Early evening summary
- Boris Johnson has warned people not to “get their hopes up” about an early release from the threat of coronavirus after the UK has become the first western country to license a vaccine. It is a landmark moment in the fight against the pandemic, but at PMQs, and later at a press conference, Johnson struck an uncharacteristically cautious note, stressing that it would be months before the impact of the breakthrough was widely felt.
- Johnson and Sir Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, have confirmed that most care home residents will need to wait for their vaccine because of difficulties in transporting the newly-approved Pfizer/BioNTech product - despite the fact that care home residents are meant to be getting it first. (See 11.23am.) Stevens said the vaccine has to be stored at such low temperatures that it can only be moved a few times, while the packs of doses - with 975 doses per pack - cannot be easily split. He said the first people to receive the jab from 50 hospital hubs would be the over-80s, care home staff and others identified by the JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] who may already have a hospital appointment. At their press conference at No 10 Johnson said:
It will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected - long, cold months.
- Johnson has refused to back claims from some of his ministers (see 3.54pm) that Brexit helped the UK to approve the vaccine early. (See 5.40pm.)
- Johnson has played down the prospect of the tiering system being abandoned when MPs next have to vote for it before 3 February. Asked if he accepted the measures would have to be rolled over, he replied:
We will judge the situation ... on the basis of the data. But I think, for the time being, you have got to take it that tiering is going to be a very, very important part of our campaign against coronavirus.
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Johnson has played down suggestions from Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, that people will be adjusting their lives to take account of Covid for years to come. Van-Tam told the press confernce:
Do I think there will come a big moment where we have a massive party and throw our masks and hand sanitiser and say ‘that’s it, it’s behind us’, like the end of the war? No, I don’t. I think those kind of habits that we have learned from... will, perhaps persist for many years, and that may be a good thing if they do.
Johnson made it clear he took a different view. He added:
And, maybe ... on the other hand, we may want to get back to life as pretty much as close to normal.
Van-Tam also said that he did not think coronavirus would every be eradicated, and that it could become a seasonal problem. He said:
I don’t think we are going to eradicate coronavirus ever. I think it’s going to be with humankind forever. I think we may get to a point where coronavirus becomes a seasonal problem. I don’t want to draw too many parallels with ‘flu, but, possibly, that is the kind of way we would learn to live with it.
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Updated
What Sage thinks about how effective mass testing is likely to be in tackling Covid
At his press conference Boris Johnson repeatedly claimed that mass testing - or community testing, as the government now calls it - could play a major role in combating coronavirus. He said it could be the “tool” that would allow areas to move from a high tier to a low tier, alongside the vaccine. (See 5.33pm.) It would allow communities to have agency as they tackled the pandemic, he said. (See 5.47pm.)
It is worth pointing out that Sage, the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies, is more sceptical about the potential benefits of mass testing. Here is an extract from a consensus statement (pdf) from SPI-M-O (the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational - effectively a Sage sub committee) that was drafted on 18 November and released at the end of last week. It said (bold type in the original):
A one-off period of mass testing should not be thought of as reducing R, but as reducing post-testing prevalence compared to what it otherwise would have been. Once the testing period is over, if no additional control measures are put in place, the epidemic will return to its previous trajectory.
Focussed, more frequent testing of people who are at higher risk of being infected (such as key workers, health and social care workers and people in high prevalence areas) is likely to have a bigger impact than less frequent testing of the whole population. It is plausible that targeting groups who are less likely to have symptoms (and therefore be picked up from symptomatic testing), such as younger adults may have a greater effect, but we are not aware of any work evaluating such a strategy ...
Once test assay characteristics, viral kinetics, test sample variations and within-household transmission from isolated infected people are accounted for, a reduction in prevalence of 15-20% might be a realistic “best-case” goal for a single round of highly effective untargeted mass testing. For context, the ONS Community Infection Survey estimates that swab positivity (akin to prevalence) increased by 6% between 31 October and 6 November compared to the week before, and by 50% between 2 October and 8 October compared to the week before.
This is what Sir Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, said at the press conference about how the roll-out of the vaccine would start.
The vaccine that has been approved for the NHS to deploy today, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, has been independently shown to be medically safe, but it is logistically complicated.
We have to move it around the country in a carefully controlled way initially at minus 70 degrees centigrade, or thereabouts, and there are a limited number of further movements that we are allowed by the regulator to make.
It also comes in packs of 975 people’s doses so you can’t at this point just distribute it to every individual GP surgery or pharmacy as we normally would for many of the other vaccines available on the NHS.
So the phasing of delivery, the way we will do it, is that next week around 50 hospital hubs across England will start offering the vaccine to the over-80s and to care home staff and others identified by the JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation} typically they may be people who were already down to come into hospital next week for an outpatient appointment.
So if you are going to be one of those people next week or in the weeks that follow the hospital will get in touch with you, you don’t need to do anything about it yourself.
Van-Tam intervenes to clarify the point he wanted to make earlier.
He says we will get to a point where the government will no longer need to urge people to keep using safety measures like masks and regular hand-washing.
But he says the point he was trying to make is that, for some people, he thinks these habits will persist.
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Q: How are you going to get your MPs to vote for tiers again in February?
Johnson says he understands how frustrated people feel about this.
The government is going to ensure it is “as local and as sensitive” as it can possibly be.
But, with mass community testing, we can acquire agency, he says. We can squeeze the disease, he says.
Van-Tam says he does not think we will ever eradicate coronavirus. But it may become a seasonal problem, he says.
And he does not think there will ever be a moment where we declare the end of the war against coronavirus.
Johnson seems to disagree. He says he has high hopes that the vaccine will make a very big difference to the way we lead our lives.
Updated
Van-Tam says he is a great admirer of the Japanese three-c approach to Covid safety. Avoid closed spaces, avoid crowded spaces, and avoid getting too close to people.
And think of duration, how long you are there, and volume, the importance of not shouting, he says.
The pro-European former Tory MP Anna Soubry has a rare word of praise for Boris Johnson.
