We are now closing the UK blog but follow here for more updates on coronavirus from around the globe. Thanks very much.
The briefing is now over but here is a summary of the main points from health secretary Matt Hancock this evening:
- He outlined encouraging news about infection rates being at their lowest for a number of months and he said the link from cases to hospitalisation to death is now breaking thanks to the vaccine. He said this meant it was working to protect the NHS.
- Hancock said that two-fifths of the UK adult population had now had their first dose of the vaccine.
- The missing person who had contracted the Brazilian variant has been found and the health secretary said there was no sign of onward transmission and more testing was being put in place in croydon – where he was living – as a precaution.
- Hancock told a Downing Street news briefing: “Using the latest technology and with the dogged determination of our testing and Tracing scheme, we have successfully identified the person in question.”
- Hancock is asked about nursing union proposals to strike over a 1% pay rise amid an incredibly hard year. He said he has “huge admiration for nurses” but that the nation’s finances are “tight”.
- The wearing of face coverings in secondary schools will help to reduce the risk of Covid transmission, Public Health England’s Dr Susan Hopkins said. Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, she said Government guidance was informed by experts reviewing evidence, including on the B117 variant, in relation to the school environment.
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Hancock is asked about nursing union proposals to strike over a 1% pay rise amid an incredibly hard year.
He said he has “huge admiration for nurses” but that the nation’s finances are “tight”.
He said: “We are able to propose a pay rise for nurses, at 1%. I entirely appreciate that reflects the difficult financial circumstances this country is in.”
But what I would say to every nurse who is watching is that we have over this pandemic pulled together in an incredible way and I hope we can continue to do so.”
Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic response director at Public Health England, said a team of 40 were able to locate the individual who had tested positive for the Manaus variant of Covid-19.
She told a Downing Street press conference the individual had “attempted to register his test online but had failed to do so effectively”.
“Specialist teams from NHS Test and Trace and Public Health England immediately launched an investigation to identify the individual concerned,” Hopkins continued.
“An incident team of 40 people from across the system made up of laboratories, logistics, data analytic experts were mobilised to trace the individual.”
The discovery, via reading the test barcode, that the sample had arrived at the Cambridge Lighthouse through the DHL service for home delivery helped narrow it down to two regions made up of 10,000 possible households.
This was then narrowed further to 379 households with “enhanced contact tracing” then kicking-in, with call handlers contacting those who could have received a test in that time interval, scaling it down to 27 individuals before the person then came forward.
A journalist has asked whether it is fair to say it has been a success if it took them a week to find one individual who had the Brazilian variant.
Hancock said that the correct details were not attached in this case, which happens in 99.9% of cases. “We managed to track down the individual. It is reassuring that all the evidence shows that all of the six individuals [who had this variant] – 3 in Scotland and 3 in England – all followed the rules.”
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Hancock defends the proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff
Journalists are now asking questions of Hancock, and brought forward a question about the 1% pay rise proposed for NHS staff in England.
Unions are preparing strike action over what is seen as an insignificant rise in what has been a very difficult year for health workers.
Hancock said: “Evidence was put forward yesterday on the basis of affordability. Elsewhere we have a public sector pay freeze. What we have proposed is what is affordable to make sure those in the NHS get a pay rise. We must take into account the incredibe hard work of those in the NHS, so that is why they are not part of the overall public sector pay freeze.”
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Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic response director at Public Health England, detailed what went into the investigation that took place to find the person who was infected with the Brazilian variant.
She said that there were three cases in England of p1, a variant first found in Brazil. She said one person infected with this form of the virus failed to register their test online effectively so test and trace had to find them.
“Across the system people were mobilised to trace him. We began with very little information, just a single barcode and the date and time the test was processed,” she said.
She said that they worked backwards to work out when the test arrived at the laboratory, which testing hub it came from and through the postal service.
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Mystery person with Brazil variant was based in Croydon, Hancock says
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said that the mystery sixth case of the Brazilian P1 variant of coronavirus has been identified.
Hancock told a Downing Street news briefing: “Using the latest technology and with the dogged determination of our Testing and Tracing scheme, we have successfully identified the person in question.
“The best evidence is that this person stayed at home and there is no evidence of onward transmission but as a precaution, we are putting more testing in Croydon where they live to minimise the possibility of spread.”
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Hancock said:
One of the most dangerous things about this virus is that around one third of those who get it will have no symptoms and yet they can still pass it on to others.
Rapid regular testing is a critical part of our response and... we can do more because of the huge capacity built up by test and trace. So participate in one of these regular testing programmes as that is how we will keep this virus under control as we continue to roll out the vaccine.
