Early evening summary
- Hancock has said the lifting of travel restrictions will depend on how vaccines perform against the new variants. (See 1.35pm.) The Times’ political editor, Steven Swinford, thinks this remark may have killed off summer foreign holidays.
Death knell for Sunmer holidays abroad?
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) February 9, 2021
Matt Hancock suggests hotel quarantine may have to be in place until people get a further booster vaccine in the Autumn if AZ, Pfizer and others are found to be ineffective against new strains
- Government scientific advisers have designated a new version of the Kent variant – the Kent variant, with a mutation found in the South African variant (or B117 with E484K, to use the jargon) – as a variant of concern. (See 5.41pm.)
- Boris Johnson narrowly saw off a fresh backbench rebellion over Britain’s trade approach to countries suspected of committing genocide. As PA Media reports, MPs voted 318 to 303, majority 15, to remove two Lords amendments from the trade bill, including one which would have forced ministers to withdraw from any free trade agreement with any country which the high court ruled is committing genocide. It was replaced by a government-backed compromise amendment aimed at giving parliament a vote on whether to pursue agreements with such countries. Labour says there was a huge government rebellion in the vote which took place in the last half hour.
💥 another huge Govt rebellion. Majority cut to 15. It’s clear why the conservative government moved heaven and earth to avoid a straight vote on genocide. Suspect this is coming back again. Really shameful behaviour from the Government. https://t.co/YZSA7ChRwa
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) February 9, 2021
- Lord Frost, the UK’s Brexit negotiator, has blamed the severely strained tensions with the EU on Brussels struggling to accept a “genuinely independent actor in their neighbourhood”. As PA Media reports, Frost told a committee of peers
I think the EU is still adjusting somewhat, as we thought they might, to the existence of a genuinely independent actor in their neighbourhood.
Giving evidence to the same committee, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, described the problems as akin to turbulence on a plane. He said:
We all know that when an aeroplane takes off, that’s the point when you sometimes get that increased level of turbulence.
But then eventually you reach a cruising altitude and the crew tell you to take your seatbelts off, and enjoy a gin and tonic and some peanuts.
We’re not at the gin and tonic and peanuts stage yet but I’m confident we will be.
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Updated
Lambeth joins list of areas for surge testing after South African variant detected
Extra coronavirus testing will be carried out in Lambeth, south London, following the detection of the South African variant, PA Media reports. PA goes on:
The surge testing and genomic sequencing will be carried out in the SE27 0, SE27 9 and SW16 2 postcodes.
People living within the targeted areas are strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 test this week, whether they are showing symptoms or not.
People with symptoms should book a test in the usual way while others should visit their council website.
Meanwhile the surge testing carried out in Woking is now complete, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
These are from the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group on the latest figures for England.
Tuesday update on COVID-19 hospital admissions and deaths in England continues to show an improving picture.
— COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group (@COVID19actuary) February 9, 2021
The 7-day moving average for hospital admissions is now below 2000 and continues to fall by around 4% each day.
The regional picture is analysed below. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/eSKBkurMv1
Our estimate of R, based on hospital admissions, is at around 0.75.
— COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group (@COVID19actuary) February 9, 2021
We’ll discontinue the admissions-based R analysis soon, as the impact of the vaccine is likely to break the link between infections and admissions. For now it gives a similar answer to analysis of cases. 2/4 pic.twitter.com/E6X98TAS7e
Hospital deaths are falling rapidly and are now well below the first wave peak. Deaths look oddly flat/rising for a few days (30 Jan to 2 Feb) but subsequently seem to have resumed their steep fall. 3/4 pic.twitter.com/WHfKsvMfTQ
— COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group (@COVID19actuary) February 9, 2021
Regionally there's little to differentiate the rate of fall, other than it's very slightly slower in the north. Moreover the rate in each area is very constant over time too. 4/4 pic.twitter.com/xyD0KS0gQk
— COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group (@COVID19actuary) February 9, 2021
The Institute for Government thinktank has published an eight-page briefing paper (pdf) on the government’s plans for hotel quarantine (based on what we know so far; on some issues, details remain scant). Overall, it is not impress. Here is the conclusion.
The government says it is taking a tough line on borders. But what it is poised to deliver is characteristic of much of its pandemic response: an uneasy compromise between ministers prioritising health outcomes and others concerned about the impact on the economy, but which risks achieving the objectives of neither. Ultimately, the government must decide whether it actually wants to keep variants of concern out of the UK or just give the impression it is trying to do so.
Bristol 'variant of concern' identified
The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) has classed the variant first identified in Bristol – the Kent variant with the E484K mutation – as a “variant of concern”, PA Media reports. And a variant identified in Liverpool has been classed as a “variant under investigation”. The PA story goes on:
So far Public Health England has identified 76 cases of these two new variants.
Health officials said they have “a high degree of confidence that the vaccines will work against variants”.
There are now four “variants of concern” of the virus that causes Covid-19 identified by government advisors.
Officials are also tracking two “variants under investigation”.
Updated
Today’s Daily Express has an account by Sharon Feinstein of how she was able to enter the UK at Heathrow, after travelling from South Africa, via Doha, without her coronavirus paperwork being checked. In the Commons earlier Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said this case was now being investigated by the Home Office.
Updated
Northern Ireland has recorded 10 further coronavirus deaths and 275 further cases. A week ago today the equivalent figures were 17 and 447.
The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated.
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) February 9, 2021
275 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, a further 10 deaths have been reported (4 outside the reporting period).https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/pLJJJSHn3R
Welsh government follows England in introducing new tests for arrivals who are isolating
The Welsh government has confirmed it will be adopting the new border measures announced by the UK government for England. A spokesperson said:
We have agreed to a four-nation approach, and will be putting in place the same arrangements in Wales as the UK government is doing for England.
This will include all people returning to Wales from 15 February being required to book and pay for tests before they travel. This will be done through the UK portal, whether a person has been in a red list country or not.
