Covid news — live: UK deaths pass 80,000 as anti-lockdown protesters arrested amid calls for stricter rules
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The UK’s coronavirus death toll has risen past 80,000 as the total number of fatalities attributed to the virus increases by more than a thousand for the fourth day in a row. The government said a further 1,035 people had died within 28 days of a positive test as of Saturday, while 59,973 cases were confirmed.
However despite surging case numbers and widespread support for lockdown measures designed to stem their growth, officers in the capital were forced to break up an anti-lockdown protest as around 30 people marched down Clapham High Street on Saturday afternoon. The Metropolitan Police confirmed 12 people were arrested as the crowd was dispersed.
Meanwhile The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have received their coronavirus vaccinations at Windsor Castle today, joining more than one million people in the UK who have been given their jab so far. It is understood that Buckingham Palace decided to make the Queen’s vaccination public to prevent inaccuracies and speculation around when she would receive the jab.
And Susan Michie, who sits on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), has warned that the combination of the winter season and the faster-spreading variant meant tougher rules were necessary - telling the BBC that current measures are “too lax” and that the latest restrictions should be stricter than March’s lockdown.
Police to review fines for women surrounded while on walk and told coffee was ‘picnic’
Derbyshire Police has said it will review its actions after officers surrounded two women and fined them £200 each for driving 10 minutes to take a walk.
Jessica Allen and Eliza Moore were swooped on by police as they arrived – separately and socially distanced – for a stroll at Foremark Reservoir in Derbyshire.
Our reporter, Colin Drury, has the full story below:
Police to review lockdown fines dished out after women were surrounded for taking a socially distanced walk’
Jessica Allen and Eliza Moore were stopped by officers and told their takeaway coffees counted as an illegal picnic
Police ask public to report non-emergencies online due to staff self-isolating
Greater Manchester Police has asked members of the public to report non-emergencies online as a number of communications staff are self-isolating,
The force said a number of staff in the Operational Communications Branch (OCB), which receives 101 calls, were having to self-isolate for Covid-19 reasons and staff from the Transport Unit were assisting the department with calls.
“All of our staff in OCB have worked extremely hard throughout this pandemic to help keep the communities in Greater Manchester safe and our technology has enabled many to work from home,” Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey said.
“However, inevitably, some of our officers and staff will be affected by the ongoing pandemic and may need to self-isolate for the safety of themselves, their colleagues and the public and we are supporting them in doing so.
“We have therefore had to redeploy some of our resources from the Transport Unit to assist colleagues in OCB on a temporary basis.”
Mr Bailey added: “Answering calls from members of the public is vital and moving officers into the department can help us to deliver our normal service. This is why we're continuing to ask the public to report any non-emergencies online where possible.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock will be appearing on Sky News tomorrow to answer questions about the immense pressure on the NHS this month:
Police crackdown on lockdown rule breakers
Police forces across the country have said they will enforce coronavirus rules more strictly amid reports that the government is considering even tougher legislation to ensure people stay at home this month.
Our reporter, Peter Stubley, has the full story below:
Police crackdown on lockdown rule breakers
Ministers reportedly considering tougher ‘stay at home’ legislation
Situation in hospitals likely to get worse before it gets better, expert warns
The situation with coronavirus patients in hospitals is likely to get worse before it gets better, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association's consultants committee has warned.
Dr Simon Walsh said the experience from the first wave indicated that things were likely to worsen over the next two to three weeks.
“I'm afraid all of us who are working on the front line believe, and this is based on the evidence I'm afraid, that it is going to get worse before it gets better,” Dr Walsh told BBC Breakfast.
He added that critical care was having to be spread “more and more thinly”, with as many as three patients per intensive care nurse, rather than the usual standard of one-to-one care.
“They need to ensure that PPE supply is there when we need it, because we were let down I'm afraid in the first wave by that, and so our confidence needs to be restored by the government in vaccinating and ensuring that those PPE items are in place,” he said.
Prime minister Boris Johnson has reiterated the government’s ‘stay at home’ message this morning:
Covid variant should be treated as ‘new pandemic within pandemic’
Dr Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has said that the new coronavirus variant should be treated as a “new pandemic within a pandemic”.
Dr Kucharski, a Sage member, told BBC Radio 4's Today: “The early signals we're seeing are suggesting that there is probably less movement in the population than there was in November but perhaps slightly more than there was in April, and obviously that's concerning because, with this new variant, essentially each interaction we have has become riskier than it was before.
“Even if we went back to that last spring level of reduction in contacts, we couldn't be confident we would see the same effects as we saw last year because of the increased transmission.
“To some extent we can think of this as a new pandemic within a pandemic.”
He added: “From the data coming out, this is a very serious threat and new data from PHE [Public Health England] that came out yesterday suggested that that risk per contact is probably 40-50 per cent higher than it was.
“So both for the UK, and many other countries as well, we need to get away from this idea that we're going to see a repeat of what happened last spring with our behaviours and really face the possibility that this is much riskier and we're going to have to work much harder to reduce the impact.”
Dr Rupert Pearse, an intensive care doctor in London, has told Sky News this morning that the second wave of coronavirus deaths will last until at least the end of January:
Full impact on hospitals of Christmas spike in cases ‘still to come’
Hospitals have not yet seen the full extent of patients who caught coronavirus over the Christmas period, Birmingham City Council’s director of public health has said.
Dr Justin Varney told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think we're very worried. What we're seeing now is in the hospital today are the people going in who caught coronavirus about two to three weeks ago.
“So we still haven't seen the impact in the NHS of the rapid rise that we saw around 28-29 December after the Christmas bubble and after we started to see the new variant arriving in the region.”
He added: “It is going to get a lot, lot worse unless we really get this under control but some of that is already baked into the system and it is going to play out over the next week or two.”
‘Major incident’ in London as one in 30 have virus
London mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” in the capital as data shows as many as one in 30 people have coronavirus in the city.
Mr Khan warned hospitals in London were “at risk of being overwhelmed”, with beds likely to run out within the next two weeks unless the spread of the virus slows dramatically.
Our political editor, Andrew Woodcock, has the full story below:
London mayor declares ‘major incident’ as Covid cases surge
Hospitals in capital ‘at risk of being overwhelmed’, says Sadiq Khan
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