COVID-19: Minister says there is no delay in easing lockdown in England on Monday despite spread of Indian variant | Political news

A minister told Sky News that the third step in easing England’s lockdown will continue on Monday, despite the spike in cases of the Indian variant of the coronavirus in the UK.

The latest figures show that there are 1,313 cases of the variant in the UK, up from 520 recorded the previous week.

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But Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said that COVID-19[female[feminine the roadmap for Monday “remains in place because the vaccines are being delivered”.

“At the moment, we have no evidence that it escapes vaccines or is more severe in its impact on people,” he said.

From May 17, pubs and restaurants will be able to reopen indoors and people will be able to mingle indoors as two households or under the rule of six.

People will also have the choice to socially distance themselves from close family and friends they meet.

On June 21, the fourth stage, the government wants to put an end to “all limits of social contact”.

Asked about this step, Zahawi was more equivocal, saying ministers would monitor the situation with the virus and be “driven by the data”.

Boris Johnson said on Thursday the UK was “worried” about the variant and the government “was not ruling anything out” when it came to tackling its spread.

Despite this, the Prime Minister said he “sees nothing to dissuade me from thinking that we can move forward on Monday and even June 21 everywhere” in terms of easing restrictions in England.

The government is now considering offering second doses of vaccine in areas with a high number of cases of the Indian variant.

The Department of Health said “most of the cases are in the North West of England, some in London”.

Surge testing, increased genomic sequencing, and improved contact tracing have all been …