Coronavirus

Former education secretary DAVID BLUNKETT says the government has failed to appreciate the scale of the damage the pandemic is inflicting on children’s prospects. The British, or more accurately the English, handling of the Covid pandemic has thrown up two markedly different levels of success and competence. I’m not talking here about the fiascos relating […]

A Tory MP has been accused of spreading “dangerous misconceptions” about Covid-19 after he called for an end to England’s lockdown. Sir Christopher Chope made a number of claims about the coronavirus which a government adviser described as “outright falsehoods”. Stephen Reicher, an adviser to the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), took aim at […]

Forcing an employee to have a coronavirus vaccine in order to keep their job would be “discriminatory”, Downing Street has said. Some care home staff are reportedly refusing to have a Covid jab – with some providers said to be considering not hiring staff who have refused the vaccination on non-medical grounds. And Charlie Mullins, […]

A German minister has hit back at comparisons between the EU and the UK over coronavirus vaccines – by pointing to the death and infection rate in the country. German economy minister Peter Altmaier – an ally of Angela Merkel – claimed there had been “endless suffering” in Britain because of the government’s handling of […]

Ministers have sought to reassure the public over the effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as experts warned it was “very possible” the South African variant is already quite widespread in the UK. A study of around 2,000 people has shown the jab only offers minimal protection against mild disease of the South Africa variant […]

Cronyism concerns have led to Labour urging companies with Conservative Party links to disclose their pandemic profits. Research by the Opposition suggests the value of contracts awarded to firms with connections to the Tories amounts to almost £2 billion. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves is expected to reveal she has written to the top […]

The government’s top scientific advisers warned last month that a “complete, pre-emptive closure of borders” was needed to fully prevent new coronavirus strains being imported into the UK – despite Number 10 claiming otherwise. Minutes from a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) held on January 21 revealed that the experts said the […]

Tory former health minister Jeremy Hunt has urged caution about reports of Covid restriction being mostly gone by May. Speaking with the Guardian, Hunt said cases should drop to 1,000 per day before re-opening the economy. Hunt’s remarks come as lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs are calling for measures to be lifted entirely by June. On Thursday, […]

Ministers have been accused of being too slow to act after it was disclosed new coronavirus quarantine hotels will not come into force until mid-February. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that, from February 15, travellers returning to the UK from “red list” countries will have to quarantine in a government-approved facility […]

As Britain’s vaccine rollout gets further through the population, it’s challenges are going to mount, explains JAMES BALL. In this long, grey, lockdown winter there is only one real hope of a sustainable way to open up during the spring: the mass rollout of coronavirus vaccines. The comforting fact is there is a lot of […]

Tory lockdown-sceptics have expressed worry that the government is shifting the goalposts on reopening society as they called for complete removal of restrictions by the end of May. The prime minister told a Downing Street briefing that the level of coronavirus infections in the country was still “forbiddingly high” and that it was too soon […]

Implementing tougher Australia-style border closures would not help the UK tackle the coronavirus pandemic, transport secretary Grant Shapps has insisted. The cabinet minister said the UK’s proximity to continental Europe means it is important that vital goods and people continue to move in and out of the country. The government has faced criticism for not […]

Matt Hancock has downplayed suggestions he took advice on the UK’s vaccine strategy from a Hollywood film, telling Good Morning Britain (GMB) he had in fact consulted numerous sources. Hancock told LBC radio he had become aware that a row could break out over who was eligible for a Covid jab from Contagion, a 2011 thriller about the deadly outbreak of […]

The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned Ryanair’s “jab and go” holiday advertisement campaign, citing concerns it encourages the public to act irresponsibly once they had received the coronavirus vaccine. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the two ads, which were the third-most complained-about of all time, mere days after the airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said […]

Captain Sir Tom Moore has died at the age of 100 after testing positive for Covid-19. The charity fundraiser was taken to Bedford Hospital on Sunday after being treated for pneumonia for some time and testing positive for coronavirus last week. In a statement, his daughters Hannah and Lucy said: “It is with great sadness […]

Downing Street has denied that government scientific advisers called for the closure of UK borders to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants ‘weeks ago’. The discovery of the South Africa strain of coronavirus has prompted a series of travel bans, with people arriving into England from anywhere outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands […]

