Vanessa Chalmers, Digital Health Reporter
May 4 2021, 9:54 ET
Updated: May 4 2021, 12:25 ET
THE Indian Covid variants are spreading rapidly in parts of the UK and are the cause of around one in 20 new cases, data shows.
Experts have said the rise of the strain may be “masked” by broadly decreasing infection rates.
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Data from COG-UK suggests 18 per cent of cases in the UK in the week ending May 1 were caused by the Indian variant B.1.617.1. But the data is only provisional. This graph shows how cases of the Indian variants have grown since their discovery in comparison to those from South Africa and Brazil
Published:
1:53 PM April 26, 2021
A group of scientists has written an open letter calling for restrictions including social distancing and face masks to end by June 21.
- Credit: Simon Parkin
A UEA expert has said calls from a group of scientists and academics to end coronavirus restrictions are wrong and their public appeal is “not the best way forward”.
In an open letter, the scientists said a good society cannot be created by obsessive focus on a single cause of ill-health and that Covid-19 no longer requires exceptional measures of control in everyday life .
The 22 signatories - who include Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at University of Oxford, and Professor Karol Sikora from the medicine school at the University of Buckingham - say mandatory face coverings, physical distancing and mass community testing should end no later than June 21.
INDIAN BUMMER
UK cases of Indian Covid variant DOUBLE in a week to 160 raising fears it could delay roadmap
Updated: Apr 18 2021, 6:39 ET
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UK cases of the Indian Covid variant have reportedly DOUBLED in a week raising fears its emergence could delay the roadmap to recovery.
Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, discovered the number of confirmed cases had risen from 79 to 160.
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Environment Secretary George Eustice says there is no evidence the Indian variant is able to get around vaccinesCredit: Getty
And it s feared - as only around a quarter of identified cases undergo tests to identify individual strains - the true figure could be at least 400.
Indian Covid variant detected in UK as 77 cases under investigation thesun.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thesun.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.