Covid inquiry: ex-minister defends VIP contract lane despite ‘one or two crooks’

Lord Agnew says fast-track PPE procurement was not ‘some kind of plan by rightwing people to enrich themselves’

A former minister behind the controversial VIP lane for supplying personal protective equipment during the pandemic said “some crooks” were probably awarded contracts, but defended the scheme as necessary to plug shortages.

Lord Agnew, who was a Cabinet Office minister responsible for procurement during the pandemic, accused the Covid inquiry of having a “misconceived obsession with the high-priority lane”.

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Covid, five years on: UK ‘still not ready to protect the population’

Scientific triumphs were made in the battle against the pandemic, but the memories and lessons are already in danger of being lost

On 9 March 2020, Martin Landray was studying the likely impact of Covid-19 as it started to sweep Britain. What was needed, he realised, was a method for pinpointing cheap, effective drugs that might limit the impact of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that was filling UK hospitals with ­dangerously ill patients.

Within 10 days, Landray – working with Oxford University colleague Peter Horby – had set up Recovery, a drug-testing programme that involved thousands of doctors and nurses working with tens of ­thousands of Covid-19 patients in UK hospitals.

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Covid inquiry to hear evidence about Michelle Mone-linked firm in private

Chair rules that details about PPE contracts given to company linked to Tory peer will be heard in closed session

The Covid inquiry will hear detailed evidence about the multimillion-pound PPE contracts awarded during the crisis to a company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, but in private, the inquiry chair has ruled.

The National Crime Agency has since May 2021 been investigating potential criminal offences committed in the procurement of the contracts awarded to the company, PPE Medpro, and argued that its investigation could be prejudiced if the inquiry heard evidence in public.

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Trump cuts reach FDA workers focused on food safety and medical devices

Positions cut also appeared to focus on agency’s centers for tobacco products, including oversight of e-cigarettes

The Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, as recently hired employees who review the safety of food ingredients, medical devices and other products were fired.

Probationary employees across the FDA received notices on Saturday evening that their jobs were being eliminated, according to three FDA staffers who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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First patient in UK tests new treatment for loss of sense of smell

Chrissi Kelly, who says anosmia is a ‘like a bereavement’, is trialling a simple procedure that could help those who lost sense of smell during Covid or other viral infections

Smell loss was a defining symptom of Covid, and for some people, a curse. Most people regain their sense of smell as their infection fades, but some never recover. It means not being able to tell if milk is off, if there’s a gas leak or what your newborn baby smells like.

But for victims of anosmia and its crueller sibling, parosmia, where ordinary smells are transformed into the stench of rotting flesh or sewage, there is new hope. Researchers have discovered that a simple procedure can help people recover their sense of smell years after losing it to viral infections such as Covid, or even decades later.

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Former vaccines tsar describes ‘open warfare’ within UK government during Covid pandemic

Dame Kate Bingham, who led the vaccine taskforce in 2020, said the clinically vulnerable were deprioritised and goals were not followed

There was “open warfare” between UK government departments during the pandemic, the former vaccines tsar has said, adding the failure to prioritise the needs of clinically vulnerable, immunocompromised individuals was ethically and morally wrong.

Dame Kate Bingham led the vaccine taskforce (VTF) – based in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – between May and December 2020, and played a pivotal role in persuading the government to back the development of a portfolio of potential jabs, as well as securing contracts for millions of doses.

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Uncharted territory for the WHO if Trump withdraws US membership

WHO is ‘critical in protecting US business interests’, says CEO of firm that may see lean years if Trump carries out vow

The World Health Organization (WHO) could see lean years ahead if the US withdraws membership under the new Trump administration. Such a withdrawal, promised on the first day of Donald Trump’s new administration, would in effect cut the multilateral agency’s funding by one-fifth.

The severe cut would be uncharted territory for the WHO, potentially curtailing public health works globally, pressuring the organization to attract private funding, and providing an opening for other countries to influence the organization. Other countries are not expected to make up the funding loss.

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Britain must build own vaccine manufacturing capability, says Matt Hancock

Former health secretary told Covid inquiry an onshore facility was ‘critical’ in preparation for future pandemic

Britain must build its own vaccine manufacturing capability as a “critical” part of preparing for a future pandemic, the former health secretary Matt Hancock has told the Covid inquiry.

Hancock, a central figure in the UK’s response to the crisis, said the pandemic demonstrated the “vital need” for a sovereign onshore facility to ensure the country was able to produce and distribute vaccine doses as soon as regulators gave the green light.

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People with Covid vaccine injuries not getting help they need, inquiry hears

Vaccine damage payment scheme ‘inadequate and inefficient,’ says Vaccine Injured spokesperson

People who were severely harmed by Covid vaccines faced an “inadequate and inefficient” process for obtaining a government payout, with many rejected and others waiting years for a decision, the Covid inquiry has heard.

The vaccine damage payment scheme offers a one-off sum of £120,000 to people who have such serious adverse reactions to the vaccines that they are at least 60% disabled. But people affected by vaccine injuries told the inquiry they did not get the help and financial support they deserved.

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Covid and flu rates rise across the US, according to the CDC

Less than half of Americans planned to get Covid vaccine in 2024, and slightly more than half planned to get flu shot

The amount of acute respiratory illness causing Americans to seek healthcare is at a high level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In an update issued on Friday, the CDC announced that in addition to Covid-19 activity increasing from low levels in most areas across the US, seasonal influenza activity continues to increase and is elevated across most of the country.

