![]() ![]() Ministers have suggested local lockdowns could be imposed on hotspot areas to allow the rest of the country to enjoy a return of freedoms from 21 June – a proposal that would be fiercely opposed, even by the government’s fellow Conservative MPs.įerguson said he did not believe locking down a particular borough, such as Bolton, would be effective on a wider scale. “But we really have to wait until more data is gathered to be definitive about that but of course it’s a concern because if we don’t have the same level of action of vaccine blocking transmission it’s another way for the virus to amplify itself in the community.” “There are some hints – and it’s not vaccine-specific at the moment – there are some hints in the data of reduced vaccine efficacy against infection against transmission. However, he added there were “some hints” in the early data that vaccines may be less effective at preventing spread of B.1.617.2: “The thing we’re slightly concerned about is whether there’s an impact on the ability of vaccines to prevent infection or mild disease and therefore prevent transmission in the community. School trips with overnight stays will also now be possible.įerguson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there was a “good deal of confidence” that vaccines protect against severe Covid- disease and that the effect of the India variant would be “fairly marginal in terms of severe disease”. Twice weekly home testing will remain in place. Pupils will no longer be expected to wear face coverings in classrooms or in communal areas in secondary schools and colleges as a result of decreasing infection rates. People will also be able to travel to a small number of countries on the green list and will not have to quarantine on return. Hotels, hostels and B&Bs in the UK will allow overnight stays in groups of up to six people or two households. Organised adult sport and exercise classes can resume indoors and saunas and steam rooms will reopen. Theatres, concert halls, conference centres and sports stadia will have capacity limits in place. Most forms of indoor entertainment where social distancing is possible will also be able to resume, including cinemas, museums and children’s play areas. The cap on numbers attending funerals will depend on the size of the venue. Weddings, receptions and other life events can take place with up to 30 people. People can meet in private homes, or in pubs, bars and restaurants, which will all be able to reopen indoors. In care homes, residents can have up to five named visitors and be entitled to make low risk visits out of the home. People can also choose whether to socially distance with close family and friends, meaning that they can sit close together and hug. If that was the case, it warned, hospitalisations could surpass the peak of the second wave in January.įrom 17 May people can be able to meet indoors in groups of up to six or as two households, or outdoors in groups of up to 30 people. The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said last week there was a “realistic possibility” – equivalent to a 50/50 likelihood – that B.1.617.2 was as much as 50% more transmissible than the Kent variant. ![]() Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen account for one in five of all 2,323 cases of the variant, according to the latest data given on Monday.įerguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, said while the variant had a “significant growth advantage” over winter’s variant first found in Kent, “the magnitude of that advantage seems to have dropped a little bit with the most recent data”. The government has struggled to explain why India was not added to the travel “red list” before 23 April, allowing the variant to be imported into the UK where it is being spread among mostly young people in densely populated communities. ![]() Infections in some parts of the country have jumped tenfold in a week, fuelled by the more transmissible B.1.617.2 variant.īoris Johnson faced questions from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, on Wednesday about the government’s borders policy. Ministers are expected to announce in the coming days whether the UK’s route out of lockdown will be delayed due to a sharp rise in cases in areas such as Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Bedford. “What we’re largely pointing to is the ongoing data we’re seeing mainly from the outbreak areas in places like Bolton, which are currently not showing significant increases: but we want to keep a very close eye on those over the coming days.” ![]() Johnson’s official spokesman, asked later what the evidence was for that, said the prime minister was looking at published data on case rates and hospitalisations. The prime minister said on Wednesday that there was “increasing confidence” vaccines were effective against the variant. ![]()
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