Businesses flouting Covid rules get free pass January 17, 2021 No enforcement notices have been served on companies by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors for Covid safety breaches since the country entered its latest lockdown. Inspectors were contacted 2,945 times about workplace safety issues between 6 and 14 January, the Guardian reported, but no notices were served. Enforcement notices initially ask businesses to remedy [...]
UK arrivals face hotel quarantine to stop mutant variant spread January 17, 2021 Ministers have been asked to draw up plans to strengthen Britain’s borders, to stop new variants of coronavirus undermining the vaccination effort. Officials have been told to prepare for the creation of quarantine hotels for those arrived in Britain, and to use GPS and facial-recognition technology to check that people are staying in isolation, the [...]
Exclusive: Government scraps ‘game-changing’ antibody tests at NHS sites January 17, 2021 The government has quietly scrapped antibody tests at NHS sites, City PM can reveal, despite calls to increase testing of immunity levels alongside the vaccine rollout. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) yesterday deleted a section from its website advising people on how to get free antibody tests at community clinics, mobile testing [...]
Prime Minister Boris Johnson scraps ALL travel corridors for UK arrivals January 15, 2021 All travel corridors with the UK will be suspended for the next four weeks, the Prime Minister has announced, as ministers scramble to prevent new mutations entering the country. Speaking at today’s Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson said all countries will be removed from the quarantine-free travel list from 4am on Monday morning. Travellers [...]
Pfizer to temporarily reduce vaccine deliveries to UK and EU January 15, 2021 Pfizer will temporarily reduce deliveries of its Covid vaccine to the UK and across Europe from next week, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). The move will mean countries will receive fewer vaccines than expected while the pharmaceutical giant upgrades its production capacity. Pfizer told Norway this morning it would receive 18 [...]
London has lowest R rate in the UK January 15, 2021 London’s R rate has dropped to the lowest in the UK, according to the latest official figures. The rate of reproduction of the virus has dropped to a best estimate of 0.9 to 1.2, down from a range of 1.1 to 1.4 last week. The figure means London currently has the lowest R rate in [...]
Easyjet cancels all holidays until late March January 15, 2021 Easyjet has cancelled all holidays until the end of March as a result of international travel restrictions brought about by the latest lockdown. The airline is in the process of cancelling holidays booked up to and including March 24 and is contacting affected passengers to offer them a range of options, including future holiday credit [...]
England cricet team ‘unconcerned’ by Covid-19 outbreak at team hotel in Sri Lanka January 15, 2021 England are “not concerned” after two staff members at their hotel in Galle where they are playing two Test matches against Sri Lanka tested positive for Covid-19. The kitchen workers returned positive results after routine tests conducted by the hotel due to the presence of the England team, Sri Lankan media reported. “We are not [...]
Covid mutations: what we know so far January 15, 2021 A Brazilian variant of coronavirus has arrived in Britain, one of the UK’s leading scientists announced this morning. Speaking during a Science and Media Centre briefing, Professor Wendy Barclay said: “There are two different types of Brazilian variant and one of them has been detected in the UK.” Transport secretary Grant Shapps this morning insisted [...]
UK set for double-dip recession as GDP plummets 2.6 per cent January 15, 2021 The UK economy shrank by 2.6 per cent in November as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of multiple sectors across the country, according to new figures published this morning. The Bank of England estimates Britain’s economy shrank by just over 1 per cent over the final three months of 2020. With a new lockdown in [...]
