Road map delay would only be for a few weeks: Hunt

LONDON: Any delay to England’s road map for easing lockdown would only be for a couple of weeks owing to the success of the vaccination programme, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.

Hunt, who chairs the Health and Social Care Committee, said he was “feeling quite optimistic that we are going to see the restrictions lifted” as “being double-jabbed” works against the Delta variant of coronavirus first identified in India.

“So, if Freedom Day ends up being put back a couple of weeks so we can get more people double-jabbed, I think it will only be a temporary setback,” he told Times Radio. He added: “I think we are on the way to getting back to normal.”

He also told Sky News: “I am quite optimistic that we will have Freedom Day before the summer break. And because we know that two jabs is effective against the Delta Indian variant, if it does get put back from June 21, my own hunch is that there’ll be a matter of weeks, rather than anything that will really interrupt people’s plans for the summer.”

It comes after a more downbeat Environment Secretary, George Eustice, suggested people should be taking their summer holidays in the UK. He told Sky News he would be holidaying in Cornwall this year, adding: “Our advice has been don’t travel unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Eustice said the “critical test” ahead of the planned lifting of restrictions on June 21 will be whether those who are vaccinated are being infected.

He told Sky News: “What we’re not seeing at the moment is that growth in hospitalisations associated with (infections) and that’s because we know that if people have the vaccine, particularly once they’ve had the second jab of the vaccine, it actually does give them immunity to this new strain that’s around.”

On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Commons that out of 12,383 cases of the Delta variant, 464 people went on to seek emergency care and 126 were admitted to hospital. Of these, 83 people were unvaccinated, 28 had one dose of vaccine and just three had had both doses.

Hunt told LBC radio on Tuesday he was more optimistic “than some of the headlines this morning”, adding that people who have had two doses of the vaccine are “pretty protected” against the Indian variant. “I think that should give us some encouragement – maybe it (the June 21 date) gets put off a couple of weeks but we are going to get there,” he said.

Reports have suggested the final step in the government’s road map could be delayed by two weeks, with The Times saying ministers were given a “downbeat” briefing on the latest data on Monday by chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

Downing Street has said there is “nothing in the data” to suggest a delay would be needed. Hunt said people like Prof Whitty and Sir Patrick will be “looking very closely to make sure we don’t take the decision that means that the NHS becomes overwhelmed”.

Meanwhile, Professor of immunology at Imperial College London, Danny Altmann, told Times Radio that reopening too soon could cause wave after wave of the virus. “I do feel nervous about it,” he said. “Because at the moment we’ve done terrifically well, but it is a job half- done.” Elsewhere, Dr Nikki Kanani, director of primary care at NHS England, said that vaccine confidence in younger people had increased. On the day over-25s were invited to book their Covid-19 jabs, Dr Kanani told BBC Breakfast: “We’re still seeing great uptake and we are definitely seeing younger people coming in and asking more questions, which is absolutely fine.