Indian Covid variant confirmed in 44 countries and detected in four more, UK heath safety chief revealed
Cases have made their way around the world despite strict border restrictions being in place to slow them
UK has detected the most cases, but does more variant testing that every other country except the US
SAGE adviser previously warned that border closures cannot stop the spread of variants, only delay them
Pfizer jab produces off the scale immune response likely to protect against Brazilian variant
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The Pfizer vaccine produces an off the scale immune response that is likely to protect against the Brazilian variant of Covid-19, researchers say.
The biggest study on antibody and cellular immune factors to date suggests people are likely to be protected against the Wuhan, Kent and Brazilian types of coronavirus following two doses of the vaccine.
The research, led by the University of Birmingham and including Public Health England s Porton Down laboratory, found 98 per cent of people aged 80 or over who had two doses of the Pfizer jab had a strong antibody immune response.
Britain was too slow to ramp up its Covid testing capacity and introduce masks, the boss of No10 s new pandemic-fighting body has admitted.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency which begins work today, conceded that officials have an awful lot to learn after a catalogue of failures early on in the crisis.
She said the country was not fully prepared for this pandemic , adding that it would have been good to have had more tests and that asymptomatic spread had not been considered carefully .
Dr Harries, who is currently England s deputy chief medical officer, came under fire last spring for defending the UK s decision to stop swabbing the public, saying it was not appropriate .
Dr Jenny Harries, who has worked in public health for well over a decade, would take over from Baroness Dido Harding as chief of NHS Test & Trace and oversee the replacement of Public Health England.
The Department of Health recorded another 4,712 coronavirus cases and 65 deaths, both marking substantial drops on last week s figures, as the first step on the roadmap happens today.