Coronavirus news you missed overnight: UK Covid death toll crosses 50,000

The UK’s coronavirus outbreak has passed another grim milestone, as it became the first European country to suffer 50,000 deaths related to the pandemic, with a fresh spike of new infections being reported from around the country.

The figures for both new cases and additional deaths on Wednesday were the highest for six months, as the country reported more than 500 deaths two days in a row.

While there are new hopes for a vaccine from Pfizer, and assurances were given about its availability, British hospitals remain overburdened with patients waiting for as long as 40 hours to get a bed.

Meanwhile, with the fresh spike of Covid-19 cases, the UK has been added to a list of “high risk” countries by Spain, news which could have an impact on any would-be travellers from Britain.

Here’s everything you might have missed overnight.

In a bleak reminder of the threat that Covid-19 continues to pose, Britain’s official death toll increased by 595 in the deadliest single day of the pandemic since May. The country has become the first in Europe to report more than 50,000 deaths from the pandemic.

The UK’s official tally of 50,365 deaths within 28 days of a positive test for the coronavirus is likely to underestimate the true total, as separate figures from the Office for National Statistics show more than 65,000 fatalities in which Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.

The figure puts the UK fifth in the global league table for deaths, behind the USA, Brazil, India and Mexico.

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Patients, including those with coronavirus, are being kept “head to toe” on trolleys in accident and emergency departments in Manchester, with some forced to wait up to 40 hours for a bed.

The “dangerous” situation has sparked warnings from the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine over the “potentially lethal” crowding of patients in A&Es across the country this winter.

Katherine Henderson said she was “absolutely terrified” by what was happening in some departments. She said she had warned NHS England about the dangers of crowding patients in A&E but that not enough action had been taken.

She told The Independent: “Crowding in A&E is unsafe, but with coronavirus it is potentially lethal. We have said this endlessly to NHS England."

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England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, speaking at a Downing Street news conference, said the regular development and approval phase for a vaccine had been accelerated. However, he has assured safety standards for the new vaccine will not be compromised in the face of the public health emergency.

In order to convince people to get the vaccine shots, he said he will be encouraging his own mother to get a Covid-19 vaccine.

Pfizer has already sold 82 per cent of its vaccine stocks to some of the world’s richest countries, analysis shows, raising concerns that people from poorer nations will be unable to access the life-saving doses.

The pharmaceutical giant and its German partner BioNTech intend to manufacture a total of 1.3 billion doses throughout 2021, yet the vast majority of these have been pre-ordered by the likes of the UK, Japan, the US and the European Union.

These countries, which have bought up hundreds of millions of doses between them, represent just 14 per cent of the global population.

The analysis was conducted by Global Justice Now, a health and social justice campaign group based in the UK, which warned that the lack of equitable access to the Pfizer vaccine – along with many other candidates in development – was endangering thousands of lives across the globe.

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The favourite overseas country for British holidaymakers is to demand evidence of a negative Covid test from every arrival from “high-risk” countries, including the UK.

Spain is the latest nation to introduce mandatory pre-departure testing for many visitors, starting on 23 November.

The Ministry of Health in Madrid has announced that evidence of a negative PCR in the 72 hours prior to departure will be compulsory for visitors from all countries designated high risk by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Every major nation in Europe, with the exception of Finland and Norway, is currently classified as “red” or high risk.

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced the end to the travel ban on tourists from high-risk countries such as the UK. But his country remains on the British “no-go” list.

Since South Africa opened up to some international tourism on 1 October, short-stay visitors from the UK have been banned.

But during a 36-minute address to the nation, the president announced the “opening up international travel to all countries subject to the necessary health protocols” – which includes the need for each arriving holidaymaker to present a paper copy of a negative Covid-19 test certificate taken in the 72 hours before departure.

Mr Ramaphosa said: “By utilising rapid tests and strict monitoring, we intend to limit the spread of the infection through importation by those who will be travelling to our country,” he said.

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Government plans for students in England to come home for Christmas are “riddled with holes", a union has said, and the promised mass-testing programme does not yet exist.

Meanwhile English students have been encouraged to follow "refined behaviour" before returning home – while in Scotland students are being advised to leave their accommodation as little as possible.

Students in England have been asked to go home between the 3 and 9 December – just after the national lockdown is due to end – to make sure they are home by the end of term, and to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Universities have been told to set staggered departure dates over this window for students to travel home for Christmas, in much-anticipated guidance published on Wednesday.

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