Covid 19: Slight increase in Indian variant cases in NI

More cases of the Indian variant have been identified in NI

There has been a slight increase in the number of Indian variant cases in Northern Ireland.

BBC News NI understands there are now 16 cases. Last week 12 cases were confirmed.

The Public Health Agency said it would not comment until the official figures are published on Thursday.

While the Indian variant is thought to be more transmissible, at this stage there is no increase in the number of people being hospitalised.

While small, the increase in cases is worth noting as scientists believe it is likely to become the more transmissible strain of the virus.

As official figures lag 10 days behind, sources have told BBC News NI that the actual figure is likely to be higher.

It is understood that a majority of cases are linked to travel. At the moment there is no evidence of widespread community transmission.

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With plans for society to open up further in the coming weeks, officials hope that will buy Northern Ireland time to vaccinate more of those in the younger age bands as they are likely to be socialising in pubs and restaurants.

There continues to be a lot of unknowns about the Indian variant, including to what extent it is more transmissible and if at all it can evade the vaccine.

The jury is still out on the latter.

Virologists have advised that if the vaccine is slightly less effective against the Indian variant, there are concerns that it could have more of an impact on those people who still have to receive their first dose.

There is a more worrying picture developing in Bolton where Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the majority of those in hospital there - a hotspot for the Indian variant - were unvaccinated.

It comes as England moves to stage three of the government's roadmap for easing lockdown on Monday, with socialising in groups of six indoors as well as some international travel to be allowed.

Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed with Mr Hancock that in the areas of England where the Indian variant is surging, the people who are being admitted to hospital are patients who had not been vaccinated.

'Overcrowded housing'

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, he was asked if there was evidence that the Indian variant spreads more easily that previous variants.

"It's always a bit difficult with this because on the one hand, when you see a variant increasing rapidly, it could be because it's intrinsically more transmissable - it's something to do with the genetics of the mutations in the virus," Prof McKee explained.

"Or it could be that it just happens to have got into a community where the virus is spreading rapidly because people are living in overcrowded housing, so disentangling that can be quite difficult."

He said there were areas of the UK which have been struggling to keep the virus under control since the beginning of the pandemic.