Connect with us

Published

on

A new and more infectious version of the Delta variant now accounts for 15% of coronavirus cases in the UK, according to the latest government data.

AY.4.2 is an evolutionary spin-off of the original Delta variant first found in India.

The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) designated it a ‘variant under investigation’ on 20 October.

Data shows it made up 14.7% of sequenced cases in the week ending 6 November and is continuing to grow.

But as AY.4.2 starts to take over, Sky News looks at how the new variant could affect people’s COVID immunity in the run-up to Christmas.

What do we know about AY.4.2?

AY.4.2 is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant.

More on Covid-19

There are currently nine versions of Delta present in the UK.

But government experts have classified AY.4.2 as a ‘variant under investigation’ because it has accounted for a “slowly increasing proportion of cases in the UK” since September.

Imperial College London’s REACT-1 study suggested it could be up to 10% more infectious than Delta, first found in Kent in late 2020. Delta was around 60% more transmissible than Alpha.

Scientists are not sure why it appears to spread more easily.

But the latest UKHSA data suggests vaccines are just as effective against it as they are against Delta – and it could carry a slightly lesser risk of hospitalisation.

The REACT-1 study of 100,000 people between 19 and 5 November also showed only a third of people with AY.4.2 had the classic COVID symptoms of a cough, fever, loss or change in taste and smell – compared to 46% who had the original Delta variant.

Authors of the study said people with the new variant were less likely to show any other symptoms as well.

If I’ve had COVID recently, does a new variant mean I could get it again?

Both vaccines and natural infection offer varying levels of immunity from getting reinfected with COVID-19.

Previous studies have shown getting COVID gives people around 80% protection from getting reinfected within five months.

But there is not yet enough data on AY.4.2 to know how long natural immunity from the new variant might last.

This means that if you have been recently infected with AY.4.2 it is not clear whether you are largely protected from contracting the original Delta variant within the following months.

But if the vaccines are just as effective against it, catching it naturally could offer similar levels of protection, Dr Raghib Ali, of the University of Cambridge’s epidemiology unit, tells Sky News.

“We don’t have reinfection data yet,” he says.

“But what we do have is data that shows no real difference in vaccine effectiveness between AY.4.2 and Delta.

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

“Getting a vaccine induces an immune response that is based on the spike protein.

“And when you get infected naturally you also produce an immune response – so there shouldn’t be much difference.”

But he claims this only applies to people who have been vaccinated with two or three doses.

“In general, if you’ve been infected with Delta and you’ve had both vaccines, you should have good protection from AY.4.2 and vice versa,” he says.

A Harvard study has also showed that people who have had a combination of vaccines and natural infection have “substantially higher antibody responses” than people who have only been vaccinated.

“They have very good levels of protection,” Dr Ali adds.

“Because each time you are exposed to the vaccine or the virus, you develop an immune response.”

‘It’s not a hard shield’

Although most people develop some level of immunity from getting the virus naturally, it is not guaranteed, Dr Deepti Gurdasani warns.

“Neither natural infection nor vaccination should be seen as a hard shield,” the clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University tells Sky News.

“You get more varying levels of immune response from natural infection than you do from vaccination.

“Not everyone who gets infected naturally seroconverts [produces an immune response].”

She also says lower immune responses are more common in people who get no or mild symptoms, as well as children and young people.

“Some don’t produce immune responses at all,” she adds.

“If you have had two doses and a natural infection – you have got some boosted immunity, but the protection you get from both is just a layer – it’s not absolute.”

Boosters, tests and hand washing important for Christmas

As Christmas approaches, with more socialising and case rates still considerably high, experts have warned the UK is facing a tough winter – and the NHS being overwhelmed.

And with immunity waning a few months after getting a second vaccine, both scientists are urging people to get booster jabs if they are eligible.

“There is more and more evidence that this [coronavirus] is a three-dose vaccine,” Dr Gurdasani says.

“Lots of people are at the stage now where they’re three or four-months post-vaccination and are getting breakthrough infections.

“It highlights the importance of boosters and of seeing each thing you do, whether that be a test, wearing a mask or recovering from infection, as a layer of protection – not absolute protection.”

Dr Ali adds: “The most important thing is still to have the vaccine, but it’s also true that the vaccine isn’t 100% effective.

“So if you’re mixing with vulnerable or elderly relatives over Christmas, basic interventions like taking a lateral flow test and washing your hands regularly are still important.”

Continue Reading

UK

Three men jailed for plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen

Published

on

By

Three men jailed for plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen

Three men have been jailed for a combined total of 99 years for plotting to murder a member of a gang that carried out Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery.

Paul Allen, 46, was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.

He was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006.

The former cage fighter was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the raid.

The attack at his home has left him paralysed from the chest down.

Louis Ahearne, 36, Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder Allen but were found guilty last month following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Friday.

Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison and an extra five years on licence, Louis Ahearne was jailed for 33 years, and his sibling Stewart Ahearne – 30 years.

Damage to the kitchen door.
Pic: Met Police/PA
Image:
Damage to the kitchen door. Pic: Met Police/PA

A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police
Image:
A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police

Prosecutors did not give a motive for the murder plot, though they described the victim as a “sophisticated” career criminal.

Detectives said the shooting could seem like “the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster” but added it was actually “horrific criminality” from “hardened organised criminals”.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said she believed the trio “were motivated by a promise of financial gain”.

Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said: “I have no doubt that this agreement to murder Paul Allen involved other people apart from the three of you and that you three were motivated by a promise of financial gain.

“The culpability of each one of you is very high.