#BorisJohnson makes it clear the fact the UK is the first country to roll out the #Covid #vaccine is bugger all to do with #Brexit and everything to do with the efforts of the UK vaccine team.
— Anna Soubry (@Anna_Soubry) December 2, 2020
Johnson refuses to back claims Brexit helped the UK to approve vaccine early
Q: [from the Daily Express] Is this a Brexit bonus?
Johnson says the UK has got the vaccine early because of the vaccine taskforce.
He says these are global efforts.
- Johnson refuses to back claims from some of his ministers (see 3.54pm) that Brexit helped the UK to approve the vaccine early.
On the UK-EU trade talks, he says the government remains committed to trying to get a deal. People know what the UK’s bottom line is.
Q: Do you expect tiering will have to be rolled over on 3 February?
Johnson says that decision will be made at the time. But he says tiering will continue to be an important part of the government’s strategy.
Van-Tam says we do not know yet how successful the vaccine will be at stopping the transmission of the virus.
But, as well as stopping people from getting infected, it will stop people from having to go to hospital. That is important, he says.
Q: You said in the winter plan that January and February are the worst months for the NHS. Does that mean restrictions will have to extend beyond that?
Johnson says community testing will make a difference. It will drive it down, and keep it under control. That is the tool that could work, in addition to the vaccine.
Van-Tam says this is a complex product. It is not a yoghurt that can be taken out of the fridge and put back easily. It has to be handled carefully.
Stevens says the NHS needs to get the regulatory approval to get the jab to care homes. He says he expects that to happen this month.
Q: The scientists says care home residents should get the vaccine first. Are you confirming that won’t happen? And does that mean you are failing the most vulnerable?
Johnson says the government wants to get it into care home so it can protect the most vulnerable “as fast as we possibly can”. But each case has 975 vaccines in it. You want to avoid wastage, he says. That is why they need to find a way of splitting the packs of vaccine.
If they do not transport the vaccine properly, it won’t work, he says.
He says the MHRA is expected to give more guidance soon on how it could be distributed to care homes.
He says the objective must be to use the vaccine we have to protect the most vulnerable.
Q: Now we have the vaccine, how important is this moment?
Johnson says it is a huge moment. And it is a moving moment, he says. He says he is lost in admiration for scientists.
We have a vaccine that really works for Covid. But we have not got on for Sars or Mers or HIV.
The worst thing now would be to relax our guard, he says.
Updated
Johnson says it would be a mistake to ease up on the restrictions now.
Q: When will the government provide certainty about what is happening with exams next summer?
Johnson says the government will set out more tomorrow. It wants exams to go ahead. But it will explain how it will help pupils to sit them.
- Johnson confirms that exams will go ahead for English pupils next summer.
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Van-Tam says low uptake will mean the restrictions have to stay in place longer.
Van-Tam says he got quite emotional when he heard the news this morning.
He was although we have one vaccine, we need more. And some of the vaccines may fall by the wayside, he says.
He says we need people to take it.
NHS chief confirms first vaccinations will take place in hospitals, not care homes, for logistical reasons
Stevens says after that GP practices will start operating local vaccination centres. Eventually there will be 1,000 across England. At-risk patients will be invited in.
And, once the regulator approves a way of splitting up the supplies of the vaccine (which comes in packs of 975, and have to be stored at -70C), it will be distributed to care homes.
Then it will be provided at vaccination centres. And from January local pharmacists should be able to offer it too, he says.
- Stevens confirms that first vaccinations will take place in hospitals, not care homes, for logistical reasons.
Updated
Stevens says next week around 50 hospital hubs in England will start offering the vaccine to staff, and to people already due to come into the hospital for an outpatient appointment.
So if you’re going to be one of those people, next week or in the weeks that follow, the hospital will get in touch with you. You don’t need to do anything about it yourself.
Updated
Stevens is talking about the vaccination guidelines. (See 11.23am.)
The roll-out will be phased, he says.
Most of the vaccinations for people in the at-risk population will take place in the period between January and March or April, he says.
He also says people need two doses, 21 days apart. Doses will need to be reserved for people who get a first dose in December.
Johnson urges people in tier 3 areas to take part in community testing.
And people should follow the restrictions, he says.
He says the idea of returning to normal next year is no longer a hope; we can be sure that it will happen, and that we can reclaim our lives, he says.
Johnson said:
It will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected - long, cold months - so it’s all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement, we’re not carried away with over-optimism, or fall into the naive belief that the struggle is over.
Johnson says it will take 'some months' for most vulnerable to get vaccinated
Johnson says it is almost a year since humanity started being tormented by Covid.
We have been waiting for the time when the “searchlights of science” would find the virus, and show how it could be defeated.
The vaccine performs a form of jujitsu on the virus, and allows it to be defeated.
The UK was the first country in the world to pre-order supplies of the Pfizer vaccine, he says.
Care home residents, care home staff, the elderly and people who are clinically vulnerable will get priority.
But logistically it is complicated, he says. He says it will take some months before people in these groups are vaccinated.
Updated
Boris Johnson's press conference
Boris Johnson is about to hold a press conference at No 10.
Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, and Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, are also appearing.
The UK government has updated its coronavirus dashboard. Here are the key figures.
- The UK has recorded 648 further deaths. That is the highest daily total since last Wednesday (696).
- The rise in deaths now appears to be flattening off. There have been 3,169 deaths over the last seven deaths - a 3% fall from the total for the previous week. Yesterday the figures were showing a week-on-week increase of 4%.
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The UK has recorded 16,170 further cases. That is up from 13,430 yesterday, and but down from 18,213 a week ago today. Week on week, case numbers have fallen by 18% - the same figure as yesterday.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. Jessica Elgot and John Crace discuss this week’s lockdown restrictions vote in the House of Commons. Zoe Williams and Caroline Flint debate the Labour party’s upcoming Brexit dilemma. Plus, Juliette Garside investigates Rishi Sunak’s wealth.