People returning to Wales from red list countries are doing so through other ports in the UK, primarily via England. From 15 February, all arrivals in England will be required to isolate in designated hotels.
This includes anyone planning to travel on to Wales, and they will need to enter a designated hotel for quarantine in England. This will need to be booked before travel.
Police Federation claims officers have been 'betrayed' over vaccine prioritisation
The Police Federation of England and Wales has released an open letter to the government protesting about the fact that police officers have not been given priority in the first phase of the vaccine rollout. Here is an extract:
Police officers feel betrayed by the lack of action from the governments of England and Wales to protect them from exposure to this deadly virus.
At the daily press briefing on Monday the health secretary made clear that officers will not be included in the first phase of the Covid vaccine roll out. He could not even offer a guarantee beyond that, only that frontline officers will be ‘considered’ for vaccination in the next phase. This is not only unacceptable to our members it is also a dereliction of both government’s duty ...
Police officers have done everything asked of them, now it is time for government to step up and protect those who have been on the frontline throughout this pandemic. Anything less would be a deep betrayal and will not be forgiven or forgotten.
Although Priti Patel, the home secretary, publicly argued for police officers to be treated as a priority group in phase one of the vaccine rollout, No 10 always said it would stick to the priority list drawn up by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
But it does seem likely that police officers will be prioritised in phase two, as a JCVI member hinted in an interview this morning. (See 9.47am.)
Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs committee, has said the government should have announced testing for arrivals at airports. In a response to the announcement from Matt Hancock, she said:
It is welcome that the government has finally introduced further testing after arrival, as other countries have been doing since last spring. But there is still no testing at the airport itself which means that returning passengers will be getting on public transport home from the airport after busy journeys.
Countries like South Korea not only have testing at the airport, they also have special quarantine transport arrangements to get people home without going on public transport.
If the government is serious about patching up the holes in our system and preventing new variants from being imported, then we should have testing for arrivals at the airport, with those testing positive required to stay in the quarantine hotels.
Post-Brexit checks at all Northern Ireland’s ports will resume from Wednesday, PA Media reports. PA goes on:
Inspections of animal-based food produce arriving at Belfast and Larne ports were suspended last Monday amid concerns over the safety of staff. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council had raised concerns of “menacing behaviour” being aimed at workers. Threatening graffiti expressing opposition to a so-called Irish Sea border had appeared in the Larne area.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) subsequently said there was no evidence of “credible threats”.
Today the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said checks will resume on a phased basis from Wednesday. A spokesperson said the decision was arrived at after receiving the full threat assessment from the PSNI, conducting their own internal risk assessment and liaising with staff and unions to put mitigations in place.
Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, told the Senedd (Welsh parliament) this afternoon that Wales wanted a “a stronger set of defences” at its borders. He said:
What we need to see, I believe, is a stronger set of defences at our borders.
The UK government’s red list is the bare minimum of what needs to be done to make sure that all the gains that are being made in suppressing the virus and vaccinating our population are not put at risk by people coming into the United Kingdom from other parts of the world where further new variants may already be in the brew.
The government’s plan to force healthy people arriving in the UK from high-risk countries could be subject to legal challenge, a lawyer has argued. In a statement to the media on the policy, Tom Goodhead, a barrister and managing partner at the legal firm PGMBM, said:
These proposals of a blanket imposition of hotel quarantine, at travellers’ own expense, raise fundamental questions about the denial of liberty of those subjected to it.
Article 5 of the [European convention on human rights] specifically states that no one shall be unduly deprived of their liberty. Whilst there is a provision that may allow the denial of that liberty to prevent the spread of infectious disease, under these proposals inbound travellers would be detained even if they did not test positive for Covid-19.
Some European states have already grappled with the issue and decided that detention of people without confirmed infection may not be covered by the provisions of article 5.
Cabinet ministers are now debating whether to funnel people off airplanes straight into enforced quarantine without evidence that those people are carrying any variant of Covid-19. There is certainly a very credible perspective that this could amount to illegal detention, thus contravening the ECHR.
In the Commons MPs have just started debating the Lords amendment to the trade bill giving the UK courts a role in determining whether a country is committing genocide. As my colleague Patrick Wintour reports, to help avert a possible defeat the government has arranged for the vote on genocide to be tied to a vote on another matter. Tory rebels see this as an unscrupulous attempt to rig the vote. Patrick’s story is here.
ManufacturingNI, which represents all manufacturing firms in Northern Ireland, has released a survey (pdf) on how businesses in the region have adapted to the new post-Brexit trade rules set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol. Here are the key points.
- Despite facing “significant disruption” in January, almost four out of five NI businesses now say they are in a “good, stable position”.
- One of the largest problems is with GB suppliers, with NI businesses blaming lack of preparation by their GB counterparts. The report finds that: “Three-quarters of firms are experiencing difficulties with their GB suppliers. More than half, 53%, report their suppliers were unprepared.”
- As a result, almost half of NI businesses (45%) are having to help their GB suppliers through issues with the protocol.
- In contrast, seven out of 10 report no issues with their EU suppliers.
- And despite the DUP, the main unionist party, calling for the protocol to be scrapped, more than half of NI businesses say they want it to work.
Updated
UK records 1,052 further Covid deaths - but recorded cases at lowest level for nine weeks
The latest UK coronavirus figures have now been published on the government’s dashboard.
- The UK has recorded 1,052 further coronavirus deaths. That is the highest figure since last Friday, but less than the 1,449 deaths announced a week ago today. The total number of deaths over the last seven days is 25.7% down on the figure for the previous week.
- The UK has recorded 12,364 further cases - the lowest figure for nine weeks. On 8 December 12,282 new cases were recorded. Yesterday there were 14,104. The total number of new cases is down 26.6% on the previous week. And the number of new cases is falling sharply even though the number of tests being carried out is rising.
- The UK had 1,987 Covid hospital admissions on Friday, the last date for which figures are available on the dashboard. That is the first time this figure has been below 2,000 since mid-December.
- 352,480 people in the UK received their first dose of a vaccine yesterday.
