By Tony O’Riley-
Local lockdowns in the UK could return sooner than expected, after cases of the highly transmissible Indian variant have more than tripled in a week, new figures are expected to confirm on Thursday.
Scientists advising the government are already considering delaying the final stage out of the lockdown due to reports that new cases of the highly transmissible Indian variant have more than tripled in a week.
Boris Johnson has warned that the strain, B1617.2, one of three mutations fuelling the devastating epidemic in India, is “of increasing concern here in the UK”.
Public health officials are reportedly in a race against time to control the spread of infections of the variant in areas where there have been the greatest increases, including Bolton, Greater Manchester, where secondary school pupils could be told to continue to wear face masks after the policy is dropped for the rest of England from next Monday.
Members of Sage have been called to an urgent meeting on Thursday to assess the threat.
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A member of the government’s scientific advisory committee, Sage have said that while next Monday’s step 3 of easing of restrictions in England would go ahead, concerns over the Indian variant might increase ahead of the fourth and final step on 21 June and that “a delay is possible”.
The group of scientists tracking new variants, COG-UK, has identified a total of 1723 cases of B1617.2, and while some of these will be duplicates, if the figure is confirmed by Public Health England in its weekly update this would be more than three times last week’s number of 520.
B1617.2 was designated as a variant of concern a week ago, and two weeks ago there were 202 cases. Scientists believe the variant could be more transmissible than the Kent variant, but that it will also not be resistant to vaccines.
Ministers have not ruled out introducing local lockdowns in areas where the Indian variant is increasing.
Besides Bolton, there are clusters in Blackburn and evidence of rising community transmission in parts of London.
There is also news that schools and colleges in the Greater Manchester town will be told they can direct children to continue wearing masks, although public health officials say the decision will rest with school heads rather than being an instruction.
Dr Helen Lowey, Bolton’s Director of Public Health, said: “We don’t just want to focus one intervention. Test, trace and isolate and the vaccine programme are the most important, but if school and colleges want to continue with face coverings, we will support them and we can explore whether it is something we want to do across Bolton.”
A spokesman for Bolton Council said officials were “in dialogue with schools and central government on the use of face coverings in schools from Monday”.
Lethal Danger
Addressing the Commons on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said despite progress against the virus “the threat of this virus remains real and new variants pose a potentially lethal danger, including the one first identified in India which is of increasing concern here in the UK. So caution has to be our watchword”.
Across the UK the weekly average of all coronavirus cases rose for the third day running, with 2284 new cases reported. There were 11 further deaths.
Asked whether local lockdowns could return, Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News: “We can’t rule anything out but our plan that has been set out by the Prime Minister and the reason we are being incredibly cautious about exiting lockdown is because we want this to be the last.”
Boris Johnson has warned that the strain, B1617.2, one of three mutations fuelling the devastating epidemic in India, is “of increasing concern here in the UK”.
Public health officials and ministers are stepping up efforts to curb infections of the variant in areas where there have been the greatest increases, including Bolton, Greater Manchester, where secondary school pupils could be told to continue to wear face masks after the policy is dropped for the rest of England from next Monday.
The consortium of scientists tracking new variants, COG-UK, has identified a total of 1723 cases of B1617.2, and while some of these will be duplicates, if the figure is confirmed by Public Health England in its weekly update this would be more than three times last week’s number of 520.
B1617.2 was designated as a variant of concern a week ago, and two weeks ago there were 202 cases. Scientists believe the variant could be more transmissible than the Kent variant, but that it will also not be resistant to vaccines.
Face Masks
There are also reports that secondary school pupils in Bolton could be told by their teachers to continue wearing their facemasks after 17 May, with figures suggesting transmission is greatest among teenagers and people in their 20s.
Schools and colleges in the Greater Manchester town are also likely to be told they can direct children to continue wearing masks, although public health officials say the decision will rest with school heads rather than being an instruction.
Dr Helen Lowey, Bolton’s Director of Public Health, said: “We don’t just want to focus one intervention. Test, trace and isolate and the vaccine programme are the most important, but if school and colleges want to continue with face coverings, we will support them and we can explore whether it is something we want to do across Bolton.”
A spokesman for Bolton Council said officials were “in dialogue with schools and central government on the use of face coverings in schools from Monday”.