Updated
At the Downing Street lobby briefing Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s new press secretary, adopted a conciliatory tone when asked if the 55 Conservative MPs who rebelled in the vote last night on the coronavirus restrictions would suffer any consequences. She told journalists:
The prime minister is pleased that he won the vote last night and indeed that he was able to persuade quite a number of Conservative MPs to, in the end, not rebel. He listened to them and he, over the course of the last few days, gave them quite considerable concessions.
There are no consequences, the prime minister respects them, he respects that this was and is an extremely difficult decision. The balance is, for nobody, an easy one.
Speaking in the Commons earlier Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that all four nations of the UK would start vaccinations at the same time “early next week”.
Both Downing Street and the UK’s medicines regulator have contradicted a claim by Matt Hancock that Brexit helped the UK become the first western country to license a vaccine against coronavirus, my colleague Peter Walker reports.
Nadine Dorries, a junior health minister (who, unlike her boss, Hancock, voted leave in 2016), has also claimed that Brexit helped Britain to approve the vaccine early.
No one should be in any doubt about how it is that we can start rolling out the vaccine next week. A month ago, we changed the regulations to exempt us from requiring EU approval. We would still be waiting if we hadn’t. Thanks to #Brexit we can now move ahead swiftly and safely
— Nadine Dorries 🇬🇧#StayAlert (@NadineDorries) December 2, 2020
As the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said in a statement in November, although the post-Brexit transition means the European Medicines Agency still covers the UK until the end of December, “EU legislation allows for temporary authorisation of supply in the UK, based on the public health need”.
Arj Singh has explained this in more detail in an article for HuffPost.
Updated
Pfizer vaccine not as useful for care homes as Oxford one, Welsh health minister says
At PMQs Boris Johnson was rather evasive when asked to confirm that the need to store the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at -70C for much of the time before it can be used would make it harder to provide it to care home residents. He accepted that there was a problem, but would not say explicitly that this could mean care home residents having to wait. (See 12.11pm.)
In the Senedd (the Welsh parliament) Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health minister, was more direct when addressing the same point. He said it was not possible to transport the Pfizer vaccine to more than 1,000 care homes across Wales. He went on:
We can’t be clear that it will still be effective for use in each of those homes and it is not something you can transfer in very small quantities. The challenge is how we safely deliver it and get to as many people in accordance with the priorities and that’s exactly what we are doing ...
It means care home residents, who are right at the top of the vulnerability list, that we are not going to be able to deliver the vaccine to them. They will get some protection with our ability to prioritise staff who work in those environments.
I’m still optimistic this vaccine will make a real difference but the Oxford vaccine gives us a much greater ability to take it out to people because it is a vaccine that can essentially be stored in a fridge, so there are significantly less logistical challenges to deliver.
Updated
Politicians are lining up to say they would be willing to be filmed having the coronavirus vaccine to show people that it’s safe. In response to an invitation from Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan, who also offered his services in this regard, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said he was prepared to be filmed getting injected. As did Nicola Sturgeon. And in the Commons Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, made a similar offer. (See 1.50am.)
'I’ll take it with you Piers. I think you have to show leadership in these things.'
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 2, 2020
Health Secretary @MattHancock says he will take the new Covid vaccine with @piersmorgan.https://t.co/AIDzdNWXwu
And Downing Street has suggested that Boris Johnson would do the same - but only if it did not prevent someone more in need of a jab from receiving one. At the lobby briefing Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s press secretary, said: “We all know the character of the prime minister, I don’t think it would be something that he would rule out.”
According to Alok Sharma, the business secretary, the UK is leading “humanity’s charge” against coronavirus.
The UK was the first country to sign a deal with Pfizer/BioNTech - now we will be the first to deploy their vaccine
— Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) December 2, 2020
To everyone involved in this breakthrough: thank you
In years to come, we will remember this moment as the day the UK led humanity’s charge against this disease
On Radio 4’s World at One Sean Marett, chief business officer for BioNTech, said the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was being packed this very moment for dispatch to the UK. He said:
We’re packing [the first doses] now as we speak and getting ready for shipping. This is in Belgium that we are doing it and our colleagues at Pfizer at their facility. This will be shipped via the road or plane whatever’s quicker.
What we can definitely say is it will arrive, the first consignment, in the next few days and that could be as early as tomorrow or it may be a few days later but the UK will be the first country in the world to be receiving vaccine through administration to its population.
Marett said that the firm had at one point been expecting to produce 10m doses for the UK this year, but that that was based on the assumption that it would be producing 100m doses in total this year and the expected total for 2020 was 50m. When asked if that meant the UK would be getting 5m doses this year, Marett replied: “I think if I was a betting man that would be a reasonable assumption, it may be a little more than that actually.”
The UK has pre-ordered 40m doses in total - enough to vaccinate 20m people, because two doses are required per person.
Updated
Two former supreme court justices have criticised parliament’s failure to subject the government’s restrictive pandemic regulations to effective scrutiny during the emergency.
Lady Hale, who retired as president of the court earlier this year, and Lord Sumption said the “bewildering rapidity” of regulation changes and what had been “government by decree” had resulted in a lack of debate of radical new powers.
Appearing before the House of Lords constitution select committee, both former judges also raised wider concerns about parliament’s inability to set its own agenda for debates.
“Parliament can’t recall itself so it was effectively stymied,” Lord Sumption observed.
Rather than using the Civil Contingencies Act, which provides for greater parliamentary scrutiny, the government chose to rely on the Public Health Act and the Coronavirus Act, they pointed out.
Lord Sumption said that the case being brought against the government by the businessman Simon Dolan, arguing that the use of powers under the Public Health Act was illegal, may now be appealed to the supreme court.
Sumption said there had been a failure by the civil service to draw up contingency plans. “Until March this year,” he said, “it was unthinkable that a government would lock down its population.”
Lady Hale said there had been a “bewildering flurry of new regulations coming in at short notice ... The normal orderly process of scrutinising delegated legislation has not taken place.”
Driving lessons been allowed to resume in all three tiers in England from today – along with tests in tiers 1 and 2 – but with tests in tier 3 due to resume on Thursday.
Driving schools had been awaiting confirmation of details in the face of a lengthy queue of applicants for lessons and a backlog in driving tests.
