UK Covid live: Delta variant cases rise by 46% on last week
Total of 111,157 confirmed and probable cases of Delta variant identified in UK, says PHE, making up 95% of confirmed infections
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Almost 600m lateral flow tests given to the public in England may not yet have been used, according to a report that says the hugely expensive test-and-trace system is still bedevilled by problems.
The National Audit Office said NHS Test and Trace (NSHT&T), which Boris Johnson promised would be world-beating and has a budget exceeding that of the Department for Transport, was struggling with some “fundamental parts” of its role.
Related: Almost 600m NHS home Covid tests unaccounted for, auditors reveal
Professor Adam Finn, who is working from Portugal – where his partner lives – for some of the time, told Sky News the UK poses more of a risk to some other countries at the moment than the other way round.
He said:
I think these islands, where they’ve been added to the green list, have been added because there are very low, almost absent levels of virus there, so they pose very limited risk to the UK, particularly if people coming back are being tested on the way.
So I think the risk actually is greater for those places – that people coming from this country at this point in time may take the virus with them and infect other people there, but of course that decision lies with them and these are countries that depend on tourism income for their livelihood. So, again, a balance of risk and benefit.
Because we’ve got this more infectious variant circulating in the UK, I think we actually pose more of a risk to most other places than they do to us, at least if you’re talking about these kind of tourist destinations at this point in time.
But you’re quite right that that can change and the virus has the capacity to evolve further, and we could once again import another virus at some point in time if a lot of us go travelling, so there is always a risk involved in this, until the pandemic is brought under control globally.
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