At-home Covid-19 antibody tests can put people at risk and mislead the public, health experts have warned. The Royal College of Pathologists has written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to call for tighter regulations over the have-you-had-it tests. Officials have yet to approve any at-home antibody test for use, despite promising such kits were days … Read more
An intensive care doctor working in Birmingham has said that putting the entire city under lockdown would be ‘risk averse’ because new cases are being driven by clusters in separate parts of the city. Dr Ron Daniels, who works for University Hospitals Birmingham, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the increase in coronavirus cases is … Read more
Birmingham could be forced into lockdown today as ministers meet to discuss plans to tackle the city’s spiralling Covid-19 outbreak. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is said to have chaired the ‘gold command meeting’ this morning, alongside council bosses and Public Health England. Official figures show the city of Birmingham’s infection rate has more than doubled … Read more
Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggests there is ‘no excuse’ for people not to return to their desks – claiming ‘relatively low’ number have caught coronavirus at work Matt Hancock says UK not planning to follow France’s lead on wearing of masks Masks or face coverings to be worn in all workspaces in France from September … Read more
Tony Blair today warned the UK is ‘running out of time’ to roll out a mass coronavirus testing programme as he said a second wave of the disease would force ministers to choose between the economy and people’s lives. The former prime minister has long advocated routine testing of the whole population – even people … Read more
Matt Hancock today vowed to bring in population-wide mass coronavirus testing – but failed to offer a time frame and referred to the project as a ‘moonshot’. The Health Secretary told the BBC’s Today programme that the government would bring in mass testing and ministers were working as ‘fast as we can’ on the scheme … Read more
Ministers today revealed they will ramp up the size of a major Covid-19 surveillance testing scheme to 150,000 people every fortnight. Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed plans to expand the existing scheme five-fold by October. The swabbing survey, ran by the Office for National Statistics, has been tracking the size of the coronavirus outbreak in … Read more
Leicester is set to have its lockdown relaxed today just seven weeks after seeing the rate of coronavirus infections fall. The city in the East Midlands, which became the first in the UK to be put into a local lockdown after witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases, will see a majority of its restrictions eased by health … Read more
Public Health England ‘will be scrapped and replaced by a new body to stop a second coronavirus spike’ Matt Hancock is axing Public Health England and replacing it with a new body National Institute for Health Protection will deal specifically with pandemics Its chief will report to ministers, giving government direct control over it By … Read more
The head of an investment firm handed a £150million Government contract to supply millions of coronavirus face masks for the NHS claimed it was the victim of ‘fake news’ today after the Government refused to use them on safety grounds. Tim Horlick said that 50 million Chinese-made FFP2 masks supplied by Ayanda Capital were ‘perfectly good’ … Read more