The AA Driving School alone said it had more than 16,000 prospective students waiting for lessons.
Sarah Rees, managing director of AA Driving School, said:
We are pleased that the government has listened to us and has now confirmed driving lessons and tests can continue safely in all three tiers in England. We worked hard during the first lockdown to ensure we had safe systems in place, ready for when lessons re-started in the autumn. The industry has already faced a tough year and to have faced further restrictions on giving lessons coming out of this second lockdown would have caused undue hardship.
Demand for driving lessons has been incredibly strong this year. Not only have lockdowns caused pent-up demand but people, warned off using public transport, want to be able to get around in their own vehicle.
England records 372 further Covid hospital deaths - highest daily total in second wave
It’s not all good news today. NHS England has recorded 372 further coronavirus hospital deaths. There were 100 in the Midlands, 92 in the north-west, 61 in the north-east and Yorkshire, 34 in the south-east, 31 in the east of England, 28 in the south-west and 26 in London. The details are here.
This is the highest daily total for hospital deaths announced by NHS England in the second wave of the pandemic. The previous highest figure was 361 on 11 November.
It is not clear why today’s figure is particularly high, but NHS England says today’s figure includes deaths ranging from 7 April to 1 December. The reported death figures normally included deaths that occurred going back several days or weeks, but not normally deaths going back this far.
Hancock is responding to Ashworth. He thanks him for working supportively and constructively with the government.
He says if he and Ashworth can encourage others to get vaccinated by getting vaccinated at the same time, he would do that.
He says there will be a public information campaign.
He says he cannot say how many people will be vaccinated by January. The total number of batches to be produced by then is not clear. The manufacturing process is complicated, he says. It is not a chemical; it is a biological product.
He says everyone wants to know how many people need to be vaccinated before restrictions can be lifted. He says we know that the vaccine stops people getting ill. But we don’t know its impact on asymptomatic transmission, and so we can’t answer that question, he says.
He says the government does hope to be able to use testing to allow things that were not allowed before. Care home visits are an example. If there are other examples that can be approved by a director of public health, and the chief medical officer, the government will be receptive. He says he wants people to be creative about this.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is responding for Labour.
He says we have clapped for carers. He suggests that one night we should clap for the scientists.
He offers to appear on a platform with Matt Hancock to make the case for vaccines.
How many NHS staff will be vaccinated by January?
Will care homes miss out on this vaccine, because of the logistical issues?
When will herd immunity be achieved?
And will the government publish a route map, showing what restrictions can be removed as the vaccine programme is rolled out?
What does the government mean by suggesting vaccination could be used for a freedom pass?
On Monday the PM suggested people could use mass testing before meeting relatives at Christmas. How will that happen?
And will the eligibility criteria for the £500 grant be expanded?
Hancock says he has more good news. As a result of rapid testing, he can allow relatives to visit care homes.
He ends by saying: “This is a day to remember in a year to forget.”
Updated
Hancock says vaccines will be delivered in three different ways: in hospitals, in vaccination centres and in the community. (See 9.21am.)
Hancock says batch testing for first 800,000 doses of vaccine completed this morning
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is making a statement to MPs.
He says the UK has ordered stocks of seven different vaccines, comprising 350m doses in total.
Help is on its way, he says.
The UK is the first country in the world to have a clinically approved coronavirus vaccine for supply, he says.
He says the government has spent months preparing for this, so that it could be “ready to go” once approval came through.
He says batch testing has been completed this morning for the first 800,000 doses of the vaccine. These are for the whole of the UK, he says.
He says the NHS will start vaccinating from “early next week”.
Here is my colleague Peter Walker’s story about PMQs.
And this is what Boris Johnson said when Sir Keir Starmer asked when the people in the two top priority groups would get the vaccine. Johnson replied:
I think at this stage it is very, very important that people do not get their hopes up too soon about the speed with which we will be able to roll out this vaccine.
It is beginning, as my right honourable friend the health secretary has said, from next week. We are expecting several million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine before the end of the year.
We will then be rolling it out as fast as we possibly can.
Updated
PMQs - Snap verdict
Do voters care whether or not Labour abstained in last night’s vote on the coronavirus restrictions? Or will they care in the future? Boris Johnson seems to think they do, or they will, because that was the message that he hammered most relentlessly in what was generally an unremarkable and indecisive PMQs. It didn’t clinch him a win, but some Tories seemed to like it and it did at least mark a change from banging on about Jeremy Corbyn.
Sometimes politicians, and parties, can be defined by particular votes. There are many MPs who will regret for the rest of their lives their vote on the Iraq war. The 2015 vote on the welfare bill ended up being influential in the Labour leadership contest. The Conservatives clearly believe that Labour’s abstention earlier this year on the overseas operations bill will cost it support among veterans and their families (even though the bill itself was criticised by Lord Guthrie, the former head of the armed forces – hardly a Corbynista peacenik.) But last night’s vote was not in the same category, and it is hard to imagine that people will view the Labour abstention as proof that somehow Starmer was opposed to the UK staging a recovery from Covid.
Johnson probably understands this as well as anyone. But it is easy to depict an abstention as evidence of indecisiveness, and this was the thrust of the jibe that he used in his final response to Starmer. “Captain Hindsight is rising rapidly up the ranks and has become General Indecision,” Johnson said. “He dithers, we get on with the job.” Given that Johnson himself is capable of inordinate dithering (to the point where his fiancee recently had to take charge of deciding who was allowed to be the No 10 chief of staff, according to some reports), this was straight hypocrisy, and not persuasive to anyone not already leaning Tory. But in the chamber it worked, up to a point. On the Labour abstention, Starmer’s riposte – his reference to Johnson’s embarrassing jaunt to Kabul to avoid the Heathrow third runway vote (see 12.16pm) – was much more effective than anything that Johnson threw at him (being true and funny), but Johnson had the structural advantage of having the final word.
