Oxford Street is empty of shoppers as the national coronavirus blockade continues for three.
Mike Kemp | In pictures | Getty Images
Britain has begun to cut back cases of the more contagious South African variant of the coronavirus and will only come out of the lockdown in stages to ensure this doesn’t change, the country’s health secretary said on Sunday.
A day before Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined his plan to ease restrictions in England, Hancock said there was also early data showing that the faster-than-expected vaccine roll-out reduced transmissions and eased pressure on hospitals.
Britain has the world’s fifth worst official COVID-19 death toll, with 120,365 dead, but an early attempt to secure massive vaccine supplies means one in three adults has now had a first chance and the daily death rates have started to decline.
Hancock said the UK had registered a total of about 300 cases of the more contagious South African variant of the disease that causes COVID-19.
“But most of those are historical cases now and from more than a month ago,” he told BBC show Andrew Marr. “The latest data shows that there are about a dozen new ones, so a much, much smaller number.”
England has also introduced hotel quarantines to prevent variants from traveling from abroad.
So far, Britain has given a first dose of a vaccine to 17.2 million people, more than a quarter of its 67 million inhabitants, and behind only Israel and the United Arab Emirates in vaccines per capita.
The government said on Sunday that all adults in Britain would receive a first injection by the end of July, with the goal of giving a first dose to all over 50s by April 15.
But despite the improving picture, Hancock and leading epidemiologist John Edmunds said the restrictions need to be eased cautiously and gradually to see the impact of increased human movement on the virus.
Hancock suggested that any easing could take several weeks to detect the impact, before another part of the economy can reopen. The schools are expected to be the first to return at the beginning of March.
Edmunds said it was difficult to say how widespread the South African variant was, but that, like the rest of the pandemic, it was held by the lockdown.
“The risk comes when we lift the lockdown,” he said, adding that circulating the virus in younger, healthier people could lead to further mutations that undermine the vaccine program.
Johnson will outline his thoughts on easing lockdown Monday. Despite pressure from some of the lawmakers in his party shocked by the 10% contraction of the economy in 2020, the prime minister is expected to be wary.
“There should be no doubt – the route out of lockdown will be careful and phased as we all continue to protect ourselves and those around us,” Johnson said in a statement.