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Coronavirus UK live: vaccine 'not likely to come to fruition this year', says Raab
Coronavirus UK live: vaccine 'not likely to come to fruition this year', says Raab
(32 minutes later)
Foreign secretary says speculating on how to ease lockdown is not responsible; home testing kits for key workers run out within hours for third day; Boris Johnson to return to work on Monday
Foreign secretary says speculating on how to ease lockdown is not responsible; home testing kits for key workers run out within hours for third day; Boris Johnson to return to work on Monday
NHS England has announced that 336 people have died from coronavirus, taking England’s total to 18,420.
This is the lowest daily rise announced by the NHS England for more than two weeks. but lower figures tend to be announced on Sundays when there are fewer staff to verify the numbers.
The victims were aged between 28 and 100 years old. Only 22 of the victims had no known underlying health condition.
There have been 18 more coronavirus deaths in Scotland, takings its death toll to 1,249. The Scottish Government also announced that 10,324 people have tested positive for the virus.
The director of Sense About Science and former chief executive of the Science Council has called on the government to be more open about its scientific advisory group after the Guardian revealed that Dominic Cummings has attended some of its meetings.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, Tracey Brown said “opacity is the problem”. She said: “I think the composition of that committee is something for government to justify and explain and would only make sense if government did start explaining its thinking in how it’s using the output of that committee, what weight it is giving to different advice in looking at the trade-offs that we’ve got to make to work our way through this crisis.
“The focusing on Sage and particular members of Sage - we’re going to see more of this circus, sort of outing of people, the differences in decisions, the differences in advice, differences in views and that kind of thing unless Government works out how to get into a better conversation with the nation.”
While former Vote Leave campaigner Ben Warner, has been sitting in on Sage meetings alongside Dominic Cummings, his brother Marc Warner has been given a role in developing the contract tracing app.
Marc, the founder of Faculty. AI, has been recruited to advice the government on the data science, Carole Caldwalldr reminds us.
Marc Warner previously co-authored a paper by Oxford’s Big Data Institute backing the concept.
We should point out that the Scott Trust, the ultimate owner of the Guardian, is the sole investor in GMG Ventures, which is a minority shareholder in Faculty.
People around the UK have come up with inventive ways to take part in the 2.6 Challenge, which involves any activity based around the numbers 2.6 or 26, to fundraise or donate to their chosen charity via twopointsixchallenge.co.
People around the UK have come up with inventive ways to take part in the 2.6 Challenge, which involves any activity based around the numbers 2.6 or 26, to fundraise or donate to their chosen charity via twopointsixchallenge.co.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has sought to clarify the advice it published on Saturday about so-called “immunity passports”, which could be issued to people who have recovered from Covid-19 on the assumption that they would be immune to reinfection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has sought to clarify the advice it published on Saturday about so-called “immunity passports”, which could be issued to people who have recovered from Covid-19 on the assumption that they would be immune to reinfection.
The WHO alarmed some in the scientific community when it said, in a briefing note published on Saturday, that “there is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection”.
The WHO alarmed some in the scientific community when it said, in a briefing note published on Saturday, that “there is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection”.
Late last night, the Geneva-based body walked back its statement, saying: “We expect that most people who are infected with #COVID19 will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection.”
Late last night, the Geneva-based body walked back its statement, saying: “We expect that most people who are infected with #COVID19 will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection.”
Our global coronavirus blog has more:
Our global coronavirus blog has more:
The involvement of the prime minister’s chief political adviser, Dominic Cummings, in meetings of the scientific group advising the UK government’s response to the coronavirus has left other attendees shocked, concerned and worried for the impartiality of advice, the Guardian can reveal.
The involvement of the prime minister’s chief political adviser, Dominic Cummings, in meetings of the scientific group advising the UK government’s response to the coronavirus has left other attendees shocked, concerned and worried for the impartiality of advice, the Guardian can reveal.
One attendee of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said they felt Cummings’ interventions had sometimes inappropriately influenced what is supposed to be an impartial scientific process.