Hancock said that the “vaccine is protecting the NHS and saving lives”, adding that “the country’s plan is working”. He said that we have now vaccinated two-fifths of the entire adult population of the UK.
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Hancock has said that the latest data shows “the progress we have made [with regard to the battle against coronavrius]”. He said that the number of cases is still falling and the weekly case rate across the UK is now 84 per 100,000 people
He added that the latest Office of national statistics figures reports “a further significant decline” and in England 1 in 220 have covid, a fall from 1 in 145 last week. This is “encouraigng news”, he said. He added that we have the lowest hospital admissions since October, at 900 and “deaths are also declining steeply.”
Hancock concluded that we are “heading in the right direction but we have further to go”.
Matt Hancock's briefing
Matt Hancock has just started speaking at the briefing. He says he will update on progress in the battle against covid, new evidence on the effectiveness of the vaccine, an update on the Brazilian variant of concern and extra support for mental health in schools.
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Matt Hancock’s coronavirus press briefing from Downing Street will begin shortly. The health secretary will be joined by Public Health England’s Dr Susan Hopkins.
My colleague Sarah Marsh will be bringing you live updates as the press conference gets under way.
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Police officers in Manchester have warned the public not to arrive at airports without an intention of travelling, as an increasing number of fixed penalty notices have been issued for breaches of coronavirus regulations at airports.
Around 160 fixed penalty notices have been issued so far, in response to large groups of people dropping family members off and coming in to the departures terminal, which is not allowed under current regulations. Manchester airport has said that officers will be on patrol on the premises, and people may be stopped and questioned if they suspect individuals are not there to travel and a fixed penalty notice may be issued.
Chief Inspector Andy Sutcliffe at Manchester airport said:
Traditionally people arrive at the airport to wish loved ones and family members a safe flight and to wave them off. Unfortunately at the moment this is not possible due to Covid-19 and the regulations that the government has put in place.
We are trying to minimise the number of people in the departures terminal and this is not possible when people who are not travelling enter the area. It’s risking the health of everyone in the terminal including my officers who have to actively engage with them to question why they are there.
He said that only those who are travelling on a pre-booked flight should come to the terminal, adding that they can be dropped off by one person from their household or bubble. Sutcliffe said officers “will do all [they] can to reduce the spread of the virus and protect the legitimate users of the airport”.
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A further 236 people have died across the UK within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, according to PHE.
No data on new cases was given. We’re still waiting for the government’s dashboard to update.
The #COVID19 Dashboard will be updated later this evening.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 5, 2021
On Friday 05 March 2021, 236 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported across the UK.
21,358,815 people have now received the first dose of a #vaccine.
Please check back here for updates.
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The UK daily coronavirus figures, which are usually published on the government dashboard at 4pm, are delayed.
A notice on the website attributes the hold-up to a delay in the submission of cases data for England to PHE.
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Missing patient with Brazilian Covid variant found, health sources say
A previously unknown individual who tested positive for the Brazil variant in the UK has been located, health sources have told the Guardian.
The search for the person who was found to have the variant first detected in Manaus was launched after they took a test in February but did not provide contact details.
Public Health England had said on Sunday that six people in the UK had contracted the P.1 variant. Three were in England, one of whom had not been identified, and three in Scotland.
The sixth person, who has now been found, is understood to have taken a home test or a test kit provided to them by their local authority, between 12 and 13 February but did not fill in their contact details.
Following the discovery of the variant cases, surge testing and sequencing was rolled out in south Gloucestershire.
Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that the search for the sixth person had been narrowed down to 379 households in the south-east of England.
The strain, which has been identified as a “variant of concern”, is able to bypass immune system protection from previous infection, researchers have found, infecting up to 61% of people Manaus who might have expected to be immune after a first bout of Covid.
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Most schools in England unlikely to fully reopen on Monday
Only one out of four secondary schools and colleges in England could fully reopen on Monday, after a survey of headteachers found that most will stagger the return of students because of bottlenecks in Covid testing and parental consent.
A survey of 934 headteachers and principals of secondary schools in England found that 76% will need to phase the return of their students during the course of next week to accommodate the mass testing required by the government.
And more than half of secondary heads say they have had difficulty obtaining parents’ consent for Covid testing, suggesting that the government’s plans to use twice-weekly lateral flow tests could run into difficulty.
The survey conducted by the Association of School and College Leaders found that while most schools should be able to complete testing within the first week, 7% said they would need to continue into the week beginning on 15 March to test all their students.
But even then, a substantial number of parents have still failed to give consent required for schools to test children under 16, while many heads also expect that some students at their school will refuse to wear face coverings. An overwhelming 84% of school leaders felt that government guidance – which recommends face coverings in classrooms but does not make them mandatory – fails to provide clarity for schools and colleges.
