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The British health minister has warned that coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease, such as those found in South Africa and Brazil, and that stricter border controls are justified.
“We do not know the extent of it,” Matt Hancock said in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, commenting on the extent of the possible diminished efficacy of the vaccines. “In the meantime, we need to have a precautionary principle that says we should not bring these new variants back to the UK”
Hancock’s warning comes when the United Kingdom reported that it had vaccinated more than 5 million people, including three-quarters of those over 80. Hancock said the government was conducting a vaccination test on the South African variant to gauge its response to the vaccination. to study, and that he is concerned about new variants developing elsewhere.
“The new variant that I’m really worried about is the one that is there but has not been noticed,” he said, adding that the UK is offering its genome sequencing capability to other countries to help them find new tribes. Identify. There are 77 known cases of the South African variant in Britain, and at least 9 cases of the Brazilian variant, Hancock said on the BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show”.
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The United Kingdom has already banned flights from South Africa and neighboring countries, plus the whole of South America, in an effort to stop the spread of the new variant. Hancock said the government in the coming days did not rule out imposing even stricter international travel measures.
Britain is struggling with the highest death toll in Europe due to the disease and is struggling to recover from its deepest recession in more than 300 years. The latest data published on Sunday reported another 610 deaths, bringing the UK total to 97,939. The government is also vigilant about signs that a local variant of the virus, which is as much as 70% more transmissible, could be more deadly than the original strain.
The provision of vaccines – not distribution by the National Health Service – is the rate-limiting factor in the UK vaccination effort, Hancock said. Some 6.35 million people have now received their first dose, the latest figures showed, with Britain far ahead of other European countries.
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Hancock could not confirm that schools would be open again by Easter and said the government at the time would have to look into the data surrounding the pandemic. While the government also wants to lift social restrictions as soon as possible, Hancock added that it is too early to give more details about possible relief.
“There is early evidence that exclusion is starting to decline, but we are far, long, far from low enough,” Hancock told Sky. “You can see the pressure on the NHS, you can see it every day.”
(Updates with the latest coronavirus data from the sixth paragraph.)