NEW Covid variants being tracked by international health authorities will be ‘on our shores soon enough’ but are not yet a cause for alarm, according to Jersey’s public health director.
However, Professor Peter Bradley said there was a need to be ‘watchful’ and remain ‘very vigilant’ following a slight increase in cases and hospital admissions in the UK.
New variants ‘Eris’ and, more recently, BA.2.86 – or ‘Pirola’ – are both being monitored by the World Health Organisation.
Although the strains could be more transmissible, experts have said they do not appear to be more dangerous.
As of Tuesday morning, there were no Covid-related hospital admissions in Jersey.
Professor Bradley said: ‘I don’t think there is any cause for alarm at the moment, because even though we are seeing these variants we are not seeing severe disease. We need to be watchful though because when we look at the genetic make-up of the variants, there is quite a big difference to what we have seen previously – that is where the international concern has come from.’
He added: ‘In the UK they have had a slight increase in the number of admissions to hospital, so it is really sensible for us to be very vigilant at the moment. We would anticipate that there are a lot of things that are going to protect our Island.
‘Many people have been infected previously and obviously Islanders have come forward and been vaccinated, so even though these new variants may cause infection, those vaccinations and previous infections should protect the vast majority of people from more severe disease.’
He noted that the new variants and their infection patterns were currently subject to international scrutiny by scientists.
‘Largely we can anticipate that we are following a pattern that is very similar to the UK, because that is always what has happened for us. So we know that those variants will be on our shores soon enough because these things do tend to spread quite quickly,’ he added.
Details for the Island’s autumn Covid-vaccine booster campaign are yet to be confirmed, but will be available on the gov.je website when they are published.
Professor Bradley said that the consensus among UK-based and international health authorities was that vaccinations would still be ‘extremely likely’ to prevent severe disease, despite the new variants.
‘We will be in a similar position to what we have had before, where we are not saying it will stop infection completely but what it will do is stop people becoming ill – that is obviously the most important thing.’
Although the supply of free lateral-flow tests – introduced in January 2021 – has come to an end, Professor Bradley said it was still ‘really sensible’ for Islanders to test themselves if they get symptoms.
‘If you have symptoms, stay at home, make sure you think about your vulnerable relatives, wash your hands – all of those things are good to do.’