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of Schools and College Leaders, said schools and colleges had been given “a hospital pass” on having to handle difficult and time-consuming issues of both testing and face coverings.
Barton said:
It is worrying that the biggest problem emerging is the difficulty in obtaining parental consent for Covid tests. This is most likely to be simply a matter of oversight with some parents not returning forms and we would urge them to do so.
Secondary schools and colleges have also been handed the problem of extending the use of face coverings to classrooms, with government guidance that is clearly causing difficulties because it says they are not mandatory but their use must be implemented. This leaves schools and colleges in a very difficult position, and our survey shows that many will now have to navigate the difficult terrain of having some students who refuse to wear them.
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The government is facing a fierce row after recommending that most NHS staff should get a 1% pay increase next year. Labour and unions say they deserve more after their efforts in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
As the nurses’ union prepares to take industrial action and the TUC shows many NHS workers could effectively take home less pay than in 2010, here’s Peter Walker’s explainer on the pay dispute:
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A further 174 people have died in hospital in England after testing positive for Covid-19, NHS England said on Friday, taking the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 84,091.
Patients were aged between 26 and 102. All except six, aged between 61 and 89, had known underlying health conditions, PA reports.
The deaths were between 13 April and 4 March, with the majority being on or after 1 March. There were 30 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
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Nurses, paramedics, hospital porters and other NHS workers will see their pay fall below 2010 levels in real terms under the government’s planned 1% wage increase, a new analysis shows.
The TUC said its study found that paramedics will take home as much as £3,330 less, while nurses will see their pay fall by £2,500 and maternity care assistants by up to £2,100.
Porters’ pay will be down by up to £850, medical secretaries by £1,200 and nursery nurses by more than £2,000, said the TUC.
General secretary Frances O’Grady said:
After years of real-terms pay cuts, the government’s latest offer is a hammer blow to staff morale.
This boils down to political choices. Ministers have chosen to spend hundreds of millions on outsourcing our failed test-and-trace system and dodgy PPE contracts, but they have chosen not to find the money to give nurses, paramedics and other NHS workers fair pay.
Unison’s head of health Sara Gorton described the recommended figure as “derisory”, saying:
Health workers thought the government would show them respect and gratitude.
Instead, all they got was this derisory offer, a pat on the back and told the cupboard’s bare.
Ministers who’ve been happy to throw buckets of cash to fix their own failures should find the money for those who’ve put their lives on the line and made a real difference.
Without a decent pay rise, exhausted and experienced staff will leave, and then the NHS will be in an even more perilous state.
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A further 365,433 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in England, including first and second doses, taking the total number since the rollout began to 18,835,355.
Provisional NHS England data shows that 320,388 were first doses, while 45,045 received a second shot.
A total of 18,106,090 people have had the first dose of a vaccine, and 729,265 have received both.
Here’s PA’s breakdown of NHS England’s vaccines data, up to 4 March:
- London – 2,185,144 first doses and 97,653 second doses (2,282,797 in total)
- Midlands – 3,527,175 first doses and 126,482 second doses (3,653,657 in total)
- East of England - 2,139,366 first doses and 89,143 second doses (2,228,509 in total)
- North East and Yorkshire - 2,793,307 first and 113,572 second doses (2,906,879 in total)
- North West - 2,376,569 first and 89,716 second doses (2,466,285 in total)
- South East - 2,906,059 first and 125,017 second doses (3,031,076 in total)
- South West - 2,087,500 first and 87,028 second doses (2,174,528 in total)
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Travellers flying from England must have form stating reason for trip from Monday
Travellers risk being fined £200 if they go to an airport without a document stating the reason for their trip, the Department for Transport has announced.
From Monday, people flying abroad from England will need to complete and carry a Declaration to Travel document downloaded from the government’s website.
Police officers will be carrying out spot checks and will be able to able issue individuals who do not show a completed form with a £200 fine, the department said.
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Unite has launched a campaign to encourage members to accept the Covid-19 vaccination.
The union, which represents tens of thousands of NHS staff, has published information on the vaccine aimed at allaying concerns over its safety and efficacy.
The campaign follows reports that a fifth of NHS staff still haven’t received the vaccination, despite government claims that all NHS workers have been offered the jab.
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NHS England is asking line managers to have one-to-one conversations with staff who have refused the Covid-19 vaccine to persuade them to accept the jab by 12 March, according to an email seen by Health Service Journal.
NHSE’s chief people officer Prerana Issar wrote:
“As a result of your continued hard work we have seen an uptick in staff vaccination numbers, with nine out of [10] eligible staff now vaccinated. The feedback we’ve received is that your work with [black, Asian and minority ethnic] networks, chaplains and clinical leaders has had results.
