Covid news - live: Sturgeon imposes total travel quarantine and Oxford vaccine still protects after 12 weeks

A fresh row has emerged over the failure to quarantine all arrivals into the UK after government scientists suggested only this measure or border closures could “get close” to preventing the import of new cases of coronavirus and variants.

It comes after Boris Johnson resisted calls for blanket border measures last week, as he unveiled a mandatory 10-day hotel quarantine policy for those arriving in the UK from 33 countries designated “high-risk” by the government.

Political correspondent Ashley Cowburn explains:

Alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales rose to a record high during 2020, according to the latest government statistics.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there had been a “statistically significantly” spike in alcohol deaths in the period after the first coronavirus lockdown was imposed.

Adam Forrest has more details:

As door-to-door deliveries of coronavirus tests in parts of England begin, residents in Woking receiving tests have mixed feelings about how effective it will be.

Another resident, Teresa Miller, hailed efforts to deliver coronavirus tests in the area of the town where she lives.

The mother-of-two, who is still recovering from having earlier had coronavirus, said: "I think it's a good idea to get it under control, obviously, as soon as possible just so we can go back to normal.”

She added: "I've literally just got over it, I'm hoping I'm sort of immune to it.”

Ms Miller, 42, who works for Kingston University, said having coronavirus was "awful", with it leaving her feeling "exhausted" and "totally drained of energy”.

She added: "Obviously it's important that everyone gets tested and if it keeps it away, then that's even better."

But Stewart Dawkins, 58, a key worker for a supermarket, said he thought the tests were "a bit of a waste of time” if people are still being told to go to work.

"They've asked you to do this (complete a test) but I'm OK to go to work yesterday,” he said.

"What about all the people I've gone and potentially passed it on to last night at work?”

Mr Dawkins said he already got tested every day at work but that the new local testing was still "a good thing”.

He said the detection of the South African variant of coronavirus locally "does concern me”.

He added: "Why don't they say to people, why don't you stay at home so it doesn't spread?”

Robyn Brunskill, 22, agreed with Mr Dawkins, adding: "It is quite concerning, especially if they are saying people who have it haven't had any direct association with South Africa.

"That makes you worry about where it's coming from and you're more vulnerable than you think you are.”

Ms Brunskill said she worked from home but her plumber boyfriend had to go out to work.

She said: "It's a bit concerning for people who still need to go (to) work. It doesn't seem like there's much support in place.

"If you still have to go to work, you have to go to work.”

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Estonia has become the latest nation to offer quarantine exemption for travellers who have recovered from coronavirus or who have received a vaccine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently imposes 10 days of quarantine on arrivals from abroad, with exceptions made only for low-risk European countries - Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Iceland and Norway.

Our Travel Correspondent Simon Calder takes a closer look at what may be the start of “immunotourism”:

Ministers should hold a virtual meeting with transport operators and unions before coronavirus lockdown restrictions are eased, Labour has said.

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon warned about the dangers of “contradictory scientific advice and guidance” for essential workers during the pandemic.

In a later to transport secretary Grant Shapps, he wrote that “the job of the government should surely be to cut through that noise and give those that need it clear, unified and constant guidance and direction”.

He said that different companies have “diverging views on the best approach”, making a “national operators’ forum with government, transport operators and unions with driver and other workers’ representatives” necessary.

“This would help in understanding the frontline issues, varying approaches and practical solutions to getting the Covid case rate and death rate down,” he added.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that deaths of male workers in two transport sectors were among the highest for any occupation in 2020.

Taxi drivers recorded a rate of 101.4 deaths per 100,000 males, compared with a rate of 31.4 men of the same age in the wider population, whereas bus and coach drivers recorded a rate of 70.3 per 100,000 males.

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Russia, known as Sputnik V, has been shown to be 91.6 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19, according to interim trial results.

The preliminary findings, published in The Lancet, come almost six months after the jab was granted state approval and quickly rolled out to teachers and doctors long before the study had been concluded.

My colleague Samuel Lovett reports:

Vaccines to tackle new variants of coronavirus could be created for laboratory testing in just three weeks, a leading scientist has said.

Professor Robin Shattock, who is leading Covid-19 vaccine research at Imperial College London, said scientists are working on vaccines which could counter new variants like the one that emerged in South Africa.

After being redesigned for lab testing, it could take two to three months to get the vaccines to the manufacturing stage, he added.

Coronavirus patients who call an ambulance but are not yet sick enough to go to hospital are being given new home oxygen monitoring kits to help spot those who may deteriorate earlier.

Across the Thames Valley region, thousands of patients will be given the kits which include a pulse oximeter device to monitor blood oxygen levels, a diary to track their symptoms and advice on what to do if they become sicker.

Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern has more details:

Around 10,000 people will be tested in Kent as part of the door-to-door testing, Kent County Council director of public health Andrew Scott-Clark said.

Asked why the response to the South African variant has been different to the response to the Kent variant, he said: "This is a variant that we know is in small numbers and we know it's come from South Africa.

"We are more concerned about this variant because we know that the vaccine is slightly less effective against this.

"Clearly we need to understand whether this is actually circulating locally and that's why we are doing the work to ask people to get tested so that we can find out and make sure that we don't have this variant circulating within our local community."

Matt Hancock said there are 110 care homes across England where the vaccine programme has not yet started due to outbreaks.

He said: "I'm delighted that we've been able to reach so many care homes. I said in my statement that we have reached 10,307 care homes, that's in England.

"There are 110 care homes where the vaccination programme is still outstanding because they've had outbreaks and, for clinical reasons, the vaccination programme can't start there but it will as soon as it's clinically possible."