Updated
NHS England has reported a further 509 coronavirus hospital deaths. The details are here.
A week ago today the equivalent figure was 767.
A total of 11,245,053 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between 8 December and 8 February, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 253,688 on the previous day’s figures.
As PA Media report, of this number, 10,771,998 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 252,269 on the previous day, while 473,055 were a second dose, an increase of 1,419.
Updated
New coronavirus vaccines may not be needed if the current jabs keep people out of hospital, the head of the Oxford University vaccine group has told MPs. As PA Media reports, Prof Andrew Pollard told the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus the jury was still out on whether new vaccines would be necessary but said scientists and pharmaceutical firms were working to get them ready anyway. Pollard said:
As we move to a point where more people are immunised around the world, or have natural infection, the virus will only survive if it is able to make new versions of itself that can still spread ... despite that immunity. I think we have to come to terms with the fact that that is going to be the future.
Our question at this moment is are we going to need new vaccines? Not to prevent that spread ... but to stop people going into hospital?
At this point, the jury is out on that. All of the vaccines in the trials in those regions where new variants are emerging - we are not seeing a sudden shift where lots of people who are vaccinated are ending up in hospital.
They are still being protected from hospitalisation. We need more data to be secure on this ... but if that’s the case, we might need boosters, we might need tweaks every year, but actually we might not.
We might be generating enough immunity with the current generation of vaccines to stop severe disease.
Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
Almost quarter of primary school children in England in class, DfE figures show
The proportion of pupils in England being taught on-site has risen in a week with nearly one in four primary school children in class, PA Media reports. PA goes on:
Overall 16% of state school pupils were in class on 4 February, up from 15% the week before, according to figures from the Department for Education (DfE).
Nearly a quarter (23%) of primary school pupils were on-site last week, which is a rise on the week before (22%), while 5% of secondary school students were in class - the same as on 28 January.
Pupils in England are only allowed to be in school if they are vulnerable, of if they have a parent who is a key worker.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said it will not give details of the 16 hotels being used for quarantine. (See 1.06pm.) A spokeswoman said: “We are not publishing that list for commercial reasons.”
Abta, the trade body for the travel industry, has said the government should provide more support to help it get through the pandemic, as well as a roadmap to reopening travel. In a response to Matt Hancock’s statement, an Abta spokesperson said:
At present very few people are going overseas due to lockdowns in the United Kingdom and a range of other restrictions on travel. However, we will restart travel at some point and any requirement for multiple tests could have serious cost implications for travellers, which will hurt demand, so any new measure needs to be temporary.
Government needs to work with the industry to develop a roadmap to reopen travel. As the vaccine rollout progresses in the UK, it is appropriate that the government keeps their approach to testing requirements, and other matters, such as vaccine certificates, under careful review to enable international travel to recover while at the same time protecting public health. Wider use of rapid testing methods, providing quicker and cheaper testing, could be part of that solution.
In the meantime, we need to see some recognition from the government of loss of income and revenue experienced by the travel industry over the last 12 months, by providing tailored financial support to help businesses get through the crisis.
These are from the human rights barrister Adam Wagner on the proposed maximum 10-year jail sentence for people found lying about arriving in the UK from a “red list” country. (See 1.06pm.)
10 year jail sentence is an extraordinary sanction to be imposed by secondary legislation brought in without full parliamentary scrutiny https://t.co/taSwwXhnOu
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) February 9, 2021
This is a huge - HUGE - ratcheting up of penalties in the context of Covid laws. To date the maximum fixed penalty notice is £10,000, no prison sentences available.
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) February 9, 2021
Aha here is some more detail - I think may use existing counterfeiting legislation rather than secondary legislation (HT @tc1415) pic.twitter.com/GyIIKNSWRN
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) February 9, 2021
The government has not published the legislation to enforce the measures announced by Matt Hancock, and so it is not yet clear what the legal basis will be for the maximum sentence announced earlier.
My colleague Jessica Elgot is (rightly) rather doubtful as to whether in practice anyone is likely to receive anything like a 10-year jail sentence for lying about a trip to South Africa.
There's gonna be a hell of a lot of aggravating factors needed for anyone to get anywhere near that kind of sentence... I'd think? https://t.co/SSokyHFwEG
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) February 9, 2021
London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced the 15 panellists selected to be members of the new Landmark Commission to improve diversity in the capital’s public realm.
Khan announced he would be forming the commission days after a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, was pulled down in Bristol by Black Lives Matter protesters last summer.
The commission’s role is to enrich and add to the current public realm, and advise on better ways to raise public understanding behind existing statues, street names, building names and memorials, the mayor’s office said. The commission is not being established to preside over the removal of statues.
The members include Toyin Agbetu, a social rights activist and founder of Ligali, who made headlines in 2007 when he interrupted a service attended by the Queen and the former prime minister Tony Blair to mark the 200th anniversary of the act abolishing the slave trade.
Other members include the actor Riz Ahmed, the historian Sandy Nairne, and the chair of City Sikhs, Jasvir Singh.
Updated
Scottish government announces hotel quarantine for all international arrivals from Monday
Holyrood’s transport minister Michael Matheson has challenged UK ministers to “match our ambition” as he confirmed that all new international arrivals to Scotland will be required to quarantine from next Monday.
Referring to UK health secretary Matt Hancock’s earlier announcement , Matheson said: “We know that is not sufficient and we have therefore gone further”. He said the Scottish government’s aim on travel “has always been to work on a four nations approach if possible.”
He said that discussions were still underway to reduce the risk of people circumventing this rule by travelling via England and to ensure that such travellers quarantined in a hotel in England. But no agreement with the UK government has yet been reached.
He said that six hotels close to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow and a total of 1,300 rooms had been identified for the scheme, although procurement was being carried out by the UK government and he did not confirm if any rooms had so far been booked.
BBC Scotland reported this morning that hotels were still unclear of their involvement, while airports did not know how passengers would be transported from aircrafts to their quarantine venue. Edinburgh airport reported that it had only been made aware of the full arrangements as Matheson made his statement.
