Infections expert warns of summer Covid increase

Prof David Strain said data showed Covid rates in the South West were likely to increase over the summer

A leading UK infections expert has warned people in Devon and Cornwall to take Covid-19 precautions this summer.

Prof David Strain, from the University of Exeter's Medical School, said Covid rates in the South West were likely to increase over the summer holidays as more people came to the area and mixed with the population.

It comes as a new group of variants of Covid have emerged, collectively nicknamed as FLiRT.

Prof Strain said the Covid Medicines Delivery Unit (CMDU) in Exeter was running a "very active service" and "all the indicators say numbers were going up."

'Good barometer'

He said one of the ways data could be gathered on the increase in Covid cases was from high-risk patients contacting the CMDU.

"We are still running a very active service for many people who are vulnerable or who, if they caught Covid, would get a deterioration of other illnesses," he said.

"We see our referrals going up and that is a really good barometer of what is going on in society.

"These people who are very aware of the risks contact us.

"Our referrals, when they go up from two a day to 20 a day, we know there is more Covid out there."

Prof David Strain said Covid referrals were on the rise

Prof Strain said the "new variant" and "waning immunity" were also contributing factors to Covid spreading in the region.

"[FLiRT] escaped the immunity that antibodies from the initial vaccine has given us, which means, unless you had the updated vaccine in autumn last year, you probably don't have the antibodies that will reduce your risk of catching it," he explained.

The virologist added the old vaccine was "still giving really good protection against severe illness" but that protection was "starting to wane".

He said he was not "suggesting we need to be back in masks" but advised people who were feeling unwell to "get a test and try not to go out if you can".

'Rates go up'

Prof Strain said: "In many regions of the country, Covid rates fall in the holidays.

"Paradoxically, we have seen in the last couple of summers rates go up here because of more mixing and people coming down, bringing virus from all over the country.

"Particularly the more vulnerable, mature adults are now presenting to hospital with Covid very similar to what we were seeing after the first and second waves. All the indicators say numbers are going up.

"I think all of us know somebody who has tested positive recently, and that's only the people that are testing.

"The big issue is that we still don't know how many people have got Covid without any symptoms at all."