Sajid Javid has apologised “for his poor choice of words” and deleted a tweet in which he claimed the public should not “cower” from coronavirus, after the health secretary’s “deeply insensitive” remark sparked outrage, particularly among bereaved families and the clinically vulnerable.
It came as an NHS executive said hospitals are experiencing a “perfect storm”, as rising Covid hospitalisations and record-breaking demand for A&E collide with holiday season, amid warnings of a summer of venue closures, travel disruption and food supply woes as a result of worker shortages caused by the so-called “pingdemic”. The British Medical Association blamed the government for allowing cases to “skyrocket”.
However the official figures released on Sunday showed the number of Covid cases had fallen for the fifth day in a row - raising hopes that the third wave might already have peaked despite the relaxation of restrictions on Monday.
Meanwhile MPs have warned that the government is still spending millions on unusable personal protective equipment (PPE), with some 7 per cent of items failing quality checks – totalling more than 2.1 billion wasted purchases.
You can find Sunday’s UK Covid news, as it happened, below.
