Sheffield public health chief "long way from pressing the panic button" over Indian variant

A handful of cases have been identified in the city

Author: Ben BasonPublished 20th May 2021

Sheffield's Director of Public Health says he's a "long way from pressing the panic button" over the Indian Covid variant.

A handful of cases of the strain have been identified in the city but it's thought all of them were directly linked to travel.

Surge testing and vaccination is being rolled out to more places today to tackle the rise in the variant, including Kirklees in West Yorkshire.

Sheffield Director of Public Health Greg Fell says there's nothing to panic about now but warns the pandemic can flip really easily:

"I'm concerned about it - it is the element of the roadmap that's most likely to come unstuck, there's no two ways about that - but equally I'm a long long way from pressing the panic button. I'm watching with concern, keeping the same strategy, and keeping an eye on the situation pretty closely.

"There's a small handful but sporadic and directly related to travel. Public Health England do the work on these for us - the contact tracing of the case, the contacts, the contacts of the contacts and they test household contacts of the case. So that's a much higher bar of protection than is usually afforded."

Nearly three thousand cases of the Indian variant have now been identified in the UK as worries continue that it might knock the government's plan to lift all restrictions on 21st June off course.

The government has been deploying extra tests and vaccinations in parts of the UK like Bolton where cases of the Indian variant are rising.

Eight new areas are now getting the same measures.

We asked Greg Fell how likely it was the handful of cases of the Indian variant in Sheffield would lead to more:

"It's likely but not inevitable. The things that keep a lid on that are most importantly if you have symptoms stay at home and get vaccinated when you're invited."

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