UK warns new coronavirus variant may delay reopening

The emergence of the B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant has led some scientists to call for the reopening to be delayed. United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the country would accelerate its COVID-19 vaccination programme to try to contain a fast-spreading variant first identified in India that could knock a reopening of the economy off track.

The UK has delivered one of the world’s fastest inoculation campaigns, giving a first shot to almost 70 percent of the adult population and a second to 36 percent, helping to reduce infection rates and deaths. “It’s more important than ever, therefore, that people get the additional protection of a second dose,” he told a news conference on Friday.“So following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, we will accelerate remaining second doses to the over 50s and those clinically vulnerable right across the country, so those doses come just eight weeks after the first dose,” he said.

The emergence of the B.1.617.2 variant in parts of northern England and London has prompted some scientists to call for the reopening to be delayed, and a rethink on the speed of the vaccine rollout.

“I believe we should trust in our vaccines to protect the public whilst monitoring the situation very closely because the race between our vaccination programme and the virus may be about to become a great deal tighter,” Johnson told a news conference.