Coronavirus live news: Japan prefectures to declare emergency; calls for ‘surge vaccinations’ in UK

Japan will declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures; Greece launches tourism season; calls for ‘surge vaccinations’ in UK as India variant cases double

The UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has been on Sky News in the UK, saying that England will push ahead with its plan to lift the Covid-19 restrictions gradually, because even though it is worried about the emergence of a variant first detected in India it believes the vaccines are working.

Reuters report that Zahawi said there were concerns about the presence of the Indian variant in some parts of England but that there was no evidence that the B.1.617.2 variant had a more severe impact on people or was able to escape the vaccines.

A petition calling for the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics which garnered 350,000 signatures in nine days was submitted to organisers today, reflecting growing public opposition to the event as a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps Japan.

“Stop Tokyo Olympics” campaign organiser Kenji Utsunomiya said the global festival of sport - already postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic - should take place only when Japan can welcome visitors and athletes wholeheartedly.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/may/14/coronavirus-live-news-japan-prefectures-to-declare-emergency-calls-for-surge-vaccinations-in-uk

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