“There are, however, a number of staff who have declined the first dose of the vaccine. As the evidence grows around the effectiveness of the vaccine and its ability to reduce transmission, we must now redouble our efforts in keeping each and every one of our staff safe …
“So we are asking that every staff member who declined the vaccine should now have a one-to-one conversation with their line manager to explain the powerful protective effects of the vaccine. It is the perfect opportunity to address concerns and better understand hesitancy.”
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More from the press conference on coronavirus with Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething, reported by PA.
“We haven’t had a regular pattern of the Prime Minister engaging directly with the other national governments of the United Kingdom. What has improved, though, from a long period of radio silence effectively from the UK Government, for a number of months now there have been regular meetings that Michael Gove has chaired, and those have been useful. But, as we all know, Michael Gove isn’t the Prime Minister.
“Whenever there’s a conversation with the UK government, there’s a need to then wait to see if that really is going to be the position taken because the UK government minister needs to go back to their boss to confirm what they are and aren’t doing, so that’s unhelpful in our relationships.
“It would be much better for all of us if we put the politics aside of how people do or don’t want to vote, which party they prefer, it would just be much better for all of us if the Prime Minister did meet regularly with the first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”
The number of people with Covid-19 in homes across England continues to fall, though the picture is uncertain in some regions, according to a PA report of an Office for National Statistics data release.
The new figures estimate that around one in 220 people in private households in England had Covid-19 between February 21 and 27 - the equivalent of 248,100 people.
The figure is down from around one in 145, or 373,700 people, for the period February 13 to 19, and is the lowest figure since the week to October 1 when it was one in 240.
The report also contains a regional breakdown:
The ONS said the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the latest figures had decreased in all regions except for north-east England, the East Midlands and eastern England, where it said the trend was uncertain.
North-east England had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to February 27 - around one in 150 people.
The West Midlands had the next highest estimate at one in 160, while the figure was one in 185 for the East Midlands; one in 190 for north-west England; one in 195 for London; one in 225 for Yorkshire and the Humber; one in 260 for eastern England; one in 340 for south-east England, and one in 365 for south-west England.
In Wales, the latest estimate was one in 285, down from 205, and in Northern Ireland it was one in 325, down from one in 195.
The estimate for Scotland for the week to February 27 was around one in 335 people, down from one in 225.
The latest data is based on swab tests from 684,875 people in the UK, regardless of whether they had symptoms, and does not include hospitals and care homes.
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Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething has said he understands why NHS staff are “hurt and upset” by the UK government’s proposed 1% pay rise, PA reports.
Gething told a press conference in Cardiff:
We’re waiting to see the outcome of the pay review body. We expect to publish the evidence that we’ve provided to that pay review body if not today, then in the very near future.
We certainly have not done what the UK government has done and tried to set an artificial ceiling on the pay rise that should be provided. We think that our staff do deserve a pay rise. We’re asking the pay review bodies for evidence for our determination, and advice on what that should be. We want to make sure that the UK government are in a position to properly fund that pay rise.
I understand why so many staff across our NHS will be feeling hurt and upset and a little angry at the evidence that the Department for Health and Social Care at the UK level have provided. As I say, when our evidence is published, you’ll see we have not taken that approach.
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Public urged to join handclap against 1% pay rise for NHS staff
Unison is calling upon the public to join a mass slow handclap against the 1% pay rise for NHS staff proposed in Wednesday’s budget.
The UK’s largest union, which represents public sector workers, is asking the public to stand on their doorsteps and balconies to protest next Thursday (11 March) at 8pm as part of its campaign to secure a pay rise of at leasr £2,000 for all NHS staff.
The slow handclap will be repeated three weeks later on 1 April, the day staff were due to have their next wage increase.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said:
Give the chancellor a slow hand clap for his miserly 1%. Times may be tough but this deal is below-inflation and derisory. It’s like the worst of austerity is back.
NHS staff have worked throughout the darkest days in health service history. They were expecting a fair increase that reflects their exceptional efforts.
Nurses, midwives, porters, cleaners and other health workers are upset, hurt and angry. There were 100,000 vacancies even before Covid hit. Now the health service will be losing staff quicker than they can recruit new ones.
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The coronavirus R rate has risen slightly this week
The UK’s Covid R rate has risen to between 0.7 and 0.9, according to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
This is a small rise on the estimated rate of between 0.6 and 0.9 last week, suggesting coronavirus is spreading slightly more.
A reproduction number – usually referred to as the R rate – between 0.7 and 0.9 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 7 and 9 other people.
