BRITS have been urged to get their vaccines to protect themselves against new variants.
It comes as “Delta plus”, a mutated version of the Delta variant, was confirmed to be in the UK.
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A huge percentage of the country are now fully protected against Covid, with over three in five adults double-jabbed.
It comes amid a massive rollout targeting all UK adults, as Britain aims to lift lockdown next month.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “The vaccination team have been working incredibly hard to provide people with much-needed protection from this life-threatening disease.
“With more and more evidence emerging on just how effective two doses of our vaccines are in protecting against the Delta variant, it’s a great to see three in five adults have been double jabbed, so we’re well on our way to the whole country getting the fullest possible protection.
“We’re so close now to ensuring the entire adult population is protected – now everyone aged 18 and above can make an appointment, so make sure you book in for your first and second doses as soon as possible.”
A new “Delta Plus” Covid variant “more transmissible” than the original has been detected in the UK.
Around 41 cases of the mutation, previously dubbed the “Nepal variant”, are being closely monitored.
It is believed to spread more easily, bind more easily to lung cells and is more resistance to antibody therapy – but experts have said it’s not a huge worry as it’s been in the country since April and remained under control.
GET JABBED
With 75,188,795 million doses administered in total, 43,448,680 million people across the UK have now been vaccinated with a first dose (82.5 per cent).
And 31,740,115 million people have had both doses (60.3 per cent).
The government met its target of offering a vaccine to the most vulnerable by 15 April and is on track to offer a first dose to all adults by 19 July, two weeks earlier than planned.
NHS England has extended the offer of a vaccine to everyone aged 18 and over.
By 19 July, all those aged 40 and over and the clinically extremely vulnerable, who received their first dose by mid-May, will have been offered their second dose.
Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi said: “Two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are absolutely vital in ensuring the fullest possible protection the jabs have to offer – it’s extraordinary that three in five people have now been vaccinated with both jabs.
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“No matter where you live, where you come from, your background or your beliefs – provided you are over 18, there is a vaccine available to you. I urge everyone eligible to get their jab and help us get back to normality.”
Vaccinated people are far less likely to get Covid-19 with symptoms.
They are also even more unlikely to get serious Covid-19, to be admitted to hospital, or to die from it and there is growing evidence they are less likely to pass the virus to others.
Data from PHE’s real-world study shows the vaccines are already having a significant impact in the UK, reducing hospitalisations and deaths, saving over 14,000 lives and preventing over 42,000 hospitalisations in England.
The Delta variant that spread across England and delayed the country’s Freedom Day was first found in India in December 2020, before Public Health England detected it in the UK in early May.
The strain is up to 80 percent more contagious than the Alpha (Kent) variant.
The North West remains the biggest hotspot for the virus with the 16 most infected areas of the country being focused in the region.
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UK ‘TRAFFIC LIGHT’ LISTS TO BE REVIEWED
The UK’s rules on foreign travel are due to be reviewed today, after industry bosses united in a desperate plea for the green list to be extended.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will face MPs this morning, with an update on the traffic light system expected in the afternoon.
Mr Shapps has said ministers “need to look at what the science says”.
However, the European holidays could face another hurdle, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested all EU countries should make British travellers quarantine on arrival to slow the spread of the Delta variant.
She told Germany’s parliament: “In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine – and that’s not the case in every European country, and that’s what I would like to see.”
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CONTINUED: COVID WEDDING RULES COULD CHANGE THIS WEEK
For weddings on private land, including in gardens, a risk assessment must be made by the people putting on the wedding.
The new rules will bring weddings into line with funerals, which has curbs on numbers lifted on May 17.
From next month, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies will be allowed inside a house, a garden or even on the beach.
It will give a greater choice to couples and provide a much-needed boost to the catering sector badly hit by Covid restrictions.
Under current laws people can only wed in licensed venues such as a church, register office or hotel with an approved room or permanent structure.
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COVID WEDDING RULES COULD CHANGE THIS WEEK
Covid wedding rules could change in days, with masks ditched and table service potentially scrapped.
Ministers are said to be keen to make small changes to wedding rules – so that couples’ happy day isn’t ruined by tough restrictions
It means there is no longer a cap on the number of guests permitted – it is down to individual venues.
The new rules mean weddings taking place in Covid-secure venues must take a risk assessment to assess the number of people who can be there, within social distancing guidelines.
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US CONFIRMS IT DELETED INFO ON WUHAN COVID SAMPLES AFTER CHINA REQUEST
Records of early Covid-19 cases in Wuhan were scrubbed from a US database at the request of Chinese scientists, officials have confirmed.
A team of academics from the coronavirus epicentre in Hube, Central China, submitted sequences of the virus that causes the disease to a US-based archive in March 2020.
NIH said in a statement: “Submitting investigators hold the rights to their data and can request withdrawal of the data.”
But experts said the incident shows how Chinese researchers and officials have not been fully transparent about the pandemic’s origins.
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GERMANY TO FORCE BRITS TO QUARANTINE FOR 14 DAYS TO STOP DELTA VARIANT
Germany yesterday tried to ban Brits from holiday sunbeds — whilst their footballers lined up a Euros showdown with our Three Lions.
Chancellor Angela Merkel urged all EU nations to make UK visitors quarantine to halt the spreading Delta variant.
Merkel raged: “In our country if you come from Great Britain you have to go into quarantine.
“That’s not the case in every European country and that’s what I’d like to see.”
MP Alec Shelbrooke said: “The Germans are willing to bully other nations as they still can’t accept the Brexit result on it’s fifth anniversary of the vote. And, unbelievably, they are willing to destroy their own tourist industry over political ideology.”
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BRITS URGED TO GET COVID VACCINE AMID FEARS OF NEW VARIANT ‘DELTA PLUS’ SPREADING THROUGH BRITAIN
Brits have today been urged to get their vaccines to protect themselves against new variants.
It comes as “Delta plus”, a mutated version of the Delta variant, was confirmed to be in the UK.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “The vaccination team have been working incredibly hard to provide people with much-needed protection from this life-threatening disease.
“With more and more evidence emerging on just how effective two doses of our vaccines are in protecting against the Delta variant, it’s a great to see three in five adults have been double jabbed, so we’re well on our way to the whole country getting the fullest possible protection.
“We’re so close now to ensuring the entire adult population is protected – now everyone aged 18 and above can make an appointment, so make sure you book in for your first and second doses as soon as possible.”
