Category Archives: UK news

Oxford Covid jab less effective against South African variant, study finds

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University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University research shows vaccine has reduced efficacy against mutation

British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Saturday that its vaccine developed with the University of Oxford appeared to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant of Covid-19, based on early data from a trial.

The study from South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University showed the vaccine had significantly reduced efficacy against the South African variant, according to a Financial Times report published earlier in the day.

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Fury at Gove as exports to EU slashed by 68% since Brexit

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Hauliers say Cabinet Office minister ignored warnings, amid fears that worse is to come with introduction of import checks in July

The volume of exports going through British ports to the EU fell by a staggering 68% last month compared with January last year, mostly as a result of problems caused by Brexit, the Observer can reveal.

The dramatic drop in the volume of traffic carried on ferries and through the Channel tunnel has been reported to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove by the Road Haulage Association after a survey of its international members. In a letter to Gove dated 1 February, the RHA’s chief executive, Richard Burnett, also told the minister he and his officials had repeatedly warned over several months of problems and called for measures to lessen difficulties – but had been largely ignored.

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Just how effective is the Oxford coronavirus vaccine for the over-65s? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters

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Behind the numbers: why some European countries have called into question the AstraZeneca jab

While the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency have both approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults, Germany, France and six other European nations have recommended it only for those under 65, Belgium and Italy for people under 55 and Switzerland for nobody at all. Why are different regulators making different decisions?

The problem is the relevant trials recruited only 660 subjects aged 65 or over: 6% of participants. It is inevitable some groups are under-represented in studies; the Pfizer trials included only 4% with Asian ethnicity; nobody over 89 took part. But to have so few from those at highest risk from Covid-19 is unfortunate, to put it mildly.

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Family’s lockdown adaptation of Total Eclipse of the Heart goes viral – video

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A family from Kent who shared a video of their living room performance of a third lockdown-themed Totally Fixed Where We Are has gone viral. Ben and Danielle Marsh and their four children first found fame with their version of a Les Misérables song, when they changed the lyrics of One Day More to reflect common complaints during the Covid-19 lockdown. The full rendition is available on the family’s YouTube channel

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Murder investigation launched after spate of stabbings in Croydon

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Met police say one man killed and at least nine injured in series of ‘isolated’ incidents on Friday night

Police have launched a murder investigation after a man was stabbed to death in south London in a spate of violence that also left at least nine injured.

Metropolitan police officers responded to five reports of stabbings in Croydon in just over two hours between 6.56pm and 9.12pm on Friday.

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UK on target to give all over-50s Covid jabs by May – taskforce chief

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Dr Clive Dix also says UK well-placed to respond if vaccine-resistant variant emerges

The head of the UK’s coronavirus vaccination taskforce has said he is optimistic that government will meet its target of vaccinating all over-50s by May.

No 10 confirmed on Friday that the vaccine programme was intended to reach all those over 50 and those aged 16 to 65 in at-risk groups by May, having previously said it aimed to do so “by the spring”.

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US return to the world stage presents huge opportunity for Britain

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Analysis: From Yemen and the Middle East, to Russia and China, the UK has to step up diplomatically

Joe Biden’s promise that the US is back on the world stage as an advocate of multilateralism holds huge opportunities for the UK so long as it steps up a gear diplomatically, uses its presidency of the G7 well and shifts its stance in the Middle East.

In the short term, Biden’s promise to end support for offensive operations in Yemen has led to calls for the UK to suspend its arms sales to Saudi Arabia, including from the Conservative chair of the defence select committee, Tobias Ellwood, and the shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy.

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Star buys: celebrities send meteorite prices into orbit

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Elon Musk, Steven Spielberg and Nicolas Cage among those who collect rocks that can cost millions

They really are from out of this world, and the prices are astronomical. For those who have everything they need on Earth, what they now want is a little bit of space. Meteorites are attracting the attention of celebrity collectors who have pushed the price of the rocks – which have hurtled through space for hundreds or even thousands of year before crashing into this planet – tenfold over the past decade.

More than 70 of the most spectacular meteorites ever found will go under the hammer at Christie’s auction house next week in a sale that is expected to generate millions of pounds. Included in the Deep Impact auction are meteorites embedded with gem stones and others have suffered such an impact from blasting through the atmosphere at up to 160,000mph that they resemble sculptures by Alberto Giacometti or Henry Moore.

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UK quietly expelled Chinese spies who posed as journalists

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MI5 concluded three Beijing security ministry employees used cover of working for Chinese press agencies

Britain quietly expelled three Chinese spies last year who it said were posing as journalists, it has emerged, as tensions flare between the two countries over a range of media issues.

The intelligence agency MI5 concluded the three worked for China’s powerful Ministry of State Security (MSS) but had been using the cover of working for the country’s press agencies.

