While researchers have warned that these events, scientifically called 'recombination events', are possible but they require very specific conditions and the coincidence of mostly uncontrollable events. Restaurants and pubs in the West End have been left 'devastated' by people cancelling bookings due to fears over the spread of the so-called 'Omicron' variant, which has become the dominant Covid strain in London. Moulin Rouge at Piccadilly Theatre also suspended shows but has now restarted. Others which have been suspended include The Rhythmics at Southwark Playhouse, Force Majeure at Donmar Warehouse and Fair Play at the Bush Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of A Comedy Of Errors at the Barbican and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in Wembley were also cancelled, while the National Theatre postponed a preview of Hex after a lead actor caught the virus. Parts of London's West End were effectively in lockdown today as theatre shows were suspended and pubs and restaurant suffered a wave of cancellations triggered by mounting fears over the new Covid variant sweeping the capital.īig-budget productions from The Lion King at the Lyceum to Life of Pi at Wyndham's Theatre halted performances due to virus outbreaks among their cast and crew – a decision which is costing producers hundreds of thousands of pounds. He told MPs on the Science and Technology Committee that it was 'certainly' possible they could swap genes and trigger an even more dangerous variant. If these also infect the same cell, they may be able to swap DNA and combine to make a new version of the virus.īut Dr Burton warned the high numbers of Delta and Omicron cases currently circulating in Britain made this more likely. In South Africa, where Omicron was first identified just a few weeks ago, experts have reported that natural antibodies provided by previous Covid infection were ineffective at preventing the variant from infecting people.Īnd just yesterday, Dr Paul Burton, chief medical officer for vaccine maker Moderna warned that Omicron and Delta could infect people at the same time, and possibly lead to the creation of a hybrid strain.Ĭovid infections normally only involve one mutant strain, but in extremely rare cases two can strike at the same time. It is so significantly different from other Covid strains that antibodies designed to target the original virus do not recognise it as well. Whether natural immunity offers this protection from Omicron has been debated for the same reason experts feared the super-mutant variant could escape vaccines, This prior-infection protection is similar to that offered by Covid jabs, which train the body to produce antibodies against the virus.
'Things like fever, and cough, and loss of smell, are actually now in the minority of symptoms that we're seeing.' Professor Spector said: 'The majority of symptoms are just like a common cold, so we're talking about headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and things like sneezing.
On the Covid symptoms people are experiencing, Professor Spector said most were now experiencing cold-like symptoms, and the classic signs of the virus were now rarer. Professor Spector didn't clarify if this was the case for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people but growing evidence suggests two doses of jabs may only provide around 30 per cent protection against symptomatic infection. However, he added data on this protection from Omicron was still emerging, with more information needed to be sure it was the case. 'We're not seeing many who've had recent infections, so it could be if you've been infected more in the last six months you are relatively quite well protected.' He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We've definitely had cases reported where they had one of the previous variants, six to 12 months before, and they got re-infected. That's according to Professor Tim Spector, a top epidemiologist who runs the UK Covid symptom-tracking surveillance project.
People who caught Covid in the past six months should be 'quite well protected' from Omicron, a leading expert on the virus has said.Įvidence in South Africa suggests the strain is three times more likely to re-infect someone than previous variants, even if immunity against severe illness holds up.īut a major British study appears to show protection from prior infection remains high for at least six months.
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