UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that the search for an unidentified person who tested positive for the Brazilian-linked variant of the coronavirus has now narrowed to 379 households in south east England
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that the search for an unidentified person who tested positive for the Brazilian-linked variant of the coronavirus has now narrowed to 379 households in south east England.
"Our search has narrowed from the whole country down to 379 households in the southeast of England, and we're contacting each one," Hancock told Parliament.
It is understood that the person who tested positive to the concerning P1 Brazilian variant used a home testing kit between February 12-13 but failed to complete his contact details in the registration form, so health authorities appealed to anyone without a COVID-19 test result to come forward.
According to Hancock, officials managed to identify the batch of home tests used by the unidentified person, adding that the remaining five cases that tested positive to the variant first discovered in Brazil have been contacted and told to isolate at their homes.
The arrival of the six cases of the Brazilian variant in the UK prompted criticism from opposition lawmakers who questioned the effectiveness of the mandatory hotel quarantine system for passengers arriving from 35 red-listed countries.
Labour lawmaker Yvonne Cooper, whose party has advocated for imposing hotel quarantine on all arrivals and not only for people coming from South America, Panama, Portugal and most part of southern Africa, said that "these gaps in the system will let more new variant cases spread."
Philippa Whitford, from the Scottish National Party, said that the fact the Brazilian variant had been found in the UK demonstrate how travelers from a red-listed country can avoid the hotel quarantine system by separating out the legs of their journeys.