A “mutation of concern” has been detected in the UK variant of coronavirus, which scientists have described as “a worrying development”. This mutation, known as E484K, is already present in both South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants and experts believe it could have an impact on the effectiveness of some Covid-19 vaccines. Laboratory studies have […]

A Tory MP who refused to apologise for misleading comments about Covid-19 may still face disciplinary action by his party, Michael Gove has hinted. Sir Desmond Swayne wrongly told a group of vaccine sceptics that some Covid-19 data had been “manipulated” while encouraging them to “persist” with their campaign against lockdown restrictions. Gove, a cabinet minister, said […]

James O’Brien has hit out at critics who have said Remainers are defending the EU’s decision to impose a hard border on the island of Ireland, simply because they are supporters of the bloc. O’Brien took some time during his show on LBC radio to address accusations that Remainers have failed to condemn the EU over […]

Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock have both been compared to TV characters in the latest poll that explored public perceptions of No 10’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Respondents said Johnson reminded them of Mr Bean while the health secretary was compared to the self-pitying Ian Beale from BBC’s EastEnders. A portion wished New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden […]

An anti-Brexit campaigner has called on politicians in Westminster and Brussels to “think more maturely” after the EU invoked Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Scientists for EU director Dr Mike Galsworthy said the “kerfuffle” over the weekend “in no way justifies burning £200billion on Brexit”. On Friday, EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen triggered Article 16 of […]

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc’s contracts with AstraZeneca – which produces one of several Covid jabs – contains binding orders and clear delivery quantities. AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot has said the contract was “not a commitment” and that the firm had only agreed to meet demand to its “best effort”. Von der […]

A government minister has defended the government’s decision to lock down when it did in March, despite saying that acting earlier “would have saved more lives”. Apprenticeships minister Gillian Keegan told Question Time that had the country locked down earlier and shut its borders then “we would have had a lower death toll for sure”. […]

A German MEP has warned the UK is acting like Donald Trump over the coronavirus vaccines. Dr Peter Liese was speaking to the BBC’s Newscast podcast when said the UK appeared to be echoing the former US president’s “US-first policy”. He said: “If it’s true what some say that the UK had a ‘UK first’ contract – […]

Priti Patel has denied that she was hypocritical for going on a work trip away from London after criticising social media influencers for using work as an excuse to travel. The home secretary defended the decision to leave London for a meet and greet with police officers, saying it was part of her “statutory duties”. She […]

PAUL KNOTT on the reasons behind Brussels’ stuttering vaccine rollout. Alarm bells are ringing loud across the European Union about the slow rollout of its Covid-19 vaccinations. Brussels opted for a characteristically centralised vaccine process in order to reduce tensions between countries, but may have ended up inadvertently stoking them. The original decisions that partly caused this unsteady […]

The government has withdrawn a “stay home, save lives” poster following backlash over its apparently sexist depiction of women. The poster showed one picture of a woman reclining in a man’s arms on the sofa followed by three images of women looking after children and doing housework. Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “It has been […]

An excursion to film a new BBC show provides some escape from politics… but not much. I virtually unplugged from politics for a whole day last week, and felt a lot better for it, until the day ended, and I caught up with what had been happening in my absence. Just another day in the […]

Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne has refused to apologise for telling vaccine sceptics to “persist” with their campaign against lockdown restrictions, arguing he was unaware of their position on jabs. After being told to apologise by Cabinet minister Michael Gove, the New Forest West MP told the PA news agency: “I have always had a […]

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has said there is “an opportunity to look back” at government decisions made during the pandemic as he dismissed concerns it should not have allowed households to mix over Christmas. Gove suggested the government was not to blame for a spike in infections after Christmas during an interview on Good Morning Britain (GMB). No […]

A Tory minister has refused to say if one of their MPs should lose the whip for “completely out of order” comments about Covid-19 statistics. Swayne was interviewed by a US anti-vaccine campaigner and urged an anti-lockdown group to persist with their efforts, suggesting official data should not be trusted. He said he is a […]

Tory Brexiteer Sir Desmond Swayne has been accused of spreading “dangerous misinformation” about the coronavirus after he reportedly said that the infection and mortality figures had been “manipulated”. In comments reportedly made in November, the lockdown-sceptic Tory MP told the group Save Our Rights UK that the UK was “bouncing round at the typical level of […]