Britain’s Covid alert level was downgraded to three today because of the success of the vaccination roll-out and dwindling case numbers.
Health chiefs say infections, hospital admissions and deaths have ‘fallen consistently’ over the past few months, with social distancing measures and the huge inoculation drive to thank.
The move to downgrade the alert level — agreed by all four of the UK’s chief medical officers and a senior NHS official — means the coronavirus is now only in ‘general circulation’ and transmission is no longer ‘high or rising exponentially’.
It will inevitably be used as fuel for scientists and Tories desperate for a quicker return to normal. Even one of No10’s scientific advisers on a sub-panel of SAGE has claimed restrictions could be ‘safely accelerated’.
The Prime Minister has been repeatedly urged to stick to his ‘data, not dates’ pledge for easing restrictions in England, despite refusing to budge in the face of very low infection rates and a hugely successful vaccination drive. Deaths have fallen into single figures while cases are at similar levels to September.
Boris Johnson will tonight unveil a major loosening of lockdown on May 17, using a 5pm press conference to say the immunisation campaign has given him room to manoeuvre.
Pubs, restaurants and cafes across England will be able to seat customers inside again while gatherings of up to six people or two households will be allowed indoors. Hotels, B&Bs, cinemas, theatres and museums are to reopen while limits on funeral mourners are scrapped.
With one in three adults now having had two jabs, friends and relatives are also expected to be able to hug for the first time in a year.
In a round of interviews this morning, Health Minister Nadine Dorries said: ‘I am hopeful that we will all be hugging and kissing again soon indoors.’
Ms Dorries also set hares running by seeming to suggest the June 21 date for ending lockdown altogether could be brought forward — although No10 insisted Mr Johnson will not be making any announcements on that tonight. ‘It is data, not dates and the data is very good,’ Ms Dorries said.
The Covid Recovery Group (CRG) — a group of around 70 Tory MPs — today called for Mr Johnson to commit to scrapping all social distancing measures on June 21 to ensure the nation is ‘truly on the “one way road to freedom” that the Prime Minister promised’.
Sir John Bell, Oxford University’s regius professor of medicine, said England was in a ‘very strong position’ to move forward with the easing of restrictions which will enable people to ‘try and get back to normal’. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme the prospect of people being able to hug their loved ones again was ‘great’.
On the Government’s ultra-cautious roadmap, he said: ‘I think we’ll still probably go steady but perhaps a bit faster, I’ll be interested to see what the Government announces. I’m feeling pretty comfortable with where we are at the moment.’
Legislation in the Queen’s Speech tomorrow will be directed at the nation’s recovery from Covid, backing the NHS and spreading opportunity.
The move to downgrade the alert level — agreed by all four of the UK’s chief medical officers and a senior NHS official — means the coronavirus is now only in ‘general circulation’ and transmission is no longer ‘high or rising exponentially’
Boris Johnson (pictured running this morning) will herald a return to freedom tonight, vowing that ‘Covid will not beat us’. On the back of stunning Tory local election victories, he will say the success of the vaccine rollout allows for further easing of lockdown
As the daily Covid death toll fell to just two with 1,770 confirmed infections:
- The head of the Oxford vaccine group predicted Britons would soon be living without masks and social distancing;
- The Daily Mail-backed campaign for a national memorial for Covid victims at St Paul’s Cathedral topped £1.3million;
- Michael Gove said officials were involved in talks over moving the UEFA Champions League final from Turkey to the UK to save fans of Chelsea and Manchester City from a travel ban;
- The nurse who gave the first ever Covid-19 vaccination, May Parsons, proposed a National Thank You Day should take place on July 4;
- Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid-19, called for a cautious return to normal life as he said ‘we can’t go on mothballing ourselves forever’;
- The cost of flying to Portugal plunged over the weekend with Ryanair putting on dozens of flights to Faro, Lisbon and Porto shortly after the country was cleared for quarantine-free trips from May 17;
Despite the alert level being downgraded to three today, health chiefs warned Britain isn’t out of the woods yet.
A statement from the chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales as well as NHS England national medical director Stephen Powys said: ‘Following advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and in the light of the most recent data, the UK chief medical officers and NHS England national medical director agree that the UK alert level should move from level four to level three.
‘Thanks to the efforts of the UK public in social distancing and the impact we are starting to see from the vaccination programme, case numbers, deaths and Covid hospital pressures have fallen consistently.
‘However Covid is still circulating with people catching and spreading the virus every day so we all need to continue to be vigilant. This remains a major pandemic globally.
