Coronavirus UK news – Boris Johnson 'no hesitation' in moving nations to red list as travel 'at risk from Nepal variant'
BORIS Johnson warned the Government will have "no hesitation" over moving countries off the green list if necessary.
The PM said he will "wait and see" what the recommendations of the Joint Biosecurity Centre are before announcing changes to the UK's travel lists.
It comes as the UK recorded 12 deaths from Covid yesterday – the highest number of cases since April 1.
After analysis of data on the current rate of coronavirus infections versus hospitalisations and deaths, the PM today declared he as yet hadn't seen anything to justify delaying the plan to end Covid restrictions on June 21.
Boris did stop short of saying June 21 would definitely happen, however, and insisted on waiting "a little bit longer" before making a firm decision.
"I can see nothing in the data at the moment that means we can't go ahead with step four of the opening on 21 June," he said on Wednesday..
Yet he stressed a need to be "cautious" due to "ambiguous" data on how successful the UK's vaccine programme is in fighting a new infection surge.
Read our coronavirus live blog below for the latest news and updates…
- Joseph Gamp
TRAVEL LIST CHANGES EXPECTED AS HOLIDAYMAKERS AWAIT TO SEE IMPACT OF VARIANTS
Holidaymakers are bracing themselves for changes to the Government's travel list, amid concerns over the impact of Covid-19 variants on summer plans.
Ministers are predicted to update the traffic light destination system on Thursday, which could see countries moving between the green, amber and red lists.
On Wednesday, Boris Johnson warned the Government will have "no hesitation" over moving countries off the green list if necessary, and said it will "wait and see" what the recommendations of the Joint Biosecurity Centre are before announcing changes to the travel lists.
People returning to the UK from green locations are not required to self-isolate, and only need to take one post-arrival coronavirus test.
Travellers returning from amber list locations – which includes popular hotspots such as Spain, France, Italy and Greece – must quarantine at home for 10 days and take two post-arrival tests, while there is a travel ban to red list countries.
- Joseph Gamp
WATCH: BELGIUM FOOTBALL STARS TAKE COVID JAB BUT SOME REFUSE IT AS IT WILL WRECK THEIR EURO 2020 CHANCES
Belgium football stars take Covid jab but some refuse it as it will wreck their Euro 2020 chances
- Joseph Gamp
CARE HOME DEATHS FALL BY 17% ON PREVIOUS WEEK
Some 25 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales were registered in the week to May 21, down 17% on the previous week.
In total, 42,486 care home residents in England and Wales have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.
The ONS figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes.
- Joseph Gamp
PUPILS TO BE OFFERED EXTRA TUITION AND OPTION TO REPEAT YEAR UNDER £1.4bn PLAN
Pupils will be offered up to 100 million hours of tuition as part of the Government’s multimillion-pound catch-up programme for children in England who have faced disruption to schooling due to Covid-19.
The Department for Education (DfE) has announced an additional £1.4 billion of funding – on top of the £1.7 billion already pledged for catch-up – to help pupils make up for lost learning following months of school closures.
As part of the recovery package, some Year 13 students will be given the option to repeat their final year if they have been badly affected by Covid.
Schools and colleges will be funded by the DfE to help accommodate the additional student numbers.
But education unions have described the £1.4 billion funding package as “hugely disappointing” and a “damp squib”, with one school leaders’ union boss warning that the announcement “lets down the nation’s children”.
- Joseph Gamp
MAPPED: GLOBAL PANDEMIC HOTSPOTS WHERE NEW COVID VARIANTS COULD EMERGE
- Joseph Gamp
MODERNA PLANS MIX OF VACCINES
Moderna is gearing up to halve the dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, the U.S. drugmaker said on Wednesday, so that it can also be used to combat variants and inoculate children.
It has agreed a deal with Swiss-based drugmaker Lonza which said a new drug substance production line in Geleen, Netherlands, will have capacity to make ingredients for up to 300 million doses annually at 50 micrograms per dose.
“We’re assuming that as of 2022, we are going to have a mix of dose levels on the market,” a spokeswoman for Moderna said.