The numbers affected are relatively small: there were 1,600 international travellers into Scotland in the last week January, falling to 730 in the first week of February.
In Edinburgh Michael Matheson, the Scottish government’s transport secretary, has announced that from Monday all international arrivals into Scotland would have be subject to hotel quarantine for 10 days. This goes further than the policy in England, where hotel quarantine will just apply to arrivals from “red list” countries.
This is from the BBC’s Nick Eardley.
As expected, Scottish Govt will require all overseas travellers arriving in Scotland to quarantine in a hotel
— Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) February 9, 2021
Goes further than UK Govt policy https://t.co/zp1iaenLFK
And this is from the BBC’s James Shaw.
Scotland’s transport secretary, Michael Matheson, has confirmed that from Monday all international travellers arriving in Scotland by air will have to go into managed self-isolation.
— James Shaw (@JGBS) February 9, 2021
(MF)
Updated
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has written to Matt Hancock, the health secretary, saying he should repay donations worth a total of £32,000 from the chair of the Institute for Economic Affairs, a rightwing thinktank, because it recently published a report saying people had no reason to feel grateful for the existence of the NHS.
I have written to @MattHancock demanding that he repay the donations he has received from the Chair of the IEA following their report disgracefully attacking the NHS and NHS staff saying that there is "no reason to be grateful" for the NHS and NHS staff don't deserve our thanks. pic.twitter.com/Ti0F5PfI2F
— Angela Rayner 😷 (@AngelaRayner) February 9, 2021
At her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, also apologised repeatedly following reports that an elderly woman collapsed with suspected hypothermia yesterday as she queued for a vaccine outdoors in wintry weather, after overbookings caused chaos at centres in Fife. Sturgeon said there was a particular problem with overbooking as Fife health board migrated to a new national platform.
I’m really sorry about what happened in Fife, Fife are really sorry, it shouldn’t have happened ... This is a massive programme going at a hundred miles an hour and sometimes there are glitches.
Challenged on whether rebooking appointments was as simple as she suggested, with the Sun’s Dan Vevers asking about one over-75 who was told they would have to travel 50 miles for a second appointment this week or wait months, Sturgeon said “people should be rebooked as soon as possible”, and invited people to email her directly if they had problem.
Updated
In the Commons the Green MP Caroline Lucas asked Hancock if he would back Indian and South African plans to challenge “pharmaceutical monopolies”, to ensure that better supplies of vaccine were available for all countries in the world.
Hancock said Lucas should be praising the pharmaceutical sector, not criticising it. There would be no vaccines if it were not for the global pharmaceutical industry, he said. He said Lucas should not disparage it.
And that’s it. The Hancock statement is now over.
Here is the full text of Hancock’s opening remarks.
Updated
In the Commons Aaron Bell (Con) asked Matt Hancock if he would consider using “challenge trials”, which involve volunteers being deliberated exposed to infection, to speed up vaccine trials. Hancock replied:
Yes, we don’t rule out challenge studies at all and we’re working with Oxford University on such an approach and, more broadly, I am up for considering anything that can ensure that a vaccine can safely be brought to bear and to support this effort as fast as possible.
Labour has called on the new chair of the Office for Students, the Conservative peer James Wharton, to resign the whip amid concerns about what the opposition has described as the government’s “growing catalogue of cronyism”.
Lord Wharton of Yarm, a former Tory MP and campaign manager for Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign, has been confirmed as the new chair of the universities regulator in England, despite tough questions over his independence when he appeared before MPs on the Commons education committee last week.
The former MP for Stockton South, who was awarded a peerage by the prime minister last summer, told MPs he planned to keep the whip in his new role, insisting he would be able to challenge government policy where necessary.
The shadow education secretary, Kate Green, said it was “ridiculous” to think Wharton could make independent decisions while continuing to sit as a Conservative peer. “He must resign the whip without delay,” she said. She went on:
This latest appointment adds to the Conservative government’s growing catalogue of cronyism. Students have been forgotten by this government which is more concerned about securing jobs for their friends. It’s vital for public confidence that concerns surrounding senior appointments are urgently looked at.
Updated
In the Commons Matt Hancock says there is no evidence that vaccines affect fertility. He says there are many myths about vaccines. The government is trying to combat them, he says. He says he will ask government scientists to publish a letter specifically this myth about vaccines and fertility.
This is from the broadcaster Piers Morgan on the announcement from Matt Hancock.
If failing to quarantine properly is punishable by 10yrs in prison, what is the punishment for failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 9, 2021
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said at her daily briefing that, despite the severe weather across Scotland today with heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, the vaccination programme was proceeding as planned, with no reports of vaccination centres being closed today.
Sturgeon said that she recognised some people may feel they could not make their slot because of the weather. But she said that the message remained “please try and make your appointment today if you can”.
If weather conditions made that impossible, then people could rebook, and Sturgeon reassured the public that nobody would lose their vaccination opportunity because of the snow.
She also noted that, with the target of vaccinating all over-70s and the clinically vulnerable by February 15 on track, at that point the Scottish government would have to start “conserving supplies” for second doses, adding she expected supplies to “slightly dip” at this point. She insisted that the programme was still on track to reach all over 50 and those with underlying health conditions vaccinated by the start of May.
Sturgeon said that “our supply assumptions are changing all the time”, but explained that in the second part of February there were “two challenges that come together: we expect supplies hopefully for a short period to dip below [what it has been] in more recent weeks ... coupled with starting second doses”.
In response to a question from Neil O’Brien (Con), Matt Hancock told MPs that tight border controls would help to enable the easing of restrictions internally. He explained:
Firstly we must keep the red list under review but secondly the strong protections at the border are part of defending and safely allowing the domestic opening-up.
For those of us who want to see that domestic opening-up, ensuring we have protection from variants that might arise from overseas is an important part until we can get to a position where we can be confident in vaccine efficacy against all variants, not just against the current variants that are here in large numbers in the UK.
