Britain anxious as sharp rise in Indian covid variant registered
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Britain has seen a sharp rise in the number of confirmed cases of the B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant first found in India, Public Health England said on Thursday, with the total of 1,313 more than double what was reported last week.
The total is up by 793 from the 520 total confirmed cases of the variant reported last week. PHE labelled B.1.617.2 a “variant of concern” last Friday, due to evidence it is more transmissible that the original coronavirus.
Johnson has laid out a “cautious but irreversible” route out of lockdown for England, with the next step planned for next week. He has warned new variants, such as the B.1.617.2 variant, pose a risk to that plan.
“We are anxious about it – it has been spreading,” Johnson said, adding that there would be meetings later on Thursday to discuss what to do. “We’re ruling nothing out,” Johnson said.
There has been a surge in cases of the variant in north-west England, and local politicians have called for a change in policy so any adult in the area can get a shot, even if they don’t meet age-based priority criteria.
The local council of the town of Blackburn said additional COVID-19 vaccination clinics would open next week to speed up shots, but denied reports that vaccines would be widely available to all over-18s in the area, saying eligibility for the shots would follow current guidance.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, editing by David Milliken)
