According to new data, cases of variant COVID first detected in India have more than doubled in the UK in the past week. According to Public Health England, infections with the variant rose to 6,959 since last week, an increase of 3,535 from seven days ago.
At a press conference on Thursday, UK health minister Matt Hancock confirmed the trend. Up to 75% of all new cases of COVID-19 in the UK, he said, have been linked to variant B.1.617.2. The increase comes at a time when the UK government has been trying to intensify testing in the areas most affected by the variant.
However, the spread of the Indian variant has raised fresh concerns about whether the UK government will be able to go ahead with plans to lift all closure restrictions in Britain on June 21. On Thursday, Hancock told MPs it was “too early to say” whether the closure restrictions would be fully lifted next month. “This is not over yet,” he told reporters at his subsequent press conference, claiming that the rise in Indian variant cases “proves it”.
While Hancock urged patience, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to offer mixed messages on whether the rise of the Indian variant could hamper plans to completely relax restrictions. “I don’t see anything currently in the data to suggest we have to deviate from the roadmap, but we may have to wait,” he said on Thursday.
Ultimately, both Hancock and Johnson have emphasised that the best thing Britons can do to combat the spread of the coronavirus is to get fully vaccinated. Do you consider that forcing people to be vaccinated is an infringement of human rights, or do you think it is an inevitable process for the survival of our society? Share your thoughts with us!