/Coronavirus news – live: Ministers ‘planning two-week delay’ to lockdown easing as cases surge

Coronavirus news – live: Ministers ‘planning two-week delay’ to lockdown easing as cases surge

It is clear by the government’s own criteria that it would be “foolish” and a “major risk” to go ahead with the June 21 lockdown easing, one of its advisers has warned, as reports suggest ministers are considering delaying the reopening date by a fortnight.

As new daily coronavirus cases surpassed 6,000 for the first time since March, health secretary Matt Hancock insisted it was “too early to say” whether current plans could go ahead.

But Professor Stephen Reicher, of the government’s SPI-B advisory committee, pointed to the likely more transmissible Delta variant – now dominant in the UK – as he warned there was already enough evidence to say that one of the government’s four key tests for easing lockdown is not being met.

Meanwhile, the travel industry continues to rage at the government following its decision to remove Portugal from its “green list”, with Airlines UK’s chief executive lamenting the “complete pandemonium” caused by the lack of warning offered to travellers by the government.

Warning that consumer confidence had been “shot to pieces” by the government changing its mind “on a weekly basis”, Tim Alderslade said: “It is really difficult now … to see how we are going to have a summer season.”

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Huge queue forms for vaccines among under 30s at Greater London clinic

Young people have queued up for hours to get a Covid-19 vaccine at a Greater London health centre offering jabs to those aged 18 and over.

While national eligibility criteria in England states that only those aged 30 and over are currently being invited for their first jab, Belmont Health Centre in Harrow is open on Saturday to over-18s who are still waiting for their first vaccine and who live or work in Harrow.

By mid-morning, a huge queue had formed in the area of the health centre, with the line snaking around a car park and stretching down the street.

(Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

(Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 13:20

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‘Entirely feasible’ European countries could ban UK flights, Simon Calder says

Here are the highlights from The Independent’s veteran travel correspondent Simon Calder’s Q&A in the aftermath of the decision to remove Portugal from the travel “green list”.

Asked by one reader whether he envisages any other European countries banning UK flights, he warned it is “entirely feasible” that bans could be brought in if infection rates continue to rise on these shores, with the EU currently “looking with concern” at the situation here.

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 12:54

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‘No decision’ on whether to ease lockdown on 21 June, government spokesperson says

Amid reports that the lockdown easing on 21 June could be delayed by a fortnight, a government spokesperson has said “no decision” had been made on the matter.

“As the prime minister has set out, we can see nothing in the data at the moment to suggest that we need to deviate from the roadmap,” they told the PA news agency

“We continue to look at the data and the latest scientific evidence and no decision on Step 4 has yet been made.”

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 12:41

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Airlines scramble extra flights to bring holidaymakers home from Portugal

Airlines have scrambled to lay on extra flights from Portugal so holidaymakers can make it back to the UK before the amber list deadline comes into effect, at 4am on Tuesday – after which point they must self-isolate at home for 10 days and take two expensive post-arrival PCR tests.

To meet demand, the UK’s largest airline, easyJet, said it will operate larger planes and additional flights to bring UK holidaymakers back from Portugal, adding more than 1,000 additional seats on routes from Faro to Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Bristol.

Our head of travel Cathy Adams reports that the Portuguese ministry of foreign affairs has labelled the UK government’s decision “not logical”, while Professor Henrique Barros, president of Portugal’s National Health Council, called the removal an “overreaction”, adding that the overall situation in the country is “relatively stable”.

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 12:29

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Government’s own criteria shows easing lockdown on 21 June would be ‘foolish’, adviser says

It is clear by the government’s own criteria that it would be “foolish” and a “major risk” to go ahead with the June 21 reopening, a government adviser has said.

Professor Stephen Reicher said there is currently enough evidence to say one of the government’s four key tests for its road map out of lockdown is “not upheld” as a result of the Delta variant ie. that the “assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of concern”.

“I think by the Government’s own criteria it’s quite clear that it would be foolish to proceed on the data that we’ve got at the moment. The risk would be very great indeed,” said Prof Reicher, who sits on the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B).

“And of course it’s a balance of risks but I think it would be a major risk to go further in opening up.”

He added: “Again, I make the point that it is about data not dates, and if you make it too much about the dates then you box yourself into a corner and I think that’s what the government has done.”

