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Ignore lockdown easing to curb Indian Covid variant, health experts urge
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Michael Ejercito
May 17, 2021, 9:17:46 AM5/17/21
to
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/16/ignore-lockdown-easing-to-curb-indian-covid-variant-health-experts-urge
Ignore lockdown easing to curb Indian Covid variant, health experts urge
Leading specialists call on the public to avoid socialising indoors to
prevent a third wave of the disease
Coronavirus – latest updates
See all our coronavirus coverage
Businesses in Soho, central London, prepare for the easing of lockdown
measures in England
Businesses in Soho, central London, prepare for the easing of lockdown
measures in England. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Denis Campbell and Jessica Elgot
Sun 16 May 2021 14.49 EDT
1,129
People should ignore Monday’s easing of lockdown and avoid socialising
indoors in pubs and restaurants to prevent the new Covid-19 variant
first detected in India sparking a third wave of the disease, health
experts say.
A former government chief scientific adviser, a leading public health
specialist and the union representing Britain’s doctors are urging the
public to stick to meeting outdoors to reduce the risk of catching or
spreading the variant.
Prof Sir Mark Walport, a former director of the Wellcome Trust and a
chief scientific adviser until 2017, called on the public to be
cautious. “My personal judgement is that I will do things outside as far
as possible,” he said. “My advice is that just because you can do
something doesn’t necessarily mean you should.”
Advertisement
‘Everybody is angry’: Modi under fire over India’s Covid second wave
Asked by Sophy Ridge on Sky News if that meant he would avoid going
inside a pub, he replied: “For the moment, yes.”
Martin McKee, a professor of public health at the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, backed Walport. He said: “Based on the
precautionary principle and on the experience in earlier waves, I am
very concerned. Personally I will not be going indoors in bars or
restaurants for some time.”
Under the rule changes in England groups of six people or two households
will be allowed to meet indoors in homes, pubs, cafes and restaurants
for the first time since last autumn. Rules will also be relaxed in
Wales and most of Scotland.
The British Medical Association, however, also recommended that people
keep meeting outside for the time being because the of threat posed by
the new variant.
“We are urging the public, and young people in particular, to take a
cautious approach to social and physical contact, to continue practising
‘hands, face, space’ and to meet outdoors wherever possible,” said Dr
Richard Jarvis, the co-chair of the BMA’s public health committee.
“People must look at their own personal risk and adjust their activities
accordingly. We are asking people to take a cautious approach as we
enter the next stage of lockdown.”
Advertisement
Cases linked to the variant first detected in India more than doubled in
a week from 520 to 1,313, the most recent official figures show. Bolton,
Blackburn, Erewash in Derbyshire and Moray in Scotland have been among
the initial hotspots, but cases are now being detected all over the
country, including in places such as London, Essex, Hertfordshire and
Cambridge.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that the variant could
“spread like wildfire” among unvaccinated groups. It is likely to
replace the Kent variant as the dominant strain of coronavirus across
the UK, he added. The government’s Scientific Advisory Group on
Emergencies fears the new strain could be 40 to 50% more transmissible
and, if it is, “would lead to a substantial resurgence in
hospitalisations [similar to, or larger than, previous peaks]”.
What threat does Indian Covid variant pose and do vaccines work against it?
Read more
Hancock defended Boris Johnson’s decision to let Monday’s easing of
limits on social contact go ahead. Uncertainty about how transmissible
the new variant is means that “it’s appropriate to continue down the
road map, but people need to be cautious and careful”, he said.
Johnson himself said people should “take this next step with a heavy
dose of caution” and called for an increased uptake of twice-weekly
testing and vaccination. “I urge everyone to be cautious and take
responsibility when enjoying new freedoms today in order to keep the
virus at bay,” he said.
“We are keeping the spread of the variant first identified in India
under close observation and taking swift action where infection rates
are rising,” he said on the eve of restrictions lifting.
“The current data does not indicate unsustainable pressure on the NHS
and our extraordinary vaccination programme will accelerate, with second
doses being bought forward to give the most vulnerable maximum protection.”
Some members of the Independent Sage group of medical and scientific
experts said, however, that the new variant’s upward trajectory was so
worrying that the prime minister should have delayed the relaxation.
Surge testing is under way in areas with the highest number of cases
linked to the new variant and expanded vaccination is being used to
immunise as many people as possible. A new vaccination centre is opening
in Bolton in the next few days to cope with demand. Ministers could
again resort to local lockdowns to try to reduce infections in hotspots,
Hancock said.
Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which
represents hospital trusts in England, said: “It is reassuring that the
spike in cases isn’t translating into unmanageable pressures on the NHS
at the moment, but we cannot afford to be complacent.”