‘It is very important that we all continue to follow the guidance closely and everyone gets both doses of the vaccine when they are offered it.’
The UK’s alert level was last downgraded at the end of February, when it went from five to four because the immediate threat to the NHS had ‘receded’.
Mr Johnson gathered ministers this morning to approve moving to step three of the roadmap out of lockdown next Monday after the Government said the latest data confirmed its four tests for easing restrictions had been met.
Officials believe that lifting the curbs is unlikely to risk a resurgence in virus infections.
At a press conference in Downing Street this evening, Mr Johnson will say: ‘The data reflects what we already knew – we are not going to let this virus beat us.
Boris Johnson is set to confirm the relaxation at a Downing Street press conference tomorrow, after the vaccine rolllout and plunging infections led to huge pressure from Tory MPs to speed up his plans
‘The roadmap remains on track, our successful vaccination programme continues – more than two thirds of adults in the UK have now had the first vaccine – and we can now look forward to unlocking cautiously but irreversibly.
‘It’s because of the British public’s unwavering commitment that we are saving lives, protecting the NHS and controlling the virus.’
Ms Dorries told Sky News this morning hugs and physical contact are ‘massively important’ and that the roadmap is ‘on course’.
She said: ‘I think it’s what most people have missed, that intimate contact with family and friends, and entertaining, having people in your own house, meeting outdoors.’
Ms Dorries added: ‘It does look as though the roadmap is on course, but we do so with caution, ensuring that the data is in place and looking forward to – and with excitement to – the fact that we will able to hug our family and friends soon.
‘So, caution balanced with optimism, I think, is the way forward.’
Tory MPs have been pushing for faster progress, with scientists including Professor Carl Heneghan, director at the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford, suggesting it would be a good idea.
Professor Heneghan told The Telegraph that ‘it’s going to be difficult to open everything up in a big bang’.
But he added: ‘I think at some point we’ve got to get back to a normality and see what happens. And we want to do that when it’s summer and infections are low.’
Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, told the newspaper: ‘I think there is scope for moving more quickly.
‘In my view, it could be safely accelerated. I’d go further and say that this has been the case for several weeks. I’d judge that the UK is already close to a point that we didn’t expect to have reached until late June.
‘I understand the desire for caution but this lockdown, like all lockdowns, is causing harm. Restrictions may have been justified in February but they are much harder to justify now.’
Professor Sir John Bell said data from vaccination programmes from the UK, Israel and the US showed a ‘rather rapid fall-off’ in cases of disease, hospital admissions and deaths.
He said: ‘There’s some very interesting data that shows that even from a single dose of vaccine, when you move from where the US was a couple of weeks ago, which was about 43 per cent of people having a single dose through where we were with 51 per cent – we’re now higher than that to Israel, which was 58 per cent.
‘You see a rather rapid fall-off in cases of disease, but also hospitalisations and deaths, and it’s a really very striking fall in all those things.
‘I do think that we’re in a very strong position to go forward now with fewer restrictions and try and get back to normal.’
Almost 15million men and women in England now have ‘maximum protection’ against the virus, having received two doses of the vaccine. Two in three adults – 29.6million – have had at least one dose.
The Government said it was on track to offer all adults a first dose by the end of July.
Infection rates are at the lowest level since September and hospital admissions continue to fall, or plateau in some areas, with levels similar to those seen in July last year.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said of the jab success: ‘This milestone is yet more evidence of the huge national vaccination effort we are in the middle of.
‘I pay tribute to the huge team – NHS staff, councils and of course our wonderful volunteers who are working so hard to deliver vaccines in all parts of the United Kingdom.
‘The vaccine is our way out of this pandemic and tens of thousands of lives are being saved but the job is not yet done. I urge everyone, when the time comes, to get the jab.’
The ongoing success of the vaccination drive has increased hopes of a return to something close to normal life by the last stage in the PM’s roadmap, scheduled for June 21.
Professor Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said: ‘There is a future with no social distancing and no more masks, but from a global perspective we’re still a long way from that.
‘Here in the UK we’ve had remarkable success through the vaccine programme and that is getting closer to happening.’
Dr David Nabarro, special envoy on Covid-19 for the World Health Organisation, said that ‘we can’t go on mothballing ourselves forever’ as he pushed for a cautious reopening of society.
He told Sky News: ‘I’m pleased with the reality that people are being quite cautious, perhaps even a little bit afraid, of what this virus might bring.
‘But I think, at the same time, we’ve got to get on with life, and we can’t go on mothballing ourselves forever.
‘So, finding a way to restart, despite this fear, is what I think we will have to do. We must maintain a very vigilant posture in the coming months because there will no doubt be variants appearing.
