The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: u k
Doctor administering a Covid-19 test.

New Virus Mutation Is ‘Potential Catastrophe’

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Many health officials are being asked whether or not they believe that the new COVID-19 variant that has been spreading rapidly in the U.K. could reduce the efficacy of the vaccines now being distributed. Socoiologist Zeynep Tufekci notes that so far, "many scientists" believe that this variant "will not decrease vaccine efficacy much, if at all." But Tufekci, in an article published by The Atlantic on the last day of 2020, also warns that even if the variant slamming the U.K. doesn't limit the vaccines' efficacy, the variant's arrival is still terrible news.

"A more transmissible variant of COVID-19 is a potential catastrophe in and of itself," explains Tufekci, a native of Istanbul, Turkey who now lives in the United States. "If anything, given the stage in the pandemic we are at, a more transmissible variant is, in some ways, much more dangerous than a more severe variant. That's because higher transmissibility subjects us to a more contagious virus spreading with exponential growth — whereas the risk from increased severity would have increased in a linear manner, affecting only those infected."

Tufekci adds, "Increased transmissibility can wreak havoc in a very, very short time — especially when we already have uncontrolled spread in much of the United States. The short-term implications of all this are significant, and worthy of attention, even as we await more clarity from data. In fact, we should act quickly, especially as we await more clarity — lack of data and the threat of even faster exponential growth argue for more urgency of action."



Some cases of the new COVID-19 variant have already been found in the U.S. And Tufekci stresses that even though this variant doesn't appear to be any more likely to kill the infected person than the familiar COVID-19 strain that has been raging in the U.S., the fact that it is so infectious is major cause for concern.

"Severity increases affect only the infected person," Tufekci explains. "That infection is certainly tragic, and this new variant's lack of increase in severity or lethality thankfully means that it is not a bigger threat to the individual who may get infected. It is, however, a bigger threat to society because it can dramatically change the number of infected people. To put it another way, a small percentage of a very big number can easily be much, much bigger than a big percentage of a small number."

Tufekci notes that according to estimates by scientists, the new COVID-19 variant — which is being called "B117" — is around 50-70% more transmissible than "regular COVID-19." And she stresses that the variant might require even stricter precautions and social distancing measures.

"This uncertainty in understanding the variant's exact mechanisms means that we don't know if our existing tools — masks, distancing and disinfecting — are as effective as they were compared with an identical scenario with the regular variant," Tufekci writes. "To be clear, the variant is still a respiratory virus; so, the basic tools will not change, and they will all continue to work. In fact, they have become more important, but we may need to be stricter — less time indoors, better masks, better ventilation, more disinfection of high-touch surfaces — to get the same bang for our protective buck. It may be a small difference, or not. We don't know. We won't know for a while."

Ex-London Mayor Upends Race For UK Prime Minister By Quitting

Ex-London Mayor Upends Race For UK Prime Minister By Quitting

Former London mayor Boris Johnson, runaway bookmakers’ favorite to become Britain’s prime minister, abruptly pulled out of the race on Thursday in a shock announcement less than a week after leading the campaign to pull the country out of the EU.

Johnson’s announcement, to audible gasps from a roomful of journalists and supporters, was the biggest political surprise since Prime Minister David Cameron quit on Friday, the morning after losing the referendum on British membership in the bloc.

Johnson’s withdrawal makes Theresa May, the interior minister who backed remaining in the EU, the new favorite to succeed Cameron.

She announced her own candidacy earlier on Thursday, promising to deliver the EU withdrawal voters had demanded, despite having campaigned for the other side.

“Brexit means Brexit,” she told a news conference.

“The campaign was fought, the vote was held, turnout was high and the public gave their verdict. There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door and no second referendum.”

Johnson, whose support of the Leave cause was widely seen as delivering its victory, saw his bid suddenly crumble after his Brexit campaign ally, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, withdrew his backing and announced his own leadership bid.

“I must tell you, my friends, you who have waited faithfully for the punchline of this speech, that having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me,” Johnson said at the news conference in a London luxury hotel.

Supporters in parliament, who had gathered expecting to hear him formally announce his candidacy, were left stunned.

Gove, a close friend of Cameron’s despite differences with the prime minister over Europe, had previously said he would back Johnson. But in an article in the Spectator magazine on Thursday, Gove wrote that he had come “reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead”.

Conservative lawmakers said Johnson may have been undone by supporters of Cameron exacting revenge for his decision to defy the prime minister and back the Leave campaign.

