HEALTH experts called over the weekend for ministers to review the easing of lockdown restrictions as concerns grew over the highly transmissible Covid-19 variant first identified in India.

The government came under fire for delaying tighter travel restrictions from the subcontinent as scientists expressed fear that the variant was 50 per cent more transmissible than the so-called Kent strain.

Unions called for the health of front-line workers to be protected and for adequate sick pay to be guaranteed for all to ensure that those who need to quarantine can do so.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warned that easing restrictions as planned from today could “lead to a substantial resurgence of hospitalisations” that was “similar to, or larger than, previous peaks,” if it was confirmed that the new variant was that much more transmissible.

Professor of health psychology Susan Michie, who sits on both Sage and the Independent Sage experts’ group, said: “If we are following data not dates, it is surprising that the road map is going ahead without adjustment.”

Professor Kit Yates, also a member of Independent Sage, suggested a delay of a fortnight would buy the nation valuable time to progress with the vaccine programme and “to understand more about the properties of the variant.”

The British Medical Association’s public health medicine committee co-chairman Dr Richard Jarvis said it was a “real worry” that “the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated.”

Ministers have accepted that the plan to end all lockdown restrictions on June 21 is under threat, but health minister Edward Argar insisted that “there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that [the new variant] evades the vaccine.”

The delay in adding India to the “red list” requiring supervised quarantine was described by Labour’s Yvette Cooper as “inexplicable,” allowing thousands to return from India “bringing hundreds of new variant cases.”

The TUC warns today that ventilation in workplaces will be vital, and renews its call for all workers to receive sick pay set at the level of the real living wage if they need to quarantine.

General secretary Frances O’Grady said: “If workplaces aren’t Covid-secure, coronavirus cases could rebound again. High vaccination rates are no excuse for employers to slack on safety at work.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “There should be zero-tolerance of any breach of Covid safety rules for transport or abuse of staff who have been key worker heroes throughout the pandemic.”

Education unions have been unanimous in their view that removing the requirement for masks to be worn in schools is premature and risks causing a spike in transmissions.