away. i cannot go over there, if i did i would have two quarantine but there is the idea put around that somehow it s a legal and you need a reason. that was certainly the case up reason. that was certainly the case up to the 17th of may, we were banned for going for anything but essential purposes until that day but since then you can go anywhere. i could go to a red list country, i m not going to commit the government says it doesn t want us to but if you have reasons to go anywhere, a property issue, someone you love, you can go there as long as the destination will let you in and as long as you are prepared to self isolate for ten days when you return. self-isolate for ten days when you return. , ., ., , , ., , return. jane, what this illustrates is that confusion return. jane, what this illustrates is that confusion around - return. jane, what this illustrates is that confusion around this i return. jane, what this illustrates is that confusion around this for i is that confusio
there at the moment?- deal with any variant that is out there at the moment? well, it s been said before but there at the moment? well, it s been said before but this there at the moment? well, it s been said before but this is there at the moment? well, it s been said before but this is a there at the moment? well, it s been said before but this is a race - said before but this is a race between the vaccines and the virus. there is a real push to get second doses administered, with ministers setting a target ofjune the 21st to get all those in the nine priority groups, including the over 50s, having their second jab although it will take a bit longer to build up immunity. against that is the rising case numbers in the uk, up 34% week on week. it had been expected after the opening up on the 17th of may with more household mixing and so on that there would be an increase in cases but officials need to look at how much more the increase has been because of the variant first iden
professor sir mark walport. thank you very much for it being with us this morning. i am sure our viewers will be interested to know how you are assessing things at the moment. we were speaking to our chief political correspondent that he was talking about a scientist being into camps. those who are being into camps. those who are being over cautious, and those who are saying it is ok to move ahead. which of these camps are you in? i which of these camps are you in? i am in the camp that says we need more am in the camp that says we need more data. am in the camp that says we need more data, i m afraid. we need to substitute more data, i m afraid. we need to substitute speculation for scientific data. as everyone has said in scientific data. as everyone has said in recent days, the situation is very said in recent days, the situation is very delicately balanced with three is very delicately balanced with three sets of moving parts. firstly, we have three sets of moving parts
i ve said all along, as has matt hancock and the prime minister, we can t rule anything out, because we know that this has been a difficult pandemic, a dynamic situation. we have to make thatjudgment a couple of weeks before. it will only be by then we will see the full impact of the latest easements we made on 17th may. so i know everybody wants to know what s going to happen, but we can t actually make that judgment until we see the impacts of the easements we ve just made. there is a race between the new variant and the spread of virus and the vaccine roll out. we are hearing ministers talk all the time about getting the second dose of the vaccine. that is because the science suggests that the protection you get, even from this new variant after two doses is much higher than it is from one dose, it is about a third with one dose, it is double if not more if you have both, so you will hear a lot of messaging in the next couple of weeks about exactly
trajectory in a clearer way. if you look at the cost and benefits of getting it wrong, i think it is heavily in the favour of delay. that is the key thing, yes, you are right, we will learn to live with it but this date that was set did not take into account the fact that we would have a new variant on the horizon with properties that allow it to evade antibodies to some extent. and a virus which is more transmissible. the environment secretary george eustice has said the government can t rule out a delay to easing saying ministers had to take things one step at a time. we can t rule anything out. it is the dynamic situation. we will only see the full impact of the latest easements we have made on the 17th of may. we can t make thatjudgment