Covid-19

Monday

Julia Hartley-Brewer

Staycations are second best – why won't we admit it?

The vagaries of the great British summer are uncertain enough without a deadly pandemic and lockdown thrown into the mix. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has revealed that, while there is still ‘a lot of uncertainty’ about booking holidays at home or abroad, he has already booked his own summer break in Cornwall. Frankly, if I wasn’t already put off the idea of a summer break in Blighty, the prospect of bumping into Matt Hancock and his knobbly white knees while paddling in the chilly Atlantic surf was the final nail in that coffin. I have the most wonderful childhood memories of holidays in the golden age before foreign package holidays

Friday

Kate Andrews

France's vaccine volte face

France has become the first country in the world to recommend a different vaccine regime for those who have recovered from the virus. The country’s public health authority has recommended that people previously infected with Covid-19 only receive one jab, rather than two. The advice is based on preliminary data, including two studies from the United States, that show the combination of antibodies built up from having the virus, plus one jab, creates immunity that ‘is equal to or even exceeds’ having two vaccines. It wasn’t long ago that French ministers were publicly criticising the UK’s strategy It’s too early to definitively say whether France’s strategy will work. For one thing,

Katy Balls

Tory nerves are growing over Boris Johnson's Covid strategy

When the third lockdown was voted on in the House of Commons last month, there was a smaller Tory rebellion than the previous two votes. A combination of the arrival of an exit strategy through vaccines, the new Kent variant and the sharp increase in hospital admissions meant that many MPs previously critical of lockdown as a tool against coronavirus, supported the measures. However, with Boris Johnson due to set out a roadmap later this month on the path out of lockdown, the mood is now beginning to change. Tensions increased this week when Matt Hancock announced new border measures. Controversially, this included a potential ten year prison sentence for those who lied

Kate Andrews

What a record GDP slump means for economic recovery

It’s been no mystery that the UK economy took a severe beating in 2020: two lockdowns, a host of circuit-breakers and fire-breakers, Christmas cancelled for millions of people. The experience of an economy forced to hibernate for months on end last year is reflected in today’s GDP update from the Office for National Statistics, showing the economy contracted 9.9 per cent last year — the ‘largest yearly fall on record’ and biggest contraction in 300 years. The fall isn’t quite as stark as the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast alongside the Chancellor’s spending review last November (an estimated 11.3 per cent), but it still represents one of the largest economic

Thursday

Bruce Anderson

'Then the roof fell in': My Covid fight

There was all this talk about Covid, claiming that chaps who were over seventy and not underweight were vulnerable. I would nod sagely, never thinking that this could apply to me. Like a lot of men, when it comes to physique or romance I have a secret appeal court, to override the harsh judgments of birth dates and the shaving mirror. It assured me that I would not catch Covid.  Yet around the turn of the year, I kept on getting intimations and twinges. Full-blown Covid symptoms? No. Taste? Fine. Smell? Fine. Occasional cough but hardly so you would notice. But I was not happy. Was this plague, or hypochondria?

Steerpike

Greek PM's lockdown larks

To break your own lockdown rules once could be seen as a mistake, to do it twice might suggest a hint of arrogance. Although who could blame Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis when faced slap-up Mediterranean lunch on an Aegean island? Well, it seems quite a few Greeks can and do.  The centre-right politician was also snapped in December, stood side-by-side with a group motocross racers sans masks (against his own rules) — at a time when his government was inforcing a €300 fine for those who left their homes on non-essential journeys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd6qLUfneyc Needless to say, government officials deny Mitsotakis did anything wrong, telling the Greek press that ‘during the lunch, all the measures required by the pandemic

