The Indian virus murmur, delta, accounts for over 90 percent of infections in the UK.
Delta is much more contagious than both the original corona variant, and the British alpha variant.
Because of this, the restrictions are now expected to be extended in a statement from Prime Minister Boris Johnson tonight, despite the fact that the British were set on returning to a more open society as early as Monday.
- The problem the government faces is that they are "damned if they do not, damned if they do".
If they open as intended, people will be happy for a short time, because that's exactly what the people want.
They want summer, their jobs, their lives back.
The downside is that this will result in more cases of infection, says Chris Smith, virologist at Cambridge University and founder of the podcast and radio program The Naked Scientists.
"There is no easy answer"
He believes that this in turn would lead to more people being cared for in hospitals, and that more could die.
- Then people will accuse the government of not having done more when they could.
It is a difficult situation, it is plague or cholera.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
Both doses are needed
In the UK, over 41 million people, around 78% of the adult population, are vaccinated with at least one dose.
Of these, almost 30 million have received their second dose.
However, this is not enough to keep the delta variant in check, says Chris Smith.
What is absolutely crucial is precisely that you have received both doses.
- The number of cases due to society opening up is far more than had been anticipated.
This means that the pace of vaccination, which was thought to keep pace with the effect of opening up society, does not seem to be going fast enough.
Can be spread in Sweden
In Sweden, there are currently 71 cases of the delta variant reported.
According to Ali Mirazimi, professor of clinical virology at Karolinska Institutet, it is not impossible that Sweden in the future may end up in a similar situation as the UK is in now.
- We have seen with the British variant, that when it came here it took a few weeks before it was dominant, so of course it can happen here.
However, he does not think that Swedes should be particularly worried, but instead focus on continuing to follow the recommendations. From an official perspective, the focus should be on vaccinating as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, with two doses.