Ahead of freedom day, UK achieves its July-end vaccination goal, all adults offered a jab

As the United Kingdom is chasing the deadline to lift the COVID-19 restrictions in the country on Monday, the Health Ministry on Sunday has claimed that "every adult in the country has been inoculated with the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine". Earlier, while addressing a press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said that the government has planned to give at least the first dose of vaccine to every adult by July 19.

Over 87 per cent of adults have received their first dose of vaccine

According to the health ministry, 87.8 per cent of adults have received the first jab of the vaccine so far, while two-thirds of adults would be inoculated with both doses of the COVID vaccine by Monday. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, despite having both doses of vaccine, says he is experiencing mild symptoms, following which Johnson will spend 10 days in self-isolation after coming in contact with the former on Friday.

Experts still raise eyebrows

Johnson, while addressing the Britons, urged to "learn to live with" the virus. He had said that Britons will no longer require face coverings after July 19. Johnson also said that he would end the social distancing norms as soon as maximum Britons get vaccinated. The decision has raised eyebrows as the UK is still hammered by coronavirus cases and experts are expecting the Delta variant to become the dominant strain.

WHO's chief says 'premature rush' to back to normality

Earlier, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) head of emergencies program, Mike Ryan, warned a new wave of coronavirus infections could be coming at any moment. The WHO official termed the countries move a 'premature rush' to back to normality. 
In a similar warning, Indian-origin doctors' association chief in the UK, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, suggested Prime Minister Johnson not to lift the compulsory safety measures and predicted that COVID infections continue to rise at an 'alarming rate'.

The country has registered the highest daily total since January with more than 54,000 new infections registered in the last 24 hours. According to the health ministry, the rate of hospitalisation and deaths are also soaring due to the delta variant of COVID-19. However, it maintained that it remains far lower than previous infection peaks due to mass vaccination drive. 

(Image Credit: AP)