Wednesday

Steerpike

Macron eyes up a new career

How is France dealing with its latest Covid wave? Not particularly well, if you listen to the director of epidemiological research at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Earlier this week Arnaud Fontanet, who sits on the French version of Sage, said that Macron’s approach risks repeating the ‘tragedy of the English’ as the Kent variant spreads across the country.  So how are those in the Élysée reacting? Macron shut all bars, restaurants and gyms back in October — but scientists like Fontanet want him to consider new restrictions. After all, France has been painfully slow at rolling out the vaccine, managing just 3.3 citizens per 100 compared to the UK’s one in five.  Seemingly

Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson urges caution on summer holidays

Will Brits be able to enjoy a summer holiday after the pandemic? Just a few months ago, Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested they would, telling MPs that he had already booked his summer break to Cornwall. But today, Boris Johnson joined in with the rather less cheerful messaging coming out of government that it was ‘just too soon’ to say whether people could book time away, whether in the UK or abroad. The Prime Minister gave a press conference this afternoon which was largely aimed at getting more people to take up the vaccine – but he found himself answering questions about what might happen once sufficient numbers had got

Katy Balls

Boris Johnson sets out the new normal on vaccines

Despite Keir Starmer’s attempts to coax Boris Johnson into committing to a variety of economic measures, Prime Minister’s Questions brought with it little clarity on what will be in next month’s Budget. However, Johnson was more forthcoming when it came to vaccines.  Vaccine orders go well beyond the number of doses required to vaccinate the entire adult population Following recent comments from ministers and government scientists over the likelihood of a booster shot being required to protect the public against new variants, Johnson said the public would need to ‘get used to the idea of vaccinating and then revaccinating in the autumn, as we come to face these new variants.’ He pointed to

Matthew Lynn

Von der Leyen has learnt nothing from the EU's vaccine fiasco

As non-apology apologies go, it was right up there with the best of them. Speaking to MEPs today, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen accepted that some ‘mistakes had been made’ in the procurement of vaccines against Covid-19.  Apparently the Commission had been a little too late authorising some of the shots, it had been a tad too optimistic about production, and not everything had gone according to plan. But, heck, these things happen, she went on to argue. And perhaps most crucially of all, the alternative would have been far, far worse.  ‘I can’t even imagine if a few big players had rushed to it

Ross Clark

How effective are the Covid vaccines?

Reports have filtered through this morning about Public Health England’s assessment of the efficacy of the two vaccines so far administered to the public. The results have not yet been published, but the efficacy rates quoted in the Sun suggest that the Pfizer vaccine has proved to be between 79 and 84 per cent effective at stopping symptomatic infection after two doses. After one dose – which is all that most people have had so far – efficacy is reported as 65 per cent. Among the over 80s it is very similar, at 64 per cent. No figures are given for the AstraZeneca vaccine but it is suggested that the efficacy

Tuesday

Ross Clark

The class of Covid will pay the price for years to come

Schools in England, it seems, will reopen fully on 8 March at the earliest – a full two months after they closed. The Prime Minister has declined to bring this forward, in spite of new Covid cases falling at a rate of 25 per cent per week. The Scottish and Welsh governments have both said they will partially reopen schools in February. What was looking like being half-a-term’s lost schooling is now looking to be closer to a full term’s worth. That comes on top of over two months of school closures last year – and some interrupted education in the autumn terms as teachers and pupils were forced to

Kate Andrews

Hancock launches his quarantine crackdown

The search for the right balance on border policy continues, as Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced this afternoon a host of new measures that travellers coming to the UK will face. From Monday, all arrivals will need to take two PCR tests: one on day two and another on day eight of self-isolation. This will apply to everyone, regardless of where they are travelling in from or whether they are quarantining in a hotel or in their home. This means anyone arriving in the UK will now be taking a total of three Covid-19 tests, as a negative test within 72 hours of travel is also required. Hancock announced that any

