A boatload of trouble: And now a new Indian scare story. The Mirror has reported that 600 Indians were allowed into Britain on May 13 and 14 without being quarantined. The red-listing for India came into effect on April 23. The Mirror reported that the 600 or so were cruise ship workers and flew into Heathrow but were not required to quarantine on the ground that they were seafarers. The government has since then been reported to have blocked this loophole. The next media hunt will be whether cases of the Delta (earlier ‘Indian’) variant were brought in by these seafarers. Of that, there is no sign yet.
Nepal’s new Covid variant: A new variant of the virus is in danger of finding another short-cut name. K417N could end up being called the ‘Nepal variant’. This one hasn’t been given a name yet after the Greek alphabet, but Nepal could be next in line for an attack in the British media if this one were to spread as extensively as the Delta variant has, still being called…