Layla slams Government for “opening floodgates to new variants” and failing to protect troops

Good work from Layla Moran in today’s press.

First, the Guardian reports the Commons Library research commissioned by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, which Layla chairs, which shows that the number of positive cases tested for variants has fallen dramatically.

The results suggest that in the three weeks to 17 March, there were an estimated 1,769 to 1,827 positive tests from people entering the UK from red list countries, of which somewhere between 63% and 68% were sequenced to determine the variant involved.

By contrast in the three weeks to 30 June, there were an estimated 445 to 507 positive tests from people entering the UK from red list countries, with estimates of the proportion sequenced ranging from 12% to 33%.

Layla highlighted the dangers of this:

“These figures are truly staggering and make a mockery of the UK government’s claim to be a global leader in genome sequencing,“ said Moran, adding the rise in the Beta variant in Europe should “be setting alarm bells ringing in government”.

“Yet instead ministers are dismantling our defences against the virus and opening the floodgates to new variants,” she said.

On Twitter she added:

In The Mirror, she takes the Government to task over rising Covid cases in the Armed Forces:

Cases of Covid-19 in the Army have rocketed by 63% so far in 2021 compared to last year, official figures reveal.

Some 3,281 positive tests were recorded among British Army personnel so far this year, up from 2,006 in the whole of 2020.

In total, 9,502 armed forces personnel have tested positive for Covid since the pandemic began, including 2,496 in the Royal Navy and 1,435 in the Royal Air Force.

Layla said:

“It is shameful that the government has let Covid rip through our armed forces.

“They are playing fast and loose with the country’s national security and leaving many of our brave troops at risk of getting long Covid.”

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