Boris Johnson is coming under pressure to announce an independent inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic after the UK recorded its third-highest coronavirus death toll on Saturday, with a further 1,295 deaths and 41,346 new cases.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said bereaved families “deserved to know” when the inquiry would begin, months after the prime minister said an investigation would take place.
It came as NHS doctors were facing an “immediate reality” that they will have to choose between which patients to prioritise for care as Covid-19 cases soar across the country.
Meanwhile, Professor John Edmunds, a leading epidemiologist, warned that the new Brazilian strain of coronavirus is likely to have already entered the country after the government announced that quarantine-free travel to the UK would end on Monday.
Mr Johnson said this week that anyone flying into the country from overseas would have to show proof of a negative Covid test. The government has also banned flights from South America, Portugal and Cape Verde over the emergence of the new variant in Brazil.
