British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccines are proving efficient in opposition to a variant that has unfold like wildfire in India and denied the federal government was being lax on journey from hotspots.
Johnson has been beneath stress for delaying restrictions on journey to and from India final month, at a time when he was nonetheless planning to move to a trade-focused summit in New Delhi.
The journey was finally known as off as India succumbed to a devastating new wave of infections, and it was then rapidly added to the UK’s “crimson record”, meaning arrivals have to quarantine in hotels at their own cost.
But more than 100 flights have landed from India since then and the variant has been spreading in Britain, especially in areas with large South Asian communities, potentially endangering plans to reopen the economy fully from June 21.
“We have increasing confidence that vaccinations are effective against all variants including the Indian variant,” Johnson stated in parliament.
“We have one of many strongest border regimes wherever on this planet,” he added, after a day of confusion from ministers on Tuesday about whether travel is allowed to “amber” nations together with most of Europe.
Travel to amber nations ought to solely be undertaken for “any emergency or excessive cause” such as family illness, the prime minister said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock meanwhile is facing  calls to explain his claim that the rise of the Indian variant in Britain is due to a refusal by some people to get vaccinated.
– ‘World-first’ booster study –
Official data has shown the variant actually took hold due to travellers coming from India, raising more questions about the government’s delay in adding the country to the red list when Pakistan and Bangladesh were already on it.
The data shows that positive tests among travellers coming from India were higher than those from Bangladesh and comparable to Pakistan, well before the new restrictions took effect for India on April 23.
Hancock told parliament on Wednesday that 2,967 cases of the B1617.2 variant have now been identified in Britain, up nearly one-third since Monday.
Announcing “surge testing” in a number of extra areas, he stated “the race between the virus and the vaccine has bought an entire lot nearer”.
But so far the government has insisted it remains on track to lift virtually all restrictions on public life from June 21, after a successful vaccination campaign.
On Wednesday Britain recorded another 2,696 cases of Covid-19 and three more deaths, taking the total to 127,694, one of the world’s worst tolls.
The health secretary also announced that Britain is launching a “world first” research into administering a booster shot, based mostly on trials of seven coronavirus vaccines at the moment authorised in Western nations. Nearly 3,000 contributors will participate within the trial from early June and findings are anticipated in September to tell policymaking on whether or not a 3rd shot is required for the winter months, when respiratory infections spike.
Hancock additional introduced he’ll host an in-person assembly of G7 well being ministers on June 3-4 at Oxford University, the place the AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, to debate methods of stopping future pandemics.
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