Signs Britain is seeing third wave of infections: Scientist

LONDON: A scientist advising the UK government on the pandemic has said there are signs that Britain is seeing its third wave of Covid-19 infections, the BBC reported on Monday.

Ravi Gupta from University of Cambridge told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the “exponential growth” in cases fuelled by the variant that was first detected in India may be an early sign that the third wave is under way.

Gupta, a member of the UK government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), urged a delay in plans to lift social distancing rules and other restrictions on June 21.

“Of course, the number of cases is relatively low at the moment.

“All waves start with a low number of cases that grumble in the background and then become explosive.

“So the key here is that what we are seeing here are the signs of an early wave,” Gupta said.

The UK reported more than 3,000 new infections on Sunday for the fifth day in a row. Before that, the daily tally of cases hadn’t crossed that number since April 12.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the G7 to reach a deal on Covid-19 vaccine passports and to open talks on a

“world treaty” to prepare for future pandemics in the upcoming summit.

“There has to be some sort of agreement then, at the G7 level to start, on how travel and passports are going to work,” Johnson said in an interview broadcast by Canadian channel CBC.

Johnson was speaking ahead of a June 11-13 summit of the G7 powers which he will host in Cornwall, England.

Separately, the remote Pacific nation of Palau reported its first confirmed coronavirus case on Monday, but authorities said it posed no risk of transmission.

The authorities concluded that the infected person contracted the disease in January this year.