Covid-19: UK variant confirmed on Isle of Man

The patient had visited the UK for medical reasons last year and self-isolated on return

A new strain of Covid-19 that has caused a rapid spread of the virus in the UK has been confirmed on the Isle of Man, the chief minister said.

Howard Quayle said the strain was found in a resident who had travelled to the UK for a medial appointment last year.

The case was not related to recent clusters on the island and there had been no onward transmission, he added.

Samples from Covid-19 patients are sent to a specialist laboratory in Liverpool for analysis.

Mr Quayle said the individual had self-isolated after returning to the island and health officials did "not believe there would have been any onward transmission".

The results of samples from the first two-case cluster, which was announced on New Year's Eve, were "expected towards the middle of next week", he added.

Henrietta Ewart said no changes would be made to the approach to control the virus

The new variant has been shown to spread at a rate of up to 70% higher than the initial strain and has been linked to a steep rise in infection rates in the UK.

Director of Public Health Henrietta Ewart said confirmation of it in a Manx patient would make "no difference" to the island's approach to controlling the virus.

However, she said the increased infection rate it could cause was "another reason" for everyone to be "particularly vigilant" to protect the island's health services, as everything on the island was "on a much smaller scale".

There was "very little buffering capacity" at Noble's Hospital and it would "take very little to destabilise our health and care services here", she said.

Mr Quayle said the government's objective continued to be to "obliterate the virus".

"It makes no difference what variations of the virus reach our shores, our outbreak response is the same regardless because our strategy is one of elimination," he said.