“The harm caused to the victim was very serious – indeed, short of killing him it could hardly be more serious. He is currently paralysed and relies on others for every single need.”

The shooting was just the latest act in a long list of criminal deeds. The day before, Kelly and Louise Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers.

A month before that, the trio had stolen more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the Ahearne brothers had been jailed in Switzerland.

Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.

Continue Reading

UK

Claire Chick: Paul Butler jailed for life for murdering Plymouth university lecturer

Published

on

By

Claire Chick: Paul Butler jailed for life for murdering Plymouth university lecturer

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of university lecturer Claire Chick.

Paul Butler was sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years for killing his estranged wife after a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment when he refused to accept their relationship was over.

Ms Chick, 48, was found seriously injured on West Hoe Road in Plymouth just before 9pm on 22 January. She was taken to hospital, but died the next day.

Previously known as Claire Butler, Ms Chick worked at the University of Plymouth.

Paul Antony Butler.
Pic: Devon & Cornwall Police
Image:
Paul Butler has been jailed for murder. Pic: Devon & Cornwall Police


She died after a frenzied attack outside her home – the attack a culmination of months of harassment, stalking and violence at the hands of Butler.

Following her death, Devon and Cornwall Police made a referral to the police watchdog due to previous contact prior to her death.

Jo Martin KC, prosecuting, said Ms Chick had made six statements to the police about Butler and he had been arrested three times.

More on Cornwall

In her final statement to police the day before he killed her outside her own home, she said: “I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house.”

Butler was arrested around 20 miles away in the Liskeard area on 24 January.

He was sentenced on Friday at Plymouth Crown Court, having previously pleaded guilty to murder, and to one charge of possession of a bladed article.

‘I loved Claire’

The family of Ms Chick told the court how her murder left a “huge void” in their lives.

Her eldest daughter, Bethany Hancock-Baxter, described Butler as “evil”.

She said: “I want this evil man to listen to me. I want you to know what you have done to us as a family.

“Despite all the hate I have for you, I cannot bring myself to do what you did to my mum – that’s because I am not evil like you.”

Her sister, Lydia Peers, said Butler was a “parasite”.

After her short-lived marriage to Butler, Ms Chick began a relationship with another man, Paul Maxwell.

Mr Maxwell spoke from the witness box and repeatedly stared at the defendant as he spoke. Butler stared back at him.

“I loved Claire. She was beautiful, funny and kind,” Mr Maxwell said.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

UK

Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is ‘intimidating’

Published

on

By

Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is 'intimidating'

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has told Sky News it’s “intimidating” to be one of those responsible for choosing the next pope.

Vincent Nichols is among four UK cardinals in Rome for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.

Following the funeral, and after nine days of mourning, cardinals from around the world will gather in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to cast their votes, with white smoke announcing to the world when a new pope has been elected.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols with Anna Botting
Image:
Cardinal Vincent Nichols speaks to Sky’s Anna Botting

Cardinal Nichols told Sky’s Anna Botting: “I hope nobody goes into this conclave, as it were, with the sole purpose of wanting to win. I think it’s very important that we go in wanting to listen to each other… It has to be together, trying to sense what God wants next. Not just for the church.”

He described the procession that took Pope Francis to lie in state as “the most moving thing I’ve ever attended here”.

Describing the Pope as a “master of the gesture and the phrase”, he also recalled the pontiff’s last journey away from the Vatican.

Cardinal Nichols said Pope Francis had visited the Regina Coeli prison, telling the inmates: “You know, except for the grace of God, it could well have been me … Don’t lose hope, God has you written in his heart.”

More on Liverpool

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Pope touched the hearts of millions’

The Pope later told his doctor his last regret was not being able to wash the feet of the prisoners during that visit.

Becoming emotional, he also said the final message he would like to have given Pope Francis is “thank you”.

The 88-year-old died peacefully on Easter Monday, the Vatican confirmed.

Heads of state – including Sir Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron – have all confirmed their attendance at his funeral, which takes place on Saturday at St Peter’s Square.

Prince William will attend on behalf of the King, Kensington Palace has said.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Where will Pope Francis be buried?

Talking about the seating plan at the funeral, Cardinal Nichols said he understood it to be “royalty first, then heads of state, then political leaders”.

Worldwide geopolitical tensions mean that many eyes will be on interactions between heads of state at the event, with particular focus on Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy following their tense meeting at the Oval Office in February.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Pope’s cause of death confirmed .

Looking back at the last papal funeral, Cardinal Nichols described the seating of the then Prince Charles one seat away from Zimbabwean present Robert Mugabe as “obviously a little bit tense”.

Cardinal Nichols explained event would be “exactly the same Catholic rite as everyone else – just on a grander scale”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

3D map shows pope’s funeral route

In a break from tradition, Pope Francis will be the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican – and will instead be laid to rest at his favourite church, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood.

He will also be buried in just one simple wooden coffin, instead of the traditional three coffins which are usually used for pontiffs.

Born in Crosby near Liverpool, Cardinal Vincent Nichols hoped to be a lorry driver as a child – but as a teenager reportedly felt the calling to join the priesthood while watching Liverpool FC.

As cardinal, he is known for leading the church’s work tackling human trafficking and modern slavery, for which he received the UN Path to Peace Award.

He was criticised by the UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which said he “demonstrated a lack of understanding” of the impact of abuse and “seemingly put the reputation of the church first”.

Cardinal Nichols, responding to the findings, previously told Sky News he was “ashamed at what has happened in the context of the Catholic Church” and promised to improve the church’s response.

He has appeared to rule himself out of the running for pope, telling reporters he was “too old, not capable”.

Continue Reading

Trending