Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FEELING THE STRAIN
New variant more deadly says PM... as Ulster records worst week of the pandemic
BORIS Johnson last night warned the UK mutant coronavirus could be even more deadly.
But medical chiefs are confident the vaccines will be effective against it.
It came as 156 deaths were recorded in Northern Ireland – the highest weekly toll of the pandemic.
The news emerged as lockdown was extended until March 5.
FEARS over the potency of the deadly mutant coronavirus show that even with the vaccine rollout this pandemic still presents a clear danger.
But while health experts warn the new UK variant may be more lethal than the original, they are confident the jabs will be an effective inoculation against it.
However, there are worries mutations which had emerged in South Africa and Brazil may be less susceptible to existing vaccines.
Boris Johnson yesterday urged people to stick to the rules as Covid deaths continued to soar.
And there was a glimmer of hope with figures showing the national R rate had fallen below one.
But regional leaders spoke of their fury after ministers were accused of redistributing supplies of the vaccines from the North to the South – amid concerns over whether the target of injecting 15 million first doses by February 15 was now reachable.
The PM said: “We have now learned that, in addition to spreading more quickly, the new variant of the virus may also be associated with a higher degree of mortality. It is therefore more important than ever that we all follow the rules and stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that for a man in their 60s, the average risk was that for a thousand people who got infected with the original strain, roughly 10 would be expected to die. With the new variant it might be 13 or 14.
He added: “These data are currently uncertain and we don’t
have a very good estimate of the precise nature or indeed whether it is an overall increase, but it looks like it is.” Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “This is deeply alarming news, not least because Boris Johnson assured the nation back in December there was no evidence the variant was more dangerous.” Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said there were signs
cases were falling – with hospitalisations in parts of England beginning to “flatline”. And the R rate across the land was at 0.8 to 1.0, down from 1.2 to 1.3 last week. But Prof Whitty warned it will still take weeks for the death rate to start falling.
He said: “The recent seven-day rolling average is over 1,000 deaths a day. This is a very high rate and it will probably go up over the next week.” UK recorded deaths yesterday rose by 1,401 to 95,981.
But 5,849,899 vaccines have been delivered to UK patients so far – including 466,855 second doses. Yet the average rate of jabs delivered per day is still short of what is needed to meet the PM’S target of 15 million first doses by the middle of next month.
Yorkshire and the North East have vaccinated the highest proportion of people over 80 – at 67%, according to the latest figures.
London has the lowest numbers,
This is a very high rate and it will likely go up over next week PROF WHITTY ON COVID DEATHS OVER PAST WEEK
with just half having received the jab. But northern leaders accused the PM of taking away stocks of the jab to use elsewhere.
Sheffield Metro Mayor Dan Jarvis said: “[NHS Staff] must not be punished for their success.” MPS raised “serious questions” about delivery with Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday.
One told him: “I’ve got GPS sitting twiddling their thumbs when they were expecting vaccines but now not receiving them.”
Local leaders warned cutting their allocation in half will worry people awaiting a vaccine and risk widening health inequalities. They said the approach to the huge regional variations should be to support areas struggling to hit their target, rather than to “penalise those delivering faster”.
Medical Director of Primary Care for NHS England Nikki Kanani confirmed supplies had been diverted away from the North, despite Mr Zahawi denying it on Thursday. She said: “I really understand my colleagues’ frustration.”