Coronavirus news: UK records over 12,800 new cases in highest-ever rise, amid hopes for vaccine by Easter
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK set a new record for daily new cases of coronavirus as Boris Johnson faced widespread criticism for blaming the surging figures on public "complacency".
A further 12,872 cases and 49 deaths were reported on Saturday night and official figures also revealed a rise in the number of patients in hospital and on ventilators.
However the government claimed a backlog of test results dating back more than a week would lead to higher figures “over the coming days”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of “serial incompetence" and urged the prime minister to draw up a new “roadmap” for recovery.
Officials are increasingly hopeful that a Covid vaccine could be rolled out as early as Easter. Scientists working on an inoculation at Oxford University are hoping it will be ready and approved by the end of this year, while government officials believe they will be able to get the vaccine to all 53 million British adults in less than six months and potentially as quick as three.
Meanwhile in the US, Donald Trump said he was “feeling much better now” after being taken to hospital for treatment for Covid-19.
Brexit and coronavirus could thwart Boris Johnson's plan to 'level up' UK, says IFS
Boris Johnson’s plan to reduce economic inequality between UK regions could be hampered by the economic fallout from Brexit and the pandemic, a new study has said.
This comes as the UK “ranks at or near the top of the international league table on most economic measures of inequality between regions”, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the organisation behind the research.
The report said that there is a “danger” that the end of the Brexit transition period this year could thwart efforts by the government to “level up” areas that have been left behind.
Read more:
Brexit and coronavirus could thwart Boris Johnson's plan to 'level up' UK, says IFS
Government needs to set out what it wants to achieve, report suggests
Yvette Cooper is the latest figure to criticise Boris Johnson for his bungled interview with ITV last night.
“No idea what his own rules are,” the Labour MP says.
London burger restaurant fined £1,000 for serving customer four minutes after 10pm
A burger restaurant in London has been slapped with a £1,000 fine after it handed a take-away meal to a customer just four minutes after the 10pm coronavirus curfew.
Bim’s Burgers, in Ilford, was hit with the penalty charge after police found it had allowed a single customer to order at exactly 10pm and passed over the food 240 seconds later.
A spokesperson for the restaurant said that, given the customer had started placing the order ahead of the nightly curfew, staff believed serving them fell within the law.
Read more:
London burger restaurant slapped with £1,000 fine for serving customer four minutes after 10pm coronavirus curfew
Penalty charge one of many handed out as England enters second weekend with new closure times in place
More than 750 cases confirmed in Scotland in 24 hours
A total of 764 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Scotland in the past 24 hours, while four more people have died after testing positive the virus.
Scottish Government statistics released on Saturday showed 191 people were in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19 and 23 people in intensive care.
The 764 cases represent 12.4% of newly tested individuals.
PA
First hint of London lockdown as borough asks households to stop mixing at home
People living in a London borough have been asked not to visit other households amid signs the capital may soon be hit with tightened coronavirus restrictions similar to those seen across the north, the Midlands and swathes of Wales and Northern Ireland.
Residents in Tower Hamlets have been advised by the local council to avoid seeing friends and families in private homes.
In an open letter, the borough's mayor John Biggs asked people to avoid such visits “unless absolutely necessary” due to a rise in Covid-19 cases there.
Read more:
First hint of London lockdown as borough asks households to stop mixing in homes
Tower Hamlets mayor says action is ‘matter of life and death’
What is Trump’s medicine Remdesivir and is the drug used in the UK?
President Donald Trump has been taken to a military hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened and is being treated with the anti-viral drug Remdesivir.
Trump revealed via Twitter yesterday that he and first-lady Melania Trump had both tested positive for the virus after they took a test following the announcement that senior aid Hope Hicks had contracted covid.
On Friday night, he communicated on Twitter for the first time while in hospital, saying: “Going well, i think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!”
Read more:
What is Trump’s coronavirus medicine remdesivir?
Trump has been hospitalised and is undergoing coronavirus treatment with the drug remdesivir
Raab feared Johnson could have died after PM contracted coronavirus
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he feared Boris Johnson could have died after he was admitted to intensive care following his Covid-19 diagnosis in the spring.
Mr Raab stood in for the Prime Minister during his time in intensive care and while recovering.
The First Secretary of State told the virtual Conservative Party conference: “It nearly took the life of our Prime Minister, our friend as well as our leader.
“I get asked a lot how I felt, when I covered for him.
“Well, I really worried we might lose him, and I was worried for Carrie (Symonds), pregnant with baby Wilf.
“But I always had faith that with the outstanding NHS care he received and his fighting spirit, he'd pull through.”
PA
Students fined £200 over party at university halls
Two students have been fined £200 each following an illegal party in a university's halls of residence, West Midlands Police has said.
Up to 200 people are thought to have joined the party at Arundel House in Coventry in the early hours of Tuesday.
A video on social media showed people dancing at the late-night rave.
Police said they were called to the accommodation block following reports of a “large gathering of students” in the common room.
Read more:
Two students fined £200 each for party at university halls
Coventry University condemns ‘blatant’ breaches of rule of six
Boris Johnson has sustained some criticism over his comments earlier today saying Donald Trump would beat coronavirus because the US president is a “resilient character”.
No-deal Brexit will leave vulnerable patients in danger, writes Layla McCay
"As the ninth and final round of future relationship negotiations draws to a close this week, we are now in the final three months of the Brexit transition period and less than 100 days before health services and industry, educators, researchers, public health and patients will be entering a new relationship with the EU or none at all.
Irrespective of narratives from London and Brussels, this really needs to be a “smell the coffee” moment, as there is a very real danger that our most vulnerable patients (who rely on unhindered access to medicines and medical supplies) could be left in a Brexit transition to nowhere. Yes, Brexit fatigue is understandable, particularly when working flat out to meet the demands of Covid-19, but that fatigue is shared by the very people who will be charged with dealing with the implications of no-deal, come 1 January 2021…"
Read more:
Opinion: No-deal Brexit will leave vulnerable patients in danger
Without free trade with the EU, British health services are set to face grave challenges amid the second wave of coronavirus and beyond
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