Connect with us

Published

on

Rising COVID-19 cases heading into winter “suggest this peak could be as serious as the last”, the UK’s former chief scientific adviser has warned.

Sir David King was speaking to Sky News a day after 49,156 cases were reported – the highest since mid-July.

Cases have been regularly over 40,000 in the last week – with the high numbers mainly being attributed to infections among schoolchildren.

“The disease is rising to another peak, and this peak could be as serious as the last,” Sir David told Sky’s Kay Burley.

Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world

It comes as a former World Health Organization director claimed the UK had the highest COVID-19 case rates in the world and a death rate far higher than China.

Professor Anthony Costello accused the government and advisers of being “silent” on the issue.

Downing Street said on Monday that the winter months look “challenging” and that it was keeping a “close watch” on cases.

However, it said new infections were roughly in line with predictions and that the vaccine programme had “substantially” broken the link between cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

The latest seven-day average for deaths is 124.1, while the latest count for people in hospital for COVID is 7,097.

Both are much lower than the winter peak in January, and cases remain below the initial prediction of 100,000 per day made by the health secretary ahead of England’s so-called Freedom Day.

But there are fears these numbers could rise significantly in the coming months.

EMBARGOED TO 1300 THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 16 People receiving a Covid-19 booster jab, administered at Croydon University Hospital, south London, as the NHS begins its Covid-19 Booster Vaccination Campaign. Picture date: Thursday September 16, 2021.
Image:
Booster jabs are being administered, but Sir David said the rollout was too slow

Sir David also criticised the booster jab rollout as going “extremely slowly”.

“I do know many older people who haven’t had their booster – I can’t understand this. If the vaccines are available, what’s happening to the rollout?” he said.

A third COVID-19 jab is to be offered to groups including over-50s, vulnerable groups, and people who work in care homes and frontline health care.

The NHS will contact those who are eligible, so long as it’s been at least six months since their second jab.

How and when can you get your COVID booster jab?

You will be offered a booster dose at least six months after you had your second dose.

The NHS will get in touch to let you know when it’s your turn to have a booster dose. People have been asked not to contact the NHS for one before then.

Most will be invited to book an appointment at a larger vaccination centre, pharmacy, or local NHS service – such as a GP surgery.

Frontline health or social care workers can book a booster dose appointment online. These people don’t need to wait to be contacted by the NHS.

For those who work for an NHS trust or a care home, they will usually get their booster vaccine through their employer.

For more information about the booster vaccine, there is a dedicated NHS page here.

The UK’s former science chief also expressed frustration at lower levels of mask wearing now most COVID rules have been scrapped.

“How many people are still wearing masks? And for goodness’ sake, why not?” said Sir David.

“I just don’t understand why when I get into a train or an Underground, I don’t see everybody wearing masks. Why aren’t we still requiring people to travel with masks, to go into buildings with masks?

“It just seems a very simple thing.”

Mask rules in the UK

  • England: Only required in health care settings and care homes
  • Scotland: Required in shops, on public transport, in restaurants and pubs when not seated, and in indoor settings at universities and secondary schools
  • Wales: Required on public transport and in all public indoor spaces other than restaurants and pubs
  • Northern Ireland: Required in shops and hospitality venues, and on public transport

He also cautioned over the thousands of people coming to the UK for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, calling it a “massive potential rollout of the disease”.

“It’s a viral factory to put all those people together from 197 nations of the world,” he said.

“I really worry about it – not because they will bring disease into use, but because we are the country with a very high level of virus, and we will be passing on to them.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Health secretary: The COVID ‘plan B’ for winter

The government last month set out a Plan A and B for dealing with COVID over winter, as it hopes to avoid more lockdowns.

Plan A includes expanding the vaccine rollout, such as to school-age children, plus more cash for the NHS COVID response, and a focus on antiviral drugs.

It also stresses that NHS Test and Trace and self-isolation will continue to be “critical” in keeping the disease under control.

Plan B would kick in should the NHS be threatened by “unsustainable pressure”. England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, has already warned the health service faces an “exceptionally difficult” winter.

Measures could include the possibility of vaccine passports in some settings in England – such as nightclubs and large sports events, while mask rules and working from home may also return.

Continue Reading

UK

Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after ‘prolific’ rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Published

on

By

Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after 'prolific' rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.

The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.

Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.

“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
Image:
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth

Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Read more: How a student described as ‘smart and charming’ was unmasked as a prolific sexual predator

More on China

He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.

“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.

“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.

“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”

***ONLY USE IF HE IS CONVICTED OF AT LEAST TWO RAPES***It is feared Zou may have carried out dozens more sex crimes. Pic: Met Police
Image:
Pic: Met Police

Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.

He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.

Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Moment police arrest rapist student

Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.

“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.

“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.

“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”

Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”

Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”

The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.

Continue Reading

UK

Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

Published

on

By

Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.

An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.

Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.

A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.

Location of Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich, where 11-year-old girl Kaliyah Coa went into the River Thames on 31/03
Image:
Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames

Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.

He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.

He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”

More from UK

“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”

Read more from Sky News:
What is Trump’s liberation day about?
Woman rescued 91 hours after quake
‘Exceptional’ codebreaker dies at 101

On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.

When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.

Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.

Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.

Continue Reading

UK

Planning reforms to ‘rewire the system’ and get Britain building – all while protecting wildlife

Published

on

By

Planning reforms to 'rewire the system' and get Britain building - all while protecting wildlife

Major developers will only deal with one regulator under planning reforms which ministers say will “rewire the system” to get Britain building – all while protecting the environment. 

A review by former Labour adviser Dan Corry into Britain’s sluggish system of green regulation has concluded that existing environmental regulators should remain in place, while rejecting a “bonfire of regulations”.

But Mr Corry suggested there might be circumstances in which the government look at changing the wildlife and habit rules inherited from the EU, which protect individual species.

Politics latest: Follow live updates

These lie at the centre of the controversy of a £120m bat tunnel – the shed in Aylesbury which protects a rare breed from future high speed trains.

Keir Starmer has declared war on £100m HS2 bat shed – but has he got a solution?
New planning bill could be the government’s most important – but will it work in practice?

The government has now explicitly ruled out any such change in this parliament.

More from Politics

Campaigners have questioned whether the changes go far enough and will make a major difference to the rate and scale of building in the UK.

Speaking to Sky News, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that accepting nine of the recommendations from the Corry review would amount to wholesale reform.

The minister said: “We can get a win-win for economic growth and for nature. And that is why we are moving ahead with proposals such as appointing a lead regulator for major developments so that the developers don’t have to navigate the architecture of multiple regulators.

“They just work for a single regulator who manages all the others on their behalf. Simplifying the online planning portal.

“These are huge changes that will save developers billions of pounds and speed up decisions doing damage to the environment.”

Mr Reed insisted that there would be “no more bat tunnels” built, even though the Corry review suggests that more work needs to be done to look again at the relevant guidance.

It says: “Rapidly reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, will identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.

“Natural England has already agreed to review and update their advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.”

The review will mean:

• Appointing one lead regulator for every major infrastructure project, like Heathrow expansion

• A review on how nature rules are implemented – but not the rules themselves

• Insisting regulators focus more on government priorities, particularly growth

Economist and former charity leader Mr Corry, who led the review, said it shows that “simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer”.

“Instead we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”

However, Sam Richards from Britain Remade, a thinktank trying to get Britain growing, said that while the steps are welcome, the number of regulators that report to the environment department would remain the same before and after the review. He questioned whether this would have the impact ministers claimed.

Continue Reading

Trending