Covid: Up to three-quarters of new cases are Indian variant, Matt Hancock says

Infections rising as restrictions ease, health secretary warns

At least half, and up to three-quarters, of all new Covid infections being recorded in the UK are caused by the Indian coronavirus variant, Matt Hancock has said.

A total of 6,959 cases have now been confirmed in Britain up to 26 May, according to Public Health England (PHE) – a rise of 3,535 on the previous week’s figures.

Speaking during a Downing Street press briefing on Thursday, the health secretary warned that the variant is “still spreading” throughout the UK.

“The latest estimates are that more than half, and potentially as many as three-quarters, of all new cases are now of this variant,” he said.

“As we set out our roadmap [out of lockdown] we always expected cases to rise. We must remain vigilant.”

Previously, the Indian variant accounted for 13.8 per cent of the 15,202 cases that were reported in the week up 12 May, according to Test and Trace and PHE data.

It is thought to be spreading rapidly among unvaccinated pockets of the population and those who have not yet received both vaccine doses. Earlier this week, PHE analysis showed that one shot of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine is 33 per cent effective against the variant.

After two doses, this figure raises significantly and people can expect to acquire a similar level of protection against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant as with the Kent one.

Mr Hancock said it was vital that Britons continue to accept both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine when they are offered them.

“The aim, of course, is to break the link to hospitalisations and deaths, so that cases alone no longer require stringent restrictions on people’s lives,” he said.

The spread of the variant, which is thought to be more transmissible than previous forms of the virus, remains focused in “hotspots” of England, Mr Hancock said, including the likes of Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn. These three areas have recorded 1,354, 366 and 361 cases respectively, PHE said.

Seven further areas in England have more than 100 confirmed cases of the variant: Leicester, Sefton, Nottingham, Wigan, Central Bedfordshire, Manchester and Hillingdon.

In England, 6,180 cases have now been confirmed, along with 702 in Scotland, 58 in Wales and 19 in Northern Ireland.

"The increase in cases remains focused in hotspots and we are doing all we can to tackle this variant wherever it flares up," the health secretary said, explaining that surge testing and vaccinations have been rolled out in hard-hit areas.

Despite the continued rise in nationwide cases – a total of 3,542 were recorded over the latest 24-hour period – Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of UK Health Security Agency, said the country was not seeing a sharp increase in people being admitted to hospital with Covid.

In Bolton, which has been hardest hit by the variant, there are “early signs” that the town’s recent increase in hospitalisations rates is starting to “cap out”, said Mr Hancock.

Fatalities are meanwhile continuing to fall, and those who are dying from the disease have “predominantly been older people who have not been vaccinated,” said Dr Harries.

Even so, the latest data is of concern, Dr Harries admitted, and calls into question whether all restrictions should be lifted on 21 June.

She said she agrees with Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, who said the full reopening of society now "hangs in the balance".

"On the road map, I absolutely agree with Professor Neil Ferguson,” she said. “The road map works on four principles to go forward, so it's on the cases, hospitalisations, the effectiveness of the vaccine programme and then new variants.

"So, in many ways we're looking at the first part and the last part.

"If you just look at the pure data which is out today it looks quite worrying.”