Hancock says lifting of restrictions will depend on how vaccines perform against new variants
Mark Harper, the Conservative MP who chairs the Covid Recovery Group, which represents Tory backbenchers pushing for an end to the lockdown, asked Matt Hancock when these new regulations would end. He said he was worried that if the virus continued to mutate, the restrictions could be in place forever.
Hancock said these measures could not remain in place for ever. The first task was to vaccinate the population, he said. But he went on to say that the lifting of the restrictions would be linked to the performance of the vaccines against new variants. He said:
If we get good news on the vaccination impact on hospitalisations and deaths from people who have ... new mutations, then we will be in a better place.
If we do not get such good news, then we will need to use the updated vaccines to protect against the variants of concern.
These scientists inform and advise me that there are repeatedly, independently around the world, mutations of the same type in the E484K area of the virus [the E484K mutation is the one in the South African variant, associated with making it more vaccine resistant, that may be emerging in the Kent variant too] ... That gives the scientists a good start in where to target the new, updated vaccine. That is if we have to wait until then.
It may be that we get enough efficacy from the existing vaccines against hospitalisation and death that they work perfectly well to hold this down. We just don’t know that yet. Hence the precautionary principle applies.
Updated
In the Commons Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, asked Matt Hancock for an assurance that he would bring forward measures to increase take-up of the vaccine among black and minority ethnic people. She said it would be a “tragedy” if this was overlooked because so many of them work on the frontline as health and social care workers.
Hancock said he agreed with every word Abbott said. And he thanked her for taking part in a video intended to increase vaccine take-up among black, Asian and ethnic minority people.
Updated
In the Commons Huw Merriman (Con) asks how long these restrictions will last. In response, Matt Hancock says he wants to be able to exit from these arrangements as soon as it is practical and as soon as it is safe.
But he does not say when this is likely to be. And he points out that, at last night’s No 10 press conference, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said the government would need to know the vaccines were effective against all variants of the virus before a full easing of restrictions. Hancock said this was still a matter of uncertainty.
UPDATE: Hancock said:
We want to exit from this into a system of safe international travel as soon as practicable and as soon as is safe.
Hancock said work is ongoing to assess the current vaccines against variants of the virus, and went on:
If that isn’t forthcoming then we will need to vaccinate with a further booster jab in the autumn, which we’re working with the vaccine industry.
These are the uncertainties within which we are operating and hence, for now, my judgment is the package we’ve announced today is the right one.
Updated
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, told MPs that the government’s plans did not go far enough because half the countries where the South African variant has been identified are not included on the “red list”. He said:
Our first line of defence is surely to do everything we can to stop [new variant] arising in the first place. That means securing our borders to isolate new variants as they come in. He’s announced a detailed package today but he hasn’t announced comprehensive quarantine controls at the borders.
So why then when over half of the countries where the South Africa variant has been identified - why are over half of them not on the so-called red list?
And indeed according to newspaper reports he wanted to go further with more extensive quarantine arrangements. I want that as well, the British public want that as well, so I will work with him to make that happen so we can strengthen our borders and fix any holes in this nation’s defences.
Full details of new anti-Covid border laws, and maximum penalties for non-compliance
Here are the full quotes from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, with full details of the new rules for people arriving in the UK.
The hotel quarantine regulations
Hancock said:
We’re setting up a new system of hotel quarantine for UK and Irish residents who’ve been in red list countries in the last 10 days. In short, this means that any returning residents from these countries will have to quarantine in an assigned hotel room for 10 days from the time of arrival.
Before they travel, they’ll have to book through an online platform and pay for a quarantine package costing £1,750 for an individual travelling alone, which includes the hotel, transport and testing. This booking system will go live on Thursday when we’ll also publish the full detailed guidance.
Passengers will only be able to enter the UK through a small number of ports that currently account for the vast majority of passenger arrivals. When they arrive, they’ll be escorted to a designated hotel which will be closed to guests who aren’t quarantining, for 10 days or for longer if they test positive for Covid-19 during their stay.
We’ve contracted 16 hotels for an initial 4,600 rooms and we will secure more as they are needed. People will need to remain in their rooms and of course will not be allowed to mix with other guests and there will be visible security in place to ensure compliance alongside necessary support, so even as we protect public health we can look after the people in our care.
The new testing regulations
Hancock said:
We’re strengthening testing. All passengers are already required to take a pre-departure test and cannot travel to this country if [the test] is positive.
From Monday, all international arrivals, whether under home quarantine or hotel quarantine, will be required by law to take further PCR tests on day two and day eight of that quarantine.
Passengers will have to book these tests through our online booking portal before they travel. Anyone planning to travel to the UK from Monday needs to book these tests and the online portal will go live on Thursday.
If either of these post-arrival tests comes back positive, they’ll have to quarantine for a further 10 days from the date of the test and will of course be offered any NHS treatment that’s necessary.
Any positive test will automatically undergo genomic sequencing to confirm whether they have a variant of concern.
The new fines and possible jail sentences for non-compliance
Hancock said:
People who flout these rules are putting us all at risk.
Passenger carriers will have a duty in law to make sure that passengers have signed up for these new arrangements before they travel, and will be fined if they don’t, and we will be putting in place tough fines for people who don’t comply.
This includes a £1,000 penalty for any international arrival who fails to take a mandatory test, a £2,000 penalty for any international arrival who fails to take the second mandatory test, as well as automatically extending their quarantine period to 14 days, and a £5,000 fixed penalty notice - rising to £10,000 - for arrivals who fail to quarantine in a designated hotel.
Anyone who lies on the passenger locator form and tries to conceal that they’ve been in a country on the red list in the 10 days before arrival here will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
I make no apologies for the strength of these measures because we’re dealing with one of the strongest threats to our public health that we’ve faced as a nation.
Updated
Hancock says people who try to evade hotel quarantine rules could face up to 10 years in jail
Hancock says fines will be used to ensure people comply.
People who arrive and fail to take a test will be subject to a £1,000 fine, and a £2,000 fine if they fail to take a second test, he says.
He says people who fail to quarantine in a designated hotel could be fined £10,000.
