Latest coronavirus news as of 5pm on 4 June
There were 12,431 cases of the delta variant in the UK as of 3 June
The delta variant of the coronavirus has become the dominant variant of coronavirus in the UK according to data from Public Health England, as the total number of confirmed cases caused by the delta variant has increased to 12,431 as of 3 June, up from 6959 a week earlier. The rise in coronavirus cases across the UK may be related to the spread of the highly-transmissible delta variant.
Neil Ferguson, a scientist who has advised the UK government on covid-19, said the delta variant of coronavirus may be 30 to 100 per cent more transmissible than the previously dominant alpha variant of the virus. “The best estimate at the moment is this variant may be 60 per cent more transmissible than the alpha variant,” Ferguson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on 4 June. “There’s some uncertainty around that depending on assumption and how you analyse the data, between about 30 per cent and maybe even up to 100 per cent more transmissible,” he added.