Greater Manchester told to ‘minimise travel’ as Delta variant surges
Millions of people in Greater Manchester and Lancashire have been told to “minimise travel” and to only meet people indoors as a result of rising cases of the Delta Covid variant.
A “rapid response unit” has been sent to Greater Manchester and Lancashire to provide surge testing and “military support” to suppress the spread of the more transmissible variant, which was discovered in India.
It comes as The Times reported today that Boris Johnson was set to delay the 21 June shedding of England Covid restrictions by two to three weeks.
Health secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: “I can tell the House that today, working with local authorities, we are providing a strengthened package of support based on what is working in Bolton to help Greater Manchester and Lancashire tackle the rise in the Delta variant that we are seeing there.”
Today’s announcement puts the 21 June further in jeopardy as the seven-day case rate has now risen by 50 per cent over the past week.
Chief medical officer professor Chris Whitty reportedly gave a briefing to Boris Johnson’s cabinet about the current situation, which ministers described to The Times as “downbeat” and “fairly grim”.
“They emphasised again that the vaccine did not provide 100 per cent protection and there were real concerns about the transmissibility of the new variants,” a source said.
Hancock told Sky News on Sunday that the variant is 40 per cent more transmissible, with data also suggesting that one Covid jab is not as effective against the strain.
The health secretary said that evidence shows two vaccines are just as effective against the variant.
Hancock told MPs that “absolutely critical” data on the effectiveness of Covid vaccines at reducing serious diseases and hospital admissions for the so-called Indian or Delta variant will be available in the next “couple of weeks”.