Is Indian strain putting freedom date in danger?
Lockdowns could also return in areas where variant takes hold, warns minister
THE UK’s leading Covid experts will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the rapid spread of the Indian variant amid fears it could delay the easing of lockdown.
As the variant takes hold in hotspots around the country, Sage committee scientists warned that the final step in Boris Johnson’s roadmap could be pushed back.
While the Government has insisted the plan is on track, ministers have not ruled out introducing local lockdowns in areas where the Indian variant is increasingly prevalent, including Bolton, Blackburn and parts of London.
The Prime Minister has warned that the strain – B1617.2 – which could be more transmissible than the Kent variant, is ‘of increasing concern here in the UK’.
He said new variants of the virus ‘pose a potential lethal danger’, adding: ‘The persistent threat of new variants, should these prove highly transmissible and elude the protection of vaccines, would have the potential to cause greater suffering than we had in January.’
George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, said yesterday that the Government ‘can’t rule anything out’ when asked about the potential for parts of the UK to be put on local lockdown.
He told Sky News: ‘We can’t rule anything out but our plan that has been set out by the Prime Minister and the reason we are being incredibly cautious about exiting lockdown is because we want this to be the last.
‘We want to try and avoid having to get into a tiered system and regionalisation. We tried that last autumn and in the end we had to go for full lockdown. But there is always a risk and the greatest risk we have is a new variant that will come in that the vaccine is less effective against it.’
A member of Sage told the i newspaper that a delay to the final easing of rules on June 21 ‘is possible’.
It has emerged that the Indian variant is now the dominant strain in four local authorities, potentially jeopardising next week’s easing of lockdown.
Analysis of swabs by the UK’s biggest variant trackers found 55 per cent of positive cases in Bolton and nearby Blackburn with Darwen were the Indian variant, according to Mail Online. Blackburn currently has the second highest infection rate in England at 90 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days.
In addition almost 54 per cent of samples from Bedford and 77 per cent in South Northamptonshire were the Indian variant, according to the Sanger Institute, although overall infection rates in these authorities were much lower.
Public Health England will reportedly confirm tomorrow that UK cases of the Indian variant have more than tripled in a week from 520 to over 1,700.
Meanwhile the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham argued that everyone aged over 16 in the region should be offered a jab to bring soaring case numbers in Bolton under control.
‘We can’t rule anything out’
Fuelled by one of the country’s highest rates of the Indian variant, the town has seen 437 cases in a week, bringing the average to 152 per 100,000 people.
The alarming spike has also created fears that next week’s relaxation of rules on social gatherings will fuel a further rise in cases among young people who could go on to infect more vulnerable relatives.
In response to the rise in cases numbers in Bolton, Mr Burnham asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to consider enabling all over-16s across Greater Manchester’s 2.8million population to be offered a jab urgently.
‘The way to mitigate some of the risks we have is to accelerate vaccination, particularly in the communities most affected by the Indian variant,’ he said. While more than 90 per cent of residents over 65 have had their first jab, public health chiefs in Bolton say takeup in the worst-affected neighbourhoods is 10 per cent below the national average.
They say the increase has been driven by cases of the Indian ‘variant of concern’ being brought into Bolton by people travelling back and forth from the sub-continent. Royal
Bolton Hospital now has only one Covid ward, but health chiefs fear the surge in cases will see admissions rise from the current single figures. The Department of Health said no decisions have been made on whether under-18s should be routinely offered vaccinations. It added: ‘The priority order is primarily based on age, which is the biggest factor determining mortality.’
Yesterday’s daily figures revealed there were 11 deaths across the UK, with weekly fatalities down by 22 per cent. Cases have risen by 13 per cent, with 2,284 recorded yesterday.
The Financial Times reported how scientists were concerned that fully vaccinated people have become infected with Covid-19 in India.
At one care home in Delhi, 33 staff members who had been fully vaccinated with the Oxford AstraZeneca jab tested positive for one of the Covid strains circulating in India, according to Ravi Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at Cambridge University, it said. However, none became seriously ill.