Covid Delta variant “will hunt down anyone who has not had a jab”, warn scientific advisers No.10

The Covid Delta variant will ‘stalk’ unvaccinated people, Downing Street has been warned by its scientific advisers.

It was said in # 10 that “such is the nature” of the most transmissible variant that it is “almost inevitable” that it will end up infecting anyone who hasn’t received both shots.

The development comes as former Health Secretary Matt Hancock makes his first media intervention today since stepping down from Cabinet earlier this year.

Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, Mr Hancock praised the fact that more than four in five people over the age of 16 have now received both doses of a vaccine, but fiercely criticizes anti-vax activists.

“Incredibly, there is still a persistent but thankfully small and shrinking group of people determined to try and stop this progress,” he wrote. “In all of my time in public life, I have never encountered a group as blind and dangerous as anti-vaccines.”

As it was revealed last night that two of the professional dancers on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing have refused to be vaccinated, he writes: “I applaud those who have come forward to get their jab in a very public way. Sir Elton John, David Walliams or Gareth Southgate, so many celebrities have risen up to help in our national effort… For every hesitant person who has been fooled by the anti-vaccine lies, much more has been, objective facts published by doctors .

Health ministry officials said yesterday they expected the proportion of people over 16 with at least one dose of a vaccine to rise to 90% by the end of the week. It stands at 89.3 percent (48.5 million) with 81.6 percent (44.4 million) fully stung.

In other developments:

• The number of positive tests fell 20.4% in the last seven days to 30,144, with hospital admissions down 4.7% to 932. Deaths rose 2% from a week ago to 164;
• Holiday bookings surpassed pre-pandemic levels after the government lifted a series of travel restrictions, including – as the MoS predicted last weekend – the need for expensive PCR testing;
• Two city law firms require staff to be fully vaccinated before returning to their London offices;
• The NHS said 1.5 million invitations to book a Covid booster shot will be sent by text or letter this week;
• The Lancet medical journal bowed to pressure on its much-criticized coverage of the disputed origins of the Covid pandemic by publishing an “alternative view” of 16 scientists calling for an “objective, open and transparent debate” on the virus leak a Chinese laboratory;
• Match-of-the-day expert and MoS columnist Danny Murphy revealed he had coronavirus, but said he was ‘thankful’ for being fully vaccinated. It has meanwhile emerged that personal finance guru and prominent anti-vaxxer Alan Steel had died from the virus;
• Thousands of anti-vaccines marched down Downing Street as police in the Australian city of Melbourne – which have been locked up for 228 days – were forced to use pepper spray when anti-lockdown rioters stormed the streets ;
• India delivered 25 million doses of the vaccine in a single 24-hour period that coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

Speaking of the risk of the Delta – or Indian – variant of the unvaccinated, a government source said: “The nature of this virus is such that if it continues to evolve and adapt in this way, it is almost inevitable. as someone who didnt if the jabs would end up getting infected.

The deployment of vaccinations for children from 12 to 15 years old is due to start on Wednesday despite the reservations of some scientists.

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the government’s joint committee on vaccination and immunization, said scientists did not have the “luxury” of time to research possible risks.