If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is though to be growing, whereas if R falls below 1 the epidemic is shrinking.
PA reports that estimates of R are below 1 in all NHS regions of England, although the estimate for the North East and Yorkshire has an upper bound of 1.
The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M) said:
Although the epidemic continues to decrease nationally, there may be more variation in transmission locally, with some indications that the rate of decline in infections could be slowing in some areas.
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Nurses have expressed anger and disappointment at the proposed 1% pay rise that would see them take home £3.50 more a week.
Holly Turner, a nurse from Colchester, told the PA news agency it is “absolutely devastating to see (the government) place no value in us whatsoever”.
She said: “Strike action would be a complete last resort for us and it would have to be something that could be planned carefully in order to keep our patients safe because, for all NHS staff, patient safety is priority.
“But long term, if we’re going to keep our patients safe, if we need to take industrial action in order to do that, I think we will. We are exhausted, we are demoralised, we are fed up - but there is also an increased level of anger.”
Ameera Sheikh, an intensive care nurse and Unite union representative, said increasing costs of living had left people struggling on stagnant wages.
“We have treated people from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds to quite literally the leader of the country,” she said.
“We have sacrificed so much since the start of the pandemic, and that includes moving out of our family homes to live close to the hospital and protect our families and live in complete isolation, which is something that I’ve actually had to do.
“We are facing an increasingly dangerous workload in the intensive care unit, and a lot of staff being redeployed to ICU without basic intensive care training. Also, the lack of PPE and having to reuse PPE or wear expired PPE and risking our lives.”
Rachel Hall here taking over from Clea Skopeliti - do email over any tips and ideas to rachel.hall@theguardian.com.
The leader of Preston City Council has written to the health secretary Matt Hancock urging for the area to be prioritised in the vaccine rollout as cases in the city remain the highest in Lancashire.
Cllr Matthew Brown, the leader of the council, said in the letter that the rollout would be a matter of urgency in the local area.
He said:
I strongly urge you to take immediate action to ensure that areas are prioritised in the roll out of the vaccination programme to effectively suppress the transmission of Covid-19 where there is demonstrable evidence of continued higher infection rates for residents. This would ensure a key NHS principle of services provided according to need is met and would help address the disproportionate effect on vulnerable sections of our community including our BAME residents.
I believe that this action in high-risk transmission areas is necessary in order to facilitate the reduction in mortality rates that we are all looking for.
The letter follows a similar request made to the health secretary by Blackburn with Darwen Council.
Preston’s infection rate has remained in the top 10 highest infection rates in England since February, with a rate of 178.9 cases per 100,000 people.
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The Welsh government will review whether stay-at-home coronavirus regulations can be lifted when ministers carry out a review next week, as Covid rates fell to the lowest level since September.
At present, non-essential travel is banned and people are asked to stay home as much as possible.
Health minister Vaughan Gething said that the seven-day incidence rate across Wales had dropped to 50 cases per 100,000 people – the lowest level recorded since mid-September.
The R number remains below one and the test positivity rate is 5.4%.
The health minister said the number of people in hospital with Covid had fallen to the lowest level since 17 October.
Gething said ministers wanted to ensure rates were “as low as possible” before relaxing restrictions significantly.
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Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will lead a press conference later today at Downing Street with Public Health England’s Dr Susan Hopkins, No 10 has confirmed.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she is hopeful she can announce changes to outdoor meetings and how young people meet their friends next week, thanks to progress on the vaccine and falling case numbers.
Scotland’s clinical director Jason Leitch said that data around infections, hospital admissions and deaths were moving “quite quickly” in the right direction, but reminded reporters that this week’s WHO press conference was warning about a 9% increase in cases in Europe.
Referring to the WHO, Sturgeon also said that she believed vaccine passports were “some way off”.
“The biggest risk we face right now is, as we suppress the virus here, we have new variants that come in from elsewhere….everybody wants international travel restrictions lifted but they are possibly for this next phase the most important restrictions we have”.
Sturgeon was also asked about reports that UEFA may strip Glasgow of its European Championship matches because of concerns over whether fans will be allowed back into stadiums by June. Sturgeon said “all countries are grappling with this” but insisted “we are absolutely intent on having Hampden as one of the host stadiums of the Euros.”
The proportion of people testing positive for Covid-19 is estimated to have fallen in all regions except for north-east England, the East Midlands and eastern England, where the trend is uncertain, the ONS said.
Here’s a breakdown of the figures for England:
- In the North East, around one in 150 people were likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to 27 February.
- In the West Midlands, the figure was one in 160.