James Chater

Isolation nation: how Australia is dealing with its pandemic

At 6.20 p.m. on Friday evening, Scarborough Beach, an oceanside suburb of Perth, looked like it always does: families picnicked on grassy dunes overlooking the Indian Ocean, queues were forming outside bars lining the shore, and inside restaurants, groups chatted casually over cold beers. Given the bustle, it’s hard to believe a city-wide lockdown ended only 20 minutes earlier, triggered on the Sunday before after Western Australia recorded its first domestically transmitted case of coronavirus in ten months. The country’s pandemic strategy would look alien to many in Europe, which has been more akin to New Zealand’s or Asian countries like South Korea and Taiwan. The country shut its borders

Monday

Katy Balls

Matt Hancock's 'don't panic' press conference

After a day of worrying headlines over the potential risk of the South African variant, the takeaway of Monday’s press conference was clear: don’t panic. Both Matt Hancock and deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam were at pains to reassure the public over the threat the new variant presents. With a small sample study suggesting the Oxford vaccine has a lower efficacy against the South African strain, Hancock urged the public to stick with the current vaccination programme.   Van-Tam said the aim was to get to a point where coronavirus can be treated like seasonal flu With 147 confirmed cases of the South African variant so far identified in the UK, Van-Tam said the Kent

Sunday

Linden Kemkaran

Lockdown has added to the pain of my mum's Covid death

Last week, my mum died. In just a few short minutes, she went from being a living, breathing human, to a mere number on the list of daily Covid stats. She’d been on a ventilator in ITU for three weeks, unconscious and fighting for her life. But then, on Thursday, her organs failed, and the machines were switched off. Her name was Mary and she was 74. My overriding feeling is one of immense grief, obviously. No matter how old you are, nothing ever prepares you for losing your mum. But I also feel sadness that she had not been able to properly live her life for the past nine

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows roundup: Zahawi ‘confident’ over-50s will get jab by May

Nadhim Zahawi – ‘I’m confident’ all over 50s will get jab by May Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi was sent out to bat for the government this morning, at a time when over 11 million people have received a first dose of an approved Covid vaccine. Zahawi told Sophy Ridge that he was certain that, despite any possible disruption caused by the European Commission’s aborted jab grab, the government was still on course to meet its targets. The first four priority groups are forecast to be vaccinated by mid-February; and groups five-nine are estimated to be offered a jab at some point in the spring:  https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1358346263822012418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw NZ: I’m confident we’ll meet

Saturday

Kate Andrews

What the EU still doesn't understand about Britain’s vaccine strategy

Since the outrage caused last Friday, when the European Union looked set to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol less than one month after the Brexit deal came into force, there has been little apology from those in charge. This is not terribly surprising: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has a reputation for passing the buck whenever possible. It’s also thought that last week’s mistakes are particularly hard for the EU to grapple with: desperate to prove Brexit was a mistake, it has been difficult for Brussels to watch Britain’s reputation for handling the Covid crisis change so quickly for the better. Yesterday we got a hint of acknowledgement

Philip Thomas

Vaccination is pushing England's population immunity to new heights

England’s population immunity to Coronavirus now stands at almost 39 per cent — a rise of 25 per cent since Christmas. The effects of the vaccination campaign are beginning to show. This is the latest finding of the PCCF model developed at Bristol University, and its results offer important insights into how much progress is being made. Immunity can take four forms, not all of which are officially recorded: Immunity after infection, with antibodies: This can be sampled via antibody tests and covers between 15 and 16 per cent of the population as of mid-January, according to the latest ONS report. Immunity after infection, without antibodies: Antibodies can wane over time, although recent

William Atkinson

It's time to call last orders on Britain's rubbish pubs

Oxford is famous for its pubs. Inspector Morse reveals that they are as much a part of the city’s life as any of its colleges. The insatiable undergraduate demand for cheap beer has meant that pubs like the Turf Tavern and the Eagle and Child have permeated (and intoxicated) the minds of students for centuries. So when the Lamb and Flag closed last week, it was as much a story as any of those bizarre murders John Thaw used to stick his nose into. No Jag-driving detectives are needed to work out why it has shut. A year of missed terms and lockdowns dramatically cut the pub’s revenue. Owned by neighbouring St