- Tuesday, April 23, 2024
By: Sattwik Biswal
THE next step out of lockdown is coming up on Monday (17), but experts suggest to postpone it after reports of four deaths were reported in Britain because of the infectious Indian Covid variant.
Monday’s restrictions ease would have allowed people to inside pubs, hug close friends and family. However, this morning Public Health England (PHE) revealed that the four deaths reported were between May 5 and 12, out of 97 fatalities.
There are no signs if the new strain is more deadly or resistant to vaccines yet, PHE said.
Surge testing has already begun in 15 towns including Bolton and Formby, as the cases of the B.1.617.2 strain have more than doubled in the past week across the UK, with 1,313 cases detected.
UK government’s Sage and Nervtag scientific committees were reported to be meeting today (14) and Boris Johnson is expected to call a press conference later in the day to address the outbreak.
With the pressure to go ahead with the opening up roadmap, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said inoculation drive would “flex” to tackle the spread of the variant.
Zahawi said in areas where the new variant had emerged, the government would step up enhanced testing, whereby all residents of an area are asked to get a RT-PCR test given that virus variants are circulating in the community, with authorities seeking to assess how widespread they are.
He said vaccines could also be offered to younger people if they live in multi-generational households. Shots are currently available to everyone over the age of 38.
A Warwick University modelling team warned the next surge could be worse than the previous and could add up to 6,000 daily hospital admissions if the variant turns out to be 40 per cent more transmissible than the UK dominant Kent strain.
The Sage said on Friday (14): “In the light of the new variant, we consider that any increase of mixing in indoor spaces (whether domestic or commercial) to be highly inadvisable, particularly in areas with already proven high levels of B.1.617.2.
“Accordingly, local directors of public health should have the discretion to determine when the relaxation of measures can safely occur.
“Additionally, indoor commercial spaces should only be allowed to reopen if they can maintain adequate social distancing and have proper ventilation, with a priority program of inspection developed in co-operation with the Health and Safety Executive.”
