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UK coronavirus live: Rishi Sunak announces support package for tier 2 business and workers
UK coronavirus live: Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Slough added to tier 2 from Saturday
(32 minutes later)
Latest updates: Chancellor announces measures after pressure to help hard-hit companies in lockdown-affected regions
Latest updates: Further areas added to tier 2 restrictions; Chancellor announces measures after pressure to help hard-hit companies
In the Commons Matt Hancock is speaking now about long Covid. He says a clinic has been set up in London to help people suffering from this condition (long-term after-effects after a coronavirus infection).
Hancock also told MPs that Warrington may have to move into the strictest tier 3 restrictions. He said formal discussions with the council were starting “due to a continuing rise in cases there”.
He says that around one person in 20 suffer from this. But amongst younger adults it is one in 10, he says.
And Hancock also told MPs that lateral flow tests - Covid tests that can deliver results within minutes - started to be rolled out yesterday to schools and universities. Explaining what they could do, he said:
And he says people can suffer from long Covid even if they are asymptomatic when infected.
They are also being distributed to councils, with Stoke-on-Trent council getting them from today, he said.
Here is our full story on today’s NHS Test and Trace performance numbers, from my colleague Haroon Siddique.
Boris Johnson spoke about this in his press conference on Friday. This ConservativeHome article explains in some detail why the government thinks this development will be crucial.
Hancock told MPs he was also giving local authorities new enforcement powers to close down premises ignoring Covid-safety rules. These will allow councils to shut places without delay on public health grounds.
He said he would be working with local authorities over the coming days on the details of the rules.
These are powers that councils have been requesting for some time.
Hancock says some areas will have to move from tier 1, the medium risk level where the nationwide rules apply, to tier 2, the high risk level where stricter restrictions apply. They are: Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Slough.
In all of these areas there are more than 100 cases per 100,000 people, he says.
He says cases are doubling every fortnight. And there is a “concerning increase” in cases among the over-60s.
He says the new restrictions will come into force at 00.01am on Saturday.
The main change is that people will not be allowed to mix with other households indoors.
In the Commons, Matt Hancock is speaking now about long Covid. He says a clinic has been set up in London to help people suffering from this condition (long-term after-effects following a coronavirus infection).
He says that around one in 20 people have this. But among younger adults it is one in 10, he says.
And he says people can have long Covid even if they are asymptomatic when infected.
Here is our full story on today’s NHS test and trace performance numbers, from my colleague Haroon Siddique.
And here is some reaction.
And here is some reaction.
From Labour’s health spokesperson Justin Madders
From Labour’s health spokesperson Justin Madders
From the Lib Dem health spokesperson Munira Wilson
From the Lib Dem health spokesperson Munira Wilson
Steve Baker, a Conservative, asks Hancock to confirm that the disease is not progressing in this way in the way that it was in the first wave. There has been no increase in excess mortality, he says.
Steve Baker, a Conservative, asks Hancock to confirm that the disease is not progressing in the way that it was in the first wave. There has been no increase in excess mortality, he says.
“And I want to keep it that way,” says Hancock.
“And I want to keep it that way,” says Hancock.
Hancock says there are two advantages as the government tackles the second wave.
Hancock says there are two advantages as the government tackles the second wave.
First, it is more regional, he says. That means not all parts of the NHS are under the same pressure.
First, it is more regional, he says. That means not all parts of the NHS are under the same pressure.
And, second, we know a lot more about the virus, he says.
And, second, we know a lot more about the virus, he says.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is opening a Commons debate on coronavirus.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is opening a Commons debate on coronavirus.
He says every day his confidence in the ability of science grows.
He says every day his confidence in the ability of science grows.
But until then, we must show resolve, he says.
But until then, we must show resolve, he says.
The government’s internal market bill undermines human rights protections, a committee of MPs and peers has said.
The government’s internal market bill undermines human rights protections, a committee of MPs and peers has said.
