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-Top News COVID-19 UK News

‘July 19 looking good for end of lockdown’

The government is looking at scrapping the 10-day self-isolation requirement for people who have had two jabs upon return to England from the amber-list countries, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said the plans to ease Covid-19 restrictions in England on 19 July are “looking good.”

He also said that Britain could be in a “rough winter” as pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) could be huge due to possible new disease on top of coronavirus.

“You can never exclude that there will be some new disease, some new horror that we simply haven’t budgeted for or accounted for,” said Johnson as he did not rule out the prospect of further lockdowns in the winter.

The prime minister said cases of the Delta variant first identified in India are still rising and the public have to remain cautious.

“We’ve got to be cautious but we’ll be following the data the whole time. But looking at where we are, the efficacy of the vaccine against all variants that we can currently see…I think it is looking good for July 19 to be that terminus point.”

UK has reported another 10,633 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,640,507, according to official figures released on Monday.

The country also recorded another five coronavirus-related death. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,981. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 43.1 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine while more than 31.4 million people have been fully vaccinated with a second dose, according to the latest official figures.

The latest data were revealed as British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the British government is looking at scrapping the 10-day self-isolation requirement for people who have had two jabs upon return to England from the amber-list countries.

He told Sky News that the move was “something that we’re working on and I very much hope we’ll be able to make progress soon”.

Asked whether ministers were considering allowing double-vaccinated travellers to be exempt from quarantine on their return to the UK if they took daily tests, the prime minister told reporters as quoted by BBC: “When it comes to travel, we’ll certainly be looking at that.

“But I want to stress this is going to be, whatever happens, a difficult year for travel – there will be hassle, there will be delays, I’m afraid, because the priority has got to be to keep the country safe and to stop the virus coming back in.”

Currently, people arriving in the UK from a country on the government’s amber list must quarantine for 10 days – regardless of whether they have had a coronavirus jab.

However, in England an individual may be able to end their quarantine period early if they pay for an additional test under the test-to-release scheme.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he was “cautiously hopeful” about being able to lift some restrictions on international travel as a result of the vaccine programme, the BBC reported.

He said the government had always committed to regularly review their international travel plan, with the next “checkpoint” taking place on 28 June.

He said that the checkpoints would look at whether the “science would support” relaxations including people who have received two vaccine doses no longer have to quarantine after returning from certain countries.

Johnson has announced a four-week delay to the final step of England’s roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions until July 19, amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant.

Recent data published by Public Health England showed the AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective against hospitalization from the Delta variant after two doses, and the Pfizer vaccine is 96 per cent effective against hospitalization after two doses.

Experts have warned that coronavirus may continue to evolve for years to come, and eventually it is likely current vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even disease caused by newer variants.

ALSO READ CDC classifies delta variant as a concern

READ MORE-Under-18s could be Delta variant driver, warns virologist

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COVID-19 UK News

Under-18s could be Delta variant driver, warns virologist

Britain has reported another 9,284 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,630,040, according to official figures released on Sunday…reports Asian Lite News.

Amid the UK’s drive to vaccinate all individuals above the age of 18, a leading British virologist has warned that it could lead to the concentration of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in schoolchildren, according to The Observer.

Britain has reported another 9,284 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,630,040, according to official figures released on Sunday.

The country also recorded another six coronavirus-related death. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,976. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

While the government officials have emphasised the need for maximum vaccination coverage among adults to avoid another deadly Covid wave, virologist Julian Tang, of Leicester University, has reportedly sounded a note of caution, according to a Hindustan Times report.

Recent data on Covid-19 indicates that people under-30s, who have not been extensively vaccinated, were the ones largely infected by the virus and Tang suggested that the vaccination programme would drive the virus into under-18s, reported The Observer.

“As a result, the virus will concentrate in school-age populations, which will eventually become a reservoir and driver of any ensuing Delta variant epidemic, as well as being a hotspot in which new mutations may arise,” the British weekly quoted Tang as saying.

British scientists on Sunday warned of “pretty miserable winter” ahead for the country due to likely emergence of new respiratory viruses, with further lockdowns a possibility.

Calum Semple, member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a British government advisory body, said that children and elderly people will be especially vulnerable to endemic viruses at the end of the year.
Scientists have warned that a third wave of coronavirus infections is “definitely under way” in England due to the fast spread of the Delta variant first identified in India, even though hospital admissions will hopefully not be on the same scale as in January.

