UK confident about July reopening despite soaring cases
World | June 29, 2021 10:05 ISTBritain's new health secretary said Monday he is confident that England is on track to remove the country's remaining coronavirus restrictions on July 19.
Britain's new health secretary said Monday he is confident that England is on track to remove the country's remaining coronavirus restrictions on July 19.
Hancock had been under growing pressure since the tabloid Sun newspaper published images showing him and senior aide Gina Coladangelo kissing in an office at the Department of Health.
The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 4,717,811, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The total number of confirmed Delta cases now stands at 111,157 -- with 102,019 of these recorded in England, 7,738 in Scotland, 788 in Wales and 612 in Northern Ireland, the Sky news reported.
Sutha Sivanantham stabbed her daughter Sayagi in the bedroom of their south London flat 15 times before severely injuring herself on June 30 last year, the Metro.co.uk reported.
“We are on track for the opening on July 19 and we will watch vigilantly, we will look at the data in particular at the start of next week,” Hancock told the BBC.
The UK is undergoing a third wave of coronavirus infections as a result of the highly transmissible Delta variant, a top expert who advises the government on its vaccination programme said on Saturday.
Early studies by scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Durham University show that COVID-19 infection has a distinct smell, resulting from changes in the volatile organic compounds (VOC) which make up the body odour – generating an odour "fingerprint" that the sensors can detect.
The variant has become the dominant strain in the UK, accounting for an estimated 60 per cent of new cases, replacing the B.1.1.7 strain.
The Delta variant of COVID-19, or the B1.617.2 variant first identified in India, is around 40 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha or so-called Kent variant of concern (VOC), UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday.
Johnson is expected to stress the importance of a global vaccination drive when he meets with fellow world leaders on Friday in Cornwall, on the coast of southwestern England, for the first face-to-face G-7 summit since the pandemic hit.
The Delta variant of COVID-19, or the B1.617.2 highly transmissible variant of concern (VOC) first identified in India, has now become the dominant VOC in the UK.
Scientists in the UK have urged the government to exercise caution when making a decision about a scheduled June 21 timeline for an end to all lockdown restrictions amid growing fears on Tuesday of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Another 3,383 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,487,339, according to official figures released Monday.
The UK is in the early stages of a third wave of Covid-19, a scientist advising the UK government said, media reports said on Monday.
This is the fourth Covid vaccine to be authorised by the UK's independent regulator and is the first to be approved for protection against the Covid with a single dose.
Johnson, 56, and Symonds, 33, based at their Downing Street flat, were engaged in late 2019 and together have a one-year-old son, Wilfred.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said the COVID-19 variant first detected in India was of “increasing concern” in the UK and the country's health authorities are looking at all possible solutions as its case numbers continue to rise in parts of England.
As Britain moves through its roadmap of easing lockdowns, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to confirm that more restrictions on indoor gatherings will be lifted from next Monday, the chief medical officers of all four regions of the UK agreed to a change in the alert level with a note of caution.
India remains on the "red list" since last month amid a second wave surge in coronavirus infections, which means all travel remains banned between India and the UK except for British residents and nationals who must self-isolate for 10 days in a designated quarantine hotel.
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