Category Archives: UK news

UK bans flights from South Africa as New York to check on all British arrivals

Posted on by

Visitors who have travelled from or through South Africa will be denied entry to England and all direct flights banned

A ban on all direct flights from South Africa to England came into force on Christmas Eve morning, while New York authorities announced they would visit arrivals from the UK to check they were quarantining, amid the spread of new variants of coronavirus in the UK and South Africa.

The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the new mutation in South Africa was “highly concerning”, and was believed to be even more transmissible than the variant in the south-east of England that led to the introduction of tier 4 restrictions.

Continue reading...

‘Please help us’: child refugees running out of time to reach UK before Brexit

Posted on by

Desperate relatives in Britain plead with Home Office for flexibility as paperwork holdups delay family reunions while deadline looms

The Home Office has said it will not allow a group of stranded refugee children to join their families in the UK if their cases do not make it through the Greek asylum system by 31 December when the EU family reunification programme comes to an end.

Around 20 children who are eligible to join their relatives in the UK under the current family reunification scheme are still waiting for their cases to be completed in Greece, before the UK government ends the programme when it leaves the EU on the 31st December.

Continue reading...

Brexit trade and security deal with EU within ‘touching distance’, says No 10

Posted on by

Britain and Europe still seeking last-minute advantage in final stages of negotiations

A post-Brexit trade and security treaty with the European Union is within “touching distance”, Downing Street said on Wednesday night as Boris Johnson prepared to overcome final disagreements to unveil a hard-fought Christmas Eve deal.

The prime minister is expected to seal the deal following a final call with the European commission president Ursula von der Leyen – but the two sides were battling deep into the night to gain a last-minute advantage.

Continue reading...

Kent volunteers make pizzas and hot meals for stranded lorry drivers – video

Posted on by

A Kent football team made 200 pizzas and delivered them to stranded lorry drivers on the M20 and Manston airport on Tuesday night.

Hot meals were also provided by a Sikh charity and delivered by Gravesend's Gurdwara Sikh community as thousands of lorry drivers waited for information after France closed its border with the UK for fear of a new variant of Covid-19

Continue reading...

Indian news channel fined in UK for hate speech about Pakistan

Posted on by

Ofcom imposes £20,000 penalty on Republic TV for ‘highly pejorative’ comments on talk show

A rightwing Indian news channel known for its strong pro-government stance and firebrand host has been fined by the UK regulator Ofcom for broadcasting hate speech about Pakistan.

Republic TV was fined £20,000 for airing a segment on its UK service, which conveyed the view that all Pakistani people are terrorists, including “their scientists, doctors, their leaders, politicians […] Even their sports people”.

Continue reading...

South African Covid-19 variant may be ‘more effective at spreading’

Posted on by

Research still to confirm threat posed but variant does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms

The South African variant of Covid-19, two cases of which have now been detected in the UK, is likely to be more transmissible, may hit young people harder, and may be slightly more resistant to vaccines, scientists in South Africa believe.

However, research is still continuing to confirm the threat posed by the variant, which does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms or require different treatment.

Continue reading...

Fears UK aid cuts could undermine research on deadliest diseases

Posted on by

Exclusive: experts sign letter warning against slashing spending on public-private programmes

Experts fear a push to cut the UK’s aid budget will slash spending on global health research, handicapping international public-private programmes that have helped combat the world’s deadliest diseases over the last decade.

In a letter addressed to the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, last week, prominent parliamentarians sought reassurance that the planned cuts would not lead to “dramatic reductions” in investment for devastating diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, Aids and a clutch of neglected tropical diseases.

Continue reading...

More data needed before giving just one vaccine dose, says Covid adviser

Posted on by

Tony Blair and others make argument for giving more people a single jab rather than two

A senior scientific adviser has said more data is needed before the government can adopt a proposal to give as many people as possible a single dose of a Covid vaccine rather than preserving stocks so there is enough for a second jab.

The former prime minister Tony Blair and Prof David Salisbury, a former director of immunisation at the Department of Health, backed the idea on Wednesday, saying second shots should be given only when more stock is available.

Continue reading...

Panic, paucity and pessimism: life on Plague Island UK | Zoe Williams

Posted on by

With a mutant Covid variant out of control and lorries piling up in Kent, Britain feels like a country adrift and rudderless

The rest of the world is calling the UK Plague Island because it’s true: a mutant strain of the coronavirus is out of control, laying waste to fantasies that any region is out of the woods, or that the November lockdown had its desired effect, or that we might manage a “merry little Christmas”, in the words of the prime minister.

The plague phrase carries a lot of resonance, beyond being a reference to the high prevalence of infectious disease: it casts us as a far-flung place, isolated, chaotic, uncivilised, a place that wise and/or decent people stay well away from. But is that how it feels from the inside?

Continue reading...

What do we know about the two new Covid-19 variants in the UK?

Posted on by

One appears to have arisen in Kent, the other brought in from South Africa. Both are highly transmissible

Two new variants of Covid-19 have been identified as of concern in the UK, both said to be more transmissible than the previously dominant version. Here’s what we know so far.

Continue reading...

From plans to panic: how the UK’s week of Covid chaos unfolded – video timeline

Posted on by

The week before Christmas quickly turned chaotic as the health secretary, Matt Hancock, announced a new, more contagious strain of coronavirus had been found in south-east England. The news resulted in a last-minute government U-turn over Christmas mixing rules, the implementation of a new, stricter coronavirus tier, and dozens of countries suspending travel from the UK days before the end of the Brexit transition period, prompting 'Plague Island' to trend on Twitter. Here is a look back at the week of chaos

Continue reading...

Neil Ferguson: new Covid variant ‘in great majority if not all’ European countries – video

Posted on by

Prof Neil Ferguson tells the UK's science and technology committee that evidence from Denmark, a country with a relatively low infection rate, suggests that 'almost certainly' the new virus variant identified in the UK is already in the 'great majority if not all' European countries

Continue reading...

Lorry drivers clash with police as tensions boil over in Dover – video

Posted on by

Frustrated drivers scuffled with police at the entrance to the port of Dover on Wednesday morning, amid anger at the continued partial closure of the French border. Paris and London agreed late on Tuesday that drivers who tested negative for Covid could board ferries for Calais from Wednesday, but there was anger among hauliers stuck in huge queues in Kent at the speed of the rollout of testing facilities

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: UK to ban travel from South Africa over new variant; Canada approves Moderna vaccine

Posted on by

More areas of England moved up into tiers 4 and 3; UK has highest recorded daily rise in cases; new variant discovered in travellers from South Africa

The European Union’s transport commissioner, Adina Valean has said that she is pleased stranded trucks are now moving “slowly across the Channel”, as restrictions between France and the UK were lifted.

The initial restrictions were imposed after the UK discovered a new variant of the Covid-19 virus, which, reportedly has a faster transmission rate.

Around 10.000 truck drivers are seeking to get back in the EU. Other thousands are already in the Dover area in their vehicles.

We worked hard these days to unblock a crisis between two European countries, France and the UK.
We issued a communication appealing for proportional, non-discriminatory measures and the lift of any restrictions for transport workers.

I am pleased that at this moment, we have trucks slowly crossing the channel, and I want to thank UK authorities that they started testing the drivers at a capacity of 300 tests per hour.

Continue reading...

UK ferry passengers disembark in Calais after France eases travel ban

Posted on by

About 4,000 lorries, and thousands more small vans, were waiting to cross the Channel on Wednesday morning

Passengers from the UK disembarked from ferries in the port of Calais early on Wednesday after Britain and France agreed a deal to ease a travel ban imposed over the discovery of a new coronavirus variant.

The Cotes des Flandres ferry – the first ship to leave Dover after the restrictions were lifted – arrived at about 3.30am local time, followed shortly afterwards by P&O’s Spirit of France.

Continue reading...

NHS leaders raise concerns over pace of Covid vaccine rollout

Posted on by

Exclusive: more than half of hospital trusts in England yet to receive supplies as variant spreads

NHS leaders have raised concerns about the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, with more than half of hospital trusts and two-thirds of GPs yet to receive supplies amid growing alarm over the new fast-spreading variant.

Dr Richard Vautrey, the chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, urged the government to speed up delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in order to save lives. Experts also demanded greater transparency from ministers on how many doses are available.

Continue reading...

Flood alerts issued for England and Wales as heavy rain forecast

Posted on by

Disruption expected, with 24-hour yellow weather warning in place from 6am on Wednesday

Flood alerts have been issued across England and Wales ahead of heavy rain forecast for the run-up to Christmas, as the Met Office issued a weather warning after downpours over the weekend.

A yellow weather warning for rain in mid and south Wales, as well as southern England, is in place from 6am on Wednesday until 6am Thursday, with 50mm to 70mm of rain expected to fall in south Wales. Disruption to travel and power lines is expected, and officials have warned people to stay alert for potential flooding.

Continue reading...

Lorry drivers blare horns in protest at border backlog in Kent – video

Posted on by

About 1,500 lorries are stuck in Kent after France imposed a ban on any accompanied freight or cargo entering the country from Britain because of the new coronavirus variant discovered in the UK. The move triggered government crisis plans at Dover and other major pinch points, with some drivers redirected to a nearby airfield to ease congestion on the roads

Continue reading...