With one in three adults now jabbed twice, the Prime Minister will declare that friends and relatives can – from next Monday – hug for the first time in a year (left, grandparents hug their grandchildren). Pubs (pictured right: Friends drink in a pub last year), restaurants and cafes across England will be able to seat customers inside again. And gatherings of up to six people or two households will be allowed indoors
‘But, at the same time, we have to get on with life so we have to just be on the lookout for new spikes of disease and deal with them when they come.’
Dr Nabarro said he would urge people to maintain social distancing and keep using face masks in the future.
‘On the one hand we’ve got a dangerous virus, on the other hand we must get on with life because it just can’t go on with the restrictions that people have had up till now,’ he said.
‘Finding that middle path, how to live with this virus’s constant threat, is key.
‘If I were able to talk to everybody personally over the coming weeks, I would say: You must restart life and everybody wants you to do that, but please be really careful, maintain that physical distance of between one metre and two metres, especially indoors, and don’t forget to wear your face masks because that really can give extra protection.
‘It’s these simple things, but all done together that will really make the difference as to whether or not future spikes are huge or future spikes are small and easily contained.’
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove said it was ‘the case that friendly contact, intimate contact, between friends and family is something we want to see restored’.
The prospect of customers being allowed back to indoor hospitality settings has been welcomed by business chiefs.
John Foster from the Confederation of British Industry said: ‘It’s encouraging to see the roadmap remains on track, with the certainty it’s provided businesses so far already appearing evident in recent economic data. All firms should be commended for their continuing efforts in keeping staff and customers safe.
‘The Government can inject further momentum into the economic recovery by providing companies with clarity on outstanding issues, including social distancing, Covid status certificates and the future of workplace testing beyond June 21.
‘Getting answers will help business cement the gains so far, laying strong foundations for the recovery, and support the planned full reopening of the economy without delay.’
The continued smooth progress through the different stages in the PM’s roadmap has prompted increased economic optimism.
The Bank of England forecast last week that the UK economy would grow 7.25 per cent this year – the fastest peacetime rate in nearly a century.
UK records 1,770 new Covid cases – up 6% in a week – with just two daily deaths as figures show a THIRD of all adults are now fully vaccinated
ByCoronavirus daily deaths tumbled by 86 per cent from 14 to just 2 in a week while cases rose slightly by 6 per cent in the same period as yesterday’s official figures show a third of UK adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The latest Department for Health figures show that the number of daily virus cases rose from 1,671 to 1,770 on last Sunday while the number of Covid-19 deaths plummeted in further evidence of the efficacy of vaccines.
Official figures also show that more than 17.6 million people have now received both jabs, with England and Northern Ireland both estimated to have given two doses to 33.6 per cent of their adult population – slightly ahead of Wales (33.4 per cent) and Scotland (33.1 per cent).
Responding to the figures for England, Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and medical director for primary care at NHS England, said: ‘Yet another incredible NHS milestone has been reached as one in three adults in England have now had both doses of the Covid vaccine – meaning that they have maximum protection from the virus.
‘Reaching this milestone is no accident – it is down to months of hard work and everyone in the NHS who has played a role in this is helping to protect millions of people from serious illness and saving lives.’
Meanwhile, 35,371,669 people in the UK have now received a first dose of vaccine – the equivalent of 67.2 per cent of the adult population. Wales has given a first dose to 76.2 per cent of its adult population, ahead of Northern Ireland (66.9 per cent), England (66.8 per cent) and Scotland (65.4 per cent).
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: ‘One third of adults in the UK have now had their second dose of the Covid vaccine, a testament to the extraordinary efforts of NHS staff and volunteers. Thank you to everyone who has made this happen. Get your jab when called.’
Mr Johnson is set to confirm the relaxation at a Downing Street press conference tomorrow, after the vaccine rolllout and plunging infections led to huge pressure from Tory MPs to speed up his plans.
The major step will be a huge relief to grandparents, most of whom have been unable to hug grandchildren for more than a year. It is also expected that funerals will be permitted to take place for up to 30 people from May 17 – a month earlier than anticipated.
But rules for weddings and ‘other life or commemorative events’ will update as expected, with only 30 guests able to attend indoor receptions until June 21.
Boris Johnson tweeted: ‘One third of adults in the UK have now had their second dose of the Covid vaccine, a testament to the extraordinary efforts of NHS staff and volunteers. Thank you to everyone who has made this happen’
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Gove said that the government wanted to restore ‘contact between friends and family’.
