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LONDON (Reuters) – The rapid spread of the coronavirus variant from the Delta has sent the number of infections up 50 percent in England since May, a large-scale study led by Imperial College London found on Thursday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed ending restrictions.
The government said the data supported Johnson’s decision to delay ending COVID restrictions in England to July 19, citing the threat of variable delta that was first identified in India, and the need to vaccinate more people.
The latest round of the REACT-1 prevalence survey, conducted between May 20 and June 7, found the prevalence rate to be 0.15%, compared to 0.10% in the last set of data from late April to early May.
Stephen Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London, told reporters: “The prevalence is increasing dramatically, driven by younger ages … and it appears to be doubling every 11 days. This is clearly bad news.”
The study is one of Britain’s largest prevalence surveys, with 109,000 volunteers tested in its latest round.
Riley added that Britain’s high vaccination levels made it difficult to predict how long this rapid growth would last, saying the rapid deployment of vaccine doses to younger age groups should slow it down. (Graphic for global vaccinations)
More than half of the adult population in Britain has received two doses of the vaccine, and more than three-quarters of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Although the delta variant is shown to significantly reduce the effectiveness of a single dose of the vaccine against mild infection, two doses still provide good protection against severe disease, early evidence shows.
“These findings highlight the stark context in which we have made the difficult decision to postpone step 4 of the roadmap to exit from lockdown,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, referring to the lifting of the last remaining restrictions in England.
“We should all keep our nerves a little longer as our vaccine continues to roll out.”
(Reporting: Alistair Smoot). Editing by Lisa Schumaker
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