Thursday, May 06, 2021

New Concerns as Indian Covid Variant Clusters Found across England

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Leaked emails show Public Health England assessment of ongoing risk from B16172 variant is ‘high’

Clusters of the Indian variants of Covid-19 have been found across England, including in care homes, the Guardian has learned, amid growing fears about the speed with which they are spreading in communities.

The latest update of case numbers of these variants was due to be published on Thursday. But leaked emails seen by the Guardian show the announcement was delayed until at least Friday because of the local elections.

The documents also suggest officials from Public Health England are poised to escalate one of the variants to one “of concern”. » | Nicola Davis, Science Correspondent | Thursday, May 6, 2021