LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- "Buying time" against new coronavirus variants is "really important" so that Britain can get the population vaccinated and get booster vaccines ready, a leading British scientist said Tuesday.
The new variant first emerged in India is "more transmissible" and there are "good reasons" for keeping it out of Britain, Mark Walport, who was the British government's chief scientific adviser from April 2013 to September 2017, told the BBC.
His remarks came one day after India was added to Britain's travel "red list" over new variant concerns.
"These decisions are almost inevitably taken a bit too late in truth, but what's absolutely clear is that this variant is more transmissible in India," said Walport, chief executive of the newly formed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which is responsible for the public funding of research and innovation.
Walport said there are concerns that the new variant in India could be more effective at escaping a natural or vaccine-induced immune response.
"So there's good reasons for wanting to keep it out of the country if at all possible," he said.
On Monday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that travel from India to Britain is being banned for non-British and Irish citizens from 4:00 a.m. BST (0300 GMT) on Friday after the country was added to Britain's travel "red list".
Hancock told lawmakers in the British parliament that the decision came after the detection of 103 cases in Britain of the new COVID-19 variant which first emerged in India.
Downing Street also confirmed that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's trip to India next week has been canceled in light of the current coronavirus situation in India.
India is currently reeling under the second COVID-19 wave, with more than 200,000 new cases being registered each day recently.
Nearly 33 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.
Experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is "still not out of the woods" amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of pandemic on the European continent.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
