“Plan B” coronavirus restrictions must be enforced immediately to prevent the UK “stumbling to a winter crisis”, an NHS leader has warned.
NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor has urged the government to bring back certain measures, including mandatory face coverings in public places.
His remarks came as the UK recorded 223 COVID-related deaths on Tuesday – the highest number of daily fatalities since 9 March.
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Why are COVID cases rising in the UK?
A further 43,738 coronavirus cases were also reported in the latest 24-hour period, and on Monday, the UK saw the highest number of new infections since mid-July.
Although Downing Street has said it is keeping a “very close eye” on rising case rates, a spokesperson warned the prime minister has “absolutely no plan to introduce Plan B”.
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If this strategy was enforced, people could be asked to work from home again and vaccine certificates would be required for nightclubs, while large indoor and outdoor venues could be forced to close.
Last month, Health Secretary Sajid Javid also confirmed that lockdowns would be considered as a “last resort” if this plan did not work.
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Mr Taylor said the NHS is now preparing for what could be “the most challenging winter on record”, and encouraged Britons to support the health service by “behaving in ways that will keep themselves and others safe”.
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Scientist’s winter COVID warning
Warning that the nation’s recovery from the pandemic could be put at risk if pre-emptive action is not taken, he added: “The government should not wait for COVID infections to rocket and for NHS pressures to be sky high before the panic alarm is sounded.”
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman has previously said that Plan B would only be activated if there was a “significant risk of the NHS being overwhelmed”.
But No 10 says that the UK is not at this point, and the vaccine rollout means “the levels we are seeing in both patients admitted to hospital and deaths are far lower than what we saw in previous peaks”.
Professor Neil Ferguson – a leading member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies – said yesterday that he thinks Plan B could be implemented in England this winter, but a return to the type of lockdown seen back in January is unlikely.
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Why aren’t more getting booster jabs?
The UK now has one of the highest weekly rates of new reported cases in the world, and vaccination rates have fallen behind other European countries.
Data shows that approximately 67% of the population has received two doses of a COVID-19 jab, compared with 75% in Denmark, 79% in Spain and 86% in Portugal.
While the weekly rate of new reported cases stands at 24 per 100,000 people in Spain and 48 per 100,000 people in France, this figure currently stands at 463 per 100,000 people in the UK.
In other developments, the government has said it is also keeping a “close eye” on a new mutation of the Delta variant, which has been called AY.4.2 by scientists.
The UK Health Security Agency warned this variant is now making up 6% of new cases and could be up to 10% more transmissible.
Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), says the “very rapid rise” in the number of cases in the UK is a “reflection of how people are behaving”.
He told Sky News “nobody” appears to be wearing masks inside anymore, adding he doubts people are doing lateral flow tests.
Professor Finn said: “There’s a general sense that life’s gone back to normal and as a result the infection is being passed around.”
He added that unless there is a “clear message put out that we’ve got more infection going on now than at any point in the pandemic”, despite fewer hospitalisations, people are “not really going to take precaution”.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that the government is “ramping up” its vaccination programme in a bid to encourage eligible children to get jabbed.
He added children aged between 12 and 15 would be able to use the national booking service to secure their COVID-19 vaccines “to make the most of half-term next week”.
A 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy have been found guilty of the manslaughter of an 80-year-old dog walker who was attacked in a Leicestershire park.
Bhim Kohli was found lying on the ground in Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on 1 September last year and died the next evening of a spinal cord injury.
The grandfather, who was attacked just yards from his home, suffered a broken neck and rib fractures consistent with “something heavy striking the rib cage”, the trial heard.
Image: Bhim Kohli
The boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, and the girl, who was 12, cannot be named because of their ages.
During a six-week trial at Leicester Crown Court, jurors heard that Mr Kohli was racially abused before the incident.
The girl had also taken a photograph of Mr Kohli in Franklin Park a week before, the court heard.
The jury deliberated for almost seven hours before reaching unanimous verdicts on the pair, who will be sentenced next month.
Mr Kohli was shoved to the ground and slapped in the face with a shoe by a boy wearing a balaclava, the trial heard.
Image: Police at the scene in Franklin Park last September. Pic: PA
A police report into the incident included a statement from a witness who described “seeing the boy forcefully pushing the old man on to his back”.
The jury heard the witness described the old man as “ending up on the floor screaming”.
A statement from PC Rachelle Pereira said: “Mr Kohli was repeatedly screaming out in pain, shouting out ‘My neck’.”
Her statement said the witness told the police officer she saw a young white boy wearing a black balaclava “shove the old man to the floor and sprint”.
The boy, who denied inflicting the fatal injuries, told a friend he would go “on the run” to Hinckley, in Leicestershire, the day after the attack but was arrested by police minutes later while hiding in a bush, the court heard.
In a letter written two months after the attack, the court heard the boy said “I did it and I accept I’m doing time” and “I kinda just needed anger etc releasing”.
Mr Justice Turner remanded the boy in custody and granted the girl bail, but told her his decision “should not be taken as any indication as to the sentence when the time comes”.
The boy had also been charged with murder, but was found not guilty by the jury on that count.
The defendants, who sat in the dock for the first time since their trial began, appeared upset as the verdicts were given.
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Donald Trump’s tariffs could disrupt the supply of medicines into the UK, the health secretary has warned.
Wes Streeting said the government was “constantly watching and acting on this situation” after the US president refused to back down from the punitive policy, despite turmoil in the markets.
