11 cases of South African coronavirus variant found in the Republic

Q Radio News/PA

Eleven cases of the South African variant of coronavirus have been detected in the Republic.

Dr Cillian De Gascun, medical virologist and director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, told a National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) briefing that all the cases are directly linked to travel.

Chief Medical Officer here, Dr. Michael McBride, said earlier there had been no confirmed cases of the South African strain in Northern Ireland.

A variant first detected in Brazil has not been found in the Republic, where the so-called Kent variant is the most dominant.

Monday night's Nphet briefing in Dublin heard all variants are being monitored.

RoI deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn urged adherence to public health advice.

“Viruses can’t mutate if they’re not replicating,” he said.

“So the fewer the amount of virus we have in this country, the less chance there is of a mutation that’s going to have a knock-on impact on vaccine effectiveness.”

Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of the Nphet Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said Ireland remains on track for 200 to 400 cases a day by the end of February if the effort to stay home continues.

Meanwhile 230,776 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Ireland, including 151,212 first doses and 79,554 second doses.

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland had issued this update on Monday:

LATEST #COVID19 VACCINE UPDATE FOR NI:

330,941 vaccines have been administered, of which 303,478 were first doses and 27,463 were second doses. pic.twitter.com/98hrNZcGUm

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) February 8, 2021