A Covid-19 cell unit
A Covid-19 cell unit
A Covid-19 cell unit
Eleven known variant cases in the past week involved others who had no connection to travel, raising concerns that the mutation could simply spread through communities.
Mobile verification teams and home verification kits will be deployed in the spaces where the variant was discovered as the UK government seeks to prevent it from taking hold.
In developments:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly called on ministers to speed up preparations for the reopening of schools. The Daily Telegraph said it is expected to announce new measures to get young people catching up after almost a year of disruption.
Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield said teachers deserve to be considered at the top of the list of priorities for vaccination, writing in The Sun: “For those under 70, waiting two more days to receive the vaccine is not too much to ask. We want to get young people back in school so they don’t become part of a lost generation.
According to the Daily Mail, legislation will be presented to Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Wednesday giving nursing home citizens the right to receive visits from family or friends.
Hancock told a news conference in Downing Street: “It’s a big effort to get this new variant. . . Basically, locating the case, that’s the goal. “
Hancock said the door-to-door testing regime, as well as increased tactile tracking efforts, are an attempt to “make it tough. “
It is “absolutely vital” that other people minimise any social contact in spaces where South African cases have been identified, he added.
The eight postcode spaces at the epicentre of the intensified programme, after a total of 105 cases of the South African strain were identified, are: Hanwell, west London; Tottenham, north of London; Mitcham, south London; Walsall in the West Midlands; Broxbourne, Hertfordshire; Maidstone, Kent; Woking, Surrey; and Southport, Merseyside.
Public Health England (PHE) is investigating whether those who have already received the vaccine might need a booster “much like the annual flu vaccine” to help them resist Covid-19 mutations, such as variants from South Africa, Brazil and Kent. .
The South African variant is thought to be as transmissible as the variant first known in Kent, but is not yet known to cause more severe disease.
Dr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England (PHE), said three other vaccines tested had shown efficacy against the South African variant at a point above the popular minimum set by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration.
“We expect all other vaccines to have a point of efficacy, especially in reducing hospitalizations and deaths,” he said, adding that laboratory studies were underway to provide more evidence.
Fears of the South African variant spreading through England arose when reports suggested scientists had ministers step up border controls to prevent new variants from entering the country.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), according to the Times, said mandatory hotel quarantines for all arrivals or a blanket border closure would keep mutations at bay.
A week after the statement allegedly given to the British government, the prime minister defined his plan for travelers from 30 countries on the “red list” to face up to 10 days of self-isolation in the hotel, with no date yet set for the rules. will begin to be implemented: lighter proposals than those submitted through Sage.
Labour Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds called on the Home Office to “reverse this reckless policy of leaving our borders open and exposed to new risks”.
He said: “Ministers knowingly left the UK border open and potentially exposed others to new strains of the virus, in direct contradiction to the recommendation of their own government’s scientists.
“This jeopardizes the efficacy of the vaccine, with disastrous consequences for people’s lives.
“The Home Secretary will have to urgently go to Parliament and oppose this reckless policy of leaving our borders open and exposed to new risks. “
As for the evolution of the vaccination program, Hancock said that about nine in 10 people over 80 had been vaccinated, and more than a portion of those in their seventies had received a vaccine.
Data through Jan. 31 shows 9,296,367 first doses of vaccine have been administered, an increase of 319,038 in 24 hours.
The latest figures show an average of 407,402 first doses of vaccine are needed each day to reach the government’s target of 15 million first doses by February 15.
Meanwhile, Scottish parents will know on Tuesday whether their children will return to school until mid-February, as Nicola Sturgeon provides an update on Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
The Scottish Government has already said the existing restrictions will last at least until mid-February, but the PSM will provide the main points of “the next steps we plan to take”, the First Minister said.
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