UK Plans on Easing the Lockdown

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London, March 18 (AFP/APP): Britain insisted Thursday that its plan to ease coronavirus lockdowns in the coming months remained on track, despite a vaccine supply shortfall from India which will hit the inoculation drive in April.

The state-run National Health Service in England has warned in a letter to local vaccination centres that doses will be “significantly constrained” from March 29 for four weeks.

The next phase of the inoculation campaign, covering people in their 40s, will have to be suspended until May, the letter said. The problem is linked to a delay in getting new jabs from India by UK-based drugs giant AstraZeneca — the same company whose supply issues have caused anger in the European Union.

“It’s a very complex international supply chain and that does mean occasionally we will experience issues and that’s what we’ve experienced right now,” cabinet minister Robert Jenrick told Sky News.

But the government was sticking to its target of offering a first dose to every adult by the end of July, ministers said, after Britain on Wednesday said it had surpassed 25 million jabs delivered.

The government’s phased easing of its third lockdown in England, which was imposed in January amid a winter surge in caseloads of Covid-19 and resulting deaths, hinges on the success of the inoculation drive.

“There’s no reason to believe the roadmap is affected by this temporary shortage in supply,” Jenrick stressed of the relaxation plan.

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