And he says anyone who provides false information on a passenger location form, or who lies about having been in a “red list” country 10 days before their arrival in the UK, could face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
International travellers who provide false information on passenger locator forms when arriving into the UK could face up to 10 years in prison, Matt Hancock says https://t.co/trpPr7etny pic.twitter.com/XmZIAbEnKT
— ITV News (@itvnews) February 9, 2021
Updated
Hancock confirms the new testing rules; anyone arriving in the UK from Monday will need to get PCR tests on days two and eight when they isolate on arrival, in addition to the pre-flight tests already required.
He says they will have to book these tests online on a portal going live on Thursday.
And if they test positive, they will have to quarantine for a further 10 days, he says.
He says the existing test and release scheme will still apply - but people using it will also need the two new mandatory tests at day two and day eight.
Updated
Hancock says people subject to hotel quarantine will have to pay £1,750
Hancock says the strategy to tackle new variants has four parts.
First, the government wants to get overall case numbers down.
Second, surge testing is being used to tackle new outbreaks.
Third, vaccines are being rolled out.
And, fourth, border controls are being tightened.
Hancock says he will focus on the border controls.
It is already illegal to travel abroad without a reason, he says.
People arriving already need a negative test before they start their journey. And arrivals have been banned for people coming from “red list” countries where the risk is particularly high.
But the government is going further from Monday 15 February, he says. He says these rules are for England, but he says the devolved administrations are bringing in their own plans.
There are three features to the new system: hotel quarantine, testing and enforcement.
People who need hotel quarantine will need to pay £1,750 per individual for the hotel, transport and testing.
He says arrivals will be taken to a designated hotel. The government has contracted with 16 hotels, for 4,600 rooms initially.
They will have to stay in their rooms and will not be allowed to mix with other guests. They will have to quarantine for 10 days, or longer if they test positive.
And there will be “visible security” in place to ensure people comply, he says.
Matt Hancock's statement to MPs
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, starts his statement to MPs by saying coronavirus cases have fallen by 47% in the last two weeks.
And he highlights the latest figures showing the progress the vaccination programme is making.
Updated
Sturgeon says vaccinations in Scotland have reached highest daily total
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is holding her regular coronavirus briefing. As usual, she started with an update on the latest figures.
- Sturgeon said there have been 822 further cases. A week ago today the figure was 758.
📣 @NicolaSturgeon: "There were 822 positive cases reported yesterday - which is 7.2% of the total number of tests.
— The SNP (@theSNP) February 9, 2021
It means the overall number of cases in Scotland is now 187,542."
- She said there were 1,618 Covid patients in hospital. A week ago today the figure was 1,939. And she said there had been 58 further deaths. A week ago today the figure was 69.
📣 @NicolaSturgeon: "1,618 people are currently in hospital, that's 54 less than yesterday.
— The SNP (@theSNP) February 9, 2021
112 people are in intensive care - that's 4 more than yesterday.
I'm also very sorry to report that 58 additional deaths have been registered over the past 24 hours."
- She said 61,299 people were vaccinated yesterday - the highest daily total so far.
📣 @NicolaSturgeon: "As of 8:30 this morning, 928,122 people in Scotland have received the first dose of the vaccine.
— The SNP (@theSNP) February 9, 2021
That's a pretty whopping increase of 61,299 since yesterday, the highest daily figure recorded in Scotland so far, by some distance."
📣 @NicolaSturgeon: "We've now vaccinated virtually all residents in older care homes - the figure now stands at 99.7% - which is so important given the toll this virus took, and is still taking, on our care homes."
— The SNP (@theSNP) February 9, 2021
These are from Ian Jones from PA Media on the Covid death figures, as updated in the light of today’s ONS report.
We now have daily data for both measures of cumulative Covid-19 UK deaths up to January 29 - almost exactly a year since the first death took place.
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) February 9, 2021
Both lines continue show a steepening curve in the most recent weeks. pic.twitter.com/rvXqoQuJ0o
It took 42 days for the death toll (based on death certificates) to rise from 75,000 to 100,000, and 21 days for it to rise from 100,000 to 125,000.
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) February 9, 2021
It's looking like January 19 might have been when deaths in the second wave hit a peak.
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) February 9, 2021
The total for that day is currently 1,404 - though this (and other recent totals) are likely to be revised upwards once all deaths for this period have been registered. pic.twitter.com/wmp5LS8QQq
Deaths peaked during the first wave on April 8, when 1,457 deaths occurred.
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) February 9, 2021
This remains the highest number of deaths on a single day since the pandemic began.
Here is a picture of Boris Johnson chairing a virtual meeting of cabinet today taken from the No 10 flickr account.
Public Health Wales has recorded 10 further Covid deaths and 351 further cases.
A week ago today Wales recorded seven deaths and 614 new cases.
The rapid COVID-19 surveillance dashboard has been updated
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) February 9, 2021
💻https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
📱https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh
Read our daily statement here: https://t.co/u6SKHz0zsG pic.twitter.com/bLfedlkJZt
Updated
A prison has carried out mass testing after a Covid outbreak is believed to have accounted for around half of all cases in its county area, PA Media reports. PA goes on:
HMP Stocken in Rutland, which had been free of the virus for 11 months, confirmed in a letter to inmates’ relatives that a number of men and staff have tested positive.
As well as lateral flow tests for staff, the jail, which normally holds around 950 men, has organised mass testing of everyone housed on wings affected by outbreaks.
Figures from NHS Digital for the week to 6 February show Rutland has the highest coronavirus infection rates in England, with 193 cases equivalent to 483 per 100,000 people.
In its message to families and friends of those in its care, HMP Stocken said its plan to keep everyone safe includes up to three tests per week for staff.
The Category C men’s jail confirmed news of positive cases on four of its seven wings last week, saying the new variant of coronavirus had created “significant challenges”.
