Vaccine available to care home residents, people aged 75 and over, and immunosuppressed aged 12 and over
Coronavirus booster vaccine jabs for millions of people in England will begin to be offered this week, the NHS announced.
The vaccine will be available to care home residents, people who are 75 and over, and the immunosuppressed aged 12 and over.
Continue reading...Remaining rules including mandatory passenger locator forms and tests for unvaccinated arrivals will end on Friday
All remaining Covid travel restrictions are to be dropped across the UK from later this week, despite a concerning rise in cases and hospitalisations.
Ministers approved the scrapping of passenger locator forms and the requirement for all unvaccinated arrivals to get tested, with the changes to come into force from 4am on Friday.
Continue reading...Analysis: cabinet colleagues horrified over wrangling between Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid
Cabinet ministers were already waiting in No 10 on Monday morning when it became clear the sign-off for the prime minister’s much-anticipated end to Covid regulations was not going to be as perfunctory as they had imagined.
A festering row between Rishi Sunak’s Treasury and Sajid Javid’s health department was responsible, first reported by the Guardian last week and still unresolved.
Continue reading...Announcement by Boris Johnson shows Rishi Sunak has won out over Sajid Javid in cabinet battle over funding
Covid laws and free mass testing are to be swept away across England after Rishi Sunak won a cabinet battle on cutting the cost of the pandemic, prompting fears that the poor and vulnerable will pay the price.
Boris Johnson announced plans to end free testing for the general public from 1 April, saying it was time for people to “get our confidence back”.
Contact tracing will end from Thursday and contacts of people testing positive will no longer have to test or isolate.
Schools and other education settings will no longer be advised to test twice-weekly, with immediate effect.
NHS and social care staff will no longer get asymptomatic testing but this is expected to continue for patients and care home residents.
Covid passports will be scrapped from 1 April, with venues no longer recommended to use them. They will still be available for international travel.
The Office for National Statistics survey of Covid in the community will be maintained but in a slimmed-down version.
The Vivaldi study on care homes and Panoramic study on antivirals will continue, the government insisted, although it was not clear how they will be funded and whether enough testing is being done to support them.
Continue reading...Council chair says decision not guided by data or made in consultation with health profession
Ending all Covid restrictions is premature and “not based on current evidence”, the British Medical Association has said, as experts warned dropping testing and self-isolation could lead to a surge in cases.
Boris Johnson told MPs last week that he was preparing to lift the legal requirement in England to self-isolate on 24 February, a month earlier than originally planned, with a formal announcement expected on Monday.
Continue reading...Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing against Treasury demand to slash budget
Cabinet splits have emerged over the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, with Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing and community surveillance of the virus in the face of a Treasury demand to slash the budget.
Ministers including the health secretary and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the strategy before it is announced next week.
Continue reading...UK detects 76,807 new cases in the past 24 hours, suggesting Omicron wave has spiked
The UK detected 76,807 new Covid infections in the past 24 hours, a 54% drop on the 176,191 cases detected two weeks ago as the record-breaking Omicron wave appears to have spiked.
The UK reported a further 297 people died within 28 days of a positive Covid test on Saturday, 3% up on the 287 deaths reported last Saturday. Over 177,000 people in the UK have Covid on their death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics, the seventh highest tally in the world.
Continue reading...Health secretary confirms reduction in self-isolation period, in decision that could help address staff shortages
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has confirmed that the minimum time people with Covid in England have to spend in self-isolation is to be cut to five full days.
From Monday, people would be able to leave isolation on day six if they tested negative on days five and six, Javid told the Commons.
Continue reading...Health secretary acknowledges at same time that there will be ‘big increase’ in number of Covid patients over next month
New restrictions on freedom in England “must be an absolute last resort”, the health secretary has said.
The record-breaking wave of the Omicron Covid variant will, however, “test the limits of finite NHS capacity even more than a typical winter”, Sajid Javid said, as hospital admissions in England climbed to their highest since last January.
Continue reading...Bangkok considering reinstating mandatory quarantine due to spread of Omicron; EU’s drug regulator will decide on whether to approve Novavax
Thailand’s public health minister said on Monday that his ministry will propose reinstating mandatory quarantine for foreign visitors due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.
The proposal would scrap the current quarantine waiver for vaccinated visitors and revert to hotel quarantine and the “sandbox” programme, which allows free movement within a specific location, Anutin Charnvirakul told the Inside Thailand television show.
Continue reading...Health secretary expected to announce whether social mixing will be curtailed over festive period
Sajid Javid has made clear that fresh Covid restrictions could be imposed before Christmas to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, with ministers set to make a decision in days.
Government insiders expect an announcement to be made early next week about whether social mixing will be curtailed before the festive period – potentially including a cap on the number of families that can meet, or even hospitality closures.
Continue reading...The UK health secretary refused to rule out imposing tougher Covid restrictions in England before Christmas, after warnings that hospitalisations could peak at up to 10,000 a day without further action.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Javid acknowledged that the data on Omicron remained incomplete - but suggested it might be necessary to make decisions before a full picture is available
Continue reading...Measure comes into force on Wednesday and was passed despite many Tories voting against
Boris Johnson has suffered a humiliating rebellion over measures to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, with 99 Conservative MPs rejecting plans for vaccine certificates despite surging infections and personal lobbying by the prime minister.
Johnson had earlier warned his cabinet of a “huge spike” in cases but failed to convince many in his party to support plans to insist on a Covid certificate or negative lateral flow test to attend large venues.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Health officials say urgent action needed to avoid mass hospitalisations and overwhelming the NHS
Britain’s top public health officials have advised ministers that “stringent national measures” need to be imposed by 18 December to avoid Covid hospitalisations surpassing last winter’s peak, according to documents leaked to the Guardian.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, received a presentation from the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) on Tuesday warning that even if the new Omicron variant leads to less serious disease than Delta, it risks overwhelming the NHS with 5,000 people admitted to hospital a day.
Continue reading...The health secretary has updated the Commons on the latest numbers of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus virus, as well as new travel restrictions for those arriving in the UK
Continue reading...Sajid Javid has announced changes to the UK's coronavirus vaccine booster programme, including advising that all adults in the country should be offered third doses from just three months after their second vaccinations. Speaking in the Commons, the health secretary outlined this and other changes aimed at speeding up booster vaccinations as the government scrambles to limit the spread of the new Omicron variant
Continue reading...Speaking on Sky's Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme, the health secretary said the government's measures, including compulsory masks on public transport and in shops, were 'proportionate and balanced'
Continue reading...The first cases of the new B.1.1.529 Covid variant have been identified in the UK. Two people found to be infected with the Omicron variant are self-isolating, according to the health secretary, Sajid Javid
Continue reading...Experts stress importance of delaying import of new Covid variant to UK to avoid Christmas mixing
As an alarming new Covid variant spread to Europe on Friday, scientists warned that it would inevitably reach Britain, while ministers faced calls to urgently speed up the vaccination programme.
Thousands of travellers were left stranded or with their plans in disarray after flight bans were introduced targeting countries across southern Africa, where the variant was discovered. Hotel quarantine and enhanced testing would be brought in across the UK, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said.
Continue reading...The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced the UK will temporarily ban flights from several African countries, after the discovery of the B.1.1.529 Covid variant in the region against which vaccines might be less effective.
Officials characterise the variant, which has double the number of mutations as the currently dominant Delta variant, as the 'worst one yet'.
Flights from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini will be banned from Friday afternoon, and returning British travellers from those destinations will have to quarantine