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 11:44

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Councils ‘ink new Covid marshal contracts extending beyond 21 June’

More Covid marshals have been signed up to patrol England’s streets beyond the 21 June lockdown easing date, according to a report.

A number of English councils have recently awarded contracts with security firms for Covid marshal services in their areas, The i reports – with such agreements to remain in place well beyond the final stage for leaving lockdown.

While Thanet District Council did not respond to the paper’s request for comment, a Hertfordshire County Council spokesperson told i that “it would be a dereliction of duty not to prepare for a third wave”.

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 11:37

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‘Ethical dilemmas’ over whether to vaccinate children against coronavirus, JCVI deputy says

There are “ethical dilemmas” to be considered when it comes to the decision on whether or not to vaccinate children against Covid-19, the deputy chair of the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has said.

Pointing out that while a “very small minority” of children have been severely affected by the virus, children “in the main” do not get severe illness, Professor Anthony Harnden told BBC Breakfast that “we need to be absolutely sure that the benefits to them [children] and potentially to society far outweigh any risks”.

“I think the vast majority of benefit won’t be to children, it will be an indirect benefit to adults in terms of preventing transmission and protecting adults who haven’t been immunised, for whatever reason haven’t responded to the vaccine and therefore that presents quite a lot of ethical dilemmas as to whether you should vaccinate children to protect adults,” he said.

Prof Hamden added that there is also the “other wider ethical issue of whether you vaccinate children in this country or whether you donate that vaccine internationally to low and middle income countries where they still have an at-risk adult population that haven’t been vaccinated”.

The JCVI will likely present a range of options to government, he said.

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 11:14

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Wales may not lift social distancing restrictions on 21 June, even if England does

In Wales, Mark Drakeford has confirmed he is considering keeping social-distancing restrictions in place beyond the summer – telling BBC Radio Wales he would not lift all restrictions on 21 June even if they were in England.

Later at a press briefing, the first minister said social distancing rules remained “one of the strongest defences that we have” against the virus, and that he had been “very struck” by people continuing to be careful about creating space for others.

“I’m not certain myself that there is a huge thirst for people to give up some of the safeguards that we are all able to contribute in the way that we behave in our lives,” Mr Drakeford said.

“I think they will remain part of the repertoire, here in Wales, during the rest of the summer, maybe into the rest of this year.

“Whether we will be able to move from them being mandatory to just things that we advise people about and ask people to do in their own lives, I think that will depend upon whether we continue to see improvements in the position here in Wales.

“But as part of a personal repertoire of things that every one of us can do to keep ourselves and others safe, I think they will remain part of people’s response to this public health crisis for as long as coronavirus persists.”

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 11:00

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Vaccination appointments briefly cancelled after suspicious item found in London

Vaccination appointments at Walthamstow Library were briefly cancelled this morning after emergency services responded to the discovery of a suspicious item.

The Metropolitan Police contradicted reports that a threat had been made alongside the discovery of the item, and in the past half an hour has said that cordons were being cleared away.

The vaccination centre has also tweeted that it is “back on track” and asked people to attend appointments as normal.

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 10:45

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Consumer confidence ‘shot to pieces’ by government travel decisions, airline chief says

The head of Airlines UK has warned that consumer confidence will have been “shot to pieces” by the government’s changing travel restrictions, after Portugal was added to the amber list this week.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body which represents UK carriers, said ministers had not kept to promises over a “green watchlist” that would have given travellers increased warning about a country potentially coming off the safe list.

Speaking about the “green watchlist” proposal, Mr Alderslade told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It was entirely to stop what happened last summer when countries were moving up and down off the corridor list on a weekly basis and we saw people stranded overseas and then desperate to come home again because they couldn’t afford to quarantine.

“It has caused complete pandemonium because we don’t have that watchlist that we were promised by the government and I think with the taskforce, the transparency is not there, we don’t know what has to happen for countries to move from green to amber, or amber to green for that matter.”

Asked about the threat of the Nepal variant that ministers have said was behind the decision to move Portugal to the amber list, Mr Alderslade said: “At the moment there is no consistency … it seems they are changing their mind and the criteria on a weekly basis and it is proving impossible for the industry to plan, but more to the point it is proving impossible for consumers, and I think consumer confidence will be shot to pieces because of this.

“It is really difficult now, if they are going to do this on a weekly basis, to see how we are going to have a summer season.”

Andy Gregory5 June 2021 10:16