The UK health secretary has commented on Sunday’s sharp rise in coronavirus cases, after nearly 3,000 more people tested positive. Matt Hancock said: 'The rise in the number of cases is concerning ... We've seen in other countries across the world and in Europe this sort of rise in the cases amongst younger people leading to a rise across the population as a whole'
Category Archives: Matt Hancock
UK coronavirus live: English test and trace failed to reach third of contacts; Scotland R number ‘probably above 1’
News updates: just 69.4% of close contacts of people testing positive for Covid-19 reached; Nicola Sturgeon says Scottish R number could be as high as 1.4
- UK may reimpose quarantine on travellers from Portugal
- Mass weekly testing of population to be trialled in England
- Childcare crisis risks pushing women out of workforce, says TUC
- Global coronavirus updates – live
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Cabinet Office minister and an ally of Sir Keir Starmer, has rowed back on her earlier calls for Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard to “consider his position.” She made that suggestion in an interview this morning. (See 10.09am.) But in a tweet issued some hours later, Reeves reverted back to the normal protocol which prohibits Labour leaders at Westminster from commenting on Scottish Labour’s internal debates and problems.
As I said repeatedly this morning, matters about Scottish Labour are for Scottish Labour. Keir, Richard and the whole of the Labour Party are determined to rebuild trust in Scotland, and take on the SNP’s domestic record ahead of next year’s elections.
Some of the best journalism on the coronavirus crisis has come from BBC Radio 4’s More or Less, presented by Tim Harford. But Harford, like all of us, does occasionally make a mistake and, in an interesting Twitter thread starting here, he explains how he got it wrong when he said the risk of dying from Covid-19 was the same as the risk of dying from a bath.
1/ Time for an apology and a correction. Seems that every newspaper in the UK is (correctly) reporting that I said the risk of catching a fatal case of Covid-19 is about the same as the risk of having a bath. I did say that, but I was wrong. Details below.
3/ Now according to this piece – the author of which should be held blameless – the risk of taking a bath is about 1 in 3 million (0.3 micromorts). But that can’t be right. https://t.co/6DBj7rv97W
4/ The correct claim is that the risk of dying in the bath PER YEAR is 1 in 3 million – 20-30 deaths per year in a country of 67 million people. https://t.co/MSJ6eP7k6S
13/ Covid is a killer. It’s killed 65,000 people in the UK, including a dear friend of mine. Don’t let anyone tell you different. But the daily infection risk from Covid is now low. People shouldn’t be terrified to leave their own homes.
Continue reading...Mass weekly Covid-19 testing of population to be trialled in England
Jeremy Hunt says UK should embrace repeat testing as route to more ‘normal life’
The UK government is to trial routine weekly Covid testing of the population as part of preparations to head off a possible winter second wave, as the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt called for such tests to become the norm.
Matt Hancock said the government was committing an extra £500m to scale up testing capacity and launch community pilots trialling the effectiveness of repeat testing in schools and colleges, as well as in the population as a whole. It will also ramp up the trials of a new test kit that it is claimed can provide results within 20 minutes.
Continue reading...Ed Davey elected leader of the Liberal Democrats – UK politics live
Ed Davey declared new leader of the Liberal Democrats; Covid isolation payments could go beyond lockdown areas, says Hancock
- Ed Davey elected Liberal Democrat leader
- Critics say £13-a-day isolation pay a slap in the face
- Scotland and Wales to buy 12-minute testing machines
- Unclear UK advice on PPE cited in care home death
- Global coronavirus latest - live
Davey’s victory over Moran means the three biggest UK-wide parties are led by white men with seats in London, a fact which may not do much to realise the hopes all three have espoused to speak more effectively for the whole country.
Turning back to coronavirus, new figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show that 75.5% of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England were reached through the Test and Trace system in the week ending August 19.
That figure is up from 71.6% in the previous week. For cases handled by local health protection teams, 95.6% of contacts were reached and asked to self-isolate in the week to August 19. By contrast, for those cases handled either online or by call centres, 61.6% of close contacts have been reached and asked to self-isolate.
