall and we head out of national restrictions, analysing wastewater to detect variants early on is important to help local authorities and NHS Test and Trace act quickly to stop variants from spreading in communities.”

According to the experts, without the need to rely on individuals coming forward for swab tests, this kind of monitoring in a catchment area is able to pinpoint outbreaks to smaller areas and neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, there are also pilots analysing the wastewater from specific institutions, such as within the food supply chain and prisons.