Advertisement
Comments from Hancock on Sunday that hospitalisations in Bolton mainly
involve people eligible for the vaccine who have not taken one have
provoked some internal disquiet among Conservative MPs, who privately
say ministers should not delay lifting restrictions to protect those who
have declined vaccination.
The infection rate in Bolton stands at 254.9 per 100,000, more than ten
times the national average. Mark Logan, the Conservative MP for Bolton
North East, said the town had endured far longer restrictions than
almost anywhere in the country because of local lockdowns that began
last year, and demanded that everyone over 18 be vaccinated before the
end of May.
Share your story
Share your stories
If you have been affected or have any information, we'd like to hear
from you. You can get in touch by filling in the form below, anonymously
if you wish or contact us via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding the
contact +44(0)7867825056. Only the Guardian can see your contributions
and one of our journalists may contact you to discuss further.
Tell us
Hancock denied that Johnson was too slow to ban flights into the UK from
India. It was only added to the red list of high-risk countries from
which travel is banned on 23 April, two weeks after its neighbour
Pakistan. Critics, including Labour, say Johnson’s refusal to impose a
ban sooner was linked to his planned trade mission to India to meet his
counterpart, Narendra Modi, allowing thousands of potentially infectious
people to arrive in Britain.
A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on Monday will also raise new
questions about the government’s pandemic response. In it Prof Sharon
Peacock of Public Health England, who runs the UK programme for tracing
variants and is a member of Sage, denies that the emergence of the Kent
variant late last year was down to bad luck. That variant led to the
second wave of Covid and led to many thousands of deaths.
It also examines why Johnson invited Prof Sunetra Gupta and Prof Carl
Heneghan, two prominent academics who had argued against blanket
lockdowns, to join a zoom call with him and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor,
last September, around the time he was being advised by Sage to
instigate an immediate two-week lockdown – a meeting first disclosed by
the Guardian.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, meanwhile, may
again allow under-40s to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in response to
the threat from the new variant, the JCVI member Prof Adam Finn said on
Sunday. That age group have been advised to have either the
Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna jabs because the risk of blood clots.
Ignore lockdown easing to curb Indian Covid variant, health experts urge
Leading specialists call on the public to avoid socialising indoors to
prevent a third wave of the disease
Coronavirus – latest updates
See all our coronavirus coverage
Businesses in Soho, central London, prepare for the easing of lockdown
measures in England
Businesses in Soho, central London, prepare for the easing of lockdown
measures in England. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Denis Campbell and Jessica Elgot
Sun 16 May 2021 14.49 EDT
1,129
People should ignore Monday’s easing of lockdown and avoid socialising
indoors in pubs and restaurants to prevent the new Covid-19 variant
first detected in India sparking a third wave of the disease, health
experts say.
A former government chief scientific adviser, a leading public health
specialist and the union representing Britain’s doctors are urging the
public to stick to meeting outdoors to reduce the risk of catching or
spreading the variant.
Prof Sir Mark Walport, a former director of the Wellcome Trust and a
chief scientific adviser until 2017, called on the public to be
cautious. “My personal judgement is that I will do things outside as far
as possible,” he said. “My advice is that just because you can do
something doesn’t necessarily mean you should.”
Advertisement
‘Everybody is angry’: Modi under fire over India’s Covid second wave
Asked by Sophy Ridge on Sky News if that meant he would avoid going
inside a pub, he replied: “For the moment, yes.”
Martin McKee, a professor of public health at the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, backed Walport. He said: “Based on the
precautionary principle and on the experience in earlier waves, I am
very concerned. Personally I will not be going indoors in bars or
restaurants for some time.”
Under the rule changes in England groups of six people or two households
will be allowed to meet indoors in homes, pubs, cafes and restaurants
for the first time since last autumn. Rules will also be relaxed in
Wales and most of Scotland.
The British Medical Association, however, also recommended that people
keep meeting outside for the time being because the of threat posed by
the new variant.
“We are urging the public, and young people in particular, to take a
cautious approach to social and physical contact, to continue practising
‘hands, face, space’ and to meet outdoors wherever possible,” said Dr
Richard Jarvis, the co-chair of the BMA’s public health committee.
“People must look at their own personal risk and adjust their activities
accordingly. We are asking people to take a cautious approach as we
enter the next stage of lockdown.”
Advertisement
Cases linked to the variant first detected in India more than doubled in
a week from 520 to 1,313, the most recent official figures show. Bolton,
Blackburn, Erewash in Derbyshire and Moray in Scotland have been among
the initial hotspots, but cases are now being detected all over the
country, including in places such as London, Essex, Hertfordshire and
Cambridge.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that the variant could
“spread like wildfire” among unvaccinated groups. It is likely to
replace the Kent variant as the dominant strain of coronavirus across
the UK, he added. The government’s Scientific Advisory Group on
Emergencies fears the new strain could be 40 to 50% more transmissible
and, if it is, “would lead to a substantial resurgence in
hospitalisations [similar to, or larger than, previous peaks]”.
