Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday that the country needs to contain the spread of the South African Covid variant by detecting new cases in the areas where Covid-19 cases not linked to travel have emerged.
“There is currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe. But we need to come down hard on it and we will,” he told reporters.
During the press brief, Hancock maintained that so far, the UK government has inoculated over 9 million people against coronavirus. And, he is positive that the government will swiftly fulfil its promise to vaccinate everyone in the top four priority groups by February 15.
He took to the microblogging site Twitter and wrote: “We’ve now visited every eligible care home with older residents in England & offered vaccinations to all their residents and staff. We’ve now vaccinated almost 9 in 10 over-80s & over half of the people in their 70s. THANK YOU to everyone who’s helped us get this far.”
He revealed: “We’ve ordered another 40 million vaccine doses from Valneva, which if it gets regulatory approval, will be made right here in the UK, in Livingston, Scotland. The vaccine program shows just how important it is to have the UK working as one.”