- East Midlands: one in 185
- North West: one in 190
- London: one in 195
- Yorkshire and the Humber: one in 225
- East: one in 260 for eastern England
- South East: one in 340
- South West: one in 365
Following the backlash from unions and the opposition, Downing Street has defended the proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff, saying it was what was “affordable”.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said:
We recognise the impact Covid has had on the NHS and we want to honour this.
But the pandemic has real consequences and we have done all that we can to protect jobs and save livelihoods.
The recommended 1% pay rise for NHS staff is what is affordable while acknowledging their work and commitment over the last 12 months.
Unite has said that since inflation could rise to 2% by the end of 2021, the 1% rise is in effect “another pay cut”.
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Unison has said health service personnel feel “gutted” about the recommended 1% pay rise.
Helga Pile, the union’s deputy head of health, told LBC:
We’ve got nurses, we’ve got cleaners, we’ve got paramedics who are going on shift tonight and they feel gutted. They feel gutted that the government is saying ‘all you’re worth is 1% and that’s all we’re going to give you’.
A 1% pay rise is an insult to the NHS staff who have worked tirelessly the last 12 months to look after us and keep us safe. #oneteam2k #ThankYouNHS pic.twitter.com/oyAAFYrRQu
— UNISON Health (@UNISONOurNHS) March 5, 2021
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Infection rates continue to fall as 1 in 220 in England had Covid last week
Infection rates have continued to fall across the UK in the week up to 27 February, the latest weekly ONS figures show.
In Wales, about one in 285 people are estimated to have had Covid-19 between 21 and 27 February – a fall from the previous ONS estimate of one in 205 for 13-19 February.
In England, about one in 220 are estimated to have had Covid-19 in the week up to 27 February, down from one in 145 the week before.
In Northern Ireland, the ONS estimates around one in 325 people had Covid-19 in the week to 26 February, from one in 195.
The estimate for Scotland for the week to 27 February is around one in 335 people, down from one in 225.
The statistics body said infection rates fell in all English regions other than the North East, East Midlands and East of England where the pattern is “uncertain”.
The infection rate decreased in all English regions except for the North East, East Midlands and East of England where the trend is uncertain in the week ending 27 February 2021 https://t.co/cvTBdqy3OZ pic.twitter.com/mxkU7RnKyt
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) March 5, 2021
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Keir Starmer has suggested the government’s 13-point lead on Labour is down to the success of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
A YouGov poll for the Times found that support for the Conservatives is at 45%, an increase of four points on last week, while Labour’s support dropped by four points to 32%.
Meanwhile, 36% said Boris Johnson would make a better prime minister than Starmer, while 28% chose the Labour leader. 33% said they did not know.
Asked why his popularity is falling among voters, the Labour leader said:
I think during a pandemic like this people want the government to succeed and you see that reflected in the polls.
Of course we’ve got a lot of work to do – I accept that – but I think in the middle of a pandemic, particularly with the vaccine rollout, people do want the government to succeed.
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Hospitality staff and bricklayers are some of the workers most likely to have seen their pay fall since the start of the pandemic, a new analysis by the Office for National Statistics suggests.
The ONS identified these jobs as “high vulnerability”, meaning they are non-key worker roles very unlikely to be done remotely.
Just under a third (32.4%) of employees in the UK fall into the high vulnerability group, and may have been more likely to see a reduction in working hours or wages during the pandemic.
More than half of workers (53%) who were furloughed last April worked in these roles, the ONS said.
Waiters and waitresses saw their median hourly pay fall by 10% between April 2019 to April 2020, and 77% were also likely to have been furloughed.
Bricklayers and masons recorded a wage decrease of 8% (64% of whom were estimated to be furloughed), air travel assistants had a drop of 8% (33% furloughed), and IT engineers saw a fall of 7% (26% furloughed).
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RCN to set up £35m industrial action fund
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will establish a £35m industrial action fund following the government’s recommendation of a 1% pay rise for more than a million NHS workers in England, its leaders have announced.
It follows a strike warning from Unite, the UK’s biggest union, which said it will be considering holding an industrial action ballot following the government’s “kick-in-the-teeth announcement”.
The main nurses’ union said in a statement:
A strike fund is an amount of money that can be used to support workers, who are members of a trade union, to provide some compensation for loss of earnings and campaigning during industrial action.
RCN council are determined to have the finances available to our members should they wish to take action.
In setting up this fund, the RCN will create the UK’s largest union strike fund overnight. The next steps will be decided in conjunction with our members.
GMB the union has also expressed anger at the proposed pay rise. Rachel Harrison, national officer of GMB, told PA that the figure was “dismissive and insulting to NHS workers who have had an incredibly tough year keeping us all safe”.
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The number of child welfare concerns reported to the NSPCC because of parental mental health problems have increased by 44% during the pandemic, new figures show, as the charity warned that parents are struggling to get help.
