Early evening summary
Here is a quick recap of the main Covid-related news in the UK today:
- The Department of Health and Social Care has insisted Johnson & Johnson’s decision to delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe will not derail the UK’s programme to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July.
- The Covid testing firm Randox says it will reduce the price of PCR tests to £60 for travellers returning to the UK from overseas. This is about half the typical cost.
- Nicola Sturgeon said Covid figures are now at their lowest since September, and have fallen by 40% in the past two weeks. Scotland’s first minister has brought forward relaxations to travel and outdoors meetings. But she stressed that international travel remained a significant risk.
- Boris Johnson said that easing curbs will ‘inevitably’ mean more infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
- Prof Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, warned that, even with the vaccination programme in place, there could be a “big third wave” of Covid-19.
That’s all from me for today. Our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here:
Updated
This is from Open Democracy’s Peter Geoghegan:
A friend going through Heathrow just sent this. More than a year into a pandemic - and with new variants most likely to be imported - and this is still the state of key border entry point pic.twitter.com/1Gaknn57ik
— Peter Geoghegan (@PeterKGeoghegan) April 13, 2021
Health department insists Johnson & Johnson's decision will not derail vaccine rollout
The DHSC has insisted Johnson & Johnson’s decision to delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe will not derail the UK’s programme to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July (see earlier post).
The UK has 30m doses of the Johnson & Johnson product on order, but it has yet to be authorised for use by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, PA Media reports.
A DHSC spokesman said:
Our vaccination programme continues to make phenomenal progress - with over 40m vaccines administered so far. We have hit our target to offer a vaccine to everyone in phase one of the vaccination programme and we are on track to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July.
The 30m doses are due to arrive in the second half of 2021, if approved by the MHRA.
Updated
Provisional figures from Scotland’s electoral registration officers show that 1,010,638 voters are now registered to vote by post at the Scottish parliament election on 6 May.
With the postal vote application deadline now passed in Scotland, this accounts for nearly a quarter of the electorate (23.8%) and is the highest number ever registered for a postal vote in Scotland.
It compares with 726,555 registered postal voters amounting to 17.7% of the electorate in the last Holyrood election of 2016.
While this is of course a decent uptake, it doesn’t reach the high numbers that some were predicting and may suggest that voters are less put off from voting in person by Covid risks than previously thought.
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Four thousand football fans will be allowed to watch the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, but those who are clinically vulnerable cannot attend.
A group of Tottenham fans with disabilities, SpursAbility, has called the decision “direct discrimination”, as it calls for it to be reconsidered.
Updated
NHS England data shows a total of 4,095,213 jabs were given to people in London between the same dates, including 3,307,580 first doses and 787,633 second dose.
This compares with 5,277,988 first doses and 1,139,586 second doses given to people in the Midlands, a total of 6,417,574, PA Media reports.
The breakdown for the other regions is:
- East of England: 3,242,129 first doses and 806,217 second doses, making 4,048,346 in total
- North East and Yorkshire: 4,296,573 first and 1,108,087 second doses (5,404,660)
- North West: 3,458,612 first and 887,155 second doses (4,345,767)
- South East: 4,414,751 first and 1,046,476 second doses (5,461,227)
- South West: 2,991,359 first and 705,198 second doses (3,696,557)
Updated
A total of 33,637,546 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between 8 December and 12 April, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 191,624 on the previous day.
PA Media reports that NHS England said 27,132,941 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 25,351 on the previous day, while 6,504,605 were a second dose, an increase of 166,273.
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This is from LBC’s Rachael Venables:
Wow. Two-hour queues for Covid tests in Lambeth where dozens of cases of the South African variant have been found. Good that people are willing to wait, but you worry how many will be put off - health authorities want everyone living/ working/ travelling through to get tested. https://t.co/fqJGqvMmvS
— Rachael Venables (@rachaelvenables) April 13, 2021
Mansfield has the highest number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in England, PA Media reports.
Figures for the seven days to 8 April showed the Nottinghamshire market town had an infection rate of 104.3, a 14% increase on the previous week.
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Prof Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, has said the UK would need to look “very carefully” at the data emerging from the US on the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine.
It comes after the US recommended a “pause” in administration of the single-dose jab – also known under the Janssen brand – to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One, Harnden said:
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine of course is the same platform vaccine as the AstraZeneca ... so I think this news is important and I think clearly they are experiencing [blood clot] cases in the United States and have paused that vaccine programme. We need to look at this data very carefully. As you know we are not using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in this country at the moment because we have a portfolio of vaccines which are alternative to that but of course we need to carrying on looking in detail at the emerging data from the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
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Foreign travel still 'a significant risk', Sturgeon warns
A little bit more from Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid briefing earlier. See 12.38pm for a summary.
She said:
I know this is difficult but it is important for me to stress it – international travel does remain a significant risk, particularly given the acceleration of spread that we’re seeing in many other parts of the world, and given the possibility and indeed the reality of new variants – and the risk of the virus and new variants of the virus being imported into Scotland.It may well be the case that we do have to endure restrictions on international travel for a bit longer as the price we pay for much greater normality here in Scotland.
Last week, in contrast, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said people in England could “start to think” about booking summer holidays.
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Covid testing firm offers discounted PCR tests for holidaymakers
The Covid testing firm Randox has announced it will reduce the price of PCR tests to £60 for travellers returning to the UK from abroad. This is about half the typical cost.
The discounted tests will be available for people flying with partner airlines, which have not been announced, PA Media reports.
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The Department for Education has not yet met its pledge to provide 1.3m laptops and tablets to disadvantaged pupils, figures suggest.
PA Media reports:
New data from the DfE shows that a total of 1,295,752 laptops and tablets have been delivered or dispatched to support children to access remote education since the start of the pandemic. Overall, 733,331 devices have been sent to councils, academy trusts, schools and colleges across England since the most recent lockdown began on 4 January. The government pledged to provide 1.3m digital devices to help disadvantaged children access remote education during the pandemic.
Updated
Hancock has also confirmed the rollout of the Moderna vaccine in England today, after a “successful” start in Wales.
He told the Commons he was “delighted to be able to tell the house that across the UK we have met our target to offer a vaccine to everyone in the top nine priority groups ahead of the deadline on 15 April”.
We have now delivered a first dose to over 32 million people and are on track to deliver a vaccine to all adults by the end of July. This weekend we also saw a record number of second doses so overall. As of midnight last night, we have now delivered more than 40m doses of vaccine across the UK. It’s a remarkable achievement.
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The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said the Department of Health is working “incredibly hard” to tackle the treatment backlog in the NHS caused by the pandemic.
He was answering a question from shadow health minister Justin Madders, who was pressing him on the rise in treatments being delayed or cancelled over infrastructure issues.
Speaking in the Commons, Madders said:
We’re not going to see those record waiting lists drop if operations are cancelled because basic repairs are not done, so can (Hancock) tell us by what date will we see no more delays to treatment because of crumbling buildings?
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The health minister Jo Churchill MP (Con) has told the House of Commons that £50m is being spent on researching long Covid.
She says the government is continuing to work with the NHS and the wider scientific community to better understand the long-lasting effects of Covid-19 infection, as well as potential treatments, the BBC reports.
Earlier this month, 32 MPs and 33 peers signed a letter urging Boris Johnson to give greater priority to the potential harm posed by long Covid following the ONS finding that an estimated 1.1 million people are suffering its effects.
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Scotland's socialising rules relaxed earlier to help mental health
Nicola Sturgeon has brought forward relaxations to travel and outdoors meetings, saying Covid is “in retreat” in Scotland.
Announcing the changes which she said had been made with boosting mental health and wellbeing in mind, she said that from this Friday:
- People will be all able to travel anywhere within Scotland for the purposes of outdoor socialising and exercise.
- Up to six adults from up to six households can meet outdoors.
- Island communities will align with the rest of the country so that travel to and from the islands can operate more normally.
She confirmed that, in a fortnight’s time from 26 April, there will be a significant relaxation, with shops fully reopening, pubs, cafes and restaurants opening fully outdoors with limited hospitality opening indoors, which she pointed out would be three weeks before England.
As of 26 April, travel restrictions to and from England and Wales will also be lifted – although Sturgeon added that it may be possible in future to re-introduce temporary travel restrictions.
Sturgeon also said people should be able to meet indoors again from the middle of May, albeit in limited numbers, and that she hoped to see a return to even greater normality, including hugging family and friends, by the summer.
Asked whether she had the Holyrood elections in mind as she made the announcements, she said: “It’s not a consideration at all.”
Updated
Covid figures at lowest since September, says Sturgeon
“Significant progress” has been made in reducing the number of Covid cases in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said.
The first minister said figures are now at their lowest since September, and have fallen by 40% in the past two weeks.
But she warned:
We’ve got to be careful not to do too much all at once, because we don’t want the virus quickly gaining ground again, particularly because this new variant is we know more infectious and setting us all back.
Updated
During the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, Sturgeon has said that travel beyond a person’s council area in Scotland will be allowed for day trips.
Updated
University campuses in England will not reopen until mid-May, ministers are expected to confirm, depriving up to a million students of more face-to-face tuition after a year of disruption due to the pandemic.
The further delay will come as a major blow for students who say they have already missed out on their education, as well as much of the university experience that goes with it, while continuing to pay tuition and accommodation costs.
My colleagues Sally Weale and Rachel Hall have the full story:
Nicola Sturgeon has begun her Covid update conference. We will bring you the key lines.
📺 Watch live: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gives an update on #coronavirus (#COVIDー19) restrictions.
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) April 13, 2021
Joining the First Minister is Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith. https://t.co/gRLUBmLc78
Updated
More of Johnson’s comments from Downing Street have come through. The prime minister said:
It’s great that we have managed to achieve the target of getting everyone in the one to nine (priority) groups vaccinated by the deadline, by the timetable - a little bit ahead actually, 32 million people now have got their first dose, which is terrific. We are going now to the 45-49 group, they are being asked to come forward.
“Of course the vaccination programme has helped, but the bulk of the work in reducing the disease has been done by the lockdown,” he added.
Easing lockdown will ‘inevitably’ mean more deaths, says PM
This just in from PA Media. Boris Johnson has warned of the consequences of lifting lockdown, telling reporters:
As we unlock, the result will inevitably be that we will see more infection, sadly we will see more hospitalisation and deaths, and people have just got to understand that.
Updated
This is from Kate Ferguson, the Sun’s deputy political editor:
Boris Johnson warns Brits not to tear the pants out of it now lockdown is easing. Says "it's very important to understand the reduction in deaths...has not been achieved by the vaccination programme. It's the lockdown that has been overwhelmingly important"
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) April 13, 2021
Whilst it is true to say that all high-risk groups have technically been offered a vaccine, there are concerns not everyone has been offered a jab they can actually access.
Last month, the Guardian reported that a number of high-risk people had still not had their first vaccine.
Housebound people were meant to be visited by a mobile vaccination team, similar to the service offered to care home residents.
However, the Guardian understands that months on, a number of older and disabled people who are too unwell to leave their homes are still waiting, with some told to travel miles to a vaccine centre instead.
Updated
PA Media reports:
Lambeth council said eight additional testing sites had opened across the borough from Monday and facilities were also available in Wandsworth.
It added that for those who did test positive a “comprehensive” self-isolation support service was available which included payments of up to £500 for residents on low incomes.
Updated
This is some Ipsos Mori polling on expectations about when life will return to pre-Covid normal. More than half (52%) of Britons say their emotional and mental health has worsened since the pandemic began, with 35% saying it has worsened since the year started. You can read the full findings here.
Britons think #COVID19 will be contained within 7-12 months https://t.co/mw5C8gGSRf pic.twitter.com/rnI78ehgtN
— Ipsos MORI (@IpsosMORI) April 13, 2021
Updated
A 28-year-old solicitor has become one of the first people in England to receive the Moderna vaccine as part of the mass vaccination programme, PA Media reports.
Emily Sanderson received the jab the Sheffield Arena vaccination centre.
Sanderson, who has an underlying health condition, was due to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine but it was changed to Moderna, the NHS said.
More than 4.5 million people missed out on hospital treatment in England last year due to the disruption to the NHS caused by Covid, with growing numbers turning to crowdfunding to pay for cancer drugs and operations.
The number of patients having planned surgery such as a joint replacement plummeted from 16.62 million in 2019 to just under 12 million last year – a drop of 4.64 million people – an analysis of NHS hospital activity by the Health Foundation reveals.
Read the full story by Denis Campbell and Sarah Marsh here first:
This is from Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter:
#COVID19 rates in #Devon down to just 7.2 per 100,000, lows not seen since late last summer. And finally, for the first time in the pandemic, local public health staff are doing all the follow up contact tracing calls using a local number & reaching 90%.
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) April 13, 2021
Boris Johnson’s government has been accused of corruption, privatising the NHS by stealth, operating a “chumocracy” and mishandling the pandemic and climate crisis, by Sir David King, a former government chief scientist.
“I am extremely worried about the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, about the processes by which public money has been distributed to private sector companies without due process,” he told the Guardian in an interview. “It really smells of corruption.”
My colleague Fiona Harvey has the exclusive story here:
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is due to give a coronavirus update at midday. We will give you the latest as it comes in.
I’ll give a #Covid update at 12 noon. I’ll report on progress & confirm we’re firmly on track for substantial re-opening of economy on 26 April. We’ve also been considering whether any earlier changes to support mental health & wellbeing are possible & I’ll update on that too.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 13, 2021
This is from City Hall’s official account:
We are providing daily updates on #COVID19 in London.
— London Gov (london.gov.uk/coronavirus) (@LDN_gov) April 13, 2021
On 12 April the daily number of new people who tested positive for COVID-19 in London was reported as 422. The latest reported number of patients in London hospitals was 561.
Full update here: https://t.co/d3A29xu27a
UK Covid deaths exceed 150,000- ONS data
A total of 151,313 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.
The highest number of deaths to occur on a single day was 1,472 on 19 January, while,
during the first wave, the daily death toll peaked at 1,461 deaths on 8 April 2020.
A total of 400 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 2 April 2 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the ONS - the lowest number since the week ending 2 October (see earlier post).
The figure is down 44% on the previous week’s total, although the ONS said the number of deaths registered was affected by the Good Friday bank holiday.
Around one in 20 (4.9%) of all deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 2 April mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, PA Media reports.
Third Covid wave could still happen despite vaccine rollout, expert warns
Prof Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation, has warned that, even with the vaccination programme in place, there could be a “big third wave” of Covid.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I feel mighty relieved that we are now in a position where a very high proportion of the vulnerable population have been vaccinated so, if control of the virus is lost, then the damage it can do will be relatively restricted. But when I say relatively restricted, what I mean is that a big third wave could still end up with 30,000 to 50,000 deaths, potentially, if it was a similar sort of size to the previous waves that we’ve had. So although the vaccines are important, there are the components to controlling this virus that are important and that is the social distancing measures that we have.
The ONS stats are out. The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales was 8,201 in the week ending 2 April. This was 1,844 fewer than the previous week. You can read the full release here.
The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales was 8,201 in the week ending 2 April 2021 (Week 13).
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) April 13, 2021
This was
▪️ 1,844 fewer than Week 12
▪️ 1,929 fewer than the five-year average for Week 13
➡️ https://t.co/FMFSb4R4ba
Britain’s economy returned to growth in February despite continuing government Covid restrictions as businesses adapted to lockdown and exports to the EU started to recover after a record plunge in the first month since Brexit.
The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product rose by 0.4% in February from a month earlier as the economy showed some signs of improvement after a revised drop of 2.2% in January, Richard Partington, the Guardian’s economics correspondent writes.
Read the full story here:
Beer gardens were among the venues that reopened across England on Monday for the first time in almost four months.
Asked about the use of beer gardens on BBC Breakfast, Prof Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol and a member of the JCVI, said people should view the easing of Covid restrictions “in relative terms”.
If I did (go to a beer garden) I would certainly avoid contact with other people. I think the risks of transmissions outside are relatively low but not if you start coming into close contact with people ... if you cough or sing or really basically confront someone in the face. If you happen to have the virus, and the virus is still circulating, then infections will occur. People need to see this in relative terms. It’s not like it’s over and we can all go back to normal, because otherwise there will be risks.
Updated
Good morning everyone. I will be running the blog today so feel free to drop me a private message on Twitter with any story tips.
England is preparing to offer its first doses of the Moderna jab from Tuesday, the third Covid vaccine introduced as part of the national vaccine rollout.
Vaccination will be available at 21 sites, including the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Sheffield Arena, as the Vaccines Taskforce confirms it has secured 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine for the UK.
Developed with similar technology to the Pfizer jab, it offers an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under 30s, following concerns about a possible link to very rare blood clots.
Wales and Scotland began using the Moderna vaccine last week, and it is due to be delivered to people in Northern Ireland over the coming weeks.
Commenting on the news, Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told BBC Breakfast:
I hope this is another step along the way and that we’ll actually see more vaccines come through over the coming months and we’ll have a really strong and secure supply. The programme hasn’t been able to move forward quite as fast as it would have if there had been more vaccine supply this month. Having this additional supply of Moderna is clearly going to speed that up and enable us to get started on phase two and people in their 40s.
All over-50s and high-risk groups in the UK have been offered a coronavirus vaccine before the mid-April deadline set by the government, allowing the second phase of the rollout to younger cohorts to begin.
The chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has revealed that 19 out of 20 of those most at risk have now been vaccinated, which he calls an “incredible” achievement.
The NHS website for booking vaccination appointments crashed this morning after those aged over 45 were allowed to receive a jab.
However, in a potentially worrying development, a “significant” cluster of the South African Covid variant has been found in two areas of south London where surge testing has been implemented.
Wandsworth and Lambeth will see additional testing after 44 confirmed and 30 probable cases were identified.
Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser for NHS Test and Trace, said the number of cases was “significant”, as she stressed it was “really important people in the local area play their part in stopping any further spread within the local community”. We will keep you updated with the latest throughout the day.
Here is the agenda for today:
09.30am: ONS to release Covid death statistics up to 2 April for England and Wales
10:00am: DCMS looks at the survival of sport at grassroots level and in communities
11.30am: Health and social care questions in the Commons
15.00pm: Dr David Nabarro, World Health Organisation special envoy on Covid-19, will be in an online discussion with Prof David Heymann
For coronavirus news from around the world, do read our global live blog:
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