Seven things we learned from Boris Johnson’s press conference on India’s variant of Covid Bedford News

The Prime Minister led a press conference in Downing Street on Friday amid concerns over the Indian Covid strain in Bolton.

He said there was no evidence that an increase in cases of the Indian variant was translating to unmanageable pressures on the NHS in terms of hospital admissions.

As a result, he said he believes there is no need to delay the reopening of the roadmap scheduled for Monday, which will allow people to socialize inside.

London and the North West have seen the biggest increase in cases of the variant, with data from Public Health England (PHE) showing it was responsible for four deaths as of May 12.

People over 50 and clinically vulnerable people will be offered their second dose of a Covid vaccine eight weeks after the first in a bid to mitigate any impact of the Indian variant of the coronavirus.

Further doses of the vaccine were sent to Bolton, which has a particularly high rate of the Indian variant, while 800,000 PCR tests were sent to 15 separate regions of England, including parts of London and Merseyside.

Here’s what we learned from the briefing:

Boris Johnson said that if the Indian variant turns out to be “significantly more transmissible” than the other strains, “we will probably be faced with difficult choices”.

He warned that the Indian variant of Covid could “seriously disrupt” plans to ease restrictions and “could make it more difficult” to end them as hoped for in June.

There is no evidence to show that vaccines used in England will be less effective in protecting people from serious illness and hospitalization – if they catch the new strain of Covid.

Public Health England said 12,000 lives have been saved since the vaccines were put in place – and prevented more than 33,000 people from being hospitalized.

The government will “speed up” the remaining doses to those over 50 and clinically vulnerable people across the country, so that the second injections come eight weeks after the first.

The Prime Minister said at the Downing Street press conference: ‘I think we should trust our vaccines to protect the public while monitoring the situation very closely as the race between our program of vaccination and the virus may be about to become important. tighter and therefore it is more important than ever that people get protection from a second dose.

“So, following the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, we will speed up the remaining second doses for the over 50s and clinically vulnerable people across the country, so those doses come only eight. weeks after the first dose. “

Boris Johnson added: “We will also prioritize first doses for anyone who is eligible who has not yet come forward, including those over 40.”

The Prime Minister said the military would be deployed to the streets of Blackburn and Bolton to distribute tests to help surge testing efforts.

There will also be an acceleration of vaccine deployment there, including longer opening hours at vaccination centers.

“If you see loved ones, think very carefully about the risk to them, especially if they have not received that second dose or if it has not yet had time to take full effect,” he said. declared.

“I want us to trust people to be responsible and to do the right thing. This is the way to live with this virus while protecting the NHS and restoring our freedoms.

“It’s very clear now that we’re going to have to live with this new variant of the virus for a while, so let’s work together and use caution and common sense.”