Covid news: UK records highest daily death toll as Whitty to front new ‘stay at home’ TV campaign
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK has reported 1,325 more coronavirus deaths, its highest daily total since the pandemic began, as a new TV campaign fronted by Professor Chris Whitty urges people in England to stay home.
The new death figures surpassed the previous record of 1,224 set in April and fuelled fears the current lockdown is not working.
Meanwhile, new adverts in England emphasise the risk posed by the new strain of the disease and how stretched hospitals are becoming, while driving home the country’s “stay at home” message.
It comes as London mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” in the capital, as one in 20 people now have Covid-19 in some parts of the city.
The mayor told LBC one in 30 people in London on average have the virus, “but in some parts of London one out of 20 Londoners now has this virus”.
City Hall said Covid-19 cases in London have exceeded 1,000 per 100,000, while there are 35 per cent more people in hospital with the virus than at the peak of the pandemic in April.
It comes after the UK’s medicines watchdog approved the Moderna vaccine for use, making it the third one given the go ahead after the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs.
Former UK Vaccine Taskforce chief ‘reasonably confident’ government vaccination targets will be met
Kate Bingham, the former head of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, has said the government will likely succeed with its ambitious vaccination target.
The prime minister wants every member of the four top priority groups to receive their first jab by the middle of February, which means that up to two million doses will need to be administered each week.
Ms Bingham told BBC Radio 4: “I'm reasonably confident that these goals will be met and possibly exceeded because of the planning and the teams in place to do it.”
UK sees highest number of daily Covid infections
The UK has set two grim Covid-19 records on Friday.
After reporting the most daily coronavirus deaths seen since the start of the pandemic, the UK posted another 68,053 lab-confirmed infections - the highest figure in a 24-hour period.
That said, the daily cases could have been higher in April, when mass testing was not yet in place.
Merseyside doctor says hospital ‘almost at the limit’
A doctor from Merseyside, who wishes to remain anonymous, has said her hospital is “almost at the limit”, with patients being forced to wait in corridors or ambulances before they are seen.
She told PA: "We are coping at the moment. It's very challenging and it's very difficult but we are just about coping.
"If the rates go up much further I'm not sure we will continue to cope. I think we're almost at the limit of being able to cope with it safely."
The doctor added that staff are “absolutely knackered” and “physically, mentally and emotionally drained” from the constant stress.
Explainer: What is a ‘major incident’?
London mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” earlier today over fears that health services in the capital could soon be overwhelmed.
But what does a ‘major incident’ entail?
The short answer is that it allows for extra government support and better coordination between emergency services.
And here is my colleague Jane Dalton with the longer answer:
What does declaring a major incident really mean?
Move represents response to a crisis ‘with serious consequences requiring special arrangements’
Starmer calls UK’s highest daily Covid death toll a ‘tragedy’
Keir Starmer has tweeted that Friday’s coronavirus death toll - the highest since the start of the pandemic - is a “tragedy”.
The Labour leader criticised the government indirectly, saying the figure was “not inevitable” and could not just be attributed to “bad luck”.
He went on to urge the government to vaccinate Britain as quickly as possible.
Major TV campaign to urge public to stay at home
A new major television campaign will tell the public to stay at home, as hospitals around the country struggle to cope with the rising number of coronavirus infections.
Here’s our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin with the story:
Major new TV campaign to warn public to stay at home
A major advertising campaign will urge the public to stay at home as a record new high in daily death figures fuelled fears the current lockdown is not working.
Pfizer Covid vaccine works against ‘mutant strains’
The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is effective against two recently discovered coronavirus variants, new research has suggested:
New school rules put poorest families at risk of contracting Covid, experts warn
Children without access to a computer or adequate internet coverage will be classified as vulnerable and will therefore be able to attend school during England’s third national lockdown, the government has confirmed.
This comes as the government lags significantly behind on its pledge to distribute 1.5 million devices, with only 600,000 handed out so far.
In total, 1.8 million children across the UK are thought to lack the necessary devices or internet speed to learn effectively from home.
School leaders and epidemiologist have said the government’s decision will drive up infection rates, particularly among the least well off.
Lorraine Tonks, the head teacher at Chetwynd Primary Academy in Nottingham, said: “You will see tens of thousands more pupils in school this time compared to last spring.
"And, even with schools doing everything to become Covid-secure, that inevitably means a greater risk of infection to teachers and to the families of those children in school. This isn’t a lockdown.”
My colleague Colin Drury reports:
New school rules could undermine lockdown and put poorest families at greatest risk, experts warn
Failure to supply 1.5 million laptops to children in need will mean tens of thousands more pupils in schools – threatening effectiveness of new infection control measures, Colin Drury finds
‘Clear problem’ with vaccine inequality, says WHO chief
The head of the World Health Organisation has said the difference in vaccine purchasing power between rich countries and less well off nations needs to be addressed.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is a “clear problem” because wealthy states “have the majority of the supply”.
The WHO boss encouraged these countries and vaccine manufacturers to tackle the issue, rather than conducting bilateral deals without considering other nations.
To date, the UN health agency has raised $6 billion of the $7 billion it needs in 2021 to distribute vaccines to 92 countries with little means of buying their own.
Spain sees biggest daily jump in Covid infections since October
Spain announced its highest daily number of coronavirus cases since October, after a post-holiday surge in transmission rates.
The country has so far recorded 51,874 coronavirus deaths and more than two million Covid-19 infections.
There are now 350 cases per 100,000 people in Spain, up from 321 on Thursday.
Reflecting on the current situation, Carolina Darias, a regional policy minister, said: "(There is) maximum concern for how the pandemic is developing in our country. Hard times are coming."
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