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New variants of Covid-19 are unlikely to prevent Britain from returning to normal this summer, an expert has claimed.
Professor Sharon Peacock, who heads the scientific body Covid-19 Genomics UK, told The Times that the UK was prepared to “stay ahead” of the virus.
He said he was “very optimistic” that the highly successful launch of the vaccine would allow restrictions to be relaxed as planned.
There is concern that the Brazilian and South African variants are more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines.
But Professor Peacock said these new variants showed no signs of increasing and were unlikely to jeopardize the government’s roadmap out of the lockdown.
“I think we have the ability to stay ahead by adapting vaccines, so I am optimistic,” he told the newspaper.
The average daily number of Covid cases, hospital admissions and deaths is the lowest since the fall, the health secretary said on Friday.
Matt Hancock painted a positive picture regarding the state of coronavirus infections in England at a Downing Street news conference, with the average number of cases, 6,685 per day, at its lowest rate since late September.
That pattern repeated on Friday, with the government confirming that, as of 9am, there had been another 5,947 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK.
The health secretary said the decline in cases means the government could continue with its plan to replace the closure – with the first easing on Monday with the return of schools, and all restrictions possibly lifted by June 21 – with the “protection that comes from vaccines. and periodic tests ”.
Announcing the “encouraging news” about the Covid data, Hancock said that the drop in the average number of hospital admissions, to 900 per day, and an “abrupt” average daily death rate, to 248, meant that both were in its lowest levels since October.
Hancock said there are still 12,136 people in UK hospitals with Covid-19, which is “too high”, but that the data was evidence that “we are heading in the right direction.”
There was more good news as a scientist leading the body that tracks new variants of the coronavirus said he was “optimistic” about the UK “getting ahead” of virus developments through tailored vaccines.
It comes as the sixth mystery case of the Manaus variant of the coronavirus was confirmed to have been tracked down and identified in Croydon, south London.
Hancock said the “dogged determination” of the test and trace teams had found the person, who had stayed home after returning from Brazil.
He said: “The best evidence is that this person stayed home and there is no evidence of further transmission, but as a precaution, we are doing more testing in Croydon, where he lives, to minimize the possibility of spread.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged Croydon residents to “come forward” for testing, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.
Officials had been searching for the unknown individual after cases of the troubling variant were detected in the UK.
Six cases of the P1 variant have been found, identified for the first time in the Brazilian city of Manaus, three in Scotland and three in England.
There is mounting evidence to suggest that the Manaus mutation, along with the South African variant, could more easily evade the vaccines currently being rolled out in Britain.
With the image improving in terms of cases, senior Conservative MPs questioned why ministers were going ahead with stricter overseas travel measures.
Starting Monday, people traveling internationally from England will need to complete and bring a declaration to the travel document downloaded from the Government website.
But speaking to The Daily Telegraph, which suggested the measure was aimed at reducing travel abroad at Easter, Sir Graham Brady said the imposition gave “too much control to the state.”
The chairman of the influential 1922 Supporting Tories Committee told the newspaper: “With the progress of the vaccine program and the actual drop in positive tests for Covid in the UK, it is time we started to get rid of intrusive regulations, without bringing in new ones “.
