Coronavirus news you may have missed overnight: Johnson losing grip on strategy as advisers say it won’t work

Only measure certain to drive down cases is national lockdown, deputy chief medical officer says

Boris Johnson is facing a rebellion from local leaders in the north of England over his new three-tier lockdown system.  

Most of the country was put into tier 2 restrictions on Thursday, while Greater Manchester narrowly avoided going into tier 3 after those plans were shelved at the last minute.  

However reports claim the prime minister could still push ahead with those plans on Friday, despite protests from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.  

Here is your daily briefing of coronavirus news you may have missed overnight:  

Top medical adviser tells local leaders three-tier lockdown strategy won’t work  

Boris Johnson’s coronavirus strategy was unravelling after one of the prime minister’s top medical advisers told regional leaders it would not work and a national lockdown was needed.  

More than half of the population of England will soon be subjected to heightened restrictions under the prime minister’s three-tier regional system, after areas including London, Essex and York were told to move to “high” alert status from Saturday.  

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham claimed deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam had told civic leaders in Manchester that driving down coronavirus in the city would require far more widespread closures of businesses than envisaged in the “baseline” version of Mr Johnson’s plan, and that the only measure certain to work would be a national lockdown.  

PM shelves plan to force Manchester into harshest tier 3 lockdown  

Boris Johnson stepped back from forcing Greater Manchester into the harshest tier 3 coronavirus restrictions on Thursday, after protests from local leaders.  

MPs were told “no decision” had been taken for now – after the government was unable to reach agreement on a financial help package.  

However reports claim the prime minister could ignore the local rebellion and push ahead with the plans on Friday.  

Test and trace system ‘rendered ineffective’ by rate of infections  

Government scientific advisers believe the NHS contact-tracing system is “virtually meaningless” because it’s capturing such a small proportion of cases as infections escalate.  

Case numbers in many parts of the country are feared to have climbed past the point at which the system, billed by Boris Johnson as a key tool in keeping the pandemic under control, can be effective.  

Test and trace recorded its worst performance to date for contact tracing last week as it creaked under the weight of surging positive Covid-19 test results.  

Health and safety breaches at testing lab  

One of the UK’s coronavirus mega-labs has breached health and safety rules – with scientists warning of “chaotic and dangerous” practices at the testing facility.  

Whistleblowers who worked at the Lighthouse Laboratory in Milton Keynes have alleged that workers receive insufficient training before each being asked to handle tens of thousands of coronavirus test samples every day.  

A joint investigation by The Independent and the BBC also uncovered concerns about a lack of social distancing, poor protective clothing, and unsafe handling of samples by staff under pressure to process as many tests as possible as Britain tried to ramp up its coronavirus testing programme.  

House of Commons speaker bans sale of alcohol in parliament  

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has banned the sale of alcohol in the Palace of Westminster to reflect the state of lockdown across the country following limits on hospitality venues brought forward in the latest government guidance.  

Under tier 3 restrictions, areas must close any pub or bar that does not sell food.  

However Sir Lindsay said the measure will come into effect for parliament on Saturday “whether food is served or not”.