Covid news - live: Door-to-door testing for South African variant to begin as thousands urged to stay home
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Your support makes all the difference.Door-to-door testing for the South African variant of coronavirus is to be rolled out across parts of England, after two people with no travel links to the country tested positive for the virus in Surrey.
More than 100 cases linked to the variant, known as 501Y.V2, have been discovered in the UK so far and all have been traced back to South Africa until now.
The development suggests it is spreading among local populations instead of being picked up among travellers to Britain. A similar case of community transmission has also been detected in Ealing, London.
The additional testing will be made available in parts of London, the West Midlands, and the east, southeast and north west of England.
Locked-down Britons turn to bird watching
The number of people spending time watching birds in their gardens or balconies has surged by 85 per cent on last year’s figures, according to charity RSPB, which runs an annual garden birdwatching survey.
Online participants in the Big Garden Birdwatch on 29 to 31 January, in which people spend an hour watching birds and recording which species they see, increased exponentially as the coronavirus lockdown continues to keep people indoors.
My colleague Emily Beament reports on why we’ve got birds on the brain:
Locked-down Britons turn to bird watching
RSPB hopes that people taking part found it not just fun, but that it ignited or strengthened their connection with wildlife
Confusion over lockdown lifting after Boris Johnson suggests no return to tiers system
The prime minister has thrown plans for lifting lockdown into confusion after he suggested that he will abandon the expected return to a system of local tiers.
Ministers previously said the government was likely to go back to the system, but Boris Johnson said there was now only “a few discrepancies” from area to area, adding: “It may be that a national approach, going down the tiers in a national way, might be better this time round, given that the disease is behaving much more nationally.”
Our Deputy Political Editor Rob Merrick tries to make sense of it all in his report below:
Boris Johnson throws plans for lifting lockdown into confusion, suggesting he will abandon tiers system
Return to local restrictions - depending on Covid-19 threat in each area - had been expected
18,607 more Covid cases, 406 more deaths in UK
Official figures show that a further 406 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday.
This brings the official UK death toll to 106,564. Separate figures published by statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have ben 123,000 deaths involving the disease in the UK.
There have also been a further 18,607 new lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus as of 9am on Monday. This marks the lowest reported daily of total new cases since 15 December.
This amounts to a total of 3,835,783 coronavirus cases in the UK.
Birmingham’s director of public health says there will be other cases of South African variant
Birmingham City Council's director of public health Dr Justin Varney said there will be other cases of the South African variant in the region.
After reports of a single positive test for the variant within the Black Country were confirmed, Dr Varney said: "Walsall is the first, there will be others in the West Midlands I'm sure."
In a plea to faith leaders to help support enhanced testing efforts in the region, he added: "Please step up, please help us get those communities - there will be specific geographical areas - where we are asking everyone to test over a week.
“The ask for you as leaders in your communities is encourage people to do that.”
Walsall to test extra 10,000 residents without Covid symptoms
Walsall Council has unveiled plans to test an extra 10,000 residents with no Covid-19 symptoms in response to the discovery of a local case of the South African variant.
Councillor Stephen Craddock, Walsall's portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, said: "Our priority remains very much to keep our communities, and particularly our most vulnerable residents, safe.
"We are aiming to test an additional 10,000 residents without symptoms of Covid-19 in the next few weeks to assess containment of this variant.
"If you are asked to be tested, please do take up the offer. It's quick, easy and painless and, put simply, you could save lives by doing so."
8.5m Covid vaccinations have taken place in England
A total of 8,543,262 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between 8 December and 31 January, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 292,116 on the previous day's figures.
Of this number, 8,082,355 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 289,359 on the previous day's figures, while 460,907 were the second dose, an increase of 2,757.
Defence secretary wishes Captain Tom Moore a ‘very speedy recovery’
Defence secretary Ben Wallace has wished Captain Sir Tom Moore a "very speedy recovery" as the 100-year-old Second World War veteran, whose charity walks inspired the nation early in the pandemic, is being treated in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.
Mr Wallace told defence questions in the House of Commons: "I'd like to take the opportunity on behalf of everyone in defence to send Captain Sir Tom Moore our best wishes for his recovery from Covid.
"He continues to be an inspiration to us all and embodying the trust, courage and team spirit - which is the motto of the Army Foundation College, in Harrogate, of which he is the honorary colonel.
"From the newest recruit upwards, we all wish him a very speedy recovery."
Repairing damage to children’s education is ‘biggest challenge’
Boris Johnson said repairing any damage caused to children's education was the "biggest challenge" for the government and that he was "lost in admiration" at the efforts of parents home-schooling their children.
He told reporters in Batley, West Yorkshire: "I think this is the biggest challenge for the government at the moment, it's not just the vaccine rollout, not just the NHS difficulties, which remain very severe, but making up that shortfall in education.
"We want to repair any damage or any loss, any detriment to kids' education as fast as possible."
Repairing damage to children’s education is ‘biggest challenge’
Boris Johnson said repairing any damage caused to children's education was the "biggest challenge" for the government and that he was "lost in admiration" at the efforts of parents home-schooling their children.
He told reporters in Batley, West Yorkshire: "I think this is the biggest challenge for the government at the moment, it's not just the vaccine rollout, not just the NHS difficulties, which remain very severe, but making up that shortfall in education.
"We want to repair any damage or any loss, any detriment to kids' education as fast as possible."
Boris Johnson ‘optimistic’ summer holidays can happen
Boris Johnson has said he is "optimistic" that people will be able to take summer holidays this year but warned it is too early to lift restrictions.
Boris Johnson ‘optimistic’ summer holidays can happen
Prime minister says now is not the time to ‘take your foot off the throat of the beast’
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