Summary
- UK government death toll surpasses 100,000 after 1,631 new fatalities reportedThe UK reported 20,089 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, compared to Monday’s 22,195. A further 1,631 deaths were reported, up from Monday’s 592. The government’s overall death toll now stands at 100,162.
- Boris Johnson has insisted his government “did everything we could” to limit coronavirus deaths and expressed sorrow after the total UK death toll exceeded 100,000 on nearly every metric, but refused to discuss the reasons why it might be so high.
- Downing Street sought to play down any potential row over the EU’s threat to potentially restrict vaccine exports to the UK, saying ministers do not foresee likely disruption to UK vaccine supplies. Health minister Matt Hancock said protectionism was not the right approach after an EU proposal to restrict the exports of shots.
- Teachers, police and people with learning disabilities will need to be considered for the next round of Covid-19 vaccinations, said NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens.
- The government’s proposed mandatory hotel quarantine measures for travellers arriving from high-risk countries could wipe out nearly £548m a day from the UK economy in lost travel, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
- The Scottish government continues to come under fire for its slow pace of vaccine rollout, as UK government sources confirm that Scotland has been supplied with nearly one million doses, yet under half a million Scots have so far received their first dose.
- Home secretary Priti Patel claimed in the Commons that the UK Border Force is now conducting “100% compliance checks” on whether people arriving in the country are following quarantine orders.
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The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, rebuffed calls from MPs for more details on future coronavirus support packages, but said further economic help was coming
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The NHS England boss, Sir Simon Stevens, told the the health and social care committee that the government’s pledge to “level up” across the country should include efforts to eliminate health inequalities.
- There are now more than 6 million people in the UK who have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as efforts to speed up the inoculations process continue to intensify. But as more of those in the highest risk age groups get their jabs, there are growing concerns in government about the rates of vaccine hesitancy in some black and minority ethnic communities.
- The number of children of key workers attending school in England last week has declined slightly, according to official government statistics, after head teachers expressed safety concerns about high numbers of pupils attending during the current lockdown.
- More than 23,000 UK workers at supermarket Lidl are to get a £200 bonus in recognition of their hard work during the pandemic.
- Health officials are concerned the West Midlands could soon overtake London to become the region with the highest Covid-19 case rate in the country. National infection rates have fallen by 24% in the past seven days, while the West Midlands has recorded a much slower decline of just 8%.
- The German government has challenged reports of a lower-than-expected efficacy rate of the AstraZeneca vaccine for older people, while reiterating concerns about the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant’s data reporting.
- The UK’s unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly five years in the three months to November.The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate rose to 5% in the three months to the end of November – representing more than 1.7 million people – from 4.9% in the three months to the end of October, reaching the highest level since April 2016. Unemployment was 4% in February before the pandemic struck.
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the second week of January had highest Covid deaths in England and Wales since April.
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Updated
Prof Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist whose modelling prompted the UK government to impose the first lockdown last March has told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme he believes more action in the autumn of last year could have saved lives.
He said:
The new variant was unpredictable and did change our understanding of how much was needed to control spread, but we did just let the autumn wave get too far.”
Asked if there was one thing that could have made a difference, he added:
In some sense back in March we had much less information to go on than in September.
Had we acted both earlier and with greater stringency back in September when we first saw case numbers going up, and had a policy of keeping case numbers at reasonably low levels, then I think a lot of the deaths we’ve seen - not all by any means, but a lot of the deaths we’ve seen in the last four or five months - could have been avoided.
Updated
Boris Johnson says he is 'deeply sorry' for every life lost
Here is our story from the briefing
Boris Johnson has insisted his government “did everything we could” to limit coronavirus deaths and expressed sorrow after the total UK death toll exceeded 100,000 on nearly every metric, but refused to discuss the reasons why it might be so high.
Hosting a Downing Street press conference after the Office for National Statistics said the UK had passed 100,000 Covid deaths on 7 January, Johnson took a sombre approach, saying it was “hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic”.
The prime minister said:
The years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and, for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye – I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one.
But asked several times by journalists why the UK’s death toll was so high, and what he and the government could have done differently, Johnson declined to tackle the question.
When asked what had gone wrong with the UK response, he said:
I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost, and of course as I was prime minister I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done.
What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can, to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering in what has been a very, very difficult stage, and a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that.
Pressed on whether he had reflected on what he could have done differently, Johnson gave a similar answer:
We did everything that we could be minimise suffering and minimise loss of life in this country as a result of the pandemic, and I’m deeply sorry for every life lost.
Updated
Charlie Cooper of Politico asks for concrete examples of lessons learned and asks if the PM would urge the EU against the vaccine controls.
Let’s be in no doubt that the UK is is in a radically different position now, from where we were, says Johnson.
Johnson says we now have effective supply chains for PPE, the ability to create lateral flow tests and a vast test and trace industry. The UK is leading the way on genome testing, with 47% of all the genomic analysis in the world is now done in the UK.
We now have viable treatments and are at the forefront of the manufacture of vaccines. He adds:
None of that is, of course, any consolation for the terrible, terrible of life that we’re forced to announce today , but I can tell you that things are really very different now, in the UK.
As a result of the pandemic and and our readiness for any future pandemic is really colossal.
On point about vaccines and the EU, he repeats his earlier point that the creation of these vaccines has been a wonderful example of a multinational cooperation.
I don’t want to see restrictions on the supply of PPE across borders, I didn’t want to see restrictions on the supply of drugs across borders and I don’t want to see restrictions on vaccines or their ingredients across borders. And I think that’s pretty common sensical and it would be widely supported across the EU, as well.
Prof Whitty says we have learnt a “huge amount” scientifically. He says initially they were quite cautious about whether masks were useful but we decided that they were based on increasing levels of evidence.
Scientists didn’t initially didn’t realise the importance of asymptomatic transmission.
There have also been clinical learnings, he says adding that the death rates have gone down as doctors are learning. He adds:
I think we need to realise we’re going to have to continue to learn from this pandemic.
Harry Cole from the Sun asks if the return of schools will be phased by age and region. He asks about “sabre-rattling” in Europe, which today said it was looking at the possibility of blocking exports of the vaccine to third countries like the UK.
Johnson replies that getting school kids back in school continues to be the government’s top priority.
Regarding vaccine supply, he says he has “total confidence in our supplies”.
He says the government “expects and hopes that our EU friends will honour all contracts”, and that the creation of the vaccine has been a multinational effort and the delivery of the vaccine will be multinational as well because the virus knows no borders.
Updated
Pippa Crerar from the Mirror asks if the PM has spoken to families bereaved by coronavirus and if not, why not.
She asks why NHS staff in Scotland have been given a £500 bonus and workers in England haven’t.
Johnson replies that “of course” he has talked to families of the bereaved and will continue to do so.
He says the government is doing its utmost to support the NHS staff and was investing record sums.
Simon Stevens says what those in the NHS want is some respite from what has been “an incredibly demanding and continuous year of pressure”.
He said they also wanted to know “reinforcements were on the way” and staffing pressures would lessen.
Updated
Sam Coates from Sky asks if the PM has not reflected on whether some of the 100,000 deaths could have been prevented if he had made different decisions and followed scientists recommendations more closely.
He asks Prof Whitty if he wishes he had done more to encourage a “circuit-breaker” lockdown suggested by Sage in September, rather than waiting till the end of October. He asks Stevens if he thinks there was too much household mixing in December.
The PM says:
We did everything that we could to minimise suffering and minimise loss of life in this country as a result of the pandemic. And I’m deeply sorry for every, every, every life lost.
He said the government will continue to do everything to minimise life lost.
I continue to urge people to follow that guidance and stay at home and protect the NHS and save lives.
Whitty says the data shows the current situation is different to what we had in September and the new variant has changed the situation very substantially.
The question about when to actually do particular measures has always been a matter of trying to balance. I’ve said this repeatedly throughout this tragic pandemic, balance the things which actually reduce the risk of transmission with all the other things we’re trying to do in terms of society.
Stevens says he defers to Prof Whitty regarding the underlying causes of spread. but he adds:
The facts as we see it in the health service are that on Christmas Day we had 18,000 coronavirus positive patients and now we’ve got just under 33,000.
He says infection rates have rippled up from the south-east and London to the east of England, and then up to the Midlands, which is “consistent with the spread of the new variant of the virus”.
Updated
Regarding the vaccine, Whitty says everybody understands the limitation is the number of vaccines available: if you give a vaccine twice to someone, you can only give it to half the number of people over a period of time.
He says the reason for delaying the second dose is to double the number of people who can actually have a vaccine and get some protection. The second point on this is the great majority of the protection comes from the first vaccine.
He said:
We’ve talked very carefully about the ... balance of risk in terms of reducing the number of deaths in the community.
I really want to stress that ... the aim of this is to maximise the number of people who get that first dose, where the great majority of the protection comes from.
Updated
Paul Brand of ITV says the PM previously said 20,000 deaths would be a good outcome. How would he describe the outcome of 100,000 deaths that he has presided over? He asks Prof Whitty what he would say to care homes who are expressing concerns about the gap between the first dose of the vaccine and the second dose.
Johnson replies that it is an appalling and tragic loss of life and all we can do now is work together with the tools that we have – of the stay at home principle, plus the vaccines – to beat the virus.
Updated
The BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, says the government was hoping to contain the number of deaths to 20,000, and it is now five times. She asks what went so wrong. She asks Whitty and Stevens if they can give any idea of the range of the possible totals that they are looking at now.
Johnson replies:
I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as a prime minister I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done.
What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could and continue to do everything that we can to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering during what has been a very difficult stage of a very, very difficult crisis for our country.
We will continue to do that. Just as every government that is affected by this crisis around the world is continuing to do the same.
Updated
Mark asks what education strategy will the government publish to ensure no child is left behind.
Johnson says the government will look very, very carefully at the data of where it’s got to with a vaccination program before they make announcements about the timetables.
He says the government really wanted to keep schools open, and wants to reopen them but it must be done with caution.
He says parents are making “huge efforts”, that school is the best place for pupils and he knows the educational damage that we risk through protracted lockdowns. The government was continuing to put in place all sorts of measures to help teachers, such as 1.3m laptops and investments in catch-up.
He says:
What we will do Mark is work around the clock.
Updated
Now to questions from the public, Martin asks what the government’s long term plans to allow a return to travel and government working cooperatively with other nations.
Johnson says it will be done as soon as possible but it will depend on getting the infection rate down.
Simon Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of the NHS starts by thanking NHS staff.
He says this Sunday marks a year since the first two patients with coronavirus were treated in hospital in Newcastle, and a year since the first flight returned from Wuhan.
In that year over a quarter of a million severely ill coronavirus patients have been looked after in hospital.
He said NHS staff have been looking after those patients, but they have also experienced it as daughters and sons and as parents. He adds:
And so, this is not a year that anybody’s going to want to remember. But nor is it a year that across the health service any of us will ever forget.
The PM hands over to Prof Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England. He says the number of people testing positive for Covid has peaked at a very high number, but it is coming down.
I want to just put one caution on that, which is the Office of National Statistics data demonstrates a rather slower decrease. And I think we need to be careful that we do not relax too early.
The number of people in hospital with Covid is still an incredibly high number, over 35,000 people, he says. It has flattened off but it is substantially above the peak in April. It looks as if it is coming down very slightly in some areas, including London and the south-east, and the east of England, but there are some areas of the country where it is still not convincingly reducing. NHS staff are working incredibly hard with many very sick, Covid patients, he says.
Whitty says that the number of deaths looks as if it has flattened out, but at a very high level.
The most recent seven day average deaths is 1242 deaths. The number of people dying will come down relatively slowly over the next two weeks, he says.
Updated
Prime minister promises to 'learn the lessons and reflect and repair'
Johnson says we will remember the courage of working people, not only NHS staff but those in shops, transport workers, police and the armed forces. Johnson says when the pandemic is over “we will make sure we learn the lessons and reflect and prepare.
He adds:
We will commemorate the small acts of kindness the spirit of volunteering and the daily sacrifice of millions who placed their lives on hold, time and again, as we fought each new wave of the virus, buying time for our brilliant scientists to come to our aid. In that moment of commemoration, we will celebrate the genius and perseverance of those who discovered the vaccines and the immense national effort, never seen before in our history, which is now underway to distribute them, one that has seen us immunise over 6.8 million people across the United Kingdom.
And when those vaccines have finally freed us from this virus and put us on a path to recovery, we will make sure we learn the lessons and reflect and prepare.
Updated
Boris Johnson says 'it is hard to compute the sorrow' as UK's official death toll goes past 100,000
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, has started the Downing Street coronavirus briefing, and opens by offering his condolences to all those who are grieving.
I’m sorry to have to tell you that today, the number of deaths recorded from Covid in the UK has surpassed 100,000.
And it’s hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic, the years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended, and for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye.
I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who have been taken.
And to all those who grieve we make this pledge: that when we’ve come through this crisis, we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honor the selfless heroism of all those on the frontline who gave their lives to save others.
Updated
Reacting to the news that more than 100,000 people in the UK have died from coronavirus, Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, said:
This is a national tragedy and a terrible reminder of all that we have lost as a country.
We must never become numb to these numbers or treat them as just statistics. Every death is a loved one, a friend, a neighbour, a partner or a colleague. It is an empty chair at the dinner table.
To all those that are mourning, we must promise to learn the lessons of what went wrong and build a more resilient country. That day will come and we will get there together.
But for now we must remember those that we have lost and be vigilant in the national effort to stay at home, protect our NHS and vaccinate Britain.
Updated
The UK has passed 100,000 deaths due to Covid-19, according to the government’s latest daily figures. There were a further 1,631 deaths reported on 26 January, taking the overall death toll to 100,162.
The government’s figures count deaths which occurred within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19. This metric is the most up-to-date estimate of Covid deaths, but is considered less reliable than the Office for National Statistics’ tally, which counts mentions of Covid-19 on death certificates.
Earlier today, the ONS published new figures showing the UK had passed 100,000 deaths due to Covid-19 on 7 January.
This was earlier than previously known due to deaths figures being revised upwards since last week.
The total death toll from the UK’s statistical agencies, which includes deaths that occurred up to 15 January, is now 107,907.
Updated
This from ITV’s Robert Peston, quoting the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance:
“20,000 is a good outcome” said @uksciencechief in March. Today, in the conservative measure used by the government (deaths within 28 days of a #Covid_19 test) total coronavirus deaths are 100,162 - with 1631 reported today pic.twitter.com/rjRjSI0iof
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 26, 2021
UK government death toll surpasses 100,000 after 1,631 new fatalities reported
The UK reported 20,089 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, compared to Monday’s 22,195.
A further 1,631 deaths were reported, up from Monday’s 592. The government’s overall death toll now stands at 100,162.
Updated
Teachers, police and people with learning disabilities will need to be considered for the next round of Covid-19 vaccinations, Sir Simon Stevens said on Tuesday.
The NHS England chief executive said:
Our current proposition that once we have offered a vaccination to everyone aged 70 and above, and the clinically extremely vulnerable, then the next group of people would be people in their 60s and 50s, but there will also be a legitimate discussion in my view that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will have to advise on as to whether or not there are certain other groups who should receive that priority.
People with learning disabilities and autism, certain key public service workers, teachers, the police, they will have to be factored in that post-February 15 prioritisation decision.
He added that reducing the number of hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients was not “the only consideration” policymakers would take into account when deciding the vaccination priority list.
Fundamentally, the most important thing is to get the overall infection rate down, this is not principally about pressure on the NHS, this is principally about reducing the avoidable death rate.
Updated
This from the shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds.
Today the Chancellor told me not to believe everything I read in the papers following reports he’s battling Cabinet colleagues over his plan to cut Universal Credit in a pandemic.
— Anneliese Dodds 💙 (@AnnelieseDodds) January 26, 2021
The papers quote the words of the Work and Pensions Secretary.
He should just #CancelTheCut pic.twitter.com/7HwUdEt01Q
Updated
The government’s proposed mandatory hotel quarantine measures for travellers arriving from high-risk countries could wipe out nearly £548m a day from the UK economy in lost travel, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
The WTTC chief executive, Gloria Guevara, said: “The government has a duty to share its economic impact assessment so we fully understand the effect these measures will have on the sector and the wider economy.
“If the UK is to have any hope of reviving the economy after the pandemic, we have to protect a sector which will be instrumental in kick-starting it.”
Boris Johnson is expected to make an announcement regarding the policy at a press conference at 5pm this afternoon. He will be joined by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Sir Simon Stevens.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News: “There will be an announcement on this issue later on today, so I can only say to you that it is the right thing to do, because I am the Vaccines Minister, that as we vaccinate more of the adult population, if there are new variants like the South African or the Brazilian variants, we need to be very careful.
“We acted on those very quickly and of course dealt with travel from those countries, and from Portugal and elsewhere, rapidly so it is important we continue to review our border policy and an announcement will be made when a decision has been taken.”
Updated
A group of 31 police officers are each facing £200 fines for breaching coronavirus regulations after getting their hair cut by a barber in Bethnal Green, London while on duty, Scotland Yard said on Tuesday.
The two officers who organised the trims, at Bethnal Green police station on Saturday 17 January, will also be investigated for misconduct.
Local policing commander DCS Marcus Barnett said:
It is deeply disappointing and frustrating that my officers have fallen short of the expectation to uphold Covid-19 regulations.
Although officers donated money to charity as part of the haircut, this does not excuse them from what was a very poor decision. I expect a lot more of them.
It is right, therefore, officers should each face a £200 fine, as well as misconduct action for those two who organised this event.
Updated
Robert Halfon, the influential Tory MP who chairs the Commons education committee, is pressing for teachers and support staff to be a priority for vaccinations.
He’s tweeted a letter written by him and others to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government on vaccinations
Alongside Miriam Cates MP and many other colleagues, I have written to the JCVI calling for teachers and support staff to be a priority for vaccinations.
— Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP) January 26, 2021
By doing so, we can get our young people learning again and help put an end to the revolving door of school closures. pic.twitter.com/l4cfk7jnqP
Updated
The EU “means business”, Ursula von der Leyen has said, as the bloc doubled down on plans for tighter monitoring of vaccine exports to countries outside of the union, such as the UK.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, the president of the European commission said the EU had invested billions and “companies must now deliver” to the 27 member states.
The EU’s executive branch will bring forward details of a new transparency register by the end of the week to oblige pharmaceutical companies to notify the commission of all vaccine exports.
Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Peter Walker in London have more here.
Updated
The Scottish government continues to come under fire for its slow pace of vaccine rollout, as UK government sources confirm that Scotland has been supplied with nearly one million doses, yet under half a million Scots have so far received their first dose.
UK government sources said that 984,000 doses were under the Scottish government’s control as of today, but making a weekly Covid statement to the Holyrood parliament, deputy first minister John Swinney said that 437,900 people had received their first dose, as of 8.30am this morning.
As the Guardian reported yesterday, the Scottish government came under fire as the latest data showed Scotland’s per capita rate of vaccinations of over-18s stood at 9.4% on Monday, lower than the UK average rate for over-18s of 12.4%, with England close to reaching a first-dose vaccination rate of 13%.
Describing the SNP government’s roll-out as “slow and sluggish”, Jamie Greene for the Scottish Conservatives said: “People do not understand why this government has half a million doses sitting unused.”
Swinney insisted: “There are not 500,000 doses in our hands able to be used at this present moment. There are more vaccinations that have been allocated to Scotland than are in our hands, and they will be drawn down as soon as distributors are able to verify those supplies and distribute them on to us in Scotland.”
The UK government says that many of the doses are held at a distribution centre in England until NHS Scotland requests delivery but that if they order before 11.45am, the batch arrives overnight for use the following day.
Swinney also said that the target of vaccinating all over-80s by the end of the first week of February would be met, and that letters inviting over-70s for their jags were arriving this week.
Swinney also confirmed that the Scottishgovernment “will initially go at least as far as any UK government announcement” in enhancing quarantine arrangements, including the use of hotels, though he said that he believed that the UK decision has been deferred to this evening.
He added: “If these UK restrictions are at a minimal level, we will look at other controls we can announce – including additional supervised quarantine measures – that can further protect us from importation of the virus.”
Updated
As the UK neared 6.5m vaccinations on Tuesday, there were pictures from around England of people queuing to get their jab.
Ian Robertson, 80, and Margaret Robertson, 82, got theirs at Stithians showground in Truro.
The cavernous Brighton Centre is one of more than 30 new vaccination centres in England. People are socially distancing as they await their turn.
In Sunderland, Charlene Macdonald is being briefed about the AstraZeneca vaccine before she is inoculated.
In Scotland, the P and J Live Arena in Aberdeen was being set up on Monday, with a huge waiting area ready to receive people queuing for the vaccine:
And this was the scene in Cardiff last week, as people waited to get their jab:
Updated
Hancock: protectionism not the answer to vaccine supply issues
The UK will be able to work with the EU to ensure there is no disruption to vaccine supplies, health minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday, saying protectionism was not the right approach after an EU proposal to restrict the exports of shots.
“I’m sure that we can work with the EU to ensure that, whilst transparency is welcome, that no blockers are put in place,” he said at an event hosted by Chatham House, adding he had spoken to the chief executives of the vaccine makers Pfizer and AstraZeneca, Reuters reports.
“I’m confident of the supply of vaccine into the UK. I’m confident that won’t be disrupted. But I would urge all international partners in fact to be collaborative and working closely together, and I think protectionism is not the right approach in the middle of a pandemic.”
We must reject protectionism, narrow nationalism & disinformation that can divide us & hinder our response to this common threat
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) January 26, 2021
Great to talk to @ChathamHouse about the future of global health pic.twitter.com/Xp5MxsYgpT
Updated
My colleagues Nicola Davis and Philip Oltermann have written up an explainer on why people shouldn’t worry about controversial claims by a German newspaper that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might not be as effective in elderly patients as previously thought.
Updated
A total of 6,405,554 Covid-19 vaccinations been administered in England between 8 December and 25 January, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 236,177 on the previous day’s figures.
Of this number, 5,962,544 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 234,851 on the previous day’s figures, while 443,010 were the second dose, an increase of 1,326.
Public Health Scotland has said 437,900 people in the country had received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by Tuesday, an increase of 22,498 from the previous day.
It added that 6,060 people have received the second dose, a rise of 522.
875 further deaths in England
A further 875 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 67,921, NHS England said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the daily reported death toll was 609.
Patients were aged between 33 and 101. All except 21, aged between 52 and 93, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between 17 December and 25 January, with the majority being on or after 16 January.
There were 34 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Updated
Priti Patel claimed in the Commons on Tuesday that the UK Border Force is now conducting “100% compliance checks” on whether people arriving in the country are following quarantine orders.
The former Labour minister Dame Angela Eagle asked: “Given that the Isolation Assurance Service currently does not check the vast majority of those required to isolate, how can the Home Secretary assure us that enforcement of these new rules will be adequate and that they not be more honoured in the breach than in the observance?”
Priti Patel responded: “Border Force – if I may give the right honourable lady reassurance – are now fulfilling 100% compliance checks.
“We have airport staff too that ... they are working within terms of bringing those checks in, working with airports and ports about queues and managing flows coming in,” Patel added.
Updated
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, rebuffed calls from MPs for more details on future coronavirus support packages, but said further economic help was coming.
This from PA Media:
The chancellor is facing a series of demands, including from the Conservative benches, to extend support to businesses and individuals - including the 20 weekly boost to universal credit.
Mr Sunak estimates it will cost between £20bnand £30bn to help firms with VAT and extend the business rate relief, stamp duty holiday, self-employment scheme and benefits boost.
He added it was “reasonable” to consider the suggestions “in the round at the budget”, which is scheduled for 3 March.
[...]
Labour MP Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) earlier said: “While the chancellor might pat himself on the back, reports out this week show that nearly 250,000 businesses are likely to go bust this year, taking many jobs with them. Does he recognise that he can’t pull the plug all in one go in April when many businesses won’t have even reopened at that point?”
Sunak replied: “No one, least of all me, is patting themselves on the back while hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs and many businesses are seeing extreme dislocation as a result of what is happening in our economy.
“I have put in place a series of measures but I have always said that we cannot protect or save every job or every business.
Updated
The Labour MP Kate Osborne asked in the Commons whether people who are required to self-isolate on entering the UK will be supported by the government if they cannot afford to finance their own quarantine but may be travelling due to a family emergency or bereavement.
Priti Patel repeated that she is “not going to comment on speculation”, adding that MPs will have to “be a little bit more patient and wait for formal details as and when announcements are made”.
Boris Johnson is expected to give a press conference at 5pm, according to the BBC’s Nick Eardley.
PM press conference at 5pm
— Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) January 26, 2021
The infection rate among Londoners continues to fall, the mayoral office said in an update on Tuesday morning.
On 25 January, the daily number of new people tested positive for the virus in the capital was 3,836.
In the most recent week of complete data, 14 January 2021 - 20 January, 50,067 people tested positive in London, a rate of 559 cases per 100,000 population.
This compares with 69,071 cases and a rate of 771 cases per 100,000 for the previous week.
For England as a whole there were 421 cases per 100,000 population for the week ending 20 January 2021.
“On 24 January 2021 there were 7,030 Covid-19 patients in London hospitals. This compares with 7,707 patients on 17 January 2021,” the update said.
“On 24 January 2021 there were 1,220 Covid-19 patients in mechanical ventilation beds in London hospitals. This compares with 1,203 patients on 17 January 2021.”
A further 123 people people were on Monday reported to have died in London hospitals following a positive test for Covid-19, taking the capital’s overall death toll from the virus to 11,921.
Updated
More from PA Media on the debate on tougher border controls in the Commons today:
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, who chairs the home affairs committee, raised concerns over images of busy queues at Heathrow airport last week.
She said: “Can [Priti Patel] tell me why we saw crowded scenes at Heathrow on Friday at the UK border, the very opposite of quarantine?
“Is it true that for months people had been waiting for hours in those queues in unsafe circumstances and is it true that the Border Force lifted some of the checks that she just said were being applied to 100% of passengers because those queues were unsafe?”
Patel responded: “The fact of the matter is those queues materialised because of the compliance checks that Border Force had put in place.
“I do want to emphasise, and I’d like to thank Heathrow airport because [Ms Cooper] will also be aware that colleagues in Border Force work with the airport operators in terms of social distancing measures at the airport.
“That is a joint piece of work that takes place and all airports take responsibility for their work in how they manage their own flows and Border Force in particular are there to enforce the checks and as they are doing now achieving 100% coverage.”
A Conservative MP has asked the government to publish its criteria for deciding which border control measures will be in place at any time and why.
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) told the Commons: “I can welcome these proposed measures, clearly at times of highest risk we need the strongest measures.
“But would she agree to be transparent and publish the criteria the government will use for deciding what measures will be in place at what time between quarantine, self-isolation or travel corridors being allowed?”
Priti Patel said: “There are processes around making decisions and clearly when changes come forward the government will absolutely announce those and the details of them in due course.”
Meanwhile, Conservative Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) asked: “Is it usual for prisoners to be billed for the cost of their incarceration?”
Ms Patel referred him to her earlier statement.
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No 10 plays down potential row over EU vaccine exports
Downing Street has sought to play down any potential row over the EU’s threat to potentially restrict vaccine exports to the UK, saying ministers do not foresee likely disruption to UK vaccine supplies.
“AstraZeneca are committed to delivering 2m doses a week to the UK, and we’re not expecting any changes to that,” Boris Johnson’s spokesman said.
“We are confident in our supply, and anybody who has booked an appointment or has been asked to come forward for a vaccination should do so.”
The spokesman declined to discuss what the UK might do if the EU did attempt to curb exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Belgium, saying: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals.” Pressed on this, he said: “I would point you to the EU about any questions about their policy.”
On reports overnight in Germany alleging that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could have limited effectiveness in older people, the spokesman pointed to the fact that the German government had dismissed this.
A meeting of the UK cabinet on Tuesday morning was briefed by the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who told ministers that trial results showed similar effectiveness for all age groups.
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Responding to Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds’ calls for tougher border security to curb imported Covid infections, Priti Patel said:
“There has been a comprehensive strategy across government and it actually dates back to January last year from 27 January.”
“The honourable gentleman has referred to newspaper reports and speculation. It would be wrong of me to speculate about any measures that are not in place right now as policy is being developed.”
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A “comprehensive hotel quarantine system” is needed to protect the UK from new variants of Covid-19, the shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, told the Commons on Tuesday.
The efforts of the British people and the hopes of the vaccine are being undermined by the government’s inability to secure our borders against Covid. Conservative incompetence is putting our country at risk.
Labour is calling for a comprehensive hotel quarantine system with protections to secure us against new strains.
It cannot be restricted to only a handful of countries leaving gaping holes in our defences against different strains of the virus emerging around the world and the government must announce a sector support package for aviation.
The government’s proposals that have been briefed to the press are half-baked and will be ineffective. As ever it’s too little, too late.
And from the start of the pandemic, the government’s handling of measures at the border has been chaotic. There hasn’t been a comprehensive strategy as the home secretary suggested.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, had told the Commons that the government “will not hesitate to take further action” to protect the UK from further strains of the virus.
She said:
From January 2020 the government has had a comprehensive strategy for public health measures at the border.
To date, Border Force has checked an estimated 3.7 million passenger locator forms, issued over 2,300 fixed penalty notices and referred over 22,000 cases to the police.
The UK has a world-leading vaccination programme which is something we should all be proud of.
It is therefore right that the government does everything and continues to do everything it can to protect the rollout of the vaccine from new strains of the virus and we keep all measures under review and will not hesitate to take further action to protect the public.
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The NHS England boss, Sir Simon Stevens, has said the government’s pledge to “level up” across the country should include efforts to eliminate health inequalities.
When he was asked: “Should the levelling up agenda be expanded to cover health inequalities so that people from disadvantaged groups - minority ethnic backgrounds, people from deprived communities, the clinically obese - and so on are less exposed and at risk in future pandemics?”, Stevens told the health and social care committee: “Yes.”
He said:
A combination of occupational exposures, crowded housing, prior health risk including obesity as the chair has said, broader inequality - that has all compounded to create that differential that you describe.
Race and ethnicity also is an independent explanation over and above those other variables as well.
Not just part of response to Covid, but as a catalysing need for change I think it is a very powerful reminder that levelling up [...] needs to take place.
In November, the government announced a £4bn levelling up fund for England, to pay for “local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities”.
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There are now more than 6 million people in the UK who have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as efforts to speed up the inoculations process continue to intensify. But as more of those in the highest risk age groups get their jabs, there are growing concerns in government about the rates of vaccine hesitancy in some black and minority ethnic communities.
The Guardian’s communities correspondent, Nazia Parveen, tells Rachel Humphreys that, despite evidence that those in minority groups were hit hardest by the first wave of Covid-19 last year, they are among the least likely to take up the offer of a vaccine.
Misinformation circulating on social media including false rumours that the vaccine may contain alcohol or pork have spread widely and are proving difficult to counter. But perhaps more challenging, there are structural, cultural and language barriers to overcome too.
Annabel Sowemimo, a community sexual and reproductive health doctor, describes how entrenched health inequalities are inseparable from the data surrounding vaccine hesitancy. She looks back at historical scandals across the world of drugs being trialled on black communities without proper consent and the long-term damaging effect this has had on trust.
Listen to our podcast here.
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The number of children of key workers attending school in England last week has declined slightly, according to official government statistics, after head teachers expressed safety concerns about high numbers of pupils attending during the current lockdown.
Department for Education (DfE) school attendance statistics published on Tuesday revealed a drop from 820,000 on January 13 to 813,000 on January 21, with children of key workers now representing 71% of all pupils in school.
The proportion of vulnerable children with social workers and those with education, health and care plans has inched up slightly (41% and 35% respectively) while overall attendance has remained the same as the previous week at 14%.
While most children are learning remotely from home, children of key workers and vulnerable pupils are allowed to attend school, with attendance far higher than during the first lockdown which began in March 2020. Latest figures show one in five primary-aged children (21%) were in school last week, compared with just 4% during the first national lockdown.
5% of secondary school pupils were on site last week compared with 1% in the first lockdown, and 30% of special school students, up from 8% last year.
On laptops, the DfE has now delivered 876,013 devices including an additional 74,000 over the past week, but the total is still short of the government’s 1.3m target.
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More than 23,000 UK workers at supermarket Lidl are to get a £200 bonus in recognition of their hard work during the pandemic, the PA Media reports.
The German discount chain will hand out the payment to all its shop staff and frontline employees - including customer assistants, warehouse operatives and cleaners - across more than 800 stores and 13 distribution centres.
It will also award a £100 “thank you” bonus to around another 1,800 office-based staff.
Workers will get the payments in their February pay packets, costing Lidl more than £5.5m in total.
Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of Lidl’s UK business, said: “It has been an extremely challenging period and our teams have done a phenomenal job in helping to keep the nation fed.
“I am incredibly proud of the dedication and commitment our colleagues have shown and continue to show and this payment is about recognising their unrelenting hard work and thanking each individual for the important part they’ve played in the year like no other.”
It comes after Lidl handed out a £150 bonus to all colleagues in March of last year and announced a pay rise in November.
The new wages, which will come into effect from March 2021, will increase entry-level wages from £9.30 to £9.50 an hour outside the M25 and from £10.75 to £10.85 within the M25.
Lidl posted a record 17.9% surge in total sales over the four weeks to 27 December, compared with the same period last year.
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Wales has reported a further 570 cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 189,152.
Public Health Wales reported another eight deaths, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 4,561.
The Welsh government has posted an update about the vaccine rollout in Wales a short while ago, confirming that 289,566 people have so far received a first jab, and 581 a second.
Covid-19 vaccine update:
— Welsh Government #StayHome🏠 (@WelshGovernment) January 26, 2021
289,566 people in Wales have now received the coronavirus vaccine.
You can find the latest @PublicHealthW figures here 👇https://t.co/ZrXD2dtGgR pic.twitter.com/5o130cFYBb
All residents in Manchester’s care homes have now received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Manchester city council says. This includes 56 care homes for older people across the city.
Although care home staff are also a priority group for the vaccine, the council has not released figures on how many have received it. Bev Craig, Manchester city council’s executive member for adults and health, said there had been “an encouraging take-up” from staff members.
One care home manager, Hollie Collins, said she could now sleep knowing her residents are more protected. She said: “I feel quite emotional. I’m so grateful that nursing homes and care homes have been the priority. We’ve had a massive staff and resident uptake which has made me really proud. It’s a nice relief to know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Councillors also said they were “proud of all the Mancunians who’ve stepped forward to have their jabs” in a tweet from Manchester city council. The vaccines were administered either by local GPs or gtd healthcare, a not-for-profit provider in the north-west, which has been commissioned by the NHS to roll out the vaccines in care homes.
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“We owe mums everywhere an enormous debt of thanks” for juggling childcare responsibilities alongside other duties during the pandemic, the chancellor Rishi Sunak said during questions to the Treasury committee today.
He added the government would be looking to reopen schools as quickly as possible.
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Vaccinating those aged 65 and over will make a “big impact” on hospital bed usage, NHS England’s chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, said on Tuesday.
“About a quarter of hospital admissions for Covid are for people aged under 55, and about half of inpatient bed days for coronavirus patients, relates to patients under the age of 65,” he said.
He said deaths were “highly concentrated” in the older age groups, including those aged 70 and above, the clinically extremely vulnerable, and the health and social care staff looking after them.
“Independently that has been estimated to account for 88% of deaths that have occurred so far,” he added.
“But when you look at the use of hospital resources, it’s not quite as concentrated at the apex of the pyramid or risk, shall we say.
“By the time you are vaccinating people, 65, 70, 75, you’re beginning to make a big impact on the hospital bed usage, not just the avoidable deaths.”
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Rishi Sunak is answering questions from MPs in the Commons. You can follow it live here:
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Health officials are concerned the West Midlands could soon overtake London to become the region with the highest Covid-19 case rate in the country.
National infection rates have fallen by 24% in the past seven days, while the West Midlands has recorded a much slower decline of just 8%.
Liz Gaulton, director of public health in Coventry, said: “It is worrying that our case rate remains high and we are seeing a much more gradual fall in numbers than other parts of the country.
“We are a long way from where we need to be and even if there was an end to the national lockdown in the near future, our city and region would undoubtedly still face some very tough restrictions as we would be placed in the highest tier.”
The West Midlands region currently has the second highest case rate behind London with 525.2 per 100,000 population for the week ending 20 January, slightly lower than the capital’s case rate of 558.7 per 100,000.
Sandwell in the West Midlands currently has the second-highest case rate of all UK local authorities at 868.9 per 100,000, with Wolverhampton (786.4) and Walsall (734.9) also in the top 10.
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Adding to his comments to the health and social care committee, Sir Simon Stevens said he was concerned about the impact of Covid-19 on cancer surgery.
He said:
During autumn and early winter, we saw a very good rebound in the number of urgent cancer referrals coming back into the system.
And since March around 1.3 million patients have been urgently referred for a cancer check, of whom nine out of 10 have been seen within a fortnight.
The area we are most concerned about is cancer surgery. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, I think, are continuing and for the most part in an uninterrupted fashion.
[...]There’s particular pressure on anaesthetists at the moment, many of whom are being diverted to help the critical care surge for coronavirus patients.
NHS bosses instructed hospitals in January to keep performing urgent cancer surgery despite Covid pressures, after a growing number cancelled procedures because they did not have enough intensive care beds or available staff.
England’s regional directors of cancer were told to ensure treatment of people who need cancer surgery within four weeks gets the same priority as care of patients who have Covid.
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The NHS England chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, has said the vaccine uptake among the high priority elderly is “fantastic”, but that it is “a genuine, great concern” that minority populations are targeted by misinformation campaigns about the vaccine.
Almost four in five of the over-80s have now been vaccinated, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said, adding that “very, very, very low” numbers of people in this age-group are refusing the vaccine.
Despite a fall in yesterday’s vaccination figures, the health secretary said that 250 injections were now being administered every minute, with 2.5 million first doses given last week, the Times reports.
More than 6.5 million people have now received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Nadhim Zahawi said this morning the UK’s vaccination programme was still on track, including offering all adults a first dose by the autumn and 15 million of the most vulnerable a jab by 15 February.
Stevens described the current scenario with coronavirus as a “very serious position with all sorts of knock-on consequences, not only for patients and families with coronavirus but other services as well”.
He told the health and social care committee:
Everybody is getting intensive care and ventilators who clinicians think would benefit, but let’s not disguise the fact that this is obviously stretching the system in an extreme way.
We have got about 3,700 core critical care beds across the NHS in England and as a result of the work that hospitals did to prepare over summer and autumn we’ve got surge beds and facilities of which we’ve now got about 2,170 occupied by patients who need critical care.
Said another way, more than 50% of critical care beds on top of the core capacity, and that is obviously requiring a flex in staffing levels and staff are working under incredible pressure to deliver those services.
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There has been a rise in cases of people catching Covid-19 in hospitals in Cardiff and Vale health board, Wales Online reports.
The latest data shows that in the week ending 17 January, a total of 101 people caught the virus when in hospital for other reasons.
This is the highest ever weekly figure for hospital onset for any Welsh health board since the start of the pandemic. Cardiff and Vale has consistently been below Cwm Taff, Aneurin Bevan and Swansea Bay in terms of hospital transmission.
When WalesOnline approached the health board it confirmed there had been outbreaks in both University Hospital of Wales (UHW) and Llandough in recent weeks.
A spokesman for Cardiff and Vale said that it did not appear to be down to a super-spreader but instead high levels of community transmission.
He said: “Since mid-December 2020, Cardiff and Vale University health board has experienced instances where patients have developed Covid-19 symptoms whilst early into their admission, leading to onward transmission to other patients on both the UHW and UHL sites.
“Our ongoing investigations into the causes have not identified any single cause; however, we feel that the increase is reflective of the increased community transmission observed during this same period.”
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German government challenges report claiming AstraZeneca's vaccine not effective in elderly people
The German government has challenged reports of a lower-than-expected efficacy rate of the AstraZeneca vaccine for older people, while reiterating concerns about the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant’s data reporting.
An article in German business daily Handelsblatt had reported that the German government was expecting the European Medical Agency’s (EMA) assessment to show the AstraZeneca vaccine to be only 8% effective among the over-65s, describing it a “setback for Berlin’s vaccination strategy”.
AstraZeneca instantly dismissed the reports on Monday night, saying the 8% figure was “completely incorrect”.
The German health minister, Jens Spahn, on Tuesday morning described the report as “speculation” and declined to comment while EMA’s analysis of AstraZeneca’s trial data was ongoing.
Full story here.
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This from Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner for health and food safety, last night on the EU’s discussions with AstraZeneca about the company’s unexpected cut of vaccine supply for EU member states. Talks with the drugmaker, she said, will continue on Wednesday.
Discussions with @AstraZeneca today resulted in dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity and insufficient explanations. EU Member States are united: vaccine developers have societal and contractual responsibilities they need to uphold.
— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) January 25, 2021
With our Member States, we have requested from AZ a detailed planning of vaccine deliveries and when distribution will take place to Member States. Another meeting will be convened on Wednesday to discuss the matter further.
— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) January 25, 2021
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Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he supports the proposed provision of universal payments of £500 for those told to self-isolate in an effort to improve stay-at-home compliance.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, confirmed on Friday that the idea was under review, but Downing Street last week denied there were plans to offer £500 to every person who tested positive for coronavirus in England after a leaked document suggested it was the “preferred position” of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for boosting self-isolation rates.
The scheme would cost up to £453m a week, 12 times the cost of the current system.
The head of NHS test and trace, Dido Harding, said on Monday that less than 60% of people advised to isolate because of Covid-19 do so, with financial concerns listed as one of the main motivations for their behaviour, PA Media reports.
Mr Hunt, referencing an expected government announcement on proposals to start forcing international arrivals to quarantine at hotels near airports, said: “I think the elephant in the room in this is not the 10,000 or so people who arrive in the UK every day, it is the 30,000 people in the UK already who are asked to quarantine by test and trace and are not doing so.”
Asked whether he supported introducing a universal payment scheme for those called on to stay at home, the ex-cabinet minister said: “Yes, I do. I think it is really simple.
We just need to say to people ‘this is a public health matter - if you are asked to self-isolate, we will refund any salary loss you have’, because one of the main hesitations and concerns people have about self-isolating is the loss of earnings.
We need to know that people who could potentially spread the virus are going to stay at home and not meet other people.
It is a lot cheaper than having to go into further lockdowns. We may also need to enforce more compliance, but I think you can only do that if you are making people a reasonable offer to support them financially for any losses they may have from having to stay home.
Government polling reportedly has indicated that only 17% of people with symptoms are coming forward for a test, while 15% of those who test positive continue to go to work as normal.
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Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said data would be available on the number of people from ethnic minority groups who had been vaccinated.
Zahawi told BBC Breakfast:
Yes, we are recording and we will be very soon publishing both ethnicity and also by work type, because I think it is really important that we focus on those communities that have vaccine hesitancy.
I mentioned that 85% figure of people in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey saying they will very likely or most likely take a vaccine.
The 15% does skew heavily towards BAME communities and we are working across government, we have a plan and of course a strategy to deliver this through working with local government.
We announced this week £23m for local champions working with local government to identify the communities and the community leaders who can take that vaccine confidence message to their friends, family, neighbours, community.
It is really important work - I’ve met with over 150 community leaders and faith leaders and so this is really important. We need every community protected because until we are all protected, this virus will find someone to infect and that is what we need to stop.
Advisers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) raised fresh concerns in mid January over Covid vaccine uptake among black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities as research showed up to 72% of black people said they were unlikely to have the jab.
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Despite reports suggesting it could take up to three weeks to implement a mandatory hotel quarantine for UK arrivals from high-risk countries, the head of a major hotel chain said on Tuesday that they could get ready for such a policy “within 24 to 48 hours”.
Rob Paterson, chief executive of Best Western Great Britain, told BBC Breakfast: “Through our project with the NHS supporting discharge patients, we’ve got the protocols and the whole infection control management side of things taken care of [...]
“We could turn this around within 24 to 48 hours for an open hotel, and a bit longer for an unopened hotel.”
PA Media reports:
Various options for quarantining arrivals are said to be on the table, but Whitehall sources suggested that ministers may opt for a more limited system after aviation leaders warned that introducing tougher border rules would be “catastrophic” for the industry.
In a joint statement, the Airport Operators Association and Airlines UK insisted the country already has “some of the highest levels of restrictions in the world” and that introducing tougher rules would be “catastrophic”.
Reports have suggested that arrivals in England would have to cover the price of quarantining in hotels for 10 days, potentially setting them back more than £1,000.
Australia became one of the first countries to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine in March, while the practice is also observed in China, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, Qatar and Thailand.
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The UK’s unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly five years in the three months to November, as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and tougher lockdown measures place more pressure on businesses and workers.
The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate rose to 5% in the three months to the end of November – representing more than 1.7 million people – from 4.9% in the three months to the end of October, reaching the highest level since April 2016. Unemployment was 4% in February before the pandemic struck, my colleague Richard Partington reports.
The increase in redundancies was slightly less than economists’ forecasts, and there were some signs of a limited recovery in December, when lockdown measures eased, although a deterioration is likely in early 2021 as a tougher lockdown shut schools and closed most non-essential businesses to the public.
Tax data for December showed a 52,000 increase in the number of staff on company payrolls from November, but there were 828,000 fewer workers on payrolls than in February. Economists said the data showed the jobs market was holding up better than many forecasters had feared, Reuters reports.
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This from the BBC:
Every resident of Manchester's 56 care homes has now had at least one dose of the Coronavirus vaccine, according to Manchester City Council.
— BBC North West (@BBCNWT) January 26, 2021
Second week of January had highest Covid deaths in England and Wales since April
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published its latest round of figures on Covid fatalities, and has concluded that there have been nearly 104,000 deaths in the UK between the beginning of the pandemic and 15 January.
A total of 7,245 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 15 January mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, it said, an increase from 6,057 deaths in the week to 8 January.
It is the highest weekly figure since the week ending 24 April.
More than a third (40.2%) of all deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 15 January mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate - the highest proportion recorded since the pandemic began.
The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 15 January 2021 (Week 2) was 18,042.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) January 26, 2021
This was 291 more than Week 1, and 4,220 deaths higher than the five-year average for Week 2 https://t.co/ntpljU4Q5c pic.twitter.com/QSwWQBwwvN
The ONS said 65,443 Covid-related deaths, or 68.9% of all Covid-related deaths since the pandemic began, occurred in hospitals.
Of deaths involving #COVID19 registered since the start of the pandemic (up to Week 2 of 2021), 65,443 deaths (68.9%) occurred in hospitals.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) January 26, 2021
The remainder mainly occurred in:
▪️ care homes (22,892)
▪️ private homes (4,662)
▪️ hospices (1,277)
➡️ https://t.co/y71xs2Ba3f pic.twitter.com/Gw7HSwsioc
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Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said proposals to enforce quarantine on arrivals in the UK from high-risk countries might need to go further than applying only to those arriving from countries where new variants of Covid-19 have been discovered, such as Brazil and South Africa.
Asked whether only applying the measure to new variant nations, the chairman of the commons health committee told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think we may need to go further.
I think it is a big logistical exercise to do that and it is not going to be possible to do it overnight anyway. But I think the real question is buying us enough time, and we don’t know which countries these variants are arising in.
We have much better genomic sequencing in this country than in most other countries - in fact, any other country - so we are better at tracing these things than other places.
But I think we just have to be very cautious, because if we can get this vaccine distribution up to sufficient levels, we can really cut down the transmission in this country and transform the battle against the virus.
If we do have to go further, I hope it would only have to be for a temporary period.
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The EU has threatened to block exports of coronavirus vaccines to countries outside the bloc such as the UK, after it accused AstraZeneca of failing to live up to contractual obligations over the prospect of the drugmaker only delivering half of the promised doses to member states in the first quarter of 2021.
The French MEP Véronique Trillet-Lenoir said on Tuesday that the European commission would consider “controlling” products made in the EU as part of its row with AstraZeneca, which developed a vaccine with Oxford University, over the bloc’s vaccine rollout, and was pondering whether to take legal action.
Trillet-Lenoir told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
A contract is a commitment, it is based on public money, long negotiations with mutual agreements on prices and ability [to deliver].
The commission is right to say that, when trust is betrayed, we should take strong decisions.
First of all, [it] is thinking about controlling exportation for products made in the EU.
But the parliament would agree, and will be alongside the commission, if the decision is to take legal action.
The UK government vaccine tsar, Nadhim Zahawi, told Sky News this morning he was “confident” that supply of the Pfizer vaccine would continue.
Asked whether the EU could prevent Pfizer vials leaving its borders, he said:
No, I’m confident that the Pfizer vaccine will be delivered. Pfizer have made sure that they have always delivered for us, they will continue to do so.
They have made a very important announcement on the equitable supply of the whole world, including the European Union, and I’m sure they will deliver for the European Union, the United Kingdom and for the rest of the world.
We have got 367 million vaccines that we have ordered from seven different suppliers, so I’m confident we will meet our target and continue to vaccinate the whole of the adult population by the autumn.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and will be at the helm of this blog for the next few hours. Do feel free in to get in touch with tips and updates, you can reach me on Twitter @JedySays or via email.
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