Public health expert says Government needs to act now to prevent Delta variant from spreading

It comes after 431 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed and 58 patients are being treated in hospital

22 of those are in intensive care.

Professor Julien Mercille of the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group says the focus should be on what's ahead, rather than current case numbers:

"The important point is not to focus so much on what's going on right now but to focus on what's coming to act now you need to act to prevent bad outcomes so now we have the variant, from the UK, for the Indian variant or the Delta variant, and we should prepare for that instead of only focusing on the cases now they're rather stable, but it's what's coming that's more important."