Matt Hancock discusses ‘tackling’ Indian variant spread
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Indian variant UK cases have soared in the last few days particularly for Bolton again with the town now having the highest rate in the country. How many in Bolton with Indian variant have been vaccinated? Matt Hancock reveals exact details to Marr.
Matt Hancock discussed cases in Bolton with the new Indian variant on the Andrew Marr show.
When asked by Marr regarding vaccinations in the area.
Hancock answered: “We think there are five people who have ended up in hospital having had one jab and this is why it’s so important to get the second jab.”
Marr asked if there were any cases where people have died after having their two jabs with the new variant in Bolton to which Hancock replied: “Not that they are aware of.”
When asked if anybody has had the second jab in Bolton, Hancock answered: “We think there is one person, but that person was frail.
He continued: “The vast majority have not had the jab but were eligible.
“A small number had one jab and there is one case where they have had two jabs and they ended up in hospital.”
Hancock reiterated again that all of this indicates that we need to get the vaccinations out including those second jabs and then in the areas that we are seeing a rise we must throw testing at it in very large numbers.
“We have seen that approach work in south London with the South African variant.”
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Of the 315 local areas in England, 159 (50 percent) have seen a rise in rates, 140 (44 percent) have seen a fall and 16 are unchanged.
Bolton in Greater Manchester has the highest rate, with 553 new cases in the seven days to May 9 the equivalent of 192.3 cases per 100,000 people.
This is up from 84.9 in the seven days to May 2.
This is up from 84.9 in the seven days to 2 May.
Councillor David Greenhalgh of the Bolton council said: “Yes, our rates of the Indian Variant are going up, but while hospitalisations remain low and all evidence points to the vaccine holding, the administration’s message to Government is ‘do not lock us down’. Do not take us out of the road map.
“The majority of our cases are in their teens, 20s and 30s. Send us more vaccinations and allow us to vaccinate 18 years+ now, that is the answer, not further restrictions.
“We have been here before. All that will happen is people will travel outside the borough, sometimes 50 yards up the road across a boundary to access hospitality. It does not work. And our hospitality is left struggling again, and on its knees.”
Overall, Bolton’s infection rate is now sitting at 192 cases per 100,000 people which is the highest in the country.
Evidence points that it is the younger age groups who are far more likely to test positive.
Encouragingly, rates in those most at risk from a serious Covid infection – the over 60s – have not risen significantly so far, and hospital admissions are still well below the levels recorded earlier this year.
“We do know that there is usually a delay of around 14 to 19 days between rising cases and admissions to hospital, so we are prepared for this eventuality in the coming days,” said Dr Rauf Munshi, clinical lead for acute medicine at the Royal Bolton hospital.
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