In a statement on the outbreak on her website, Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, said:
I understand that currently around half of all cases of Covid-19 in Rutland are in the prison. Over the next few weeks there will be media headlines that will rightly concern us all locally stating that Rutland has one of the greatest increases in rates of Covid-19 in the UK. Rutland is a relatively small community, so outbreaks will suggest rates of increase which would not be as stark if we were a larger community.
The NHS Covid-19 app has helped prevent as many as 600,000 new Covid cases in its first five months in operation, according to research from Oxford University and the Alan Turing Institute.
That number counts those who would otherwise have come into contact with the 1.7 million users who have been advised to isolate by the app. The benefit is most prominent in areas where a significant number of people have the app installed on their smartphones: for every 1% increase in the number of app users in a local area, the number of coronavirus cases can be reduced by 2.3%.
The research, the first to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of the English and Welsh contact-tracing app in reducing the Covid case count, will be welcome news to the Department of Health and Social Care, which had faced substantial criticism for the delayed rollout of the app – it only launched in September 2020, four months after it was initially planned for launch – and a lack of transparency over its initial development.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said:
The NHS Covid-19 app is an important tool in our pandemic response. We know it has instructed hundreds of thousands of at-risk people to self-isolate since it launched in September – including me – and this analysis shows it has been hugely effective at breaking chains of transmission, preventing an estimated 600,000 cases.
All the UK’s contact-tracing apps are now interoperable, supporting continued coverage even for people who have to move between Scotland, England and Wales, and Northern Ireland, and as of this month, all users of the NHS Covid-19 app are now able to access support payments to self-isolate if they are on low incomes.
Updated
Nick Gibb, the school standards minister, told the Commons education committee this morning that he was “open to all ideas” on how to help pupils catch up on learning they’ve missed during lockdown.
Asked whether he preferred the proposal of extending the school day or shortening the summer holidays, Gibb told the committee:
We just have to leave no stone unturned in making sure that we can help those young people catch up from the lost education.
Last week the government appointed Sir Kevan Collins as the education recovery commissioner to oversee the catch-up programme. Gibb said:
[Collins] will be looking at all these ideas and potential proposals for how we can ensure that young people catch up.
As PA Media reports, Gibb also said further details on how the extra £300m fund for catch-up will be allocated will be announced “shortly”, and he suggested the funding was not rigidly tied to just academic tutoring.
Here is a short Twitter thread from Prof Christina Pagel, head of the clinical operational research unit at University College London, arguing that, in the light of the emergence of the South African variant, the spread of the Kent variant in the UK (B117) might have an upside.
MINI THREAD: One way in which the Kent (B117) variant might help us vs SA variant... Both are more transmissible that older variants & so quickly become dominant.
— Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) February 9, 2021
BUT SA not more transmissible than Kent (we think) - so Kent, already dominant in UK, should stay dominant. 1/2
This is good because all vaccines work well against Kent (B117) & it doesn't seem to be re-infecting people who've already had covid.
— Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) February 9, 2021
But SA can re-infect people & evade (somewhat) AZ vax. Unknown is how that might help SA over time as it has more people it can spread to. 2/2
PS source for reinfecting people for SA:https://t.co/Z66O8kUa8O
— Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) February 9, 2021
PS2 yes B117 will likely acquire the Eeek mutation (and already has at least once, but so far minimal onward transmission I think). And yes the more people get vaccinated with AZ, the more advantage that might give SA variant - but it all buys us valuable time to drive cases down
— Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) February 9, 2021
Mutation of Kent Covid variant discovered in Manchester
Surge coronavirus testing will begin in parts of south Manchester on Tuesday after four cases of a mutation of the more transmissible Kent variant were detected in two unconnected households in the Moss Side area, my colleague Helen Pidd reports.
'We've gained control' - Eustice rejects claim EU's live shellfish export ban undermines case for Brexit
In his morning interviews George Eustice, the environment secretary, was asked about the EU’s decision last week to ban the import of live shellfish from England and Wales. Echoing language he used in a statement to MPs yesterday, Eustice told LBC that the EU move was “quite unexpected and really indefensible”. And he told the Today programme:
We wrote to the [European commissioner for health and food safety] yesterday, we have been in dialogue with them.
The truth is there is no legal barrier to this trade continuing, both on animal health grounds and on public health grounds - there is legal provision within existing EU regulations to allow such trade to continue from the UK.
We are just asking the EU to abide by their existing regulations and not to seek to change them.
They did change their position just last week - prior to that they had been clear that this was a trade that could continue - so we want to work to understand why they are proposing a change at this stage.
But Eustice, a strong supporter of Brexit, faced embarrassment when Today’s Justin Webb suggested there was a lesson in this about leaving the EU leading to “loss of access and loss of control”. Eustice did not accept this. The exchange went on:
GE: Well, we’ve gained control in that we’ve gained control of our own laws, but of course ...
JW: Hang on a sec, we’ve gained control, yeah, we’ve gained control of our own shellfish, but what good has that done to shellfish exporters?
GE: Well, we’ve gained control of our own laws, and of course we set the terms of access to our market and the EU sets the terms of access to its market. That’s not unusual; that is what happens with all independent countries. We do set our own laws now. And the point is there’s nothing in EU law at the moment to prevent this trade taking place.
Covid involved in almost half deaths in England and Wales in late January, ONS figures show
Almost half the deaths registered in England in the week to 29 January were due to Covid, the highest proportion of any week since the pandemic began.
Deaths involving Covid accounted for 46.2% of all deaths in England, according to the latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics this morning.
The proportion of Covid deaths stood at 55.2% in the east of England, the worst affected region in the seven-day period covered by the release.
Equivalent figures for Wales show that there were 361 deaths involving coronavirus in the week to 29 January, accounting for 37.1% of all deaths, the fifth-highest proportion experienced in the country in the course of the pandemic to date.
Overall the proportion of Covid deaths in England and Wales stood at 45.7%, the highest percentage to date, although the total number of deaths - 8,433 - represents the second-highest number of fatalities in absolute terms, a death toll exceeded just once in mid-April at the height of the first wave.
