Delta variant around 40% more transmissible: UK min
It makes the unlocking plans set for June 21 ‘more difficult’: Hancock
London, June 6: The Delta variant of Covid-19, or the B1.617.2 variant first identified in India, is around 40 per cent “more transmissible” than the Alpha or so-called Kent variant of concern, making the unlocking plans set for June 21 “more difficult”, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday. The senior Cabinet minister the government was “absolutely open” to delaying the final lifting of England’s Covid lockdown on June 21 if necessary. Hancock insisted June 21 was a “not before” date to end restrictions and 10 Downing Street “would look at the data”.
He said the spread of the Delta variant was behind a recent rise in Coronavirus infections in the country. However, he pointed out that a majority of those in hospital as a result of the Delta variant had not had a vaccine at all and only a “small minority” had had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, which the minister said reflects the scientific advice that one vaccine is not quite as effective against the Delta variant of concern (VOC) as against the Alpha variant but both doses are just as effective. “That figure, around 40 per cent more transmissible, is the latest advice that I have. That means that it is more difficult to manage this virus with the new Delta variant, but crucially we believe that with two doses of the vaccine you get the same protection as the old variant,” Hancock told
The minister also confirmed that vaccines would be opened up to the next age cohort of under-30s in the next few days by the National Health Service (NHS). “This week we will be opening up vaccines to the under-30s and so we are getting a step closer to the point when we’ve been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country,” he said.
“Everybody must go and get their second jab though because the first isn’t as effective on its own. We all need to go and get vaccinated and that way we will break this link between the number of cases and the number of hospitalisations,” he added.
Asked if there could be a delay to the June 21 timeline for an end to all lockdown restrictions in the country, Hancock said the government is “absolutely open” to a delay if it needs to happen and if all the requisite tests set as part of the roadmap are not fully met. One of the four critical tests set by the government for a reopening is that the assessment of the risk from the deadly virus is not fundamentally changed by new VOC.