India virus ‘could beat vaccine’

A COVID variant imported from India could evade vaccine protection, it is feared. Public Health England say 73 cases have been confirmed plus four in Scotland.

It is understood the English cases are spread across the country and are linked to international travel. Infections are running out of control in India. Asked why it had not been put on the red travel ban list, Downing Street said restrictions “were constantly reviewed”. And it announced Boris Johnson’s visit to India on April 26 will still go ahead, although in a shortened form. Prof Paul Hunter, of the University of East

Anglia, said of the new variant: “Applying what we know about other coronaviruses would suggest this is going to be even less controlled by vaccine. But we don’t know that for certain.”

Meanwhile, infections in England have dropped sharply to their lowest since September. Random tests showed one person in 480 was infected in the week ending April 10, down from 1 in 340 the week before.

The R number – how many people a sufferer infects – has dropped to 0.7 to 1 from 0.8 to 1.

But with infections so low, the figure is less relevant because it is heavily affected by single clusters of cases in a given region.