Arrival of feared mutated British coronavirus ‘not linked to cluster’

A new strain of coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in Britain has been detected in Australia, but is not connected to Sydney’s northern beaches outbreak.

Britain's chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance. Picture: AFP

A new strain of coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in Britain has been detected in Australia, but is not connected to Sydney’s northern beaches outbreak.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant confirmed the strain — which 70 per cent more infectious than others, according to British authorities — had been detected in two travellers from London in hotel quarantine.

“We’ve had a couple of UK returned travellers with those particular mutations,” Dr Chant said.

“Can I be very clear that the Avalon cluster strain does not have those mutations.”

Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said the variant first occurred in September either in London — where it was identified on September 21 — or in the nearby county of Kent, where it was found a day earlier.

By mid-November, 28 per cent of cases in London were attributable to the new variant.

In the week starting December 9, it was responsible for 62 per cent of cases in the capital. The mutations do not appear to make any symptoms of the virus more severe, and are not expected to disrupt the ability of vaccines to provide immunity.

The new variant of SARS-CoV-2 has changes to the spike protein on the surface of the virus that appear to increase the protein’s ability to cling onto and enter human cells. These changes allow the mutation, known as N501Y, to spread 70 per cent faster than earlier versions of the virus, early analysis suggests.

Scientists have identified 23 genetic changes, an unusually large number, some of which are associated with changes in the proteins the virus makes.

Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases specialist at the Australian National University, said one of the changes to the spike protein in the variant strain is known as a “69-70 deletion”. The other difference is a mutation that affects the receptor binding ­domain of the spike protein.

“That’s the same as a change that was seen in the Danish minks which got infected,” Dr Senanayake said. “That was associated with a reduced antibody response in people who got that strain.

“They’ve talked about it being more transmissible. However, my understanding is that is based on modelling data and I don’t think they have necessary got laboratory data where they’ve tested in the laboratory.

“And even if you have tested in the laboratory, showing that in the laboratory setting doesn’t necessarily translate that way in real life.”

But federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said there were “thousands” of mutations of the novel coronavirus.

“There’s no definite evidence at the moment that this is a significant change,” he said.

Transmission of the coronavirus in the southeast of Britain has increased in recent weeks, something that may be associated with the mutated strain, but could also be related to pre- Christmas travel.

“The infectious agent has changed a little; there are a lot of people moving around in southeast England until this recent lockdown, and it’s also winter,” Professor Kelly said.

“So those all three are important elements to consider.”