"Tests for all Nuneaton residents after Indian variant found"

[dutchman]

Everybody living in Nuneaton and Bedworth will be offered a PCR test after positive cases of the Indian Covid variant were found



Warwickshire County Council said the cases of the strain known as VOC-21APR-02 were in the Abbey Ward area.

It is stepping up its testing programme, including opening up a second seven-day testing site.

Public health officials said the situation was "manageable" and called for locals to take preventative action.

"It is important to remember that the number of cases of Covid-19 is still very low, and Warwickshire has, as it has throughout the pandemic, acted swiftly and decisively," said Dr Shade Agboola, Warwickshire's director of public health.

"However, as we continue along the roadmap out of lockdown, we need to remain vigilant, and the presence of these cases of the variant of concern clearly demonstrates that need."

The positive cases in the borough were first announced on Thursday. It is thought the Indian variant is more transmissible but the vaccine should still protect against the disease.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization classified the Indian variant as a "variant of global concern".

Warwickshire County Council announced it was also planning to deliver PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing kits to large businesses and schools and would be carrying out door-to-door testing.

The authority said testing would be available to everyone over the age of two and it was also launching community drop-off points for people to pick up and drop off tests.

Dr Agboola said: "Our additional measures are not intended to create undue anxiety but we do need to take this action in and around the Abbey and Wembrook wards to protect the community and do all we can to eliminate transmissions as we move along the roadmap out of lockdown."

[dutchman]

How did it get in if everyone arriving was screened and quarantined?

[rebbonk]

How did it get in if everyone arriving was screened and quarantined?

According to today's press, Border Force is intercepting about 100 people a day trying to enter the UK on fake vaccine certificates. I somehow doubt that they are catching everyone...

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/16/fake-covid-vaccine-and-test-certificate-market-is-growing-researchers-say

[dutchman]

Ministers knew Indian Covid variant was in UK two weeks before telling public



The discovery of the Indian variant in Britain was not announced to the public by ministers for a fortnight while thousands of potentially infected people were allowed to enter the country.

Ministers were given the news of the variant’s arrival on April 1 but no official statement was made until April 15. India was not placed on the red list banning travellers from the country for another eight days.

By contrast, last December a travel ban was imposed on South Africa within two days after it was discovered that the strain from that country had entered Britain.

The Indian variant was spreading fast across India by late March and the country’s health officials had warned that it could be highly infectious and might undermine vaccines. People were dying without treatment because hospitals were overwhelmed.

However, no action was taken to stop travel from India even though the country’s neighbours, Pakistan and Bangladesh, were placed on the red list on April 2 — the day after ministers were informed the variant had been found in Britain. At least 20,000 passengers — who could have been infected with the virulent new strain — were allowed to enter Britain in the first three weeks of April.

Pakistan and Bangladesh had under ten times fewer daily cases than India when they were put on the red list, although they have smaller populations. NHS Test and Trace data has since shown there were four times more suspect variants being imported into Britain from India than from any other country in the fortnight leading up to that decision.

Two weeks later, on April 15, when the presence of the variant in the UK was first announced, there were 77 known cases in the country. It took another four days for the government to say that India would be placed on the red list and a further four days for the measure to be imposed on April 23. This led to a rush of potentially infected travellers returning from India.

The latest disclosures will add to the growing questions over Britain’s border policies, which were labelled “a joke” by Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings last week. Priti Patel, the home secretary, said in January that she had argued in vain for the borders to be closed in March last year.