Sajid Javid has confirmed a new strain of the Covid-19 Delta variant is spreading.
The disease is once again on the march across Britain as warnings about a grim winter start to become a reality.
Cases are rising in most parts of the country with almost 50,000 new infections confirmed today, the highest daily total since July.
Another 179 deaths have been confirmed and experts warn that figure is likely to increase in the coming weeks as rising infections start to take their toll.
The race is on to get booster doses into the arms of older and more vulnerable people before the situation gets any worse.
Speaking at a press conference, the health secretary confirmed the government is monitoring a new strain of the disease.
The ‘Delta plus’ variant – known formally as AY.4.2 – made up around 6% of cases last week, fuelling fears it could be more transmissible.
Mr Javid said: ‘We’re identifying new variants all the time. This includes a new version of the Delta variant which is currently known as AY.4.2 and that new variant is now spreading.
‘While there’s no reason to believe at this point that AY4.2 poses a greater threat, the next variant or the one after that might do.
‘So we need to be ready for what lies around the corner.’
Of the 377 local areas in the UK, 306 (81%) have seen a week-on-week rise in rates, 70 (19%) have seen a fall and one is unchanged.
The situation in Britain is far worse than elsewhere in Europe, with cases having jumped from 367 per 100,000 people at the start of October to 463 per 100,000.
In Spain, the rate is just 24 per 100,000, and it’s also far lower in France (48) and Germany (80).
As of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 49,139 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK.
NHS England figures released today show only around 50% of over-80s have received the third jab so far, and it’s less than 35% for 75 to 79-year-olds.
With the potential of a second Covid wave coinciding with a bad flu outbreak hanging over the country, the pace of the rollout has been criticised.
Professor Martin Marshall, head of the Royal College of GPs, said the vaccination situation is ‘concerning’, telling the BBC: ‘We know that the booster vaccination is incredibly important in order to protect individual patients and indeed to protect the NHS during a winter that we expect to be really difficult, not just with Covid but with flu and other infections as well.’
While deaths and hospitalisations are far lower than they would be without the lifesaving jab, community transmission is threatening to run out of control.
Professor Neil Ferguson, a leading member of Sage, said people should be aware that ‘we have currently higher levels of infection in the community than we’ve almost ever had during the pandemic’.
Mr Javid also confirmed the government has signed two deals for stockpiles of anti-viral drugs which could be used this winter.
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