Thread by @drandrestrydom

Now the U.K. government is concerned about the #southafricanvariant of #COVID19. A month ago, when I got ill after getting off a plane from JoBurg, it took me 2 days to get through to @PHE_uk to suggest testing me for variant. They only sent a test until 2 weeks later

And when I asked about #TrackandTrace for co-passengers, given that I most likely got infected with the #southafricanvariant on the plane, I was told there was no need. To date, those on the flight with me has not been contacted

Also, I passed the infection on to another person, who, despite being my only contact, was not approached for testing for the variant. This suggests the figure of 100 or so #southafricanvariant cases in U.K. is likely a huge underestimate @bbchealth @BBCBreaking @globalhlthtwit