He said: ‘All being well, the Prime Minister will confirm tomorrow that there will be a relaxation, we’ve already indicated a proportionate relaxation on international travel, very limited at this stage because we have to be safe.
‘In the same way, as we move into stage three of our road map it will be the case that we will see people capable of meeting indoors.
‘And without prejudice to a broader review of social distancing, it is also the case that friendly contact, intimate contact, between friends and family is something we want to see restored.’
Asked if that meant hugs will be allowed again from around May 17, he said: ‘Yes.’
Mr Gove said he was ‘genuinely worried’ about Indian coronavirus variants and whether they might take hold in the UK. But he said currently there was not an issue that would derail the roadmap.
He said the Government is reviewing whether pupils should continue to wear masks in schools from May 17 – something Gavin Williamson previously said will be dropped.
Ministers have faced calls from union leaders for face coverings to remain in secondary schools and colleges for longer. When asked whether mask-wearing in schools will end, Mr Gove said: ‘What we want to do throughout is balance public health by making sure we can return to normal as quickly as possible.’
‘I won’t pre-empt that judgment, we’ll be seeing more about it shortly.’
Meanwhile, the head of the Oxford University vaccine group said he believed it is the right time to ease further restrictions in England.
Professor Andrew Pollard said the country has seen the ‘extraordinary success’ of both the vaccination programme and the ‘prolonged’ lockdown.
‘I think it is time to start, based on the very careful modelling that’s been done, relaxing some of those restrictions,’ he told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
‘That means we’re in a very fortunate position here in the UK.’
On Friday, the Government announced plans to allow international travel from May 17 after months of banning most trips abroad.
It was met with criticism from industry leaders who described the ‘cautious’ approach to unlocking foreign travel as ‘disappointing’, after only 12 countries were added to the quarantine-free green list.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said up to date guidance on weddings will be issued tomorrow, confirming the limit will increase to 30 as anticipated.
‘We are working with the wedding sector to facilitate a return to as near as normal as quickly as possible and understand the need for certainty to plan for the summer season,’ she said.
‘As set out in the roadmap, the Government will increase limits for weddings and wedding receptions to 30 people at Step Three.’
An insider added: ‘While we understand the unique significance these events hold in people’s lives, we must continue to take necessary measures to limit the transmission of the virus.
‘We do not wish to keep restrictions in place for any longer than we have to.’
The Prime Minister will also confirm that care home residents in England will be allowed to make low-risk trips to places such as relatives’ gardens or a local park without having to self-isolate for a fortnight when they return,
Britain will take a huge step towards normality on May 17, when friends and family will be able to meet indoors for the first time since January under the rule of six.
Restaurants and pubs will also be able to cater to indoor customers, and foreign holidays will resume to a handful of approved ‘green list’ destinations.
Mr Johnson’s invitation to embrace – which will be welcomed by millions of families – follows news that Britain yesterday passed another vaccine milestone with more than two-thirds of adults now given a Covid-19 jab.
There were 2,047 positive tests across the country, the Department of Health announced, up 7.3 per cent on last Saturday’s number (1,907).
Officials also recorded just five lab-confirmed deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid swab, 28.6 per cent less than the number recorded a week ago.
The latest figures show that nearly 35.2million Britons have been given at least one dose of Covid vaccine, after another 119,349 first injections were administered on Thursday.
The NHS also dished out a further 449,716 second doses, bringing the total number of people fully vaccinated against the disease to 17.2million.
Some 66.8 per cent of adults have had a first jab, while nearly a third have had their second.
Public Health England has divided the Indian variant into three sub-types because they aren’t identical. Type 1 and Type 3 both have a mutation called E484Q but Type 2 is missing this, despite still clearly being a descendant of the original Indian strain. It is not yet clear what separates Type 1 and 3
Surge testing has been happening in the former mill town of Bolton, which has been identified as a hotspot for the Indian Covid variant.
Mr Johnson said last week that tracking of the Indian variant will be ‘absolutely ruthless’.
Celebrating the Tories delivering a hammer blow to the Labour’s Red Wall in the local elections, he said: ‘What we’re doing there is making sure that we are absolutely ruthless in the surge testing, in the door-to-door tracking of any contacts.
‘At the moment we’re looking carefully at the way the Indian variant seems to function, we don’t see any evidence that it is resistant to the vaccines or in any way more dangerous.’
But an expert has warned the Prime Minister’s roadmap out of lockdown might be delayed because of outbreaks of the variant.
Dr Duncan Robinson, policy and strategy analytics academic at Loughborough University, yesterday said a ‘political decision’ may be taken to slow down easing restrictions because the strain could disproportionately affect areas where there are outbreaks.
