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The UK Health Minister 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 warranted.
“We don’t know the degree of that,” Matt Hancock said in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, commenting on the scope of any potential reduction in vaccine effectiveness. “In the meantime, we must have a precautionary principle that says we will not return these new variants to the UK”
Hancock’s warning came when the UK reported that it had vaccinated more than 5 million people, including three-quarters of people over 80. concerned about new variants being developed elsewhere.
“The new variant that really worries me is the one that is there but has not been seen,” he said, adding that the UK is offering its genome sequencing capability to other countries to help them identify new strains. . 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, as well as all of South America, to try to stop the spread of the new variants. Hancock said the government did not rule out introducing even stricter international travel measures in the coming days.
Britain faces 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 figures released on Sunday reported another 610 deaths, bringing the total to 97,939 in the UK. The government is also on alert for signs that a local variant of the virus, which is up to 70% more communicable, could be more deadly than the original strain.
Vaccine supply – not distribution by the National Health Service – is the factor limiting the rate in the UK’s vaccination effort, Hancock said. Some 6.35 million people have already received their first dose, according to the latest figures, with Britain well ahead of other European countries.
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Hancock was unable to confirm that schools would reopen for Easter, saying the government should look at the pandemic data at that time. While the government also wants to lift social restrictions as soon as possible, Hancock added that it is too early to give further details on the possible relief.
“There is early evidence that the blockade is starting to bring down the cases, but we are very, very, very far from being 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.)