Coronavirus news - live: Review finds death rate higher among ethnic minorities as MPs queue up to vote for 'insane' return to Westminster

Coronavirus response should be ‘targeted’ for most affected groups 

The public health response to the coronavirus pandemic should be “targeted” for those who are most affected during the crisis, an infectious disease expert has told MPs.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, from the University of Edinburgh, told the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee that the impact of Covid-19 was “vastly disproportionate” for different age groups.

“I would naturally expect in a situation like that that the public health response would be massively targeted where it was needed,” Professor Woolhouse said.

“It's needed roughly 10,000 times more in the over-75s than it is the under-15s, so I wouldn't expect to see a population-wide response of any kind, I would expect to see a targeted one.”

He added: “We're not aiming the models at the right target, we're aiming them at everybody, when in fact the burden of this disease is very, very concentrated on certain groups."

Proteins in Covid-19 patients' blood ‘could predict severity of illness’

Scientists have found 27 key proteins in the blood of people infected with Covid-19 which they say could act as predictive biomarkers for how ill a patient could become with the disease.

Researchers at the UK’s Francis Crick Institute and Germany’s Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin found the proteins were present in different levels in coronavirus patients, depending on the severity of their symptoms.

The markers could allow doctors to develop a test to help predict how ill a patient might get when infected with Covid-19 and could also provide new targets for the development of potential treatments.

“A test to help doctors predict whether a Covid-19 patient is likely to become critical or not would be invaluable,” Christoph Messner, an expert in molecular biology at the Crick Institute who co-led the research, said.

He said such tests would help doctors decide how best manage the disease for each patient, as well as identify those most at risk of needing hospital treatment or intensive care.

Germany to consider softening travel warnings with EU countries

Germany’s cabinet will discuss a resolution on Wednesday for downgrading travel warnings currently in force for European Union countries and several other associated countries to softer guidelines, the country’s foreign minister has said.

“We are preparing a resolution for the cabinet tomorrow, which is still being agreed within the government," Heiko Maas told reporters at a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday.

“This week we want to start by turning the travel warning we have for the European Union and the associated countries into travel guidelines.”

BREAKING: UK coronavirus review period to be extended to every 28 days

Health secretary Matt Hancock has announced that the coronavirus review period will be extended from every three weeks to every four weeks as the UK gradually eases lockdown restrictions.

More on this breaking story as it comes in can be found below:

PHE releases report into BAME death rates for coronavirus

Public Health England has published its report on Covid-19 deaths among black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) communities in the UK.

The research found “people of Banglandeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death than people of white British ethnicity.”

The report added: “People of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Other Asian, Caribbean and Other Black ethnicity had between 10 and 50 per cent higher risk of death when compared to White British.”

PHE review finds age is biggest factor for Covid-19 risk 

Public Health England’s review into disparities over the risk of coronavirus has ultimately identified age as the biggest factor for predicting the severity of symptoms.

Among those diagnosed with Covid-19, people who were 80 or older were 70 times more likely to die than those under 40, the review found.

The report also said working age men (aged 20-64) with confirmed coronavirus were twice as likely to die as women.

The disparities existed after taking into account ethnicity, deprivation and region, but the research did not consider the effect of comorbidities or occupation.

BREAKING: Public ‘duty’ to get tested if you have Covid-19 symptoms, Hancock says

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said people have a “new duty” to get tested if they have symptoms of coronavirus.

More on this breaking story as it comes in can be found below:

More on PHE’s BAME coronavirus deaths report

Public Health England’s review has found the highest diagnosis rates per 100,000 population for Covid-19 were among black people (486 females and 649 males), while the lowest were among white people (220 females and 224 males).

Compared to previous years, death from all causes was almost four times higher than expected among black males, almost three times higher in Asian males and almost two times higher in white males this year.

Among females, deaths were almost three times higher in this period in black, mixed and other females, and 2.4 times higher in Asian females compared with 1.6 times in white females.

The highest death rates of confirmed cases per 100,000 population were among people in "other" ethnic groups (234 females and 427 males) followed by people of black ethnic groups (119 females and 257 males) and Asian ethnic groups (78 females and 163 males).

In comparison, the death rates of confirmed cases in white people was 36 per 100,000 females and 70 per 100,000 males.

Hancock says people are ‘understandably angry about injustices’ after BAME report published 

Matt Hancock has said people are “understandably angry about injustices” after a Public Health England report showed higher death rates from coronavirus in black and ethnic minority communities in the UK.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Hancock comment on work being done to understand the “unequal and disproportionate way that this disease targets people including those who are from black or minority ethnic backgrounds”.

“This is very timely work. People are understandably angry about injustices and as health secretary I feel a deep responsibility because this pandemic has exposed huge disparities in the health of our nation,” he said.

“It is very clear that some people are significantly more vulnerable to Covid-19 and this is something I'm determined to understand in full and take action to address.”

The health secretary added: “Today I can announce that Public Health England have completed work into disparities in the risks and outcomes of Covid-19 and we have published their findings.”

Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary has said the findings of the PHE report have confirmed Covid-19 “thrives on inequalities”.

“We've always known that there was a social gradient in health - the poorest and most deprived have inequality in access to health care and an inequality in health outcomes,” Jonathan Ashworth said.

“What [Mr Hancock] has confirmed today is that Covid thrives on inequalities. Yes indeed, black lives matter but it is surely a call to action that black, Asian and minority ethnic people are more likely to die from Covid and more likely to be admitted to intensive care from Covid.”