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.

Key Points

• UK Covid death toll passes 80,000
• Current lockdown ‘too lax’ and tighter rules needed, Sage member warns
• 12 arrested at London anti-lockdown protest
• Queen and Duke of Edinburgh receive Covid-19 vaccine
• Pope Francis says he could receive Covid vaccine next week
• Government sneaks ‘cruel’ new loophole into eviction ban
• ‘Major incident’ in London as one in 30 have virus

[9 January 2021 08:55 · Conrad Duncan]

Current lockdown ‘too lax’ and tighter rules needed, Sage member warns

The UK’s current lockdown is “too lax” and tighter rules like those seen in March are needed to control the spread of coronavirus, a Sage member has warned.

Susan Michie, professor of health psychology at University College London, said the faster-spreading variant and worse conditions in winter meant tougher restrictions were necessary to bring infection rates under control.

“When you look at the data, it shows that almost 90 per cent of people are overwhelmingly sticking to the rules despite the fact we're also seeing more people out and about,” Ms Michie told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I think one of the explanations for that is that actually this is quite a lax lockdown because we've still got a lot of household contact, people go in and out of each other's houses.

“If you're a key nurse, a non-essential tradesperson, a nanny, you have mass gatherings in terms of religious events, nurseries being open and, really importantly, you have this wide definition of critical workers so we have 30-50 per cent of [school] classes full-up at the moment and therefore you've got very busy public transport with people going to and from all these things.”

She added: “It is definitely too lax, because if you think about it and compare ourselves with March, what do we have now?

“We have the winter season and the virus survives longer in the cold, plus people spend more time indoors and we know aerosol transmission, which happens indoors, is a very big source of transmission for this virus.

“And secondly we have this new variant which is 50-70 per cent more infectious. You put those two things together, alongside the NHS being in crisis, we should have a stricter rather than less strict lockdown than we had back in March.”

[9 January 2021 08:42 · Conrad Duncan]

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic today.