What threat does Indian Covid variant pose and do vaccines work against it?
Read more
Hancock defended Boris Johnson’s decision to let Monday’s easing of
limits on social contact go ahead. Uncertainty about how transmissible
the new variant is means that “it’s appropriate to continue down the
road map, but people need to be cautious and careful”, he said.
Johnson himself said people should “take this next step with a heavy
dose of caution” and called for an increased uptake of twice-weekly
testing and vaccination. “I urge everyone to be cautious and take
responsibility when enjoying new freedoms today in order to keep the
virus at bay,” he said.
“We are keeping the spread of the variant first identified in India
under close observation and taking swift action where infection rates
are rising,” he said on the eve of restrictions lifting.
“The current data does not indicate unsustainable pressure on the NHS
and our extraordinary vaccination programme will accelerate, with second
doses being bought forward to give the most vulnerable maximum protection.”
Some members of the Independent Sage group of medical and scientific
experts said, however, that the new variant’s upward trajectory was so
worrying that the prime minister should have delayed the relaxation.
Surge testing is under way in areas with the highest number of cases
linked to the new variant and expanded vaccination is being used to
immunise as many people as possible. A new vaccination centre is opening
in Bolton in the next few days to cope with demand. Ministers could
again resort to local lockdowns to try to reduce infections in hotspots,
Hancock said.
Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which
represents hospital trusts in England, said: “It is reassuring that the
spike in cases isn’t translating into unmanageable pressures on the NHS
at the moment, but we cannot afford to be complacent.”
Advertisement
Comments from Hancock on Sunday that hospitalisations in Bolton mainly
involve people eligible for the vaccine who have not taken one have
provoked some internal disquiet among Conservative MPs, who privately
say ministers should not delay lifting restrictions to protect those who
have declined vaccination.
The infection rate in Bolton stands at 254.9 per 100,000, more than ten
times the national average. Mark Logan, the Conservative MP for Bolton
North East, said the town had endured far longer restrictions than
almost anywhere in the country because of local lockdowns that began
last year, and demanded that everyone over 18 be vaccinated before the
end of May.
Share your story
Share your stories
If you have been affected or have any information, we'd like to hear
from you. You can get in touch by filling in the form below, anonymously
if you wish or contact us via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding the
contact +44(0)7867825056. Only the Guardian can see your contributions
and one of our journalists may contact you to discuss further.
Tell us
Hancock denied that Johnson was too slow to ban flights into the UK from
India. It was only added to the red list of high-risk countries from
which travel is banned on 23 April, two weeks after its neighbour
Pakistan. Critics, including Labour, say Johnson’s refusal to impose a
ban sooner was linked to his planned trade mission to India to meet his
counterpart, Narendra Modi, allowing thousands of potentially infectious
people to arrive in Britain.
A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on Monday will also raise new
questions about the government’s pandemic response. In it Prof Sharon
Peacock of Public Health England, who runs the UK programme for tracing
variants and is a member of Sage, denies that the emergence of the Kent
variant late last year was down to bad luck. That variant led to the
second wave of Covid and led to many thousands of deaths.
It also examines why Johnson invited Prof Sunetra Gupta and Prof Carl
Heneghan, two prominent academics who had argued against blanket
lockdowns, to join a zoom call with him and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor,
last September, around the time he was being advised by Sage to
instigate an immediate two-week lockdown – a meeting first disclosed by
the Guardian.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, meanwhile, may
again allow under-40s to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in response to
the threat from the new variant, the JCVI member Prof Adam Finn said on
Sunday. That age group have been advised to have either the
Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna jabs because the risk of blood clots.
HeartDoc Andrew
May 17, 2021, 12:05:17 PM5/17/21
to
places is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding
out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who among us
are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in
order to http://bit.ly/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12) for them to call
their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of stopping
this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while preparing for the
worse-case scenario of the B.1.1.7 lineage mutations and others like
the P.1, B.1.135, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.525, & B.1.617.1-3 lineage
mutations combining to render current COVID vaccines no longer
effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
--
Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Cardiologist with an http://bit.ly/EternalMedicalLicense
2016 & upwards non-partisan candidate for U.S. President:
http://bit.ly/WonderfullyHungryPresident
and author of the 2PD-OMER Approach:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewCare
which is the only **healthy** cure for the U.S. healthcare crisis
Michael Ejercito
May 18, 2021, 10:12:08 AM5/18/21
to
Michael
HeartDoc Andrew
May 18, 2021, 11:47:59 AM5/18/21
to
MichaelE wrote:
> I am wonderfully hungry!
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
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