No10's scientists have called for the introduction of vaccine passports and work-from-home guidance to counter the spread of the super-mutant Omicron Covid variant, advice published today shows.
Papers released by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and subgroup Nervtag warned the highly evolved strain could cause a surge in cases 'similar or even larger' than previous waves.
The expert panel admitted that the jury is still out on whether the variant will cause more or less severe illness, with conflicting reports coming out from the epicentre in South Africa.
In the minutes from SAGE's 97th meeting on Covid held on Monday, the group said the emergence of Omicron meant bringing in vaccine passports and the return of work-from-home guidance were 'highly relevant'.
The meeting, chaired by England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty and Chief Science Officer Sir Patrick Vallance, concluded that the strain's infectiousness was undisputed but evidence of its effect on vaccines is still murky.
In a separate meeting of SAGE modelling subgroup Spi-M, scientists also warned that coronavirus would likely cause misery in Britain for a further five years at least before becoming endemic — at which point it would be weakened to the point of a common cold thanks to jabs and natural immunity.
They said continued monitoring and 'active' measures would be required until 2026, although they did not stipulate what these may involve.
But they conceded that despite the threat posed by, there is not enough evidence yet to suggest its 32 mutations making it significantly more vaccine evasive. REF ABOVE.
Scientist won't know the full scale of Omicron's infectiousness, vaccine evasiveness or lethality for another two or three weeks, when they can isolate the virus in a lab and study its biology and test it against the blood of previous-infected or vaccinated people.
But the variant appears to now be spreading domestically in England even though only a few dozen cases have officially been confirmed.
Official data shows that the proportion of positive Covid tests with a mutation synonymous with the highly-evolved strain is on the rise. Like Alpha, or the 'Kent variant', Omicron has a specific alteration which means it can be detected through PCR tests without the need for genomic sequencing.
The proportion of positive tests in England with this so-called S-gene dropout has risen from 0.1 per cent in the past week to 0.3 per cent, the equivalent of one in 330. Scientists said the increase in S-gene dropouts suggests there could be hundreds of Omicron cases that are flying under the radar currently.
Meanwhile, a major British study in booster vaccines found that both Moderna and Pfizer triple the level of T cells in double-jabbed people, which the scientists said made them confident boosters will give very high protection against Omicron. Some 42 cases have been confirmed in Britain so far.
It comes as public health officials in Gauteng, the epicentre of South Africa’s outbreak, estimate the province’s R rate has surged from less than one to 3.5 in just a month — suggesting that every 10 infected people are passing the virus onto 35 others.
In the minutes from SAGE's 97th meeting on Covid held on Monday, the group said the emergence of Omicron meant bringing in vaccine passports and the return of work-from-home guidance were 'highly relevant'
Papers released by subgroup Nervtag warned the highly evolved strain could cause a surge in cases 'similar or even larger' than previous waves
In a separate meeting of SAGE modelling subgroup Spi-M, scientists also warned that coronavirus would likely cause misery in Britain for a further five years at least before becoming endemic
Official data shows that the proportion of positive Covid tests with a mutation synonymous with the highly-evolved strain is on the rise. Like Alpha, or the 'Kent variant', Omicron has a specific alteration which means it can be detected through PCR tests without the need for genomic sequencing. The proportion of positive tests in England with this so-called S-gene dropout has risen from 0.1 per cent in the past week to 0.3 per cent, the equivalent of one in 330. Scientists said the increase in S-gene dropouts suggests there could be hundreds of Omicron cases that are flying under the radar currently
Covid booster vaccines are likely to offer good protection against the Omicron variant, experts behind a Government-funded new study say. Graph shows: The number of T-cells per 10^6 peripheral blood mononuclear cells in people who have had two doses of the AstraZeneca after a third dose of the Pfizer (red bars) and Moderna (blue bars) vaccines
SAGE said bringing back face coverings in all indoor public settings — including restaurants and bars — remained a 'highly relevant' way of countering the variant.
They said: 'Past SAGE advice on measures to reduce transmission remains highly relevant, including but not limited to advice around ventilation, face coverings, hand hygiene, reducing contacts (e.g. by working from home), vaccination certification, and the importance of effective testing, contact tracing and isolation.'
No10 introduced new rules
