Coronavirus live news: Japan towns abandon plans to accept overseas Olympic athletes
India reports 362,727 new infections, 4,120 deaths; 40 towns in Japan decide not to accept overseas athletes ahead of olympics; ‘Increasing concern’ over India variant in UK says Boris Johnson
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Coronavirus infections in England halved in recent months, according to a study, but concerns remain about the threat from new variants, PA reports.
Prevalence of infections dropped by 50% between March and early May, and is at its lowest since August, new data suggests. But the figures come amid a warning from Boris Johnson that new variants “pose a potentially lethal danger”.
The Prime Minister said there is “increasing concern” in the UK about the variant first identified in India.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of Imperial College London’s React programme, cited that variant when asked whether the study’s latest data supported a move into the next stage of easing lockdown restrictions.
He said: “It is a difficult question because we have low levels of prevalence in the community, and we’ve got low levels of disease in hospitals and deaths, so that’s good.
“But I think that the patterns in the Indian variant are cause for some concern.”
He added that further studies are needed to really understand the characteristics and the spread of the Indian variant which appears to be at least as transmissible as the Kent variant.
The React study looked at variants of coronavirus and found that of 115 positive swabs, 24 cases were identified as the Kent variant, and two of three cases in London were identified as the Indian variant of concern.
The experts said neither participant had been abroad in the previous two weeks.
India had 362,727 new Covid-19 infections over the last 24 hours while deaths climbed by 4,120, taking the toll to 258,317, health ministry data showed.
The South Asian nation’s total caseload now stands at 23.7 million.
Coronavirus | The Guardian
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