- Joseph Gamp
INTRO FOR THE ANTI-VAX CONSPIRACY EXPLORES THE RISE OF THE ANTI-VAXXER COMMUNITY DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC
Intro for The Anti-Vax Conspiracy explores the rise of the anti-vaxxer community during the Covid pandemic
- Joseph Gamp
SCIENTISTS PLEAD FOR DELAY TO ROADMAP OVER VARIANT HOTSPOT ‘VOLCANOES’
Scientists are pleading for a delay of the June 21 unlocking as Covid variant hotspots are like “volcanoes” set to explode.
Government scientific advisers have repeated calls to wait a month to end all restrictions amid spread of the Indian strain.
Dr Lisa Spencer, honorary secretary of the British Thoracic Society, told the BBC: “There are a few hotspots around the UK. These are areas where the variant first identified in India seem to be causing a majority of the infections, spreading quickly.
“These areas of the country represent mini-Covid volcanoes, that’s the problem.
“If we don’t handle these volcanoes carefully they could explode and send a massive gas plume across much more of the UK.”
- Joseph Gamp
12 MORE UK DEATHS FROM COVID-19
The Government said a further 12 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 127,794.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The Government also said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 4,330 lab-confirmed cases in the UK.
- Joseph Gamp
75% OF BRITS HAVE NOW HAD THE FIRST DOSE OF THE JAB
The UK has hit a milestone in its coronavirus vaccination programme as 75 per cent of Brits have now had a first dose of a jab.
It comes the day after zero Covid deaths were reported, amid debate over lockdown restrictions ending.
The next set of lockdown restrictions are due to end on June 21, but doubt had been cast over this date due to a rise in cases of the Indian variant – especially in the North West.
Yesterday no deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 were reported for the first time since July 30 last year – in a sign that vaccines are protecting people from severe infection.
Extra jabs have been rolled out in hotspot areas and the UK was also given an extra boost last week after the Johnson & Johnson jab was approved for use.
- Joseph Gamp
GRAPHIC: COVID VACCINATIONS IN THE UK
- Joseph Gamp
CARE HOME DEATHS FALL BY 17% ON PREVIOUS WEEK
Some 25 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales were registered in the week to May 21, down 17% on the previous week.
In total, 42,486 care home residents in England and Wales have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.
The ONS figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes.
- Joseph Gamp
WATCH: BORIS JOHNSON HAILS 'PHENOMENAL ACHIEVEMENT' AS THREE IN FOUR BRITS HAVE HAD FIRST JAB
Boris Johnson hails ‘phenomenal achievement’ as three in four Brits have had first jab
- Joseph Gamp
SCOTLAND RECORDS ONE COVID DEATH
Scotland has recorded one death of a coronavirus patient and 677 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures.
The death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 7,670.
The Scottish Government data indicates the daily test positivity rate is 2.8%, down from 3.1% the previous day.
A total of 114 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed Covid-19, up from 106 the day before, with 10 patients in intensive care – no change.
So far, 3,286,26 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 2,106,177 have received their second dose.
- Joseph Gamp
TESTING STEPPED UP IN BID TO HALT RISING COVID CASES IN BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN
Testing for Covid-19 will be stepped up in Blackburn with Darwen as health chiefs hope to control its rising infection rates “in the next week or so”.
The East Lancashire borough has recently overtaken Bolton as England’s top Covid hotspot area as cases rise in parts of the north-west region amid concerns over the spread of the Indian variant.
The rate in Blackburn with Darwen currently stands at 436.2 cases per 100,000 people, with 653 new cases in the seven days to May 28.
This is up from 303.3 in the seven days to May 21.
Bolton in Greater Manchester has the second highest rate, down from 452.8 to 375.2, with 1,079 new cases.
- Joseph Gamp
SCIENTISTS PLEAD FOR DELAY TO ROADMAP OVER VARIANT HOTSPOT 'VOLCANOES'
Scientists are pleading for a delay of the June 21 unlocking as Covid variant hotspots are like “volcanoes” set to explode.
Government scientific advisers have repeated calls to wait a month to end all restrictions amid spread of the Indian strain.
Dr Lisa Spencer, honorary secretary of the British Thoracic Society, told the BBC: “There are a few hotspots around the UK. These are areas where the variant first identified in India seem to be causing a majority of the infections, spreading quickly.
“These areas of the country represent mini-Covid volcanoes, that’s the problem.
“If we don’t handle these volcanoes carefully they could explode and send a massive gas plume across much more of the UK.”
