Summary for Sunday, 16th May
Hello and welcome to our live coronavirus coverage this Sunday. We’ll bring you the latest developments as they happen.
Key developments today.
- Jabs will be offered to those aged 35 and over in England next week
- More than 20 million people in the UK have had two doses of a vaccine
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock says Monday's lockdown easing "remains on track" because of "very high uptake rates of the vaccine"
- He says the Indian variant is more transmissible and likely to become "dominant" in the UK but he is "confident" the jab works against it
- Five people who have had a single jab have been hospitalised with the Indian variant in Bolton, and one who had received both
- If the variant is 40-50% more transmissible than the Kent variant, the UK will have a "real problem", he adds
- People are being urged to be very cautious about mixing as restrictions are lifted in England, Scotland and Wales on Monday
- Indoor hospitality and entertainment venues will reopen and more people can meet outdoors, with limited indoor mixing also allowed
- No 10 has defended its decision not to ban travel from India sooner, saying the UK has "some of the toughest border measures" in the world
- But Labour's Yvette Cooper says the government should have put India on the travel "red list" much earlier
Hello and welcome to our live coronavirus coverage this Sunday. We’ll bring you the latest developments as they happen.
What are today's main developments?
Let’s take a look at the main coronavirus developments so far this morning:- The UK government has defended its decision not to ban travel from India sooner - after a surge in cases of a new variant first found there
- Cases of the Indian variant have more than doubled in the past week, according to data - as outbreaks in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen, in the North West of England, prompt concern
- England is preparing to relax Covid restrictions on Monday - in what has been billed as the biggest single step out of lockdown - as rules also change in Wales and most of Scotland
- But government scientific advisers have said that if the Indian variant spreads faster than the current virus type, easing restrictions could lead to a wave of hospitalisations
- A "surge" in vaccination bookings in England ahead of the rule changes has seen more than 600,000 people booking appointments in the past two days
- Almost one in 10 restaurants across Britain have closed for good since the pandemic began, research suggests
- The boss of the world's busiest airport for international passengers, Dubai, has said Covid passports are the only way to restart mass foreign travel
- Virus experts have told the BBC what they will and won’t be doing from Monday
Key developments today.
- A decision on whether all legal restrictions can be ended in England next month will be made on 14 June, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said.
- It is “quite likely” the India variant of Covid-19 will become the dominant variant in the UK, Hancock said. He has defended the government’s delay of almost three weeks before putting India on its travel red list, a move only made after the cancellation of Boris Johnson’s planned visit to Delhi.
- Concern is mounting over increased cases of the B.1.617.2 variant first detected in India, particularly in the north-west of England and parts of London, which could affect the future easing of lockdown restrictions. Hancock signalled the government would be prepared to implement a local lockdown in Bolton if one was needed to protect people.
- Hancock insisted it was “appropriate” to continue with the major easing of restrictions in England on Monday despite concerns over the India variant. But he did not rule out that the easing of restrictions on Monday might have to be reversed if the variant proved to be very highly transmissible.
- Five people who have had a single jab have been admitted to hospital with the India variant in Bolton, with one who had received both.
- Over-35s in England would be able to book their Covid-19 jabs from some point in the coming days, Hancock said.
- There have been a further 54 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 212,149. Public Health Wales said there had been one further death, taking the total in the country since the start of the pandemic to 5,559.
- Scotland has recorded another 292 cases of coronavirus and no new deaths. The latest daily figures from the Scottish government show the test positivity rate is at 2%.
- Indonesia has suspended distribution of a batch of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to run tests for sterility and toxicity following the death of a 22-year-old man a day after immunisation, the health ministry said on Sunday.
- Vietnam’s number of daily locally transmitted coronavirus cases rose by 187 on Sunday, a record for the second time this week, as many communities and districts nationwide imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus. Most of those infected had been under quarantine before testing positive for the virus, the health ministry said in a statement.
- Under step three of the UK government’s phased reopening, football fans will be back at games in England tomorrow.
- The Samaritans are extending their help for frontline health and care workers in the UK amid rising demand for long-term support for stress and anxiety.
- Singapore will close primary and secondary schools from Wednesday, with students shifting to home-based learning until the term ends on 28 May, as authorities try to rein in rising coronavirus infections. The fresh curbs come after Singapore confirmed 38 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, the highest daily number in months.
- Taiwan reported 206 new local cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, breaking the previous day’s record high of 180.