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‘Good on her’: how Jackie Weaver became an internet star

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Handforth residents, a comedian and young political activists helped explosive parish council meeting go viral

It was the distraction the nation didn’t know it needed: a poor-quality recording of an online meeting of a Cheshire parish council, called by two councillors “following the refusal of the council chairman to call such a meeting”.

Normally such a congress would struggle to raise a quorum, let alone an audience of millions. Yet against all odds, December’s Extraordinary Meeting of Handforth parish council’s planning and environment committee went viral on Thursday night.

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Oxford Covid vaccine almost as effective against Kent variant, trials suggest

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Scientists say it offers only slightly lower protection compared with original Covid

The Covid vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is nearly as effective against the Kent variant as it is against older forms of the virus, according to preliminary research results.

Researchers analysed swabs from trial volunteers who developed asymptomatic or symptomatic infections to determine which variant of the virus they had caught after receiving the vaccine or a control jab.

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Out of the dark ages: Netflix film The Dig ignites ballyhoo about Sutton Hoo

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Archaeologists at British Museum and National Trust report surge in interest in 1939 Anglo-Saxon find

It was when she spotted #SuttonHoo trending on Twitter that Sue Brunning knew this was not going to be just like any other week.

As the curator of the early medieval collection at the British Museum, and the guardian of the spectacular Sutton Hoo treasures, Brunning is well used to fielding interest in what are justly some of the museum’s best loved exhibits.

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‘Pandemic burnout’ on rise as latest Covid lockdowns take toll

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Increasing number of people report feeling worn out and unable to cope due to period of sustained stress

Psychologists are reporting a rise in “pandemic burnout” as many people find the current phase of lockdowns harder, with an increasing number feeling worn out and unable to cope.

They warn that many are finding the latest lockdown more difficult because of a realisation that coronavirus will be around longer than expected, dashed hopes about an easing of restrictions, and a period of sustained stress similar to overwork, which has prompted symptoms such as fatigue.

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What are Covid variants – and should we be worried?

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In the UK, all eyes are on South African, Brazilian and Kent variants - with mutations transmitting among the population

With the discovery of new coronavirus variants in parts of the UK, prompting intensive testing, we take a look at what the variants are and how concerned we should be.

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Kilmarnock: hospital under lockdown after ‘serious incident’ say Police Scotland

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Lockdown lifted after Crosshouse hospital stabbing, another incident in town centre and a serious road crash

A lockdown at an Ayrshire hospital has been lifted after police were called to a “serious incident” following reports of a stabbing at the site and another two “potentially linked” incidents in the area.

Crosshouse hospital in Kilmarnock was placed under lockdown for about three hours and ambulances were diverted to University Hospital Ayr while officers dealt with the first incident. It is not currently known who has been injured.

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African nations fear more Covid deaths before vaccination begins

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Campaigners call for vaccines to be prioritised to frontline health workers and people at highest risk

Communities across Africa are reeling as a second wave of Covid infections recedes, leaving thousands dead amid fears of further surges before mass vaccination campaigns can begin to make a difference.

Few countries in Africa will start immunising even frontline health workers until much later this year, prompting accusations that large orders by wealthy nations are costing the lives of medical staff in poorer parts of the world.

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Home workers putting in more hours since Covid, research shows

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Staff in countries including UK log on for two hours longer at home and face bigger workloads

Employees who work from home are spending longer at their desks and facing a bigger workload than before the Covid pandemic hit, two sets of research have suggested.

The average length of time an employee working from home in the UK, Austria, Canada and the US is logged on at their computer has increased by more than two hours a day since the coronavirus crisis, according to data from the business support company NordVPN Teams.

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Rich countries must update financial vows to tackle climate crisis, says UN

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Patricia Espinosa says fulfilling $100bn-a-year promise must be top priority to support developing world

Rich countries must step up with fresh financial commitments to help the developing world tackle the climate crisis, the UN’s climate chief has said.

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that fulfilling pledges of financial assistance made a decade ago must be the top priority before vital climate talks – Cop26 – later this year.

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UK minister announces launch of mix-and-match Covid jab trial – video

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The UK vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, says volunteers are being sought for a world-first trial giving a first dose of one vaccine type and a second dose of another.  Run by the University of Oxford, it will recruit 820 people over the age of 50 to receive a first dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

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Covid: Oxford trial to test efficacy of mix of vaccines for individuals

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Scientists aim to establish level of immunity in trial of 820 people, giving some a substitute vaccine at second appointment

Volunteers are being sought for a world-first trial to establish the efficacy of giving people a first dose of one vaccine and a second dose of a different vaccine.

The trial, which is being run by Oxford University and is funded by the government’s vaccine taskforce, has been described by ministers as “hugely important”.

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