One attendee of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said they felt Cummings’ interventions had sometimes inappropriately influenced what is supposed to be an impartial scientific process.
A second Sage attendee said they were shocked when Cummings first began participating in Sage discussions, in February, because they believed the group should be providing “unadulterated scientific data” without any political input.
A second Sage attendee said they were shocked when Cummings first began participating in Sage discussions, in February, because they believed the group should be providing “unadulterated scientific data” without any political input.
The environment secretary, George Eustice, has been lined up to lead today’s Downing Street briefing.
The environment secretary, George Eustice, has been lined up to lead today’s Downing Street briefing.
He is expected to be joined by Steven Powis, the medical director of the NHS.
He is expected to be joined by Steven Powis, the medical director of the NHS.
Key advisers on the on the government’s scientific advisory group have cautioned against too much focus on antibody tests, amid reports that ministers have ordered up to 50m of them.
Key advisers on the on the government’s scientific advisory group have cautioned against too much focus on antibody tests, amid reports that ministers have ordered up to 50m of them.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member, said such test would be very useful, but a “distraction” until reliable tests can be found.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member, said such test would be very useful, but a “distraction” until reliable tests can be found.
And a new paper by Imperial College London, co-authored by Sage member Prof Neil Ferguson warns that these tests are only 90% reliable or less on rapid diagnostic tests.
And a new paper by Imperial College London, co-authored by Sage member Prof Neil Ferguson warns that these tests are only 90% reliable or less on rapid diagnostic tests.
It cautions against using antibody tests as the basis for immunity passports.
It cautions against using antibody tests as the basis for immunity passports.
It says:
It says:
More than 1,250 British travellers in Bangladesh are to be brought back to the UK after the government chartered a further five repatriation flights amid the coronavirus pandemic, PA reports.
More than 1,250 British travellers in Bangladesh are to be brought back to the UK after the government chartered a further five repatriation flights amid the coronavirus pandemic, PA Media reports.
Flights from Dhaka to London will take place between April 29 and May 7 and bring the total number of flights from Bangladesh organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to nine.
Flights from Dhaka to London will take place between 29 April and 7 May and bring the total number of flights from Bangladesh organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to nine.
One of the outbound planes will carry United Nations staff and medical professionals deploying to support the Covid-19 response in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
One of the outbound planes will carry United Nations staff and medical professionals deploying to support the Covid-19 response in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Once completed, the government will have brought back more than 2,100 British travellers from the country in total.
Once completed, the government will have brought back more than 2,100 British travellers from the country in total.
Due to the number of people already registered for a flight via the CTM website, the majority of seats are likely to be allocated to people who are on waiting lists, the FCO added.
Due to the number of people already registered for a flight via the CTM website, the majority of seats are likely to be allocated to people who are on waiting lists, the FCO added.
Foreign Office minister of state Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said:
Foreign Office minister of state Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said:
Our teams in Bangladesh and the UK continue to work around the clock to support British nationals during this difficult time and get them home safely.
Our teams in Bangladesh and the UK continue to work around the clock to support British nationals during this difficult time and get them home safely.
More than 13,200 people have returned to the UK on FCO-chartered flights from 18 different countries or territories. On Thursday, the FCO said more than 3,600 Britons stranded in India would be brought home on 14 flights starting on Tuesday, bringing the total number of repatriation flights from India up to 52.
More than 13,200 people have returned to the UK on FCO-chartered flights from 18 different countries or territories. On Thursday, the FCO said more than 3,600 Britons stranded in India would be brought home on 14 flights starting on Tuesday, bringing the total number of repatriation flights from India up to 52.
More than 1,700 Britons have returned from South Africa and over 1,200 people have been flown back from Peru.
More than 1,700 Britons have returned from South Africa and over 1,200 people have been flown back from Peru.
Liverpool has a significantly higher death rate from Covid-19 than the rest of the UK, according to an investigation by the Liverpool Echo.