The child protection charity was contacted 3,608 times about the mental health of parents between April 2020 and January 2021 – 44% higher than average, PA reports.
Vicky Nevin, NSPCC senior policy and public affairs officer, said:
The period during pregnancy and after birth is a crucial time when parents are finding their feet, building bonds with their baby and trying to give them the best possible start in life.
Health visitors are in a prime position to reach families at this important early stage, to build trust and to spot any mental health concerns.
Access to support for families and babies has long been inconsistent, but the pandemic has now thrown up even bigger challenges for parents.
She called for “urgent action to ensure that health visitors are able to build up those vital relationships with parents and to refer families to quality services in the local area”.
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Keir Starmer has described the government’s recommendation of a 1% pay rise for more than a million NHS staff as a “real insult”, adding that they should be “recognised and properly rewarded”.
The Labour leader told reporters:
This is insulting to NHS staff on the front line - they have been on the front line throughout this pandemic.
It is not good enough just to clap them: this is a real insult. They need to be properly recognised and properly rewarded.
The prime minister tries to take credit for the vaccine rollout whilst cutting the pay of those who are actually delivering it, and it is insulting.
Starmer said a pay cut was “completely the wrong thing in this situation” as he called for the government to increase wages above the rate of inflation. He would not be drawn on a figure for how much pay should rise by.
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Unite warns of industrial action amid 1% pay rise
Unite, a leading union representing tens of thousands of health service staff, has said it will be considering holding an industrial action ballot, after the government decided nurses and other staff will only get a 1% pay rise.
Unite’s national officer for health, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, told the PA news agency:
Following yesterday’s kick-in-the-teeth announcement that the government wants to peg NHS pay at 1% for 2021-22, Unite will be considering all its options, including the holding of an industrial action ballot, as our pay campaign mounts in the coming weeks.
We will be fully consulting our members on the next steps, given that inflation could be 2% by the end of 2021, so what Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recommending is another pay cut in real terms.
It shows an unyielding contempt by ministers for those who have done so much to care for tens of thousands of Covid-19 patients in the last year.
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There will likely continue to be a “substantial” number of Covid deaths but the worst appears to be over, a government scientific adviser has said.
Prof Andrew Hayward, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said fatalities will continue to fall as more people are vaccinated, and death rates will likely begin to look more like those for flu as jabs are updated to tackle variants.
Prof Hayward told Times Radio:
I think given the societal trade-offs, we are going to have to live with a degree of mortality that will be substantial.
I think it will get less over time as more people get vaccinated, and as more people get immune, and I do believe that we’ve been through the worst of this.
Hayward said he does not think variants will completely evade the protection offered by existing vaccines, adding that they will still “reduce the case fatality rates”.
Manufacturers are working to adapt vaccines to deal with emerging virus variants, which could be fast-tracked for approval by autumn. Hayward said:
Of course, we have the technology to update the vaccines and I think that’s where we’re going really, a situation that will be much more like flu, the numbers of deaths will be much more like flu, the approach to surveillance of new strains and development of new vaccines and regular annual vaccinations will be like that. And we will get back to normal.
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Government considering changes to school calendar
The government is reportedly considering shortening summer holidays and introducing a five-term school calendar as part of efforts to help students catch up on lost teaching hours.
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, told an interviewer in the i that the options were being looked at by the Department for Education’s education recovery commissioner, Kevan Collins, who was appointed to the role in February.
Asked if he thought England’s six-week summer break was too long, the education secretary told the i that “we should never be nervous about looking at new routes and different ways of doing things”.
Williamson added that there had “always been a lively and strong debate” around whether the “distribution of holidays” was right.
It follows the schools standards minister, Nick Gibb, last month telling MPs on the Commons education committee he was “open to all ideas” on how to help pupils make up for lost lessons.
Plans to lengthen school days have previously been dismissed by the school leaders’ union as “superficially attractive” but unhelpful. The NAHT said providing pupils with greater feedback by investing in more teachers and enabling greater opportunities for one-to-one and small group learning would be more effective in helping children to catch up.
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The proportion of people who feel that life will return to normal within six months has risen to about a third, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics’ Opinions and Lifestyle Survey shows.
It is the first survey since the government’s plan for relaxing restrictions in England was announced.
About a third (32%) of adults now believe it will take six months or less, compared with just over one in five (22%) last week.
The proportion of adults who think that it will take more than a year fell to two in 10 (20%), compared with just over a quarter (27%) last week.