“He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword,” said one lawmaker, describing internal party conflict on condition of anonymity. The lawmaker told Reuters that Johnson had realized his bid would fail after lawmakers defected from his campaign overnight.

Johnson became the latest political casualty of a civil war in the ruling party unleashed by Cameron’s decision to hold the referendum on membership in the EU, an issue that divided the Conservatives for decades and now divides the country.

JOKEY MANNER

Johnson, known for a jokey public persona and a mop of unkempt blonde hair, became a popular national figure during eight years as London mayor, and used his charm to aid the Leave cause after deciding only late in the day to push for Brexit.

Several leading Conservatives questioned whether Johnson had the gravitas to run tough talks to mend the broken relationship with the EU and drive the country’s future on the global stage.

In an article in the Times newspaper, May took aim at Johnson’s persona by saying government was not “a game”.

She also appealed to the working classes, many of whom voted to leave the EU in protest at an elite who, they say, failed to cushion their lives from increasing competition.

One senior Conservative lawmaker, Crispin Blunt, said Gove had probably withdrawn his support because Johnson refused to promise him a job.

Britain’s new prime minister faces a huge task to unite the party and country, and persuade the EU to offer some kind of deal — balancing the desire expressed by voters to reduce immigration with London’s hope to maintain access to EU markets.

In the week since the referendum, Johnson had published a newspaper column promising curbs on immigration and continued access to the European common market, a position European officials say is untenable.

Conservative Party lawmakers will narrow a field of five leadership candidates down to two, and party members will then vote on which of them will become party leader and presumptive prime minister.

In addition to May and Gove, the candidates are Stephen Crabb, the cabinet minister responsible for pensions, Liam Fox, a right-wing former defense secretary, and Andrea Leadsom, a minister in the energy department.

Aware of the uncertainty in Britain, the party has said it is moving as quickly as it can to replace its leader and would do so by Sept. 9.

The main opposition Labour Party also faces a potential leadership battle, with lawmakers having voted no confidence in left-wing party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who refuses to step down.

The vacuum at the top of both major political parties has added to the political uncertainty at a time when Britain faces its biggest constitutional change since the dissolution of its empire in the decades after World War Two.

 

(additional reporting by Paul Sandle, Estelle Shirbon, William Schomberg, Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Peter Graff)

Photo: Former mayor of London and Vote Leave campaigner Boris Johnson speaks during a visit to Reid Steel on a campaign stop in Christchurch, Britain, May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Darren Staples

United States Says No Plan To Raise Terror Alert Level After British Move

United States Says No Plan To Raise Terror Alert Level After British Move

Washington (AFP) — The White House said Friday that it had no plans to raise terror alert levels in the United States, despite Britain’s decision to raise its threat level to “severe.”

“I don’t anticipate at this point there is a plan to change that level,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, when asked whether Washington anticipated issuing a similar warning to Americans over a perceived threat from Islamic State operatives.

AFP Photo

Interested in world news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Britain Raises Security Threat From ‘Substantial’ To ‘Severe’

Britain Raises Security Threat From ‘Substantial’ To ‘Severe’

By Christine Mai-Duc, Los Angeles Times

Responding to recent events in Syria and Iraq, Britain has upgraded its security threat level to “severe,” the government announced Friday, meaning a terrorist attack there is “highly likely.”

The nation’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, an independent body, made the determination based on its latest intelligence, officials said.

This is the first time in three years that the U.K. has been at such a heightened security threat level.

The announcement of the increased threat level cited terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq that are “planning attacks against the West,” saying some plots are likely to involve Europeans that have traveled to the region to take part in the fighting.

In a news conference, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said citizens were “shocked and sickened” by the murder of American journalist James Foley, and by revelations that the terrorist who killed him was likely British.

“It was clear evidence… that this is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore,” Cameron told reporters. “The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat our own security here in the U.K.”

Cameron said the British government thinks that at least 500 people have traveled from Britain to fight in Syria in Iraq, blaming the violence of the Islamic State on “poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism.”

“We cannot appease this ideology, we have to confront it at home and abroad,” Cameron said.

In a statement, Home Secretary Theresa May said there was no specific intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent.

Mark Rowley, the U.K.’s head of counterterrorism, urged people to report any suspicious activity to the police, and said police would be increasing patrol levels and implementing other security measures by Friday afternoon.

AFP Photo

Interested in world news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!