London | A study published on Friday, three days after the government’s decision on the issue was announced, showed that the delta type of coronavirus, now dominant in the UK, is 60% more contagious than its predecessor and continues to rise in the country. recent restrictions lifted.
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock recently cited the figure of 40%, compared to alpha, which is itself more transmissible than the original strains.
According to this study by Public Health England, 42,323 cases (29,892 over a week ago) of this specific variant were detected in India and present in about fifty countries in the UK. It accounts for more than 90% of new cases.
After a long lockdown and a vigorous vaccination campaign, the number of cases and hospitalizations fell sharply in the UK in the spring, but the number of cases over seven days is now up more than 60% and the number of patients just hospitalized. Jumped again over 1000.
However, Public Health England considers it ‘encouraging’ to note that the evolution of the variant is not associated with an increase in hospitalizations in the same proportions. There are currently 1,000 coronavirus patients in British hospitals.
“The data indicate that the vaccination program continues to mitigate the impact of this alternative” in populations where the number of people who have received two doses of the vaccine is high, the public authority asserts.
If vaccination, “our best defense”, “reduces the risk of serious disease, it does not eliminate it,” said Jenny Harris, director-general of Britain’s Health Security Agency.
In England, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates the number of people infected with coronavirus at 96,800 in the week that ended June 5, or one in 560.
The United Kingdom, the European country worst affected with nearly 128,000 deaths, has launched a massive vaccination campaign, which has allowed at least one dose to be given to more than 77% of adults in six months.
After the winter confinement, the government has gradually lifted restrictions, but the lifting of the latest measures, tentatively scheduled for June 21, is threatened by the recent increase in pollution, which exceeds 6000 or even 7000 new cases per day.
This concerns in particular the reopening of discos, the licensing of weddings of more than 30 people or the service in the bar and not only at the table.
According to the Daily timesPrime Minister Boris Johnson is now considering delaying the date by four weeks. The decision is expected to be announced on Monday.