Around a third (32%) of adults felt life will return to normal in six months or less compared with 22% last week.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) March 5, 2021
1 in 5 (20%) adults felt that it will take more than a year for life to return to normal https://t.co/B6bUStZf3E pic.twitter.com/Aq3uI91sFG
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Conservative backbencher Roger Gale has criticised the 1% pay rise for NHS staff, accusing the government of acting in an “inept” way over the issue.
The MP for North Thanet told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think more is needed. I think the way that this has been presented and handled has been inept, and I have to say that.
I’m not going to try and put a figure on this and it is expected that the government will start low and the unions will start high, and normally there is an agreement reached somewhere in the middle.
But we are facing exceptional circumstances and yes, I know, that over a period of three years nurses have had a considerable pay increase, but that is not what I think the public wants in terms of recognition of a wholly exceptional situation.
Gale added that the small pay rise concerns ancillary staff as well as nurses, saying that the “people who do the mopping up when people are dying or have died ... seem to get forgotten, and they shouldn’t be”.
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Some people with severe asthma who are eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine have been denied one by their GP amid confusion about priority groups, a charity has warned.
Some GPs appear to only be referring those with recent hospital admission – rather than any history of admission, Asthma UK has said, despite guidance issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), PA reports.
The guidance for priority group six says anyone with asthma that has led to hospitalisation should be vaccinated, as well as those who have had three tablet or liquid steroid prescriptions over a three-month period.
Responding to reports that some patients were told they must have been in hospital in the last 12 months to be eligible, Sarah Woolnough, the chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, said:
We know that there are different interpretations of the official guidance from GP surgery staff and we’re not sure why exactly this is happening.
We know that GPs are very busy and trying to vaccinate so many people quickly, and keep on top of very complex daily new information about Covid-19 and the vaccination programme.
But it’s essential that GPs follow official guidance, so that people with asthma who need to be prioritised are protected now.
Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said group six “is a large group of approximately seven million patients” so it is likely “some will not yet have been invited for their first jab”.
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It is “important” that children get the “full amount of schooling that we know that they can cope with and benefit from”, the Ofsted chief inspector has said, adding that she hoped coronavirus measures at schools would be kept for “as short a time as possible”.
Asked whether adjustments should be made to give pupils more teaching hours, Amanda Spielman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think we need to make sure children get their full allocation of schooling. Around the world we see quite a bit of variation in the number of hours of teaching that children get across the school year.
What is important is that we make sure that children get the full amount of schooling that we know that they can cope with and benefit from.
Spielman also said she hoped measures such as coronavirus tests for pupils and the wearing of face coverings in secondary schools would be in place for “as short a time as possible”, adding that she acknowledged the “need for infection controls”.
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Government under fire for 1% NHS pay rise
Good morning everyone. I will be running the blog today so feel free to drop me a message on Twitter with any suggestions for coverage.
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has called for NHS staff to get a bigger pay rise after the government decided on 1% next year, despite Boris Johnson’s effusive praise for their efforts during the pandemic.
Starmer tweeted: “You can’t rebuild a country by cutting nurses’ pay. Give our Covid heroes a pay rise.”
Nurses and doctors accused ministers of not valuing health service personnel highly enough after the recommendation that more than 1 million staff should receive only a small increase.
The Department of Health and Social Care has submitted its proposal to the NHS pay review body, which will decide in May how much of a salary uplift the vast majority of NHS staff across the UK should get in 2021-22. The 1% rise would apply to all staff apart from junior doctors, GPs and dentists.
If the review body accepted the department’s advice, “a pay award as poor as this would amount to only an extra £3.50 per week take-home pay for an experienced nurse”, said Dame Donna Kinnair, the chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing.
In a series of interviews on Friday morning, health minister Nadine Dorries defended the 1% rise for NHS staff in England, saying the government could not afford to offer a higher wage increase – although she conceded that “in an ideal world” nurses would be paid more.
Dorries said that nurses have had a 12% pay increase over the last three years (though this only applies to newly-qualified nurses).
Asked if there were any chance for a higher rise, Dorries said the discussion is “above her pay-scale” and “every recommendation will be valued and discussed”.
Budget documents have revealed there is a planned cut of £30bn in day-to-day spending at the DHSC from April of this year, falling from £199.2bn to £169.1bn.
Asked about the cut, the health minister said: “That 30 billion, I believe, was a reduction on the pandemic spending - there are actually real-time increases going into the NHS budget year on year. That figure, I’m afraid, is completely wrong - that’s not on our annual funding of the NHS, that was on our pandemic budget, which is completely separate.”
Here’s today’s agenda:
09:30, social impacts of Covid-19 survey;
09:30, research on Covid and job vulnerability;
12:00, weekly Covid infection survey.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will also be hosting a press briefing this afternoon.
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