Here’s a round up of the latest on coronavirus in the UK:
Government resists pressure to publish Sage membership
Dominic Raab has said the government has no plans to publish the list of participants in the Sage committee of scientific experts, after the Guardian revealed that key meetings have been attended by Dominic Cummings. “We don’t release as a matter of practice the names of all the members of Sage because the risk of them being subject to pressure, undue influence,” Raab said.
Concerns that the public will be coerced into installing a new contract tracing app
The campaign group Liberty is worried that signing up to a contract tracing app could become a compulsory condition for returning to work and being allowed out of lockdown when conditions are eased. The warning came as the academic developing the app admitted that 60% of population would need to sign up to the app to make it effective.
Boris Johnson says protecting public health is the priority
Ahead of his return to work the prime minister has signalled that he against lifting the lockdown. Citing Cicero, Johnson told cabinet colleagues: “‘The health of the people should be the supreme law’.” Raab said the Johnson was “raring to go” back to work.
Raab rejects setting out a timetable for easing the lockdown
The foreign secretary has rejected calls for setting out the options for easing the lockdown saying this risked confusing the public. Raab said: “Until we can be confident, based on the scientific advice, that we’ll make sure-footed steps forward which will protect life but also preserve our way of life, frankly, it’s not responsible to start speculating about the individual measures.” He said it would be “unimaginable” to open schools without social distancing measures and said the resumption of amateur sport this summer would be “very difficult”. But professional sport “could be different,” he said.
Raab warns against counting on an early vaccine
Raab said a vaccine is “not likely to come to fruition this year”. He confirmed the government is considering ordering millions of antibody tests to gauge how many people have had the virus, but he cautioned that there was still doubt about the reliability of the tests.
Labour calls for investigation into National Shielding Helpline
Labour has called for an investigation into reports that call handlers at the privately run National Shielding Helpline have mocked and fobbed off callers during the coronavirus crisis. The shadow communities secretary, Steve Reed, said: “These reports are extremely distressing. A full investigation must be launched immediately. If vulnerable people who call the helpline are not getting the support they need, the programme must be overhauled.”
Dominic Raab has said the government has no plans to publish the list of participants in the Sage committee of scientific experts, after the Guardian revealed that key meetings have been attended by Dominic Cummings.
“We don’t release as a matter of practice the names of all the members of Sage because the risk of them being subject to pressure, undue influence,” the first minister and foreign secretary said on Sunday.
He rejected the idea there had been a “lack of transparency” from the government over the group’s work.
“We’ve had the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, along with politicians like me standing up on a daily basis answering the questions, setting out their advice and making sure that we communicate as clearly as possible to the public what that advice is,” he said.
Some senior Conservatives, including the former cabinet minister David Davis, have joined calls for more information to be published about the committee’s deliberations.
Civil liberty campaigners are concerned that the public could be “coerced” into sharing data about their movements through a new coronavirus contract tracing app being developed by the government.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, says the app, which will be available within weeks, is “crucial for holding down the rate and the level of transmission” of Covid-19.
But the campaign group Liberty is worried that signing up to the phone app could become a compulsory condition for returning to work and being allowed out of lockdown when conditions are eased.
Such a condition would amount to coercion, Liberty claims. The warning came as the academic developing the app admitted that 60% of population would need to sign up to the app to make it effective.
Clare Collier, advocacy director at Liberty, said: “By presenting surveillance tools as a solution to lockdown, the government is drawing on the willingness we have all shown to make sacrifices in the face of this crisis while refusing to show it is taking seriously the enormous risks presented by invasive technology.
She added: “Contact-tracing technology may require us to sacrifice deeply sensitive personal information and there can be no question of state bodies or private companies sharing our personal data other than what is absolutely necessary. It is vital no-one is coerced into having the app installed, and using it as a condition for returning to work or everyday life will inevitably lead to discrimination.
“The opportunities presented by technology should be fully investigated, but seeking quick solutions in surveillance tools that rely on our personal data creates serious long-term threats to our rights and ways of life. The government needs to focus on providing a public health response that ensures we come through this crisis with our rights intact.”