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Kung fu nuns show off martial art skills at monastery reopening in Nepal

Nuns mark opening of Druk Amitabha nunnery with performance, five years after Covid closure

About a dozen nuns performed hand chops and high kicks, some of them wielding swords, as they showed off their martial art skills to hundreds of cheering wellwishers at the reopening of their nunnery in Nepal.

The nuns of the hilltop Druk Amitabha monastery put on the show of strength to mark the institution’s reopening five years after Covid forced it to close its doors to the public.

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English pupils do better than expected in international maths and science tests

England maintained good maths scores and improved in science, coming ninth and fifth among 70 countries

English pupils have made a strong showing in the latest round of prestigious international tests, maintaining their scores in maths and improving in science, a subject in which they rose to fifth in the league tables.

They were among students from 70 countries who participated in the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss), which takes place every four years, providing education policymakers with international comparisons.

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Rachel Reeves appoints Covid corruption commissioner

Exclusive: Tom Hayhoe, ex-Tory cabinet adviser, will examine an estimated £7.6bn of Covid-related fraud

Rachel Reeves is to appoint a health service and regulatory veteran, Tom Hayhoe, a former Conservative cabinet adviser, as her Covid corruption commissioner with the remit of clawing back billions in fraudulent contracts.

The chancellor is understood to believe the Treasury can recoup £2.6bn from waste, fraud and flawed contracts signed during the pandemic.

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New Zealand Covid inquiry finds vaccine mandates were ‘reasonable’

Commissioners also say the vaccine requirements eroded public trust and call for investment to plan for the next pandemic

A royal commission into New Zealand’s Covid response has largely accepted the need for vaccine mandates, while accepting they harmed a substantial minority of New Zealanders.

The first of two inquiry reports on the pandemic was released on Thursday and also called for broad investment to plan for the next pandemic.

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Trump pick for US health agency proposed ‘herd immunity’ during Covid

Picking Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH signals return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies

Jay Bhattacharya, an unofficial Covid adviser in Trump’s first administration, has been selected as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the world.

The choice of Bhattacharya, a Stanford economist whose proposal for widespread Covid-19 infection was backed by the White House, signals a return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies in the second Trump administration, experts say.

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Chuck Woolery, host of Love Connection, dies aged 83

A musician, the original Wheel of Fortune host and later a rightwing podcaster, Woolery died at home in Texas

Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of Wheel of Fortune, Love Connection and Scrabble who later became a rightwing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about Covid-19, has died. He was 83.

Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early on Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote.

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Captain Tom’s family personally benefited from charity they founded, report finds

Watchdog’s highly critical inquiry finds Hannah and Colin Ingram-Moore culpable of ‘serious and repeated’ misconduct

The family of the NHS charities fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore personally benefited from the charity set up in his name through a series of lucrative deals worth more than £1m, the charities watchdog has ruled in a highly critical report.

A Charity Commission inquiry concluded the late Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin Ingram-Moore, were culpable of “serious and repeated” instances of misconduct, mismanagement and failures of integrity.

Hannah Ingram-Moore “initiated the process to secure her appointment as chief executive” of the charity, suggesting she should be paid a salary of £150,000. The charity proposed paying her £100,000 but this was blocked by the commission and she was eventually hired on £85,000.

Hannah Ingram-Moore received £18,000 from Virgin Media in September 2021 to judge its Local Legends awards when she was chief executive of the foundation. This was unauthorised and a conflict of interest, and there was no evidence it was undertaken, as she claimed, in a personal capacity.

The Ingram-Moores used the charity’s name inappropriately and for their private benefit in a planning application to build a private spa pool in the grounds of their family home. The building was subsequently demolished.

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Backlash as San Francisco votes to transform stretch of highway into park

Opponents say closing Great Highway to cars will increase traffic as supporters argue it will mitigate coastal erosion

Californians have voted to close part of a nearly century-old highway in San Francisco to cars, transforming a two-mile section into a park for pedestrians and cyclists.

On election day, city residents voted to approve Proposition K, extending the ban on vehicles on a portion of the Upper Great Highway along the coastline. The measure has sparked intense debate over whether cars should have regular access to the area.

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Covid bereaved angered by Badenoch’s ‘insulting’ Partygate remarks

Families group calls Tory leader ‘deeply misguided’ after telling BBC that Boris Johnson-era scandal was ‘overblown’

Families bereaved by the Covid pandemic say they feel insulted by Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the Partygate scandal was “overblown”.

The new Conservative party leader also told the BBC that Boris Johnson had fallen into a “trap” of breaking lockdown rules that should never have been introduced.

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‘Will haunt me for life’: nurse suspended over Covid lockdown baby shower in Melbourne aged care home before deadly outbreak

Father-to-be was unaware of planned party at Epping Gardens aged care facility and stayed only five minutes, tribunal hears

An aged care nurse who attended a baby shower at a nursing home during a Covid lockdown has been suspended, telling a tribunal the mistake “will haunt me for the rest of my life”.

Staff at the Epping Gardens aged care held a surprise baby shower in July 2020 for registered nurse Denis Baniqued and his wife, who also worked at the facility.

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