Downloaded from: justpaste.it/5m3wz
Indian variant still under investigation in UK, not yet of concern: Boris UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on Tuesday forced to defend what has been widely dubbed a delayed cancellation of his visit to India next week
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on Tuesday forced to defend what has been widely dubbed a delayed cancellation of his visit to India next week, which has been linked with the addition of India to the travel ban red list. Addressing a briefing at 10 Downing Street in London, he said the decision to add India to the red list was taken independently by the
Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) on a precautionary basis because the so-called Indian variant of COVID-19 is yet to be classified as a variant of concern. He reiterated that the reason the 103 cases of the variant had been detected quickly in the UK was the result of already fairly stringent measures in place for all international travellers entering the country. "The Indian variant is still just a variant under investigation, not a variant of concern, he said, adding that experts are currently looking carefully to see if there is any sign the variant B.1.617 can escape the effect of vaccines. The central theme of his briefing was the launch of a new Antivirals Taskforce, charged with finding the most effective and speedy treatments for COVID-19 as he said the UK must learn to live with the disease when it emerges completely from lockdown by June-end.