Otherwise the exchanges were notable for Starmer trying to get Johnson to concede that people in care homes will probably not be getting the Pfizer/AstraZeneca vaccine first, as they have been led to believe that they should. Johnson was notably evasive on this point. But he avoided making any rash promises, and, unusually, he adopted a note of caution and realism when talking about the speed at which people will get vaccinated (see 12.09am), rather than indulging the usual effervescent hyperbole. He should try it more often, because at that point he sounded plausible.
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Nicola Sturgeon has said the MHRA’s approval of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine is the best news since the pandemic began and that vaccinations in Scotland will start on Tuesday 8 December. At her briefing she said:
Today does feel like it might be the beginning of the end of this horrible experience ... I feel a lightness of heart I haven’t felt for quite some time.
The National Records of Scotland said 252 deaths were recorded last week which mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, six higher than the previous week. That meant so far 5,634 people in Scotland had died of confirmed or suspected Covid-19 infections.
Sturgeon said there had been 38 additional deaths of people with confirmed Covid infections over the last 24 hours, with 991 people in hospital and 68 in intensive care.
Updated
Richard Thomson (SNP) asks if the PM will match in England the £500 bonus for health workers proposed in Scotland. And will he make it tax-free?
Johnson claims the Scottish government has the freedom to make this tax-free.
(It doesn’t, or at least not in the terms Johnson implied. My colleague Severin Carrell went into this in some detail yesterday.)
Updated
Scott Mann (Con) says levelling up should not just be seen as a north/south issue. There are pockets of deprivation in Cornwall, he says. He asks for an assurance that the shared prosperity fund will not be the same as the levelling up fund.
Johnson says they will be different.
Wendy Chamberlain (Lib Dem) asks about a constituent with ME who cannot get the personal independence payment (a disability payment).
Johnson says this is an important issue. Many people suffer from this, he says. He says he will arrange for Chamberlain to have a meeting with a minister.
Emma Lewell-Buck (Lab) says next week will mark the first anniversary of Johnson’s election victory. Since then there have been more than 70,000 Covid deaths and debt has reached £2tn. What is he proud of?
Johnson says he would take this more seriously if Lewell-Buck had voted last night.
She points out that she did vote; she was one of the Labour rebels who voted against the restrictions.
Johnson says he is making a point about the Labour party.
Updated
Liam Fox, the former international trade secretary, asks the government to apply a small business test, so that every proposed government measure is judged on its impact on small businesses.
Johnson says the government already considers the impact of all measures on business.
Alex Davies-Jones (Lab) asks for a sector-specific support plan for the aviation industry.
Johnson says the government is already doing a lot for this sector. Its problems are global, he says.
Johnson says it is small business Saturday on Saturday. Everyone should be shopping locally, he says.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Lab) asks when the PM will deliver on his promises, instead of behaving like a second-hand car salesman.
Johnson says, if Hendrick wants to keep the UK in the EU, he is going to be sorely disappointed.
Robin Millar (Con) asks if the vaccine news gives hope for a better 2021.
Johnson agrees. He says it’s a shame Labour did not support the plan to open up the economy.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, says funding for transport in Wales has been cut. Welsh taxpayers are paying for English transport and HS2. They don’t get a full return, she says. She asks why HS2 is labelled as an England and Wales scheme when not a line of track goes through Wales.
Johnson says the Welsh Labour government spent £144m on plans for a bypass that they then junked.
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Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says the vaccine news is what people have been waiting for. But 3 million self-employed people are still waiting for hope. He says he spoke to some people in this category, aware of eight people who have taken their lives within the last 10 days. Will the PM consider the case of a support package again?
Johnson says he sympathises with the families. A huge package of support has already been put in, he says.
Blackford says this isn’t good enough. These people need help. The prime minister has been missing in action, he says. Why can’t the government change its mind? These people have been ignored for nine months. ExcludedUK has not been offered one meeting with ministers.
Johnson says the government has excluded nobody. The best way to help the self-employed is to get the economy moving again. He again attacks Labour for not supporting it.
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Imran Ahmad Khan (Con) asks the PM to establish the new infrastructure bank to go to Wakefield.
Johnson says the chancellor will consider this.
Starmer says, when he abstains, he comes to the Commons to explain why. When Johnson does, he runs away abroad, costing the taxpayer £20,000.
That’s a reference to Johnson going to Afghanistan when he was foreign secretary to avoid the embarrassment of the vote on the Heathrow third runway, which he had always opposed.
Johnson criticises Labour again for abstaining. It abstained on legislation to protect veterans from prosecution. Captain Hindsight is becoming General Indecision. “He dithers, we get on with the job,” he says.
Starmer asks what the government is doing to protect the jobs and pensions of those affected by Arcadia going out of business.
Johnson says the government wants to protect all jobs. He says the conduct of Arcadia directors is being scrutinised. And he says the government has a plan to protect high streets.
He attacks Labour for abstaining in the vote yesterday.
Starmer says he will pay tribute to everyone involved in the vaccine project.
Does the government back Labour’s call for emergency legislation to tackle anti-vaccine misinformation online.
Johnson says the government will publish a paper on this shortly.
Starmer asks what is being done to get the vaccine into care homes.
Johnson says Starmer is right to raise this as an issue. This vaccine has to be kept at -70 degrees, which creates practical problems. He says the government is working with the NHS to ensure it can be distributed “as fast and as sensibly” as possible.
That is why it is also important to get the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, he says.
He says Starmer should pay tribute to the government’s vaccines taskforce.
Johnson urges people not to 'get their hopes up too soon' about early vaccination
Starmer says people in the top two groups will want to know when they can be vaccinated.
Johnson says it is important that “people do not get their hopes up too soon” about when they will get vaccinated. It will be rolled out as quickly as possible, he says.
Sir Keir Starmer also welcomes the vaccine news, and thanks those who took part in the trials. He says all sides have a duty to play a part in the vaccine rollout, and to encourage people to get vaccinated.
He says 400,000 people will get vaccinated in the first batch. Who will get priority?
Johnson summarises what the JCVI has recommended. (See 11.23am.)
He says it is important to stress that, although this is good news, the current restrictions are still needed.
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Chris Green (Con) asks for an assurance that vaccination will be voluntary.
