News Round-Up
24 April 2024
There is a "danger of unrest" if local lockdown restrictions are imposed in Bolton because of the Indian Covid variant, the leader of the local council has warned.
Boris Johnson is holding talks with his Cabinet today amid reports that there is a "close to nil" chance that lockdown will end on June 21st because of fears over the Indian Covid variant.
The Indian variant has been used to justify the Government U-turning on ending mask-wearing in the classroom, with areas where the strain is more dominant having been told to keep to the mask mandate in place.
The Government is considering extending lockdown beyond June 21st to protect those who refuse the vaccine from the Indian variant. According to one minister, some unvaccinated "idiots" risk ruining it for everyone else.
Boris Johnson confirmed today that "nothing" is ruled out in responding to the Indian variant including new lockdowns. But does the data show that the variant is anything for us to worry about?
The Head of the Covid Genomics U.K. Consortium (COG-UK) says there is currently "no hint" of a Covid variant that can fully evade the effectiveness of vaccines. If anything, future variants could be less infectious.
Professor Neil Ferguson says that the success of the U.K.’s vaccine rollout means life will feel more normal by the summer, though we will still “not completely back to normal”.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus has urged the Government to discourage holidays abroad even when they’re legal so as to keep Covid variants out of the U.K. and prevent a third wave of infections.
India will be added to the Government's "red list" for international travel as a "precautionary measure" after 103 people in the U.K. were found carrying the country's Covid variant.
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that restrictions on international travel should not be lifted too soon because of the "big risk" of importing Covid variants into the UK.
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