BRITAIN’S COMPLICITY in allowing Africa’s Covid vaccination rates to remain extremely low has meant it was inevitable that a new variant would emerge in the continent, MPs have said.

England has put South Africa and five other African countries on the travel Red List over fears that the new variant – known as B.1.1.529 – is the most transmissible yet.

Africa is the least-protected continent in the world with only 7.1% of its population fully vaccinated, compared with 68% of the UK and the world average of 48%.

There is growing concern that efforts by Britain, the United States and the EU to side with ‘big pharma’ and prevent Africa manufacturing its own vaccines had contributed to the low vaccination rate.

There are also fears that South Africa’s ‘reward’ for quickly identifying the variant is to be penalised with travel restrictions without any financial help.

Independent SAGE – a group of scientists working to give the UK government independent advice – is calling for a financial package for South Africa to help the country through the coming international isolation.

The six African nations – South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe – where all placed on the Red List at midnight.

Labour MPs Richard Burgon and Jon Trickett said that the West had contributed to the likelihood of variants emerging in Africa due to barriers in the continent accessing Covid vaccines while Britain over-stocked.

Mr Trickett tweeted: “We have warned about global vaccine apartheid for a year. Our chief warning was no one is safe until all of us are safe.

“New coronavirus variants emerging in Africa are the fault of leaders of the richest countries in the world who refused to waive patents and supply the vaccine.”

Mr Burgon added: “Just 6% of people in Africa are fully vaccinated – creating the conditions in which new variants emerge.

“Yet our Government is still putting profits before lives by blocking the global sharing of vaccine patents that would allow poorer countries to produce their own vaccines.”

At a press briefing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, infectious disease physician Richard Lessells said that while the rate of mutation was a concern, there is still work to be done to understand the significance of the variant.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has convened an expert group that will meet later today. 

Experts are keen to avoid it being labelled the ‘South African variant’. It is believed the variant will be named ‘Nu’, after the next available letter in the Greek naming system for coronavirus variants.

Researchers spotted B.1.1.529 in genome-sequencing data from Botswana. The variant stood out because it contains more than 30 changes to the spike protein, with some changes linked to heightened infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.

Dr Zubaida Haque, from Independent SAGE, said: “We should be applauding South Africa for excellent sequencing for identifying this variant very quickly. But more importantly, we should be supporting them in terms of research, supporting them financially, logistically, whatever help South Africa needs, we should be supporting them. 

“The Red List is going to be hard on South Africans who are traveling here for personal and professional reasons. I think we need to support that quarantine.”

She added: “Global vaccine equity is obviously very important and we need to continue to put pressure on countries like the UK, US, and other high income countries to share their vaccines, because we’re only safe when everybody is safe.”