well the prime minister has been
defending england's border controls
after it emerged that officials have
been unable to find
one of six people infected with a
variant of coronavirus first found
in brazil our political editor laura
koonsberg has more
an unwelcome arrival a new variant of
coronavirus has landed on uk soil
with two cases near bristol and three in
aberdeen extra tests are being used to
track any spread
but the urgent hunt is for a sixth
person with a positive test who can't be
found
i look at what we've done in the case of
the south african variant
a massive effort uh went in there and
the same is going on now to
to contain any spread of the of the
brazilian variant
it's caused concern not just because
there was chaos in manaus in brazil
where it was first found
but the risk is that it spreads more
easily and responds less well to the
vaccine too
the mystery patient carrying the variant
hasn't been traced because they didn't
fill in their paperwork properly
the variant was detected on the other
side of the world in japan in early
january
on the 15th the government banned travel
to the uk
from brazil and other south american
countries but british nationals were
still allowed to fly back as long as
they
isolated at home for 10 days after weeks
of discussions
the government then changed the policy
deciding on the 27th
that brits coming home from countries at
risk would be quarantined in hotels
as soon as they arrived but it wasn't
until three weeks later
on the 15th of february that passengers
started having to stay in hotels rather
than travel home
after the six had developed the disease
government measures at the border have
been
too little too late they've been behind
the curve
the government was warned about putting
the hotel quarantining system
into place as soon as possible someone
carrying the brazilian variant was able
to
disappear weeks after the variant was
first detected because the government
hadn't yet got round to introducing
quarantine hotels
do you believe that that delay will have
put people at risk
no we had already quarantined in place
and in fact we'd already put in place a
ban on direct travel from
brazil also this positive test was on
the 12th or 13th of february we think
uh and that was obviously over two weeks
ago and we haven't seen any further
knock-on transmissions uh in the data
this is more than just a political i
told you so moment for the opposition
it's a reminder of the threat from new
forms of the virus that will continue to
emerge
and the government isn't willing to cut
off the country from the rest of the
world
completely so it is a risk that won't be
straightforward to manage
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last night london's heathrow looked as
if they were struggling even to manage
social
distancing in long queues as the search
for the patient with the variant
continues
the dilemma is stopping the disease
coming in
without stopping everything taking off
laura kunsberg bbc news westminster the
latest
official figures show there were 5 455
new coronavirus infections recorded in
the latest 24-hour period
that's the lowest since september it
means an average of 7980 new
cases were recorded per day in the last
week across the uk
14 808 people are in hospital with
coronavirus
in the last 24 hours 104 deaths have
been recorded that's people who died
within 28 days of a positive covid test
on average
314 deaths were announced every day
in the past week the lowest it's been
since the beginning of november
the total number of people who have now
died is 122
953 almost
186 000 more people have had their first
dose of a vaccine in the latest 24-hour
period
so just over 20 million people have now
had their first job that's
more than 38 of the uk's
adult population well our medical editor
fergus walsh is with me now so
millions and millions of people have now
been vaccinated and the results are
looking
very promising they are sophie the
evidence on vaccines today is
quite simply stunning they are way more
effective than
scientists would have dreamt of a year
ago
and what we can say pretty categorically
tonight
is whether you have the pfizer jab or
the oxford astrazeneca vaccine
they both work really well offering
strong protection against
serious illness now that's among the
elderly those most at risk
who we'd normally expect to respond less
well to vaccines you'll remember that
several european countries decided to
restrict their use
and not give them to older adults well
some breaking news tonight the french
health minister has partially reversed
its country's decision
and now the oxford astrazeneca jab will
be available
to people aged 65 to 74
in france now this spectacular
effectiveness here just
comes after one dose it will be
absolutely essential people have
their second shot that should boost
effectiveness
beyond 90 percent and make immunity last
even longer
but it's not a hundred percent effective
and while
there's still a lot of virus circulating
it's essential that people
keep their guard up and maintain social
distancing
and and then there are these new
variants they are a potential worry
but clinical trials of updated vaccines
which will
deal with these variants are planned for
early summer
and they should be ready those new
updated vaccines
by the autumn should we need them
ferguson thank you