Johnson agrees. Making it mandatory is “not how we do things in this country”, he says.
Boris Johnson starts by saying the national strategy for the disabled will be published next year. Tomorrow is international day for the disabled.
And he welcomes the news about the vaccine being approved.
From the BBC’s Natalie Higgins, who has been watching a BioNTech press conference in Germany
BioNTech cofounder Dr Özlem Türegi says most people who received the #CovidVaccine in trials had mild-to-moderate and short lived symptoms like muscle pain or inflammation at place where it was injected.
— Natalie Higgins (@nataliesophia) December 2, 2020
BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin says they hope to make 1.3bn vaccines in 2021.
From my colleague Heather Stewart
No doubt it was an entirely open and transparent recruitment process that resulted in former Tory and Ukip MP Douglas Carswell and the chief executive of Jacob Rees-Mogg's [former] investment firm being appointed to the DIT board:https://t.co/CGOiqpb5CU
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) December 2, 2020
Impact of vaccine won't be seen nationally for some months, says Welsh first minister
Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, has said the impact of the coronavirus vaccine approved for use today “won’t be seen nationally for some months”.
Significant news this morning. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make this a reality. Our vaccine programme is ready to go, but the impact won’t be seen nationally for some months. In the meantime, we all must continue to follow the rules and protect each other. https://t.co/U3aAZIZGOt
— Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) December 2, 2020
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From Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster
The vaccine is another step on the road back to normality. We are deeply appreciative of those in science who have helped deliver this good news. We will work collectively as an Executive to ensure it is rolled out across NI. To all those who prayed for this - thank you.
— Arlene Foster #We’llMeetAgain (@DUPleader) December 2, 2020
The SNP MP Amy Callaghan has said she is back on her feet after a brain haemorrhage caused an “imminent risk” to her life. As PA Media reports, Callaghan has given her first TV interview since she collapsed in her home on June 10, only leaving hospital after four months of treatment and rehabilitation. Callaghan, who has previously battled skin cancer, said:
I always knew that I had the strength and the courage and the determination from being unwell previously to see myself through this. But of course there were some very dark times that my family experienced and went through as well, so I do sometimes see how happy they are to have me here and that just means that wee bit extra.
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Analysis of new vaccine priority list - and how it has changed since September
Here is the document (pdf) setting out in detail who will get priority for the vaccine. It is guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Here are the main points.
- Care home residents and their carers have the highest priority for the vaccine, according to the updated priority list. And age is a key factor for deciding who should get treated first. Here is the full list of who should get priority in the first phase of the vaccination programme.
This list is broadly the same as the list in the interim guidance published in September, although there have been some changes.
- Those on the list - all over-50s, health and social care workers and people with underlying health conditions - account for “around 99% of preventable mortality from Covid-19”, the JCVI says.
- The NHS will not be expected to vaccinate people rigidly in the order set out in the priority list because some “flexibility” will be encouraged, the document says. It says:
An age-based programme will likely result in faster delivery and better uptake in those at the highest risk. Implementation should also involve flexibility in vaccine deployment at a local level with due attention to:
-mitigating health inequalities, such as might occur in relation to access to healthcare and ethnicity;
-vaccine product storage, transport and administration constraints;
-exceptional individualised circumstances; and
-availability of suitable approved vaccines e.g. for specific age cohorts.
JCVI appreciates that operational considerations, such as minimising wastage, may require a flexible approach, where decisions are taken in consultation with national or local public health experts.
- People who are black, Asian or from an ethnic minority could also get prioritised, the JCVI says. (See the quote above.)
- The definition of “underlying health conditions” that qualify people over 16 for an early vaccine has been expanded to include people with Down’s syndrome, severe learning disability and severe mental illness. The list is more extensive than the equivalent list set out in the interim guidance in September. Here is the full list:
Chronic respiratory disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and severe asthma
Chronic heart disease (and vascular disease)
Chronic kidney disease
Chronic liver disease
Chronic neurological disease including epilepsy
Down’s syndrome
Severe and profound learning disability
Diabetes
Solid organ, bone marrow and stem cell transplant recipients
People with specific cancers
Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment
Asplenia and splenic dysfunction
Morbid obesity
Severe mental illness
The September list did not include Down’s, severe learning disability or severe mental illness (although it did stress that work on the definition of at-risk groups was still ongoing).
- Over-16s with underlying health conditions are now included in the priority list. In the September version, only adults were on the priority list.
- The JCVI says some public sector workers should get priority in the second phase of the vaccine roll-out (ie, after the groups on the list have been vaccinated). It says:
Vaccination of those at increased risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 due to their occupation could also be a priority in the next phase. This could include first responders, the military, those involved in the justice system, teachers, transport workers, and public servants essential to the 10 pandemic response. Priority occupations for vaccination are considered an issue of policy, rather than for JCVI to advise on. JCVI asks that the Department of Health and Social Care consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other government departments.
UPDATE: Chris Smyth from the Times has flagged up some other changes.
Main changes are that people in the shielding list move up the priority order, and now will be offered vaccinations alongside over 70s
— Chris Smyth (@Smyth_Chris) December 2, 2020
And pregnant women - and those who may be pregnant - advised not to get vaccinated https://t.co/hmtvO3GPac
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Raine concludes by saying the vaccine meets rigorous high standards for safety.
And that’s it. The briefing is over.
Pirmohamed says there were about 40,000 people in the trials. Half got the vaccine, and half got the vaccine. He says no one suffered any serious side effects. Any side effects were mild.
And he says monitoring will continue as the vaccine gets rolled out.
Q: What are the conditions for the vaccine’s approval?
Raine says the conditions mainly relate to the vaccine’s quality. But they also cover monitoring of the vaccine. And the MHRA will also have close control over the information given to people distributing the vaccine.
She says the controls are very broad, in line with best international practice.
Q: Which frontline NHS staff get priority?
Lim says the JCVI has set out some principles governing which healthcare workers should get priority.
Q: Will NHS staff be allowed to opt out of vaccination?
