Copyright: PA Media
As we have reported, health authorities in the London borough of Wandsworth and Lambeth are appealing to people to be tested, even if they have no symptoms, after cases of the South African variant were found in the area.
Experts are concerned that this variant, along with a few others, could potentially process the protection that vaccines provide.
Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said he was concerned about the news of the outbreak.
“It has always been one of my nightmare scenarios, that, just as we were so little encouraged to put a tone in the water of unlocking, something like this would happen,” Prof Altmann told BBC Radio 4’s PM program said.
“It can really make our plans worse if we get them out of control.”
Prof Altmann said he felt the response was good – but “there is so little room for error”.
“You just have to miss a handful of cases and have them rioting through London, and then you’re back where we were in January, February 2020 with a whole new outbreak.”
Asked if he believes the borders of the UK are too relaxed, the professor said that we should “be a little more like the countries like Vietnam and South Korea” which have very strict border restrictions.
Asked if he found it strange that people in areas like Lambeth were still going to the bar, he said, “It does in a way.”