Almost half of all deaths in care homes (49%) involved Covid in the week to 29 January
All English regions had a higher number of deaths than the five-year average for the twelfth week in a row.
Updated
In interviews this morning George Eustice, the environment secretary, insisted that hotels would be ready for the introduction of the hotel quarantine rule for arrivals from high-risk countries from Monday next week - even though Downing Street said yesterday no contracts had yet been signed. He told the Today programme:
My understanding is that officials in the Department for Health are in discussion with a range of operators about procuring those hotels, and they are confident that they will get the capacity needed for the policy to start next week.
Asked if the new controls were being imposed too late, Eustice replied:
I don’t really accept that. I think, ever since December when we started to see these other strains arriving, we have been incrementally strengthening our approach to the border.
Prof Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told the Today programme this morning that the findings of study publicised at the weekend saying the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine offered only “minimal” protection against mild or moderate illness from the South African variant of coronavirus were expected. He explained:
In many ways, it’s exactly what we would have expected, because the virus is introducing mutations, as we’ve discussed before, to allow it to still transmit in populations where there’s some immunity.
And we already knew in South Africa that the virus was able to cause mild infections in people who were infected earlier last year.
So that is not surprising then that with vaccines, also with mild infection, it’s going to be possible to see that.
So, in a way the study in South Africa absolutely confirms what we understand about the biology - that the virus has to transmit between people to survive. It has to mutate to do that. And it’s done that in South Africa already. And that will affect mild disease in people who’ve been vaccinated.
But Pollard stressed that the Oxford vaccine, and others, did protect people from severe illness and death. He said:
The really important point though is that all vaccines, everywhere in the world where they’ve been tested, are still preventing severe disease and death.
And I think that is perhaps the clue to the future here, that we are going to see new variants arise and they will spread in the population, like most of the viruses that cause colds every winter.
But, as long as we have enough immunity to prevent severe disease, hospitalisations and death, then we’re going to be fine in the future in the pandemic.
Priority list for phase two vaccinations, covering under-50s, to be published by early March
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will announce who will get priority in phase two of the vaccination programme by early next month, one of its members said this morning.
The JCVI has drawn up a list of the nine groups getting priority, in order, during phase 1 of the vaccination programme. That will cover all over-50s, people with serious underlying health conditions and health and social care workers, and the NHS has said everyone in these groups should have been offered a first dose of vaccine by the end of April.
Now the JCVI is working on the priority list for phase 2 - all remaining adults in the UK - and ministers have said they want to see public sector workers like police officers and teachers near the top of the queue.
Prof Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at the Bristol Children’s Vaccine Centre, University of Bristol, and a member of the JCVI, told BBC Breakfast that the discussion about the new priority list was under way.
That discussion is ongoing at the moment and of course it goes beyond just medicine and public health as to who society values most and who they think are most important.
In terms of the JCVI, we’re very focused on the evidence of who’s at the highest risk and at the moment the outstanding factors predicting that is still age.
And of course you need a system that you can operationalise, so you can identify the people and quickly get the vaccine to them.
So I can’t give you an answer to exactly how that will look.
But over the coming few weeks we’re making those plans and I think they will have to be an announced by the end of February or early March so that we know what we’re doing next.
Finn also said that adapting vaccines to tackle new variants was not something that could be done within weeks. He said:
It will take some time, simply because although the new variants can be adjusted in the vaccines they then have to come through the regulators, and then have to be manufactured at scale in order to be available. So it’s not a matter of a month or two, it’s probably more than that.
But we currently have vaccines that are effective against the strains that are predominating in the UK and and that should be clear in everybody’s minds, that we’re not in a position where vaccines have suddenly stopped working entirely.
Updated
Prof David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Today programme this morning that experts thought coronavirus was becoming endemic. Asked if it was something that people would just have to learn to live with, he replied:
It certainly seems like that in the shorter term, and probably in the long term as well. Most experts believe that this disease is now becoming endemic, but the good thing is that we have many tools including vaccines with which we can deal with this virus.
He also suggested that border controls were only of limited value in fighting the virus. He said:
We know that borders cannot stop infectious diseases no matter how rigid your controls are, there will always be some that comes through.
Asked if border controls would have an immediate impact, he replied:
We’ve seen that countries that have closed their borders, such as New Zealand, have kept the virus out, but now their problem is what do they when they begin to open their borders?
So I think the best way forward is to live understanding that viruses and bacteria, any infection, can cross borders and we have to have the defences in our own countries to deal with them.
Hancock set to announce compulsory tests for travellers isolating after arrival in country
Good morning. Ministers have been under pressure to toughen up border controls, particularly in the light of concerns about the South African variant of coronavirus, and today Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is expected to make a statement to MPs saying passengers arriving in the UK will have to get tested while they are self-isolating.
The government already requires people coming to the UK to have a negative Covid test 72 hours before they start their journey. The new tests - which are expected to be required on day two and day eight of isolation period on arrival - will be an extra requirement, not an alternative one.
And they will apply to all arrivals, not just people having to quarantine in hotels because they are coming from high-risk countries under the new arrangements coming into force next week.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, confirmed that new testing requirements were being introduced for arrivals in his morning interviews, although he declined to give details, saying it was for Hancock to set these out later. But Eustice told the Today programme:
Introducing testing during that quarantine period is an additional way of keeping track of where people are, and monitoring the development of the virus, for those who have it, as they arrive.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs a virtual meeting of cabinet.
9.30am: The ONS publishes its weekly death figures for England and Wales.
12pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, and Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, hold a coronavirus briefing.
12.30pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, makes a statement to MPs about Covid and the plans for hotel quarantine.
12pm: The Department for Education releases its latest school attendance figures.
After 2pm: The Scottish parliament hears a ministerial statement on Covid.
Afternoon: MPs debate a Lords amendment to the trade bill giving the high court the power to decide if a country is committing genocide.
4.30pm: Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and Lord Frost, who was the government’s Brexit negotiator, give evidence to the Lords EU committee.
Politics Live is now doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, and when they seem more important or more interesting, they will take precedence.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Updated