Prof Christophe Fraser of the University of Oxford, who is leading a team developing the app, said that it would a require a very high take-up to be effective.
“For this intervention alone to stop a resurgence of the epidemic, about 60% of the population would have to use the app,” he told the BBC.
He added: “The app is going to be one of the building blocks of how to get out of the epidemic. For every one to two users who download the app, and who adhere to the instructions, you will prevent one infection.”
He explained if you become infected the app will send warning messages to anyone you have who has come within Bluetooth range of your phone. He said: “You’ll either get a message which says you’ve been in contact with a suspect case of Covid-19. Or you may later get a message and you’ve been a contact of a confirmed case. At that point, we would recommend quarantine of 14 days after the contact has taken place.”
He added: “When you install the app, this is an opt in system so it will work in the background. Your phone builds up a memory of the sort of anonymous IDs of the other phones you come into contact with. It needs to be a contact long enough that there’s a risk of transmission.”
Asked about privacy concerns he said: “The NHS records patient data already and we trust the NHS to look after private data. This is being developed with a minimal amount of data – enough to make it work. It’s a public health intervention with data collected within a health system.”
For the third day running since becoming available online, coronavirus home testing kits for key workers have been booked up within hours.
More than 10 million key workers and their households are now eligible for Covid-19 tests as officials race to hit their 100,000-a-day testing target by next Thursday.
By 10am home testing kits for England were listed as “unavailable” on the government’s website - two hours after booking slots reopened. But it is still possible to book tests at drive-through centres in England and Scotland.
UK universities are incapable of shifting their degrees online by the new academic year in response to the coronavirus pandemic, leading online education experts have warned.
Simon Nelson, THE chief executive of FutureLearn, the Open University’s profit-making online learning platform, said there was insufficient time for UK universities to redesign and deliver undergraduate degrees online by September.
His comments came as the former vice-chancellor of Edinburgh University, Sir Prof Tim O’Shea, warned that the UK higher education sector would need to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to provide just a handful of online courses next year, with most universities unprepared to deliver this.Nelson said:
Neil Mosley, digital learning designer at Cardiff University, warned that very few universities already run undergraduate courses online because they are so complex, with students able to choose from many different modules. He added:
Stress from coping with Covid-19 pandemic could lead to a generation of “burnt-out” nurses who will leave the profession when the crisis is over, according to healthcare experts, PA Media reports.
Researchers from the universities of Southampton and Surrey have developed guidance to help support the psychological and mental health needs of nursing staff in a bid to help them deal with the emotional and physical intensity of their work.
Jill Maben, professor of health services research and nursing at the University of Surrey, said:
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing, highlights that prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, nurses were already under “considerable stress” because of understaffing, with 44,000 registered nurse vacancies in the UK.
The guidance identifies physiological and safety needs for nurses from the importance of ensuring they have enough food, drink, rest and recovery as well as protection from infection through to managers ensuring they are “highly visible and approachable”.
Jackie Bridges, professor of older people’s care at the University of Southampton, said:
Asked about high deaths rates in Gloucestershire following the Cheltenham racing festival, Raab insisted that the government followed the science on when it introduced the lockdown.
Asked about that Mail on Sunday report that millions of antibody tests had been ordered, Raab said he was not sure if they had been ordered, but he confirmed again that the government is looking at this.
He cautioned that it was unclear if antibody tests were reliable.
On the lockdown, Raab warned that it would not be a binary choice about lifting the restrictions. He said the public will have to adjust to a “new normal”, and that social distancing measures “are going to be with us for some time” to prevent a second spike in infections.
Raab added: “We do need to make sure that the are next step is a sure-footed one.”
Raab would not be drawn on when schools could open again. But he said it would be “inconceivable” that schools will go back without some form of social distancing.
Asked if sporting activity would resume this summer, Raab warned it would be “very difficult”. But he said professional sport “may be different” amid reports that the government has been in discussion with the Premier League about playing football matches behind closed doors.
