LONDON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A former chief scientific adviser to the British government warned Monday that the current COVID-19 figures are "evidence of another wave appearing".
David King, who was the British government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, told Sky News: "Now we've been discussing whether or not we're going into a serious third wave and I don't think we can possibly wait any longer. This is the evidence of another wave appearing."
Britain reported another 5,341 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,516,892, according to official figures released Sunday.
More than 40.3 million people, or more than three-quarters of adults in Britain, have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine while more than 27.6 million people have been fully vaccinated with a second dose, according to the latest official figures.
"We know that anyone vaccinated twice is relatively safe against the virus," said King, who is the chair of the British government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
"But let's not forget one in 25 new cases are people who have been vaccinated twice -- that means 400 new cases a day are people who had the vaccine twice."
King also called on the government to delay the proposed easing of lockdown in England on June 21.
"I'm very reluctant to say that we should not go out of lockdown on June 21, but I think the figures are in now, and it will be wise for the government to announce right away a delay in opening, just so that we can all plan for the post-June 21 period."
When asked for how long, he replied: "I would give a few weeks' delay and see how the figures are emerging."
The British government is facing increasing pressure to delay the final step of unlocking restrictions in England on June 21 due to concerns over the spread of the Delta variant first identified in India.
Public Health England (PHE) has said that the Delta variant is now the "dominant" strain in Britain.
The British government's roadmap is expected to see all legal limits on social contact to be removed on June 21. It is understood that a final decision on the planned easing of lockdown will not be made until June 14.
Experts have warned that coronavirus may continue to evolve for years to come, and eventually it is likely current vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even against disease caused by newer variants.
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