But speaking in Hartlepool on Friday, Mr Johnson also said he ‘can’t see any reason’ to delay the remaining steps along the out of lockdown.
Early research suggests both the AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield in India, and the Pfizer jab, still work against the variant.
Two-thirds of adults have now had their first Covid jab as Britain passes another vaccine milestone
ByStephen Adamsand Anna Mikhailova For The Mail On Sunday
Britain yesterday passed another vaccine milestone with more than two-thirds of adults now given a Covid-19 jab.
According to the latest figures, 35,188,981 people – the equivalent of 66.8 per cent of the adult population – have had their first dose of vaccine. Of those, 17,214,436, comprising 32.7 per cent of adults, have had their second shot.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted: ‘The vaccine is saving lives so when it’s your turn, come forward & get the jab.’
The number of positive tests, hospital admissions and deaths have all fallen in the past week
The milestone came as just five deaths and 101 new hospitalisations were reported, down a quarter on figures last Saturday.
Despite the loosening of lockdown restrictions, there were 2,047 positive tests in the previous 24 hour period, down five per cent week- on-week. The success of Britain’s vaccination programme contrasts with Germany, where 39 per cent of adults have had their first jab, and France, where it is just 33 per cent.
Despite the progress in the battle against Covid-19, Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings launched a fresh attack on his handling of the crisis. Promoting a book by US statistician Julia Galef, Mr Cummings suggested that if the ’20 most influential people dealing with Covid’ in the Government had read her book The Scout Mindset, then ’10s of 1000s who died cd still be alive’.
The book encourages people to act like a scout who ‘surveys the land, seeking accuracy and understanding’ rather than like ‘soldiers’ who ‘protect… beliefs aggressively and ignore any evidence that we might be wrong’.
Another missed chance to tackle social care crisis: Queen’s Speech will NOT include relief for families with elderly relatives… two years after Boris Johnson vowed to deliver his plan
By Claire Ellicott, Political correspondent for The Daily Mail
Ministers are set to miss another chance to tackle the social care crisis this week.
Detailed measures to fix the broken sector are not expected in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech despite Boris Johnson earlier suggesting they would be.
Instead, the Government has vowed to set out plans in the coming ‘weeks and months’ but these may not come in front of Parliament before the end of the year.
Yesterday campaigners called for decisive action as a poll showed that voters want reform of the care sector.
The survey found that two-thirds think social care should be a top priority while nearly half do not believe that ministers care enough about older people and their needs.
Earlier this year, Mr Johnson said it was ‘highly likely’ that ministers would bring forward a clear plan to ‘fix’ the problems in the Queen’s Speech.
But sources have now indicated there will be a reference to social care plans in the speech but they will not actually be set out, suggesting any measures are not ready.
Wrangling between No 10 and the Chancellor about the huge costs of reform – perhaps as high as £10billion a year – is said to have delayed progress.
Instead, new animal rights laws and the controversial policing Bill are likely to be included when the Queen sets out the Government’s legislative programme in her speech in the House of Lords.
Asked yesterday if a plan would be announced tomorrow, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove indicated this was unlikely.
‘We’ll be saying more about social care in the weeks and months to come,’ he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge show.
Asked why there was still no plan, Mr Gove said ministers had ‘quite rightly’ been concentrating on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘People will also expect, of course, a new plan for social care to be developed and that plan will be unveiled later this year,’ he added.
In a later interview, Mr Gove said a reform plan will be ‘heading for the statute books’ by the end of the year.
‘We’re working to make sure we have an effective social care plan. That work is going on,’ he told Times Radio.
‘So, by the end of the year you will have a specific plan heading for the statute books. We want to make sure that we can get cross-party support.
‘That’s the point the Prime Minister has always made. The more support we can get for it, the quicker we can be.’
In March, Mr Johnson told the Commons liaison committee it was ‘highly likely’ social care reforms would be in the Queen’s Speech.
He said a ten-year plan was needed to bridge ‘the gulf between the NHS and social care into which so many fall’.
In his first speech as Prime Minister in July 2019, Mr Johnson had declared: ‘We will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared.’ However, little progress has been made.
Yesterday’s poll on the issue was carried out for care charity MHA. Chief executive Sam Monaghan said: ‘There have been green papers, white papers, commissions, reviews, yet still the system remains broken. What we now need is decisive action.’
Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, added: ‘We need to move from rhetoric to action. Now is the time for long-term ambition not yet another quick fix.’
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘Improving the adult social care system remains a priority and we will bring forward proposals later this year.’
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