‘New wave hits Europe’ and Brits told not to be complacent over new ‘Delta plus’ variant

The Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned of the the new “Delta plus” variant and said that Europe is now the “epicentre” for the virus.

The Prime Minister gave a press conference at Downing Street this afternoon and said that there is a “new wave” of the virus which has now hit western Europe.

He said, “We don’t yet know the extent to which this new wave will sweep up on our shores but history shows that we cannot afford to be complacent.”

Javid said the new Delat plus variant now accounts for 15% pf cases in the UK and added that “we all know there will be more variants in the future.”

The Health Secretarty told MPs in the House of Commons, “Although we have built up this huge protection, this is not a time for complacency.

“Earlier this month the WHO’s Europe director said that Europe was back at the epicentre of the pandemic. Just this weekend the Netherlands and Austria have put in place partial lockdowns after surges in cases.

“We also still face the risk of new variants and, just as we have seen with the emergence of… the so-called Delta-plus variant, the latest data shows it now accounts for around 15% of cases in the UK.

“Although Delta-plus may be more infectious than the original Delta variant, our investigations indicate that our vaccines remain effective against it, but we do all know that there will be more variants in the future.”