EMA approves Pfizer BioNTech vaccine
UK borders close
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55391289
France closed its border with the UK for 48 hours
Dover closed
Kent Police, Operation Stack
Manston Airport site in Kent, 4,000 lorry park
About 10,000 lorries a day
Unaccompanied freight allowed
Eurotunnel, France
Eurostar, Belgium
Flights from UK suspended to more than 40 countries
Germany, Italy, Belgium, Irish Republic, Turkey, Canada, Switzerland, India, HK, Ireland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia
Cases, + 35,928 + 33,364 = 2,073,511
Deaths, + 362 + 215 = 67, 616
Deaths, + 3,160 (7 days) = 76,287
Matt Hancock, new variant of the virus is getting out of control
London and south-east England
2020 12, N 501 Y mutation
expert reaction new restrictions and the new UK SARS-CoV-2 variant
Asparagine (N) to Tyrosine (Y)
Receptor-binding domain
Replacing other variants
D614G
Aspartate (D) to Glycine (G)
Right place at the right time – founder effect
More contagious
? more virus in upper airway
September, first detection
November, London, about 25% of cases
December, London, over 60% of cases
Where did it come from?
High levels of genomic monitoring in the UK
Has spread from UK to Denmark, Australia, Netherlands
Accumulated number of global mutations, 12,000
Viruses entered the UK 1,300 times
Mink mutation
https://www.cogconsortium.uk/news_item/explainer-sars-cov-2-mutations-the-science-behind-the-mink-case/
Two amino acids deletion (69-70) same as 2020 12
Three amino acid replacements in position 453, 692 and 1229 (Y453F, I692V and M1229I) different to 2020 12
Tracker app
https://covid.joinzoe.com/data#levels-over-time
Official data
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases
Source