UK Analyzes Delay Lack Of Refinement By One Month Due To Rise In Delta Variant Infections

The British government plans to delay by at least four weeks, until the end of July, the final phase of its deconfinement plan, given the increase in infections induced by the Delta variant initially detected in India., reported this Saturday BBC.

According to the public channel, the conservative executive, which is due to announce its decision next Monday, analyzes as “first option” postpone the total lifting of social restrictions from the planned date of June 21 until approximately July 19, which implies the opening of discotheques and the removal of the limit of people who can register, as well as possible facilities for travel.

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, I consider “Very worrying” the advance of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and recognized that he should proceed “caution” in the last stage of the lack of refinement in the UK.

In statements to Sky News from Carbis Bay to Cornwall, where he chairs the G7 summit, Johnson said that the government should be careful with the de-escalation of containment.

“It is clear that the Indian variant is more transmissible and it is also true that the (positive) cases are increasing, as are the levels of hospitalization,” said the conservative leader, who admitted that he is now “Less optimistic” than at the end of May on the pandemic situation.

Many scientists have estimated in recent days that the de-escalation of the containment imposed last January should be delayed to avoid a third wave of the pandemic, until more people are vaccinated.

The head of the health protection against emerging infections research unit at the University of Liverpool, Tom solomon, said on Saturday that the country cannot afford to make “a bad decision and open on June 21 and weeks later only to realize it was wrong and have to start all over again”.

The President of the British Medical Association (BMA), Chaand Nagpaul, noted on Friday that The risk due to the Delta variant is not only that the number of hospitalizations increases, but “for the health of many young people (not yet vaccinated), who may suffer long-term sequelae”.

Experts believe that 96% of new COVID-19 cases in UK territory are now due to this variant, which is 60% more transmissible the one which until now dominated in the country, the Alpha, registered initially in the English county of Kent.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) reported that the R rate of the virus is the highest since October (between 1.2 and 1.4) which means that the number of cases could increase in the coming weeks. However, vaccines should prevent hospitalizations and deaths, a new closure of activities would not be necessary, according to the Daily Mail.

The parliamentarians expressed that the government should be vigilant after the more than 29,000 cases of Delta variant increased in just one week and the warning that they are doubling in just five days in parts of the country. In any case, the English health authorities have published Promising data showing vaccines work well against Indian strain.

According to the latest official data, between Thursday and Friday they were recorded in the UK 8,125 coronavirus cases, 58.1% more than a week ago, with 17 deaths.

There are currently more than 29 million people immunized with two doses of vaccine55.4% of the adult population.

Experts believe that even if deconfinement is postponed, the UK could reach the 15,000 daily infections by June 21 and to reach infection levels in July comparable to those of last January, when the current shutdown was imposed.

It makes more and more unlikely that the government will be able to allow a reopening of tourism, with the increase in the number of countries included in its “green” list of safe destinations.

(With information from EFE)

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