Continue reading...‘Wishful thinking’: the dangers of UK hype during Covid-19
From the UK government over-promising on testing to scientific spin on a vaccine, realism is in short supply
- Revealed: UK’s rapid Covid test not yet approved by regulators
- Coronavirus – latest updates
- See all our coronavirus coverage
They were billed by the UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, as “lifesaving” and “hugely beneficial”: two new coronavirus tests that claim to deliver results within 90 minutes, promoted enthusiastically to the public with the help of front pages in the Times, the i and the Daily Mail, which declared they would “transform the war on corona”.
The suppliers are little known, evaluation data is not yet available, and it is unclear how effective the tests are outside hospital settings, not least because taking blood or swabs is difficult for non-medics.
Continue reading...Matt Hancock: second wave of coronavirus is starting to roll across Europe – video
Britain's health secretary, Matt Hancock, has confirmed the government is looking at measures to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 from reaching the UK, as cases rise across Europe. Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, is expected to announce an increase in the self-isolation period for those with symptoms.
'We can see a second wave of coronavirus that's starting to roll across Europe' Hancock said.'We want to do everything we possibly can to protect people from that wave reaching our shores'
- UK coronavirus live: isolation period for people with symptoms may increase to 10 days
- Covid-19 new cases and deaths will remain high for weeks, warn UK health leaders
Over-40s in UK to pay more tax under plans to fix social care crisis
Exclusive: Matt Hancock is advocate of plan to raise tax to cover cost of care in later life
Everyone over 40 would start contributing towards the cost of care in later life under radical plans being studied by ministers to finally end the crisis in social care, the Guardian can reveal.
Under the plan over-40s would have to pay more in tax or national insurance, or be compelled to insure themselves against hefty bills for care when they are older. The money raised would then be used to pay for the help that frail elderly people need with washing, dressing and other activities if still at home, or to cover their stay in a care home.
Continue reading...Are official figures overstating England’s Covid-19 death toll?
PHE figures include deaths of anyone who tested positive, even if it was months ago
Matt Hancock has announced an urgent review into how Public Health England (PHE) counts Covid-19 deaths after discovering what appeared to be a serious issue in how rates are calculated.
Following the health secretary’s move on Friday, Yoon K Loke and Carl Heneghan, of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, wrote in a blogpost: “It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not. PHE does not appear to consider how long ago the Covid test result was, nor whether the person has been successfully treated in hospital and discharged to the community.”
Continue reading...Matt Hancock hails ‘promising news’ on Oxford University coronavirus vaccine – video
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has welcomed the 'promising news' on Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine.
Researchers working on the experimental vaccine said it was safe and generated a strong immune response in the people who volunteered to help trial it, raising hopes it could contribute to ending the pandemic.
'Very encouraging news. We have already ordered 100m doses of this vaccine, should it succeed,' Hancock said
Continue reading...Test and trace failures risk exponential case growth in England, official warns
Blackburn with Darwen’s public health director says only half those at risk in north-west being contacted
Failures of the government’s test-and-trace system are risking an exponential growth of coronavirus in hotspots across England, a director of public health has warned.
Dominic Harrison, the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen, said the national tracing system was only managing to reach half of those who had been in close contact with a coronavirus patient in towns with high infection rates in the north-west.
Continue reading...Face masks to be mandatory in shops in England, says Hancock – video
Face coverings protect workers and give the public greater confidence to shop, Matt Hancock has said. The health secretary confirmed in a statement to the House of Commons that shoppers would be required to wear masks while in shops and supermarkets. Those who do not will face fines of up to £100
- UK coronavirus live: Hancock confirms masks to be compulsory in shops and supermarkets in England
- Coronavirus: shoppers in England must wear face masks from 24 July
Boris Johnson plans radical shake-up of NHS in bid to regain more direct control
Exclusive: health secretary said to be frustrated by his lack of authority over NHS England boss Simon Stevens
Boris Johnson is planning a radical and politically risky reorganisation of the NHS amid government frustration at the health service’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, the Guardian has learned.
The prime minister has set up a taskforce to devise plans for how ministers can regain much of the direct control over the NHS they lost in 2012 under a controversial shake-up masterminded by Andrew Lansley, the then coalition government health secretary.
