React test and track study ends due to government funding cut, mention of new XE variant
Without Grauniad slant, here are the bases:
Prevalence-of-covid-19-remains-at-high-levels-across-the-country
Plan-for-living-with-covid
"The Test & Trace programme cost £15.7 billion in 2021/22. With Omicron now the dominant variant and less severe, levels of high immunity across the country and a range of strategies in place including vaccines, treatments, and public health knowledge, the value for taxpayers’ money is now less clear. Free testing should rightly be focused on at-risk groups.
"Our world-leading ONS survey will allow us to continue to track the virus in granular detail to help us spot any surges in the virus."
Finding and choosing a private coronavirus (COVID-19) test provider
"UKHSA’s most recent
variant technical briefing includes examination of a number of recombinant variants which have been identified in the UK, . . . [and] new analysis examines 3 recombinants, known as XF, XE, and XD. Of these, XD and XF are recombinants of Delta and Omicron BA.1, while XE is a recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2."
"A total 637 cases of XE – a recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 – have been confirmed in the UK so far [since mid Jan]. There is currently insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about growth advantage or other properties of this variant. XE, has shown a variable growth rate and we cannot yet confirm whether it has a true growth advantage. So far there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about transmissibility, severity or vaccine effectiveness."