His actions have sparked fears of a global trade war, with the UK’s benchmark stock market index, the FTSE 100, only just witnessing a slight rise this morning after three days of steep losses.
While the reciprocal tariffs have not yet included pharmaceutical products, there are concerns this could change in the near future.
Speaking to Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast, the health secretary said that even before the US president’s tariff agenda – which has seen him impose a 10% baseline tax on imports from all nations – there had been “issues with medicines production and supply internationally”.
“We are constantly watching and acting on this situation to try and get medicines into the country, to make sure we’ve got availability, to show some flexibility in terms of how medicines are dispensed, to deal with shortages,” he said.
“But whether it’s medicines, whether it’s parts for manufacturing, whether it’s… the ability of businesses in this country to turn a profit, this is an extremely turbulent situation.”
Mr Streeting, who was speaking following the announcement that the government has recruited more than 1,500 new GPs since 1 October, said the steps taken by Mr Trump were “unprecedented in terms of global trade”.
“As ever in terms of medicines, there’s a number of factors at play,” he said.
“There have been challenges in terms of manufacturing, challenges in terms of distribution, and if we start to see tariffs kicking in, that’s another layer of challenge, but we watch this situation extremely closely.
“We work on a daily basis to make sure that we have the medicine supply this country needs.”
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1:42
Trump’s tariffs: What you need to know
Sir Keir Starmer had been seeking to secure an exemption for the UK from Mr Trump’s punitive tariffs.
But last week, the UK was hit with both the 10% baseline tariff on all imports and the 25% tariff on all cars imported to the US.
The latter tariff could prove particularly damaging for the UK, owing to the fact that the US is the car sector’s largest single market by country – accounting for £6.4bn worth of car exports in 2023.
While the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars remains in place, regulations around manufacturing targets on electric cars and vans will be altered to help firms during the transition.
Luxury supercar firms such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond the 2030 date, while petrol and diesel vans will also be allowed to be sold until 2035, along with hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars.
Prince Harry has arrived at court for the start of a two-day hearing about his security arrangements.
The Duke of Sussex is appealing a ruling dismissing his challenge to the level of police protection he receives in the UK, and his case will be heard in front of three judges across Tuesday and Wednesday.
The prince’s dispute goes all the way back to 2020, and is one of several high-profile legal battles he has brought to the High Court in recent years.
So what is the case about, what has happened in the courts so far and what’s happening now?
What is the dispute over?
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1:24
Harry’s legal battle over security
Harry received full, publicly funded security protection until he stepped back from royal duties and moved to America with wife Meghanin March 2020.
Once he moved away, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) – which has delegated responsibility from the Home Office for royal security – decided he would not receive the same level of protection.
But Harry has argued that his private protection team in the US does not have access to UK intelligence information which is needed to keep his wife and children safe.
He therefore wants access to his previous level of security when in the country, but wants to fund the security himself, rather than ask taxpayers to foot the bill after he stepped down as a senior member of the Royal Family.
Image: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Canada in February. Pic: Aaron Chown/PA Wire
The duke’s legal representative said in a previous statement: “The UK will always be Prince Harry’s home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in.
“With the lack of police protection comes too great a personal risk.
“In the absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home.”
The legal representative added: “Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life. He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats.
“While his role within the institution has changed, his profile as a member of the Royal Family has not. Nor has the threat to him and his family.”
What’s happened in court so far?
He filed a claim for a judicial review of the Home Office’s decision shortly after it was made, with the first hearing in the High Court coming in February 2022.
At the start of that hearing, Robert Palmer QC, for the Home Office, told the court the duke’s offer of private funding was “irrelevant”, despite his safety concerns.
In written submissions, he said: “Personal protective security by the police is not available on a privately financed basis, and Ravec does not make decisions on the provision of such security on the basis that any financial contribution could be sought or obtained to pay for it.”
He added Ravec had attributed to the duke “a form of exceptional status” where he is considered for personal protective security by the police, “with the precise arrangements being dependent on the reason for his presence in Great Britain and by reference to the functions he carries out when present”.
The barrister added: “A case-by-case approach rationally and appropriately allows Ravec to implement a responsive approach to reflect the applicable circumstances.”
The case didn’t conclude until 28 February 2024, when retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled against Prince Harry.
Image: The Duke leaving a service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London in May 2024. Pic: AP
He ruled the decision to change his security status was not unlawful or “irrational”, and that there had been no “procedural unfairness”.
The judge added: “Even if such procedural unfairness occurred, the court would in any event be prevented from granting the claimant [Prince Harry] relief.
“This is because, leaving aside any such unlawfulness, it is highly likely that the outcome for the claimant would not have been substantially different.”
Following the ruling, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the court has found in favour of the government’s position in this case and we are carefully considering our next steps.
After the ruling, a legal spokesperson for Harry said he intended to appeal, adding: “The duke is not asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of Ravec’s own rules, ensuring that he receives the same consideration as others in accordance with Ravec’s own written policy.
“In February 2020, Ravec failed to apply its written policy to the Duke of Sussex and excluded him from a particular risk analysis.
“The duke’s case is that the so-called ‘bespoke process’ that applies to him is no substitute for that risk analysis.
“The Duke of Sussex hopes he will obtain justice from the Court of Appeal, and makes no further comment while the case is ongoing.”
Prince eventually gets green light to appeal against High Court ruling