The recent data published by Public Health England showed the AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective against hospitalization from the Delta variant after two doses, and the Pfizer vaccine, 96 per cent effective.

Nearly 43 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine while more than 31.3 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest official figures.

Experts have warned that coronavirus may continue to evolve for years to come, and eventually it is likely current vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even against disease caused by newer variants.

ALSO READ-‘Pfizer, AZ jabs highly effective against Delta variant’

READ MORE-CDC classifies delta variant as a concern

Categories
COVID-19 UK News

‘Miserable winter’ ahead due to new respiratory viruses

Scientists have warned that a third wave of coronavirus infections is “definitely under way” in England due to the fast spread of the Delta variant first identified in India..reports Asian Lite News.

British scientists on Sunday warned of “pretty miserable winter” ahead for the country due to likely emergence of new respiratory viruses, with further lockdowns a possibility.

Professor Calum Semple, member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a British government advisory body, said that children and elderly people will be especially vulnerable to endemic viruses at the end of the year, Xinhua reported.

Describing it as the “fourth wave winter,” he told Times Radio “there’s a sting in the tail after every pandemic” because social distancing will have reduced people’s exposure to usual endemic respiratory viruses such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis.



“I suspect we’ll have a pretty miserable winter because the other respiratory viruses are going to come back and bite us quite hard,” he said. “But after that, I think we’ll be seeing business as normal next year.”

Meanwhile, Susan Hopkins, Public Health England’s director for COVID-19, warned “we may have to do further lockdowns this winter” depending on whether hospitals start to become overwhelmed.

“I think we will have alternative ways to manage this, through vaccination, through anti-virals, through drugs, through testing that we didn’t have last winter,” she told the BBC.

Scientists have warned that a third wave of coronavirus infections is “definitely under way” in England due to the fast spread of the Delta variant first identified in India, even though hospital admissions will hopefully not be on the same scale as in January.

The recent data published by Public Health England showed the AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 percent effective against hospitalization from the Delta variant after two doses, and the Pfizer vaccine, 96 percent effective.

More than 42.6 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine while more than 31 million people have been fully vaccinated with a second dose, according to the latest official figures.

Experts have warned that coronavirus may continue to evolve for years to come, and eventually it is likely current vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even against disease caused by newer variants.

ALSO READ-UK Covid Death Toll Rose To 63,506

READ MORE-UK Covid 19 cases surge to four-month high

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 World News

‘Pfizer, AZ jabs highly effective against Delta variant’

These are comparable with vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation from the Alpha (B117) variant: 96 per cent after two doses with Pfizer vaccine and 92 per cent after two doses from AstraZeneca vaccines…reports Asian Lite News.

Two doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective against hospitalisation from the Delta (B16172) variant, according to new analysis from Public Health England (PHE).

The analysis suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96 per cent effective against hospitalisation after two doses, while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective against hospitalisation after two doses.

These are comparable with vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation from the Alpha (B117) variant: 96 per cent after two doses with Pfizer vaccine and 92 per cent after two doses from AstraZeneca vaccines.

The new analysis included 14,019 cases of the Delta variant, 166 of whom were hospitalised between 12 April and 4 June, looking at emergency hospital admissions in England. The results have been posted as a preprint. Preprints are yet to be peer-reviewed.

“This evidence of the effectiveness of two doses against variants shows just how crucial it is to get your second jab. If you have had your first dose but haven’t booked your second yet — please do so. It will help save lives and boost us on the road to recovery,” said Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock, in a statement.

“These hugely important findings confirm that the vaccines offer significant protection against hospitalisation from the Delta variant. The vaccines are the most important tool we have against Covid-19. Thousands of lives have already been saved because of them. It is absolutely vital to get both doses as soon as they are offered to you, to gain maximum protection against all existing and emerging variants,” added Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE.

A study by PHE in May showed that three weeks after the first dose of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine provided only 33 per cent protection against the Delta variant, while it offered 50 per cent effectiveness against the Alpha variant.

The B16172 variant was first discovered in India and is one of three related strains. It was declared as a variant of global concern last month by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha strain identified in the UK.

ALSO READ-‘Delta Plus ‘variant of interest’ for now’

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