Lim says there is no suggestion that vaccination should be compulsory. But the JCVI does not make policy, he says. He says that is a matter for ministers.
Q: What is your message to people sceptical about vaccines?
Raine says people should be confident in the vaccine’s safety. All the checks have been carried out, she says.
She says two other vaccines are still being evaluated.
Q: When might the other vaccines be approved?
Raine says she cannot predict that. Every parcel of data is being scrutinised. She says the Commission on Human Medicines expert working group will be working over Christmas on this.
That implies that approval for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, or the Moderna vaccine, might not happen until after Christmas.
Q: Do we have enough supply of this vaccine?
Lim says vaccine supply will be limited in the first instance. That is why the most vulnerable should take priority.
He says the UK will need more than one vaccine. This is the start of a programme, not the end of the programme, he says.
Lim says the intention is for the most vulnerable people - the groups highest on the priority list - to get the vaccine first.
He says this is not dependent on where people live.
The Department of Health and Social Care has just published this 25-page document (pdf) setting out the advice from the JCVI on who should get priority for the vaccine.
JCVI chair admits care home residents might not get vaccinated first because of operational constraints
Q: Will people in care homes really get priority, given the logistical problems of delivering the vaccine?
Lim says there will be “some flexibility” in view of the operational constraints. The JCVI is advising that care home residents should come first. But he says whether that is possible will depend on circumstances.
The JCVI advice is aimed at maximising benefit from vaccines and therefore it’s aimed at the most vulnerable people - which are people in care homes.
Whether or not the vaccine itself can be delivered to care homes is obviously an important point, and there will be some flexibility in terms of operational constraints.
The JCVI’s advice is that every effort should be made to supply vaccines and offer vaccinations to care home residents, whether or not that is actually doable is dependent on deployment and implementation.
- JCVI chair admits care home residents might not necessarily get vaccinated first because of operational constraints.
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Q: Why have you been able to approve this more quickly than the European regulator?
Raine says the MHRA has responded to the national situation, but it has followed international standards.
Q: How long does the vaccine take to work?
Pirmohamed says the vaccine will be effective seven days after the second dose has been administered. But there is some protection from 12 days after the first dose.
Updated priority list for getting Covid vaccination published
Lim then presents a slide showing which groups will get priority.
This is effectively same as the priority list in the interim advice published in September.
Lim says the JCVI is recommending that vaccination should go first to those most at risk, and to health professionals.
Age is by far the single biggest risk factor, he says.
But he says attention should also be paid to mitigating health inequalities.
This slide sets out the overall priorities.
Lim is now speaking about the work of the JCVI. It is an independent body, he says.
He says it has been meeting regularly over the last few months.
This slide shows the data is has been considering.
Pirmohamed is now explaining how the Commission on Human Medicines was involved. He describes how it looked at all the data, and concluded that there was “overwhelming benefit” in allowing the vaccine to be approved.
Any side effects were very mild, and only lasted a day or so, he says.
He says the NHS explained what the deployment strategies were. The commission advised it on stability issues.
Raine is now showing slides. The first explains who the regulatory process was speeded up. Stages of the process overlapped, instead of taking place one after the other.
Although the processes was speeded up, no corners were cut, she says.
She says safety planning has been going on for some time. The vaccine has been tested batch by batch.
If you are climbing a mountain, you prepare and prepare. We started that in June.
By the time the interim results became available on November 10 we were at base camp and then when we got the final analysis we were ready for that last sprint that takes us to today.
That is the exemplary nature of the work that has been done and the public deserve nothing less.
Here are the first two slides.
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Raine says the briefing has been called to announce that the MHRA is advising the government, on the basis of advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, on terms agreed by the JCVI.
The government has accepted this advice, with some conditions, she says.
“The safety of the public will always come first,” she says.
She says approval was only given after the most rigorous assessment.
Dr June Raine is opening the briefing.
No 10 coronavirus technical briefing, with MHRA chief
Recently Downing Street started holding coronavirus technical or data briefings on Wednesday, led by scientists not politicians, and the latest is due to start at 10am.
Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the body that has just approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use in the UK, will lead the briefing.
The other people on the panel are Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicines expert working group, and Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
In September the JCVI produced interim advice saying which groups should get priority for the vaccine. Its final advice is due to be published shortly.
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From Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and a former health secretary
The UK has one of the strongest medicines and vaccines regulatory systems in the world.
— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) December 2, 2020
I can say that with confidence as a former Health Secretary.
So, please, don’t believe the scare stories.
If the @MHRAgovuk says it is safe, it IS safe. https://t.co/TrApljF9VH
This is from Robin Swann, the health minister for Northern Ireland.
This is a hugely significantly day. My Department has the plans and preparations in place. There will still be difficult days ahead, and people must not let their guard down, but there are brighter days ahead.
— Robin Swann MLA : #StopCovidNI (@RobinSwannMoH) December 2, 2020
NHS Providers, which speaks for NHS trusts in England, has promised that the health service will rise to the challenge of deploying the vaccine. Chris Hopson, its chief executive, said:
The logistics of administering the Pfizer/BioNTech jab are formidable, but the NHS has been preparing for this, and trusts will play a key role.
The health service has an excellent track record of delivering vaccination programmes, though this will be on an unprecedented scale, with added challenges because of the need to run mass vaccination centres and the requirement for cold storage [because the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has to be stored and transported at minus 75 Celsius].
And while this announcement gives great cause for hope, it’s important to remember that this does not mean life gets back to normal – at least until the spring or early summer.
For the time being our best defence against Covid-19 is to prevent infection by observing lockdown restrictions. We’ll need that to get through the tough winter weeks ahead. But now at least we have the prospect of better days ahead.
Vaccination programme will have 'difficult impact' on other NHS services, health chief warns
For the NHS the MHRA’s decision is the start of “a marathon and not a sprint” to roll out the vaccine, but doing that will inevitably disrupt normal care for patients, the boss of a key health service body warned.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, urged ministers to explain to the public that NHS services will suffer “difficult and unwanted impact” during the immunisation programme because staff administering the jabs will not be able to do their usual jobs.
“Our already-stretched NHS faces a monumental effort now to roll-out the vaccine quickly and effectively”, he said.
He identified three key things the NHS needs for the deployment - which will take “many months” - to succeed: effective co-ordination between its many local, regional and national bodies; help with logistics, given the scale of the challenge; and “the appropriate technology to ensure we are recording who has been vaccinated in the correct way”.
And, Mortimer added:
We also need a clearer explanation from the government that stretched services and depleted teams will need to deliver vaccinations alongside all their other responsibilities: there will be a difficult and unwanted impact on other areas of service, and politicians need to support NHS teams by being much clearer with the public about this longer term consequence, which the recent spending review [last Wednesday] did not do enough to address.
The confederation represents all types of NHS care providers, including GP surgeries, mainly in England.
Boris Johnson says that the approval of a vaccine for use in the UK is “fantastic” and that vaccines will “ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives”.
It’s fantastic that @MHRAgovuk has formally authorised the @Pfizer/@BioNTech_Group vaccine for Covid-19. The vaccine will begin to be made available across the UK from next week. (1/2)
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 2, 2020
It’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again. (2/2)
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 2, 2020
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, greeted news the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had been approved with delight on Twitter and confirmed the Scottish government had plans in place to begin vaccinations immediately supplies arrived.
The best news in a long time. @scotgov ready to start vaccinations as soon as supplies arrive https://t.co/C1HDWCLccd
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 2, 2020
Scotland’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman, was the first of the UK’s four health ministers to reveal they anticipated receiving the first Pfizer doses in the first week of December.
Two weeks ago Freeman told the Scottish parliament they planned to target frontline health workers, the vaccination teams, care home staff and elderly residents over 80 with the first batch.
The Scottish government hopes to get 1m doses by the end of January, enough for 500,000 people, and has bought more than 20 industrial-sized freezer units capable of storing the vaccine at -70c.
The rollout of the vaccine across Wales will start within days, the nation’s chief medical officer, Dr Frank Atherton, has said.
There’s still a few stages we need to work through but, once all these safeguards are in place, vaccination can begin. There will only be relatively small amounts of the vaccine at first, those who have been advised as most needing the vaccine first, through approved delivery mechanisms. A full announcement around the timetable for rollout in Wales will follow in the next few days.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told Sky News this morning that there would be “three modes of delivery” for the vaccine. He said:
The first is hospitals themselves, which of course we’ve got facilities like this – 50 hospitals across the country are already set up and waiting to receive the vaccine as soon as it’s approved, so that can now happen.
Also vaccination centres, which will be big centres where people can go to get vaccinated. They are being set up now.
There will also be a community rollout, including GPs and pharmacists. Now, of course, because of the -70C storage conditions of this vaccine, they will be able to support this rollout where they have those facilities.
But they’ll also be there should the AstraZeneca vaccine be approved because that doesn’t have these cold storage requirements and so is operationally easier to roll out.
There is more coverage of Hancock’s early morning interviews, and other early reaction to the vaccine approval announcement, on our global coronavirus live blog.
The “historic” news means the UK becomes the first western country to license a vaccine.
The first doses will arrive in the coming days, the company has said. The UK has bought 40m doses of the vaccine, which has been shown to have 95% efficacy in its final trials. Albert Bourla, the chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, has said:
Today’s emergency use authorisation in the UK marks a historic moment in the fight against Covid-19. This authorisation is a goal we have been working toward since we first declared that science will win, and we applaud the MHRA for their ability to conduct a careful assessment and take timely action to help protect the people of the UK.
As we anticipate further authorisations and approvals, we are focused on moving with the same level of urgency to safely supply a high-quality vaccine around the world. With thousands of people becoming infected, every day matters in the collective race to end this devastating pandemic.
Although the vaccine has to be kept at -70C, the companies say it can be stored for up to five days in a fridge at 2-8°C. The first priority groups for vaccination are care home residents, who may not be able to come to a vaccination centre, together with the staff who look after them. At fridge temperatures, it may be possible for the vaccine to be brought to them. Next in line will be the over-80s and NHS staff.
The trial data showed the vaccine had equal efficacy among younger volunteers and those over 65 who are most at risk from Covid. Gender, race and ethnicity also made no difference.
Pfizer and BioNTech say their combined manufacturing network has the potential to supply globally up to 50m vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3bn doses by the end of 2021.
'Help is on its way' - Hancock welcomes vaccine approval news
This is how Matt Hancock, the health secretary, summed up his response to the vaccine news this morning.
Help is on its way.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) December 2, 2020
The MHRA has formally authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for Covid-19.
The NHS stands ready to start vaccinating early next week.
The UK is the first country in the world to have a clinically approved vaccine for supply.
NHS to launch largest vaccination campaign in its history, health chief says
Good morning. Or very good morning, to judge by the reaction to the announcement two hours ago that the UK has become the first western country to license a vaccine against Covid, opening the way for mass immunisation with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to begin in those most at risk next week.
My colleagues Sarah Boseley and Josh Halliday have the story here.
Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has said the NHS is now about to launch “the largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history”. He said:
This is an important next step in our response to the coronavirus pandemic and hospitals will shortly kick off the first phase of the largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history.
The NHS has a proven track record of delivering large-scale vaccinations from the winter flu jab to BCG and, once the final hurdles are cleared and the vaccine arrives in England’s hospitals, health service staff will begin offering people this ground-breaking jab in a programme that will expand to cover the whole country in the coming months.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, leads a coronavirus data briefing at No 10.
10.30am: Lord Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary, gives evidence to a joint Commons science/health committee hearing on coronavirus. Other witnesses include Dame Sally Davies, the former chief medical officer for England, Sir Mark Walport, the former chief scientific adviser, and Sir Oliver Letwin, the former Cabinet Office minister.
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs.
12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, holds a coronavirus briefing.
After 12.30pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, makes a Commons statement about coronavirus.
5pm: Johnson holds a press conference at No 10.
Politics Live is now doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, and when they seem more important or more interesting, they will take precedence.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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