India's coronavirus variant expected to dominate UK
Britain's health minister has said a fast-spreading coronavirus variant first identified in India is likely to become the dominant strain of the virus in the UK.
Health officials are conducting door-to-door testing in several areas of the country in an attempt to curb the spread of the variant, which the government has warned could disrupt the UK’s reopening plans.
Surge vaccinations in key regions are to begin shortly.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new strain, formally known as B.1.617.2, is more transmissible than the UK's dominant strain.
He told the BBC "it is likely it will become the dominant variant."
Hancock said scientists had a "high degree of confidence" that current vaccines work against the new variant, and there is no evidence it causes more a severe disease.
The government said it will go ahead with plans to ease lockdown restrictions on Monday.
People in England will be able to eat a restaurant meal or drink a beer indoors, go to a movie and visit one another’s homes for the first time in months.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that if the variant causes a big surge in cases it could scupper plans to lift all remaining restrictions on June 21.
South Africa targets 5M elderly people in phase 2 of vaccine rollout
South Africa will launch phase two of its vaccine rollout on Monday with the aim of inoculating five million citizens aged over 60 by the end of June, its health minister has said.
"This is provided that the supply of vaccines flows as anticipated. By the end of June we expect to have received 4.5 million doses of Pfizer and 2 million doses from Johnson & Johnson," the minister, Zweli Mkhize, said during a webinar.
Mkhize said that more than 325,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive at midnight on Sunday, bringing the total of Pfizer doses up to 975,780.
So far South Africa has ordered enough Covid-19 vaccines for 46 million of its 60 million population.
The health minister said the country was still awaiting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be released by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after its administration was paused and then restarted two weeks later due to concerns over blood clots.
South Africa is Africa's worst-hit country in terms of infections and fatalities, with over 55,000 deaths and more than 1.6 million confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Britain's health minister has said a fast-spreading coronavirus variant first identified in India is likely to become the dominant strain of the virus in the UK.
Health officials are conducting door-to-door testing in several areas of the country in an attempt to curb the spread of the variant, which the government has warned could disrupt the UK’s reopening plans.
Surge vaccinations in key regions are to begin shortly.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new strain, formally known as B.1.617.2, is more transmissible than the UK's dominant strain.
He told the BBC "it is likely it will become the dominant variant."
Hancock said scientists had a "high degree of confidence" that current vaccines work against the new variant, and there is no evidence it causes more a severe disease.
The government said it will go ahead with plans to ease lockdown restrictions on Monday.
People in England will be able to eat a restaurant meal or drink a beer indoors, go to a movie and visit one another’s homes for the first time in months.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that if the variant causes a big surge in cases it could scupper plans to lift all remaining restrictions on June 21.
South Africa targets 5M elderly people in phase 2 of vaccine rollout
South Africa will launch phase two of its vaccine rollout on Monday with the aim of inoculating five million citizens aged over 60 by the end of June, its health minister has said.
"This is provided that the supply of vaccines flows as anticipated. By the end of June we expect to have received 4.5 million doses of Pfizer and 2 million doses from Johnson & Johnson," the minister, Zweli Mkhize, said during a webinar.
Mkhize said that more than 325,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive at midnight on Sunday, bringing the total of Pfizer doses up to 975,780.
So far South Africa has ordered enough Covid-19 vaccines for 46 million of its 60 million population.
The health minister said the country was still awaiting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be released by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after its administration was paused and then restarted two weeks later due to concerns over blood clots.
South Africa is Africa's worst-hit country in terms of infections and fatalities, with over 55,000 deaths and more than 1.6 million confirmed cases of Covid-19.
