COVID-19: Hospital admissions “largely stable” despite Indian variant, according to Hancock | UK News

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 remain “largely stable” despite an increase in the Indian variant in parts of the UK, the Health Secretary said.

Matt Hancock told the House of Commons that the majority of people hospitalized “appear to be those who have not been vaccinated at all.”

He also said that only around 1% of people who tested positive with the Indian variant, also known as the Delta variant, had been admitted to hospital.

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The Health Secretary said: “As of June 3, our data shows that of the 12,383 cases of the Delta variant, 464 presented to emergency care and 126 people were admitted to hospital.

“Of those 126 people, 83 were not vaccinated and 28 had received one dose and only three had received both doses of the vaccine.”

Mr Hancock said government figures show “jabs work” and have encouraged the public to get vaccinated – as he announced that those over 25 in England would be eligible to book one from Tuesday.

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So far, 40,460,576 people in the UK have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and nearly 28 million have received both doses.

Despite the rapid rollout, which began six months ago, there are fears that the Delta variant could delay England’s final leg out of coronavirus restrictions – scheduled for June 21.

Mr Hancock said it was “still too early” to say whether this would go ahead, although former chief science adviser Sir David King said he would. wise to delay the easing of restrictions.

According to data collected by Sky News, the Delta variant now accounts for three quarters of new cases.

The Alpha variant, or Kent, was the dominant variant in the UK as of May 1, accounting for 85% of cases.

But since May 29, the number of people who have tested positive for it …