Government calls Sage meeting to discuss threat to UK of India’s Covid-19 variant
The government has called for an emergency meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) committee today to discuss the spread of India’s Covid-19 variant in the UK.
It comes amid concern from scientists last night that the planned exit out of lockdown 21 June could be delayed to avoid another spike in infections.
A member of Sage said a delay to the date for the final easing of restrictions to be lifted was “possible”, according to the i newspaper.
However, Downing Street sources told the Telegraph the government plans to stick to its roadmap.
Professor Steven Riley, from Imperial College London, told Times Radio this morning that there was a need to keep an eye on variants but suggested the UK was currently in a good place.
“Whether the restrictions run on a timetable is a government decision and it’s just not useful to try and speculate what they will do.
“I think there’s two key things that have got to be kind of evaluated: if infections go up, how quickly will they go up… but then after that, are they linked to the hospitalisations?
“The top-line government policy is driven by protecting the NHS, so even if infection starts to go up, we then need to assess whether that’s bringing a lot of new cases into hospitals, and there’s certainly no sign of that at the moment.”
Inquiry
Environment secretary George Eustice said on Wednesday that the government “can’t rule anything out” when asked about the potential for local lockdowns, as he admitted Covid-19 hotspots had emerged in parts of the UK.
Eustice’s comments came as the prime minister confirmed that an independent public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic would be held, but will not begin until next Spring.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said he was “fully committed to learning the lessons at every stage” and insisted the inquiry would place “the state’s actions under the microscope”.
Johnson also stressed that the end of lockdown “is not the end of the pandemic” and warned that the nation continued to “face the persistent threat of new variants”.