Continue reading...Failings in Leicester are doomed to be repeated | Letters
Readers respond to the reimposition of lockdown in the city after a surge in Covid-19 cases
Living and working in Leicester city centre we find ourselves in a new social experiment (Leicester forced into local lockdown to combat surge in Covid-19 cases, 30 June). We were all surprised to learn from Matt Hancock of an increased infection rate in a daily briefing on 19 June. Since then we’ve been the focus of speculation, and now of action. Our store opened two weeks ago, a Monday morning that saw two-hour queues snaking around the city-centre streets. Shops including ours are now closed again, and bars and barbers have put their reopening plans on ice. The community overall has patiently respected a sensible and cautious return of safe behaviours.
But there is a problem: Leicester has huge poverty and inequalities. Living and working conditions are extremely challenging for many families trying to do their best and follow guidance. Government financial support has not reached many as they fall through the gaps. National health messages just have not reached many BAME communities. All of this was only made worse by our own elected mayor breaking lockdown rules, and admitting he didn’t understand them, which only enhanced the Cummings effect. Did Leicester ever stand a chance? I think not.
James Hempsall
Director, Hempsall’s, Leicester
Leicester lockdown: what are the new Covid-19 restrictions?
Spike in infections forces non-essential shops to close from Tuesday and schools from Thursday
A regional flare-up of coronavirus cases means Leicester will not emerge from parts of lockdown as swiftly as the rest of England. Here’s what you need to know about the restrictions:
Continue reading...Piloted in May, ditched in June: the failure of England’s Covid-19 app
How the government came to scrap its contact-tracing app in favour of Apple and Google’s
Designed to be a key component of the test, track and trace programme to forge a way out of lockdown, the NHS Covid-19 app has been beset by problems from day one – despite repeated claims to the contrary.
After a trial on the Isle of Wight at the start of May, the contact-tracing app was meant to be rolled out to the rest of England by the middle of the month. That soon slipped to some time in June. Then on Wednesday it emerged that we would have to wait until the winter. Now – after much behind-the-scenes scrambling, and head-scratching in Westminster – officials have decided to ditch the app entirely in its current form.
Continue reading...Government ‘backed both horses’ on contact-tracing app, says Matt Hancock – video
The health secretary has insisted the government 'backed both horses' in Covid-19 contact-tracing trials, after it abandoned development of its NHSX app. After the trial on the Isle of Wright revealed the app was highly inaccurate on iPhones, focus will turn instead to technology from Google and Apple
- UK abandons coronavirus app in favour of Apple and Google model
- UK coronavirus live: Hancock says 'we backed both horses' as he defends contact tracing app
Black Lives Matter protests risk spreading coronavirus, warns Hancock – video
The UK health secretary has said there is a risk of an increase in Covid-19 cases following the Black Lives Matter protests this weekend, while denying Britain is a racist country. Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Matt Hancock said: ‘I support very strongly the argument that is being made by those who are protesting … but the virus itself doesn’t discriminate and gathering in large groups is temporarily against the rules precisely because it increases the risk of the spread of this virus’
Continue reading...From rose garden to ridicule: how a week of disaster for Tories and Dominic Cummings unfolded
Boris Johnson said it was time to move on – but the public, the press and scores of his own MPs didn’t agree
As she looked out of her kitchen window towards a farm in the distance owned by Dominic Cummings’ parents, an elderly woman described her reaction on Friday to the story that had caused shock not just in rural County Durham, but across the whole country.
“I have isolated for 10 weeks. I have not seen my children since before Christmas,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. She lives in a pretty village across the valley, with a pond and village green, where life normally passes quietly by with few disturbances.
Continue reading...The ‘super-driven’ ex-TalkTalk chief behind England’s track-and-trace scheme
With UK’s route out of lockdown dependent on success, Dido Harding faces a huge challenge
The ex-TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding is facing one of the biggest moments in her eventful career, as she leads the government’s new track-and-trace programme upon which the country’s path out of lockdown depends.
Baroness Harding, 52, the chair of NHS Improvement, was brought in to shoulder the responsibility of this significant new strategy, personally risking the fallout if it does not go to plan.
Continue reading...Dominic Cummings: Tory unrest increases pressure on PM to sack adviser
Extraordinary party revolt and public criticisms reflect anger over aide’s lockdown breaches
Boris Johnson faced an extraordinary and growing revolt from within his own party on Tuesday over his refusal to sack his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, for breaching lockdown rules.
On a day of dramatic developments, a junior minister resigned and more than 30 other Conservative MPs called for Cummings to go, many citing inboxes overflowing with hundreds of angry messages from constituents.
Continue reading...