Scientists issue warning that UK could see 100,000 daily Covid cases by July

Scientists have warned that July will be a horror month for the UK as a deadly variant, which is already here in Australia, takes hold.

Scientists have issued a stark warning that the Covid-19 variant known as Delta is shaping up to cause devastation in the UK as soon as July.

It’s predicted that by next month the country could see a surge of 100,000 daily Covid-19 cases due to the super-spreading variant, in a grim reminder to the world of the horrors it can cause.

First detected in India last October, the Delta variant is much more transmissible, deadlier and more resistant to vaccines. It has now spread to at least 62 countries, including here in Australia.

“In a month you’ll be up to 100,000 new cases a day,” Professor Anthony Costello, a member of the UK’s Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and London’s University College (UCL), told The Mirror of the battle the UK is facing.

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Soldiers from the Royal Horse Artillery guide members of the public at a rapid vaccination centre in Bolton, UK.

It comes as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled that he would likely postpone the lifting of the country’s lockdown to July 19 due to concerns over the Delta surge.

Mr Johnson said rising hospitalisations were “a matter of serious, serious concern”, as he admitted doubt that the country would be out of lockdown anytime soon, hinting he may delay the Freedom Day celebrations.

“If the Government takes a gamble (about lifting the country’s lockdown) the NHS will be overloaded,” Professor Costello said. “Let’s wait. Let’s stay as we are.”

He warned that the real number of new infections of the Delta variant are likely to be twice the 8000 new daily cases currently being picked up by testing.

Vaccines are less effective against the Delta strain. Picture: Getty Images

Meanwhile, his colleague from UCL University, virologist Professor Deenan Pillay, said approximately 90 per cent of new Covid infections in the country are now due to the Delta variant, with the number of cases doubling every nine days.

Professor Pillay also voiced concern that the rise in infections could increase the risk of mutations turning into vaccine-resistance variants.

The Delta variant is 60 per cent more transmissible, with one injection of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines only providing 33 per cent protection against it.

There are also fears for how the variant could impact young people.

“It’s not just about... hospitalisations, but also the risk to large numbers of younger people, who can suffer long-term symptoms,” Dr Chaand Nagpaul from the British Medical Association said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson may delay lifting the lockdown.

In India, where Delta is prevalent, the lowest daily Covid count for the last 71 days has been recorded, with 80,834 cases reported today, bringing the country’s tally to 29,439,989.

However, the deaths are still remaining around the 3000 mark, with 3,303 deaths reported over the last 24 hours. This is a concern, as the number of deaths are failing to match the fall in case numbers, the Times of India reports.

The Delta variant was first detected in India. Picture: AFP

It comes as new reports confirm that more people have died from Covid globally this year than in the whole of 2020, when the outbreak first began. There were 1.88 million Covid deaths in 2020, a number which has already been surpassed this year with 1.9 million deaths recorded so far, according to data by John Hopkins University.

“Increasingly, we see a two-track pandemic. Many countries still face an extremely dangerous situation, while some of those with the highest vaccination rates are starting to talk about ending restrictions,” World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week.