UK coronavirus cases increase by a further 39,906

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Public Health England shared on July 23 there are 254 cases of the Gamma variant of Covid in the country. Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings has urged the Prime Minister to publish his “variant escape vaccine contingency plan” as the variant continues to spread around the world.

In an early release paper published by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the Gamma variant was found to have a “high attack rate even in fully vaccinated persons”.

The study concluded that the Gamma variant had a “high attack rate even in fully vaccinated persons”.

Sharing a screenshot and link to the organisation’s website, the former Vote Leave director said: “New paper: variant with high attack rate in fully vaccinated people.

“I’m not competent to assess it technically but as I’ve said MPs should demand publication of (a) variant escape vaccine contingency plan, which should be (the) focus of intense public scrutiny and efforts.”

Express.co.uk readers have slammed the Government for not taking measures to prevent variants from entering the country,

One user said: “The biggest mistake this Government has made us not closing the borders last year and stop people coming here (that includes the rubber dinghies) bringing the virus and variants with them.

“They should have allowed freight only and give HGV drivers full support – free tests and jabs and anything else they need to keep the economy going.

“We should have taken advantage of being an island…”

Another user added: “Unfortunately, I have become one of those, who through (Boris’) failures, do not believe he has real convictions and is an opportunist.”

However, other Express readers defended the Government for keeping borders open, with some pointing to Australia and New Zealand.

One reader said: “You cannot just close borders indefinitely; just look at the zero Covid policy countries like Australia and New Zealand as they keep struggling with constant outbreaks and lockdowns; damaging natural immune defence without achieving proper herd immunity.

“Herd immunity obtained by natural infection will also be effective against new strains as this is a coronavirus.”

Another suggested closing down travel “wouldn’t have made much difference”, as reports suggested the virus “was already here since Oct 19”.

They then added: “If you’ve been following Australia, they’re seeing cases going up right now, they’ve done what you asked.

“The UK is highly densely populated and more transmissible, unlike Australia, there is no escaping this. We’ll have to live with it.”

July 24 saw 31,795 new cases and 86 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test in the UK.

In the week ending July 19, the seven-day average for new cases was at 502.1 per 100,000 people.

In total, the UK has seen 5,669,260 cases and 129,130 deaths from the virus.

Another 42,117 first doses and 177,490 second doses of coronavirus vaccine were administered on Monday.

In total, 46,388,744 first doses and 36,953,691 second doses have been administered, equalling 88 percent and 69.9 percent of the population respectively.

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