Nothing "Conclusive" On India-Dominant Variant To Delay Reopening: UK PM

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the B1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, first identified in India, would not force Britain to deviate from its roadmap to lift lockdown restrictions fully next month.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that experts continue to monitor the data on the B1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, first identified in India, but there is nothing conclusive yet that indicates that it would force Britain to deviate from its roadmap to lift lockdown restrictions fully next month. PM Johnson said the government is keeping everything under "very close observation" following the emergence of the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC), which is feared to be on track to take over from the local B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the county of Kent, as the dominant coronavirus mutation in the country. "We are looking at the epidemiology the whole time as it comes in and, at the moment, partly because we have built up such a wall of defences with the vaccination programme, I don't see anything conclusive at the moment to say that we need to deviate from the roadmap," he said, in reference to the government's scheduled June 21 timeline for a complete lifting of lockdown restrictions." "But we've got to be cautious and we are keeping everything under very close observation. We'll know a lot more in a few days'' time," the prime minister said.