- Joseph Gamp
HANCOCK HAILS UK’S VACCINE CONFIDENCE
Confidence in the Covid-19 vaccines has been “sky high” in Britain, Matt Hancock has said.
The Health Secretary told the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit: “Across the UK confidence in the vaccine programme has been sky high.
“We continue to top the list of places where people are willing to take, or have taken, a Covid vaccine – around nine in 10 of us.”
He added: “I am aware that this isn’t a vaccine world cup – different nations don’t compete for one prize, we know that when everyone is safe we’re all going to be the winners.”
Mr Hancock added that when vaccine confidence in one country “takes a hit” then “word can spread, fake news travels fast”. "Vaccine confidence is an international challenge and one that takes international action,” he added.
- Joseph Gamp
12 MORE UK DEATHS FROM COVID-19
The Government said a further 12 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 127,794.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The Government also said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 4,330 lab-confirmed cases in the UK.
- Joseph Gamp
GRAPHIC: UK COVID-19 CASES AND DEATHS PER DAY
- Joseph Gamp
75% OF BRITS HAVE NOW HAD THE FIRST DOSE OF THE JAB
The UK has hit a milestone in its coronavirus vaccination programme as 75 per cent of Brits have now had a first dose of a jab.
It comes the day after zero Covid deaths were reported, amid debate over lockdown restrictions ending.
The next set of lockdown restrictions are due to end on June 21, but doubt had been cast over this date due to a rise in cases of the Indian variant – especially in the North West.
Yesterday no deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 were reported for the first time since July 30 last year – in a sign that vaccines are protecting people from severe infection.
Extra jabs have been rolled out in hotspot areas and the UK was also given an extra boost last week after the Johnson & Johnson jab was approved for use.
- [email protected]
POLICE OFFICERS FOUND AT PARTY IN BREACH OF COVID-19 REGULATIONS
A group of police officers are being investigated by their force after being found at a party in contravention of Covid-19 rules.
Police were called to the gathering at a property in Hove, East Sussex, on May 15, where the off-duty officers were found inside.
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "Police officers were called to an address in Hove, following reports of a gathering inside on Saturday May 15 at 8.46pm.
"They entered and found a number of off-duty officers present.
"This incident, in breach of current lockdown restrictions, is being investigated by the force's Professional Standards Department."
- Joseph Gamp
CARE HOME DEATHS FALL BY 17% ON PREVIOUS WEEK
Some 25 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales were registered in the week to May 21, down 17% on the previous week.
In total, 42,486 care home residents in England and Wales have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.
The ONS figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes.
- [email protected]
WATCH: BORIS JOHNSON SAYS THERE IS 'NO NEED' TO DELAY REOPENING
Boris Johnson says still no need to delay June 21 roadmap but says SORRY for lockdown limbo
- [email protected]
HANCOCK HAILS UK’S VACCINE CONFIDENCE
Confidence in the Covid-19 vaccines has been “sky high” in Britain, Matt Hancock has said.
The Health Secretary told the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit: “Across the UK confidence in the vaccine programme has been sky high.
“We continue to top the list of places where people are willing to take, or have taken, a Covid vaccine – around nine in 10 of us.”
He added: “I am aware that this isn’t a vaccine world cup – different nations don’t compete for one prize, we know that when everyone is safe we’re all going to be the winners.”
Mr Hancock added that when vaccine confidence in one country “takes a hit” then “word can spread, fake news travels fast”.
“Vaccine confidence is an international challenge and one that takes international action,” he added.
- [email protected]
TESTING STEPPED UP IN BID TO HALT RISING COVID CASES IN BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN
Testing for Covid-19 will be stepped up in Blackburn with Darwen as health chiefs hope to control its rising infection rates “in the next week or so”.
The East Lancashire borough has recently overtaken Bolton as England’s top Covid hotspot area as cases rise in parts of the north-west region amid concerns over the spread of the Indian variant.
The rate in Blackburn with Darwen currently stands at 436.2 cases per 100,000 people, with 653 new cases in the seven days to May 28.
This is up from 303.3 in the seven days to May 21.
Bolton in Greater Manchester has the second highest rate, down from 452.8 to 375.2, with 1,079 new cases.
Source: Read Full Article
