One new Covid death and 403 new cases of virus reported

ONE new Covid-related death has been confirmed in the Bristol area in the last 24 hours.

The fatality, which came within 28 days of a positive Covid test, has been reported in the North Somerset area yesterday.

This death has been recorded along with 403 new cases of the pandemic illness in the city and its surrounding areas.

Nationally, as of 9am yesterday, there had been a further 40,701 labconfirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK.

The Government said a further 122 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK total to 137,417.

The total number of cases confirmed in each region around Bristol, with the daily rise in brackets, are as follows:

» City of Bristol - 60,468 (+148) » North Somerset - 20,230 (+75) » South Gloucestershire - 30,840 (+100)

» Bath and North East Somerset - 18,898 (+80)

The total number of deaths recorded in each region are as follows:

» City of Bristol - 538 (-) » North Somerset - 334 (+1) » South Gloucestershire - 377 (-)

» Bath and North East Somerset 238 (-) In other Covid news, the travel red list will be reduced to just seven destinations from Monday – Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela – the Department for Transport said.

It said 47 countries will be removed from the red list from 4am on Monday, making it easier for more people to travel abroad to a larger number of countries. Passengers returning to England from these destinations will no longer be required to enter hotel quarantine.

The Government will also extend the inbound vaccinated arrivals system to a further 37 countries and territories across the globe including India, South Africa and Turkey, meaning eligible passengers arriving from rest of world countries only need to take a day two test in England.

» The World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched a plan to vaccinate the world, motivated by fears that a new jab-resistant coronavirus variant could emerge “very soon”.

United Nations leader Antonio Guterres told a WHO press conference on Tuesday that the UK and other developed nations were being “stupid” by not concentrating supplies in places such as Africa, risking the emergence of variants that could undo global efforts in fighting the pandemic so far.

The WHO’s plan, called the Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination, has set targets of immunising 40% of the population of every country by the end of 2021, and 70% by the middle of 2022.