UK Covid live: Nadhim Zahawi holds Downing Street briefing after 16,135 new cases reported

Q: In the Pakistani community messages are being spread saying vaccines could kill you, or stop you having a child. What is being done to combat this misinformation?

Zahawi says claims like this are completely untrue. He says the system used to check the safety of vaccines is very thorough.

A unit in the Cabinet Office is looking at disinformation, and working with the social networks to get this removed as quickly as possible.

The important thing is to spread true information, he says.

And he says through the G7 the UK is working to get true information circulated.

Q: Could the Delta Plus variant derail the reopening next month?

Zahawi says viruses always continue to mutate.

The vaccines being deployed now are “incredibly effective” against the Delta variant after two doses.

And he says the UK has one of the largest genomic sequencing capacities in the world. That is why the UK picks up these variants early, he says.

Ramsay says we have only seen 41 cases of the Delta Plus variant. Enhanced testing is being done, she says. She says she thinks they are on top of this.

Q: Why not introduce vaccine passports? Wouldn’t that encourage people to get vaccinated?

Zahawi says people can either use the app, or get a letter, if they need to show they have been vaccinated for travel.

Q: Should the government websites be updated to reflect different symptoms for the Delta variant [said to be headaches, a runny nose and a sore throat, rather than a persistent cough, loss of smell or a temperature]?

Ramsay says she is not convinced the symptoms are that different. Symptoms like a headache or runny nose are very common anyway, she says.

She also says it is important to test people without symptoms.

Q: The latest data shows black people are less likely to have had a vaccine. There is still some reluctance there. Is it time for a new approach?

Zahawi says if you look at the uptake for phase one, black and Afro-Caribbean communities were behind. But it has improved since then.

He says since April vaccine uptake in the white community has gone up by 3%. But in the black and Afro-Caribbean community is up by 7%. And in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi community it is up by 10%.

Q: Why are vaccination centres closing?

Zahawi says it is decided locally whether national vaccination sites, or GPs, or pharmacies, should administer most of the vaccines.

Sometimes vaccines are being moved around the system. That can mean vaccination centres being stood down in favour of other sites.

Q: Most people going into hospital now are unvaccinated. Is that because they refused the vaccine, or had not been offered one yet?

Zahawi says more than 60% of hospitalisations for the Delta variant are for people who have not been vaccinated.

He says if 85% of all adults are double vaccinated, and the vaccines are 85% effective, then the protection level is 72%. That means 28% of the population would still remain unprotected.

He says by 19 July he wants to have 66% of the adult population double-vaccinated.

Dr Nikki Kanani says the NHS has made good progress in tackling vaccine hesitancy.

She urges people to book an appointment if they have not done so already.

Ramsay says today’s figure is very high. (See 4.25pm.) That is largely explained by surge testing in Scotland, she says.

She presents the next slide, showing hospitalisations. That suggests the link between cases and hospitalisations is being broken, she says.

And she says death figures are so low you can barely see the increase on the graph.

Dr Mary Ramsay is playing the Chris Whitty role today, and introducing the slides.

She says vaccines protect against the Delta variant, particularly against hospitalisations.

And she says if people have missed appointments for other vaccines, they should get those too.

She starts with the slide for cases.

Zahawi says the latest ONS figures show that vaccine hesitancy has halved among black and Asian people since February.

In London first doses are behind the rest of the country. But the government will help address this with a London summit later this week which will explore what more can be done.

He says the country is getting “a little bit safer” every day.

Zahawi says the UK has one of the highest rates of vaccine take-ups in the world.

The government has gone out to address people’s concerns, and explain why vaccines are safe, he says.

Zahawi says the time until 19 July will be used to give the NHS more time to get people vaccinated.

Two weeks ago there were two million people in England who had had one dose but not two.

Now that number is down to 900,000.

So the pause until the final easing of restrictions will save lives, he says.