How concerning is the new Covid variant?

Should we worry about AY.4.2, the new Covid variant that has been in the news this week? The descendent of the Delta variant — what we once called the Indian variant — was first identified in July. It has since grown so much that in the week beginning 27 September, it accounted for 6 per cent of all new cases in Britain — and is on an ‘upwards trajectory’, according to the UK Health Security Agency. It has been reported as being as much as 10 to 15 per cent more transmissible than the original Delta variant, which was estimated to be seven times as transmissible as the first variant detected in Wuhan.

The prospect of new variants coming to Britain was used to justify the continuing restrictions on international travel

It wasn’t long ago that the battle against Covid appeared to be undermined by the constant evolution of new variants. Following the emergence of the Kent, South African and two Brazilian variants late last year and the Indian variant in April (all since renamed by the World Health Organisation in an attempt not to stigmatise the countries where they were first identified) it seemed only a matter of time before others, possibly more virulent or transmissible, would arrive.