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May 15, 2021 - The UK is hiring military-backed public health officials to deploy door-to-door Covid tests in two cities in northern England to help contain the Indian variant.
Cases have more than doubled in a week and this threatens plans to ease restrictions.
It is the main concern of Prime Minister Johnson who warns "the variant could curb plans for reopening" on 21 June, the day when there would be the 'free all' with the probable lifting of all restrictions.
The next leg on Monday will not be postponed. Government science advisors say the variant is likely more transmissible than the UK dominant strain, even if it is not clear how much.
Opposition Labor MP Yvette Cooper said the government did not ban arrivals from India until April 23, a decision that allowed the variant to spread. More than two-thirds of British adults received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 37% received both. The government is reducing the dose gap for people over 50 from 12 to eight weeks in an effort to give them greater protection.