In a report (pdf), the joint committee on human rights said the legislation would allow ministers to ignore the Human Rights Act when making regulations. It said:
In a report (pdf), the joint committee on human rights said the legislation would allow ministers to ignore the Human Rights Act when making regulations. It said:
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has described today’s Treasury beefed-up economic support package as “a sticking plaster solution”. He said:
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has described today’s beefed-up economic support package from the Treasury as “a sticking plaster solution”. He said:
From Sky’s Sam Coates
“Job support scheme open” and “job support scheme closed” are two different versions of the same scheme (according to whether or not the premises is legally required to close) - not two phrases that contradict each other, as some readers might assume.
Caroline Ansell, a Conservative MP who defied her party to support Labour’s vote for free school meals during school holidays, has resigned from her government post as a parliamentary private secretary, my colleague Heather Stewart reports.
These are from Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, which represents businesses in the hospitality sector.
During the Manchester public health briefing (see 1.25pm) the city council’s director of public health, David Regan, said the infection rate among older people was high and rising.
There were 339 cases per 100,000 people among the over-60s, he said, adding:
Regan said there had been a marked drop in the infection rate among those aged 17 to 21 – falling from 3,350 cases per 100,000 people on 3 October to 568 cases per 100,000 currently.
This was due to the influx of 74,000 university students into Manchester in September, he said, although they had been able to bring the virus under control in part by quarantining at least 1,700 younger people in halls of residence – a measure which led to criticism at the time.
Regan urged Mancunians to abide by tier 3 restrictions that come into force overnight but said the evidence “isn’t there fully yet” that local lockdowns had worked. He went on:
Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that children should avoid going guising, or trick-or-treating, during Halloween this year, because it is unsafe for people to have unnecessary contact with others.
She said the Scottish government was issuing guidance for Halloween over the weekend, and urged families to devise different ways of celebrating. She said:
Sturgeon also backed up Jason Leitch’s warnings about Christmas being abnormal this year (see 9.39am), but said the intensity of any controls in force in December rested largely on how well people observed the current restrictions, suppressing the spread of the virus. She said:
Earlier this month Downing Street was non-committal at a briefing when asked if trick-or-treating would have to be abandoned this year in England, although the Department of Health and Social Care later said it should not happen in places where household mixing is banned.
Manchester’s Nightingale hospital will reopen “towards the end of next week” to help relieve the strain on the NHS from the second wave of coronavirus, senior health figures have confirmed.
Prof Jane Eddleston, Greater Manchester’s medical lead on coronavirus, said the large makeshift facility would take recovering Covid patients from hospitals across the badly hit north-west of England.
In a briefing designed to counter some of the “selective statistics” released by Downing Street earlier this week, Eddleston said 35% of critical care beds in the region were currently occupied by Covid patients.
During the April peak there were more than 300 patients filling critical care beds in Greater Manchester, of whom 260 had coronavirus. The latest figures, for Wednesday this week, showed 218 patients in critical care beds, of whom 95 were being treated for Covid.
Eddleston, who appeared alongside Boris Johnson at a Downing Street press conference last week, said that although this number was “significant”, the region was “in a different position now” and would bring in additional capacity where needed.
She said that during the April peak there was capacity for more than 400 critical care patients and that the service could reach this figure again. She said:
Eddleston said, however, that the number of non-critical Covid patients in Greater Manchester was approaching the level of the first peak. There were currently just over 600 coronavirus patients in acute hospital beds, she said, compared with just under 900 in April.
These are from Daniel Tomlinson, an economist at the Resolution Foundation thinktank. They explain why the new measures should make it more worthwhile financially for employers to retain staff.
The Scottish Retail Consortium, which represents the country’s largest shopping chains, has urged people to “shop early, start wrapping” after Nicola Sturgeon’s public health adviser warned Christmas would be severely impacted by the Covid crisis. (See 9.39am.)
The SRC, the Scottish wing of the British Retail Consortium, said Jason Leitch’s warning that large family gatherings would be highly unlikely to be approved this year added to its anxieties about the impact coronavirus controls were having on shops.
David Lonsdale, the director of the SRC, said:
From my colleague Richard Partington
And this is from Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, on Rishi Sunak’s beefed-up economic support package. She said:
