Covid news – live: ‘New wave is now starting’ Sage expert warns as UK infections rise

Government plans to burn £4 billion of unusable personal protective equipment (PPE) to generate power have been criticised by MPs as potentially costly - both financially and to the environment.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) lost 75% of the £12 billion it spent on PPE in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic to inflated prices and faulty kit.

This included £4 billion worth which could not be used because it did not meet NHS standards.

The DHSC has disputed this, saying that not all of the unusable PPE will be burned, and much of it will be used in other settings or recycled.

China has attacked the theory that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated as a leak from a Chinese laboratory as a politically motivated lie, after the World Health Organization recommended in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is needed into whether a lab accident may be to blame.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian also rejected accusations that China had not fully cooperated with investigators, saying it welcomed a science-based probe but rejected any political manipulation.

He also reiterated calls for an investigation into “highly suspicious laboratories such as Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina” in the United States where China has suggested, without evidence, that the U.S. was developing the coronavirus as a bioweapon.

Ireland’s Minister for Health has warned about rising Covid-19 cases after the number of patients in hospital almost double in less than a fortnight.

Stephen Donnelly said it has soared to over 300 patients with Covid-19 from around 160 a week and a half ago.

Figures from the Department of Health shows a sharp rise since the end of May.

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar warned it could be the start of a Covid “summer wave”, while Mr Donnelly said they are watching the figures closely.

“What we’re seeing is a very significant increase in a very short period of time. What concerns me is that when you look at previous patterns of hospitalisation, they spiked very, very quickly,” Mr Donnelly said on sFriday.

“Now thankfully, because of the vaccine programme, and because so many people participated, even in the Omicron wave, the numbers in intensive care and the numbers who became really, very sick and the mortality levels stayed thankfully low.

“However, we still had an awful lot of Covid patients in the hospitals, and that leads to cancellation of elective care, which has huge knock on effects for non-Covid patients.

“As you know, dealing with the waiting lists now is an absolute priority.

“So the advice I have is that whilst the mortality rates and severe illness rates would likely stay low, if we are looking at another substantial increase in hospitalisations, that of course has an impact on our efforts on waiting lists and on elective care.”

US President Joe Biden is lifting Covid-19 pre-departure testing requirement for international travellers to US effective Sunday.

According to the ONS, the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England is estimated to have increased among 35 to 49-year-olds, with early signs of a rise among people from school year 12 to age 2.

The trend in the most recent week was “uncertain” in all other age groups.

Among the regions of England, infection levels are estimated to have risen in the North West, London and the South East, with early signs of an increase in eastern England.

Levels have fallen in the South West and the West Midlands while the trend in all other regions was uncertain.

The UK’s leading scientists have warned the country will see a new wave of infections this month.

Speaking during a breifing by the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, Professor Christina Pagel said: “We will have a new wave of infections this month. Now hopefully it won’t be as high as the previous two waves and might be lower. But we can’t count on that and either way we are going to see more people becoming infected.”

Our health correspondent Rebecca Thomas has more:

A strong theme of Independent SAGE’s live broadcast today was the lack of mask-wearing indoors, particularly in hospitals and public transport.

One cancer patient asked the panel how she can protect herself, being immuno-compromised, when other patients do not wear masks.

The panel expressed disappointment at the lack of urgency for face masks to be worn in hospitals.

Professor Susan Michie, a clinical psychologist, suggested that hospital trusts implement a 'Clean your air' campaign, mirroring a 2009 ‘Clean your hands’ campaign which aimed to improve hand hygiene in health care spaces.

Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor at Leeds University’s School of Medicine, advised immunocompromised patients to wear a tightly fitted FFP2 mask which fit better and offer more protection.

China has imposed strict new lockdown measures in Shanghai as the country ramps up its efforts to see off a new round of coronavirus infections after they returned to a two-year high in May.

The Asian superpower has taken some of the most drastic measures since the start of the pandemic in recent weeks, even though its caseload is low compared with other major countries because it has tethered itself to an uncompromising “zero-Covid” strategy.

The latest increase in cases is thought to be due to Omicron, reported to be the dominant variant.

Here, we take a look at some of the most common symptoms associated with the variant for the fully vaccinated – and two early warning signs you might have it.

During the Independent Sage broadcast, Professor Christina Pagel warned that Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 will become the dominant strains in the UK.

Here is what the professor said about these new variants:

• There is a similar antibody response in boosted people to BA.1 and BA.2 however, most people have had their booster several months ago.
• Infection with Delta gave the least protection against any Omicron variant.
• Infection with BA.2 gave good protection against BA.4 and BA.5.
• Booster with BA.1 or BA.2 gave the highest protection against BA.4 and BA.5.

China’s commercial hub of Shanghai and national capital Beijing were hit with new lockdowns and fresh rounds of mass testing drives on Friday, just days after gruelling restrictions were lifted.

In a desperate bid to control a wider outbreak after discovering some community transmission cases and a cluster, Shanghai authorities have imposed lockown for hundreds of thousands of people in five districts, writes Shweta Sharma.

Read more here: