UK past peak of latest virus wave, but curbs to stay: Officials

LONDON • The United Kingdom has passed the peak of its latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said, as the country reached the milestone of vaccinating 10 million people - equivalent to about 15 per cent of its population.

"We are on a downward slope of cases, hospitalisations and deaths," chief medical officer Chris Whitty said at a televised press conference on Wednesday. "This peak, at least, we are past."

But Dr Whitty, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said infections are still widespread and the state-run National Health Service would be "back in trouble extraordinarily fast" if social restrictions are lifted.

Britain's immunisation programme - the most successful so far in Europe - puts the country on track to provide shots to 15 million citizens and healthcare workers at greatest risk from the disease by Feb 15. Mr Johnson said it will be possible to begin easing the lockdown only three weeks after that date, once those vaccinated have received the benefits of the immunisation.

Mr Johnson, who will publish a plan for relaxing the curbs on Feb 22, said there are "signs of hope", but warned the number of people with the disease is still "alarmingly high".

Mr Johnson said he is very hopeful schools will reopen on March 8, though he clarified that he does not want to move too soon and have to go "in reverse".

Separately, Health Secretary Matt Hancock was set to announce further details of travel quarantine plans yesterday. Mr Hancock had defended the country's Covid-19 vaccine roll-out strategy on Wednesday, saying the science supported a decision to give the shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca to all age groups.

France, Belgium and Germany are among European Union countries to recommend that Oxford's vaccine be given to only those under 65.

The rapid roll-out of coronavirus vaccines is a rare success for the UK government in its handling of the pandemic, which has left more than 109,000 people dead and caused the deepest recession in more than 300 years. Nearly 3.9 million people have been infected in the country.

The world faces around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, necessitating a race to improve vaccines, British Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said yesterday as a trial was launched to assess the immune responses generated if doses of the Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca are combined in a two-shot schedule.

Thousands of variants have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants, which appear to spread more swiftly than others.

The trial will examine the immune responses of an initial dose of the Pfizer vaccine followed by a booster of AstraZeneca's, as well as vice versa, with intervals of four and 12 weeks. Both the mRNA shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and the adenovirus viral vector vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are currently being rolled out in Britain, with a 12-week gap between two doses of the same vaccine.

It is expected that more vaccines will be added to the trial when they are approved and rolled out.

Recruitment for the study started yesterday, with more than 800 participants expected to take part, the researchers said.

Initial data on immune responses is expected to be generated around June.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS