Early evening summary
- A further 454 people have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test in the UK, according to government data, taking the number of deaths by this measure to 119,387. There have also been a further 12,057 positive cases in the last 24 hours (See 4.12pm).
- Children in primary 1 to primary 3 – ages four to seven – are set to go back to school in Northern Ireland on 8 March - despite an expectation that lockdown will be extended until 1 April, the BBC reported (See PA Media reports at 2.44pm).
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said there is “compelling evidence” that the vaccination programme is starting work, as she pointed to weekly figures showing a sharp decline in care home deaths (See 1.13pm).
- In a virtual keynote speech, Keir Starmer set out plans for a new “British recovery bond” to allow people to invest billions of pounds in savings amassed during the pandemic in local communities, jobs and businesses. The Labour leader also proposed start-up loans for 100,000 new small firms, particularly in areas outside the south-east (See from 11.09am).
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog here:
Updated
Airbus plummeted to a loss of more than €1bn last year and will continue to withhold shareholder payouts after deliveries of its aircraft fell by a third.
The European aerospace company warned aircraft would remain under pressure in the year ahead amid a “volatile environment” created by the coronavirus pandemic, the Guardian’s energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose reports:
Updated
Nearly one in five people aged 80 and over in London had yet to have their first dose of Covid vaccine at the start of this week, new figures suggest.
An estimated 81.2% of those aged 80 and over in the capital had received their first jab up to February 14, according to provisional figures from NHS England – the lowest proportion for any region.
The estimate for the whole of England is 93.4%, PA Media reports.
Boris Johnson said on 14 February that everyone in England in the top four priority groups, including those aged 80 and over, had been offered the vaccine.
Here are the estimated figures for each region, based on first doses given up to 14 February:
South-west England 97.9%
North-east England/Yorkshire 95.1%
Midlands 94.6%
South-east England 94.2%
North-west England 93.6%
Eastern England 93.6%
London 81.2%
Updated
454 more deaths from coronavirus across UK
A further 454 people have died across the UK within 28 days of receiving a positive coronavirus test, while 12,057 more people tested positive for the virus, according to the latest official update.
The latest figures posted on the government’s coronavirus data site showed continuing falls in deaths and infections, with numbers over the past seven days down 26.9% and 20.3% respectively compared with the previous preceding seven days.
There was also a fall in the number of patients admitted to hospital with coronavirus, which stood at 1,531 on 14 February, the most recent day for which figures were available. The seven-day number was down nearly a quarter.
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The leader of the UK’s largest teaching union has warned that asking parents to take responsibility for testing their children regularly for coronavirus is a “huge ask” that is “fraught with difficulty”.
Parents may not want to test their children at home as it could have implications for their paid work, warned Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), after a health minister confirmed that the government was looking at how coronavirus testing of pupils could help the return to school.
Dr Bousted told the PA Media news agency:
I think again that is fraught with difficulty as well because I think there’s been a big parental reaction to the notion that they’ve got to swab their children up their noses or down their throats.
And of course lots of parents probably will not want to know if their child has got Covid because they will be asymptomatic and that has implications for them being able to work.
I do think that’s a huge ask and if the government is going to make that ask of parents - and if it’s going to make any asks to schools in terms of testing - it really has to be very clear about the science on which that is based because otherwise it will be difficult to make it happen.
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A consortium of unions has today issued a joint call for staff at all schools, colleges and early years settings such as nurseries and daycares to be given early access to Covid-19 vaccinations by the government.
In a combined statement, the unions call for teachers, assistants, carers and other school staff to be prioritised in phase two of the national vaccination programme, following reports that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will back aged-based eligibility for the next stage of the vaccine rollout in England.
The effort brings together the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders as well as the Association of Colleges, representing sixth form and further education colleges. The group includes Unison and the GMB representing other staff, alongside the NEU and NASUWT teaching unions.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:
With Covid cases in early years settings continuing to rise sharply, it is absolutely critical that all those working in nurseries, pre-schools and childminding settings, along with other education colleagues, are given the protection they need to continue doing their jobs as safely as possible.
Avril Chambers, national officer for the GMB, said school support staff had an “urgent” need for vaccination, “because support staff are often performing tasks that involve close contact without adequate PPE and often in poorly ventilated areas which leads to a higher risk of transmission”.
Updated
Data released by the Ministry of Justice shows the number of people being prosecuted or handed out-of-court disposals fell by 22% in the 12 months to September 2020, compared with the same period a year earlier.
The Guardian’s Kevin Rawlinson reports on how the pressure put on the criminal justice system in England and Wales during the pandemic has been laid bare:
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Northern Ireland's lockdown to be extended to 1 April, reports say
The Stormont executive has agreed to extend Northern Ireland’s current lockdown to 1 April but primary school pupils in year groups P1 to P3 will return to classes on 8 March, PA Media understands.
Secondary school pupils in key exam years – year groups 12 to 14 – will return to face-to-face learning on 22 March.
At Thursday’s executive meeting, ministers also agreed to make relaxations to allow “click and collect” shopping from some outlets previously categorised as non-essential retailers.
From 8 March, click and collect will be permitted for shops selling baby equipment, clothing and footwear, and electrical goods.
The decision to extend the main lockdown restrictions to 1 April will be subject to a review on 18 March.
Updated
PA Media reports:
Covid-19 case rates are continuing to fall in all regions of England, according to the latest weekly surveillance report from Public Health England.
In the East Midlands, the rate of new cases stood at 176.7 per 100,000 people in the seven days to 14 February- the highest rate of any region, but down from 228.4 in the previous week.
The West Midlands recorded the second highest rate: 170.4, down from 243.1.
South-west England recorded the lowest rate: 87.4, down from 123.1.
Updated
A further 309 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 80,424, NHS England said on Thursday.
A total of 14,318,115 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between 8 December and 17 February, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 427,073 on the previous day’s figures.
Of this number, 13,817,914 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 422,576 on the previous day, while 500,201 were a second dose, an increase of 4,497, according to PA media.
Updated
ITV’s political editor Robert Peston on the “British recovery bond” proposal (see earlier post):
I am not sure @Keir_Starmer's big idea - a special government "recovery" bond to harvest household excess Covid19 for investment in communities - is quite as "bold" as he claims, unless he is proposing to pay an interest rate well above the near zero gilts rate, in...
— Robert Peston (@Peston) February 18, 2021
Updated
More from the Labour leader:
I know what a good business brings to a town or to a family.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) February 18, 2021
If I were Prime Minister, I would back a new generation of British entrepreneurs by supporting 100,000 new business start-ups across every region of the UK.
Price comparison website Moneysupermarket has reported a sharp slump in annual profits after coronavirus restrictions wiped out demand for travel insurance, the Guardian’s energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose reports:
This is from Michael Fabricant, Conservative MP for Lichfield:
A rather sad attempt by #Starmer to get on track after poor polling for #Labour, criticism from his own MPs, and now this:
— Michael Fabricant 🇬🇧 (@Mike_Fabricant) February 18, 2021
Who would make best PM?
Johnson 43% (+5)
Starmer 27% (-4)
ComRes https://t.co/y4wTx6wcjY
Some reaction from the commentariat to Starmer’s speech:
Some thoughts on Starmer's speech (the content, not the delivery). Mainstream middle of the Labour party stuff. Not clear if party has plan around its economic credibility problem. Also not clear if problem has a solution: https://t.co/m0IkZ4vh86
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) February 18, 2021
'Compelling evidence' vaccine programme is working, Sturgeon says
There is “compelling evidence” that the vaccination programme is starting to work, Nicola Sturgeon has said in her daily briefing, as she pointed to weekly data showing a significant decline in care home deaths, with the proportion of those dying in care homes falling from 34% at the beginning of January to 13% last week.
Despite this, she reiterated that her government’s planned route map out for easing restrictions, which will be published next week, will be “cautious”.
She told reporters: “I want this lockdown to be the last one we need.”
Sturgeon said she had always favoured an elimination strategy when dealing with the virus, “by which I mean suppressing the virus to as low a level as possible and keeping it there” and that Scotland is “on the path back” to that point.
She pointed out that this was achieved in Scotland last summer but that the virus was then re-seeded “mainly from overseas travel and travel across the UK”. “We know we can do that and we are some way off it, but we are on a path back to that suppression to very low levels. The challenge is how do you keep it there?”
She said that this would involve a combination of methods: the test and protect system (as of today, anyone who is identified as a close contact of somebody who has tested positive for coronavirus will be asked to get tested too), travel restrictions “perhaps for some time yet”, as well as continuing with restrictions like face coverings, stringent hygiene and physical distancing as the country comes out of lockdown.
Updated
The Telegraph’s political correspondent Tony Diver has shared footage of his question to Starmer during the keynote speech:
Sir Keir tells me he hasn’t “gone soft” on the Tories during Covid, as his critics have claimed in recent weeks.
— Tony Diver (@Tony_Diver) February 18, 2021
“I don't think that is going soft - at times like this you back the Government where you think they are getting right... everybody is concerned we pull through this.” pic.twitter.com/OqdMA7nIRn
This is from LBC’s political editor Theo Usherwood:
Sadiq Khan tells @LBC there are six times as many people in hospital now than in June last year, eight times as many people on ventilators.
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) February 18, 2021
In last 24 hours in London there have been more than 1,000 new cases, and 93 deaths.
Here is the Guardian’s political correspondent Peter Walker on Keir Starmer’s calls for a “moral crusade” in the wake of the pandemic to deliver social justice and equality:
Updated
Boris Johnson will use a meeting of world leaders on Friday to set a 100-day target for the development of new vaccines for emerging diseases to help avert a repeat of the pandemic, according to PA media.
Updated
A vaccine update from the Welsh health minister,Vaughan Gething:
More than 21k increase in vaccine numbers yesterday with 15k first dies and 6k second doses. https://t.co/2dE0aIKbKh
— Vaughan Gething MS (@vaughangething) February 18, 2021
A further targeted area will have additional testing made available to control and suppress the potential spread of a Covid variant, the DHSC has said.
Working in partnership with the local authority, additional testing and genomic sequencing is being deployed to targeted areas in Leeds LS8, including parts of Harehills and the area just north of Easterly Road where the Covid variant first identified in South Africa has been found.
Extra testing is being introduced in addition to existing extensive testing, and in combination with following the current lockdown rules and remembering Hands Face Space advice, will help to monitor and suppress the spread of the virus, the department said.
Positive cases will be sequenced for genomic data to help understand Covid variants and their spread within these areas.
Updated
This reaction to Starmer’s British recovery bond proposal is from the Guardian’s economic correspondent Richard Partington:
Kier Starmer announces he would launch a "British Recovery Bond" if Prime Minister, which would raise billions from UK savers to invest in the economic recovery from Covid.
— Richard Partington (@RJPartington) February 18, 2021
Updated
A total of 106,474 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to 10 February, according to the latest test and trace figures.
This is down 29% on the previous week and is the lowest number since the week to 2 December.
Updated
PA media reports:
A record 2,400,724 lateral flow device (LFD) tests for Covid-19, or rapid tests, were conducted in England in the week to 10 February, according to the latest Test and Trace figures.
LFD tests are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less, without the need for processing in a laboratory.
By contrast, 1,295,051 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were conducted in the week to 10 February. PCR tests are swab tests that are processed in a laboratory.
This is the second successive week in which more LFD tests were conducted than PCR tests.
Keir Starmer, asked by reporters whether his British recovery bond policy would only make the wealthiest richer, said he thought the policy addressed the “short-termism” of the UK’s economy in the past.
The Labour leader said: “No, on the contrary, one of the problems of the past has been the short-termism of our economy, coupled with austerity. I’ve given the bond as an example of a longer-term, secure way of investing. Many people have, I think, saved for the first time during this pandemic and, as the Bank of England says, they are unlikely to spend it in a hurry and this gives them the security of a bond going forward, and also helps the country secure that economy.”
Updated
Responding to a question from the media, Starmer said:
I think there’s a duty now as we face the future, to be honest about the choices that are before us. As we come out of this, do we want to go back and try to repair what we had before? Or do we move forward to a better and different economy? I think this is a moral and political choice that we now have to make.
He added: “If we go back to where we were before we’re going back to a model that had inequality and injustice built into it and put us in a position where we weren’t as robust and ready as we should have been going into the pandemic.”
Keir Starmer sets out plan for new 'British recovery bond'
In the speech, the Labour leader announced plans for a new “British recovery bond” to allow people to invest billions of pounds in savings built up during the pandemic in local communities, jobs and businesses.
Starmer said the bond would provide financial security for millions of people as well as raising funds for investment in the science, skills, technology and manufacturing of the future.
He said:
If I were prime minister, I would introduce a new British recovery bond. This could raise billions to invest in local communities, jobs and businesses. It could help build the infrastructure of the future - investing in science, skills, technology and British manufacturing. It would also provide security for savers and give millions of people a proper stake in Britain’s future.
Updated
“I have criticised the prime minister and the government for being too slow on pretty well every occasion and I stand by that criticism.”
Starmer is now taking media questions.
“Inequality is not only morally bankrupt - it is economic stupidity too. A fair society will lead to a more prosperous economy. It is not the choice of one or the other, as the Conservatives would have you believe.”
Updated
“My dad worked on the factory floor his entire life - a steady, secure job allowed him to build a better life for his family. That is why when I think about business, I see a source of pride, of dignity and prosperity,” Starmer said.
Updated
“That is why a labour budget would protect families. We would not cut the £20 uplift in universal credit... we would provide local councils with the funding they need to prevent huge rises in council tax.”
Starmer said that a labour budget would extend and update the furlough scheme, stating: “I think that Covid has shifted the axis on economic policy both of what is necessary and what is possible of change. The age in which the government did little but collect and distribute revenue is over.”
Updated
“All we can expect from this government is more of the same - a roadmap to yesterday, another decade of insecurity and inequality. Labour would choose a different path - a path that is focused on the long term, that tackles inequality, invests in the future and builds a more secure and prosperous economy.”
“This is no time for a second wave of austerity,” he continued.
Updated
“What we will get on 3 March will be short term and it won’t even be a fix. Successive governments have used the rhetoric of change - northern powerhouses, burning injustices, levelling up - but all it ever adds up to is a few soundbites and the odd photo opportunity,” Starmer says.
Updated
Starmer said: “The truth is that the Conservatives promised to fix social care for a decade but never got round to it. But, the problem is even bigger than the serious failings of this government. It is about an ideology that failed.”
“You can’t return to business as usual and certainly not to an economy rooted in insecurity and inequality,” Starmer says.
Covid is “not only the worst health crisis in memory but it is the biggest economic convulsion in 300 years,” he added.
Updated
Keir Starmer makes speech about future of Britain
Keir Starmer is now speaking. Starmer has said Covid has shown the “best” of Britain as well as our “fragilities”, so “we have to seize this moment to address that”.
Updated
New from ITV’s UK editor Paul Brand:
NEW: Organisations including @relresuk @age_uk @rightsforresid2 @NCFCareForum have written to PM demanding that next week's roadmap for lifting lockdown gives relatives a timetable for reopening care homes.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) February 18, 2021
"This is the ray of hope they are longing for. Please give it to them."
Keir Starmer is due to make his keynote speech in a few minutes. We will have a live video on the blog to watch along.
Updated
Dr Helena McKeown, chairwoman of the British Medical Association’s representative body, said it would be “negligent” to wait too long before compensating frontline workers who have long Covid.
When it was put to her that the government might argue it is focusing on investing in research to understand the condition before thinking about compensation, she told BBC Breakfast:
I think that’s negligent of them. We know people - doctors, nurses, other frontline key workers - who contracted Covid back in the spring (last year) and still have symptoms. Some people have already lost their livelihoods. We know GPs who have had to leave their practices, and other doctors and healthcare workers.
The number of students who have applied to nursing courses at university has risen by almost a third amid the pandemic, according to new Ucas data.
More than 60,000 people have made applications to nursing courses starting this autumn, the latest statistics from the universities admissions body show.
It's brilliant to see that more people want to work in our fantastic NHS. UCAS has almost 50,000 applications to nursing courses in England this year - a 34% increase – with more 25 to 34-year olds, 35-and-overs & men applying than last year 👏
— Rachel Maclean MP #StayAtHome (@redditchrachel) February 18, 2021
Rules on care home visits could be relaxed to allow people to hold hands with relatives before they have received their second vaccine dose, the health minister has indicated.
With a 12-week delay between the first and second doses, Helen Whately said: “I want us to open up sooner than that”, suggesting that some of the restrictions could be eased in the coming months.
She said “even if it’s to be able to hold hands again ... I really want to make that happen”.
Updated
Here is a clip of health minister Helen Whately on Good Morning Britain earlier:
'We need to be patient.'
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) February 18, 2021
Following the news that Covid infections have fallen, Care Minister @Helen_Whately says there are still over 20,000 people in hospital with Covid so easing lockdown measures needs to be taken 'step by step.'
Watch GMB 👉 https://t.co/yyUUJmzswF pic.twitter.com/xNu0urjkOO
Reaction from Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, to the Guardian’s view on two-party politics:
“British politics has been turbulent in recent years because so many people have felt ignored by system that allocates power unevenly & often perversely...it masks a profound crisis of political representation”. Good to see @guardian support for #FairVotes https://t.co/KWdhUvluyj
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) February 18, 2021
Health minister Helen Whately said visitors to care homes would still be expected to wear PPE to protect residents even if visiting rules are relaxed (see here for earlier comments).
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Whately said:
There is still a way to go to see, for instance, whether the vaccine stops people from being infectious and how it plays through. Visiting will be taken step by step and we will, for instance, when people come back to more normal visiting, still be asking people to use PPE and follow those kinds of procedures.
We will give you the latest on Keir Starmer’s speech from 11am.
Today, @Keir_Starmer will share Labour’s vision for our country.
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 18, 2021
🕚 Tune in from 11am to catch it live. https://t.co/h1IHjGIRSf
Boris Johnson is being urged to launch a compensation scheme for frontline workers who are suffering from the long-term effects of Covid-19.
The all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus said the prime minister should recognise long Covid as an occupational disease, saying some sufferers have found it hard to return to work.
The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, said that “eye-watering” amounts of money had been “wasted and misdirected” by the government during the pandemic.
“The big question is has that spending gone in the right places?” Dodds said, speaking on the Today programme.
Unfortunately we’ve seen eye-watering amounts of that money wasted and misdirected. It does not have to be like this and Labour has been very clear that we must target that spending so it really does support jobs.
Updated
Health minister Helen Whately has been doing the media rounds this morning. The Faversham and Mid Kent MP said she hopes care home visits can increase once residents have had their first vaccine doses.
Speaking to Sky News, she said:
I really, really want to open up visiting in care homes more. To be clear, we have made sure that visiting can continue even during this national lockdown but I recognise it’s not the normal kind of visiting - it’s having to use screens, or visiting pods, or through windows of care homes that don’t have those facilities. Also, we have put funding into social care to help care homes have these facilities, and have extra staff if they need to supervise. What I want to do as we come out of the national lockdown is also increase the amount of visiting. I don’t see that we have to wait for the second vaccination dose, I want us to open up sooner than that.
Updated
Years of Tory rule to blame for how Covid has hit UK, Starmer to say
Good morning everyone. I will be running the blog today so feel free to drop me a message on Twitter with any story tips.
The pandemic hit the UK disproportionately hard because a decade of Conservative rule “weakened the foundations of our society”, Keir Starmer is to say in a major speech this morning.
The Labour leader, who has faced criticism from some for failing to articulate a clear political vision, will accuse the Tories of creating an “insecure and unequal economy” that has been “cruelly exposed by the virus”.
He will say:
This must now be a moment to think again about the country that we want to be. A call to arms – like the Beveridge Report was in the 1940s.
The virtual address comes amid speculation that the virus is now spreading most among primary-age children and young people in England.
The React 1 study from Imperial College London points to the third national lockdown having significantly curbed the spread of the coronavirus despite the emergence of new variants.
But prevalence remains high, with researchers suggesting Covid is now most commonly found among 5- to 12-year-olds and 18- to 24-year-olds in England.
Asked about press reports that parents could be asked to test their children at home, health minister Helen Whately told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I’m not going to get drawn into that, there is work in progress looking at how testing can support schools to come back... There’s already testing going on in schools where you have children of key workers and teachers in schools at the moment because schools aren’t completely closed, and there is work going on at the moment about the details of the return to schools, and there will be more said about that next week.
Here is the agenda for the day:
Boris Johnson is awaiting new data on the impact of vaccines on coronavirus after stressing he will take a “cautious and prudent approach” to easing England’s third national lockdown.
11.00: Keir Starmer speech on the economy - virtual
11.00: Weekly test and trace figures for England published
12.15: Scottish government coronavirus briefing expected
14.00: Weekly Covid-19 surveillance report from Public Health England
1400: Weekly breakdown of Covid-19 vaccination statistics for England by age and area from NHS England
Here is our global coronavirus live blog for Covid-related news from around the world:
Updated
