Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
March to Freedoms
PM warns of ‘gradual’ lifting of restrictions UK has the highest rate of Covid fatalities NHS critical care beds may run out in days
LOCKDOWN restrictions could start to be lifted in March, but PM Boris Johnson warns it will be gradual with no “open sesame” moment.
The UK now has the highest Covid-19 death rate in the world, the average daily toll of 935 equal to more than 16 people in every million dying of the virus daily.
And while new infections are falling and the number vaccinated has passed four million, hospital admissions are still rising and NHS bosses fear critical care beds could run out this week.
The vaccine rollout is on schedule to give a first jab to everyone in the top four priority groups by February 15.
Speaking at Oxford Biomedica, the factory making the Oxford/astrazeneca vaccine, the PM said: “It’s only really then that we can talk about the way ahead and what steps we can take to relax.”
There may be a return to tiers in March. He said: “I’m afraid I’ve got to warn people it will be gradual, you can’t just open up in a great open sesame, in a great bang, because I’m afraid the situation is still pretty precarious.” The latest figures show a record 37,475 people in hospital with Covid, a further 599 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, and 37,535 new cases.
At the Downing Street press briefing, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said half of over-80s and half of elderly care home residents had now been given a jab, but he urged adherence to the social distancing rules.
BRIEFING Matt Hancock
He said: “Don’t blow it now, we’re on the route out. We’re protecting the most vulnerable, we’re getting the virus under control. I know we can do it.” Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said a “gradual lifting” of lockdown could begin “two to three weeks” after February 15 if the four most vulnerable groups had been vaccinated by the target date. He said it would be the “first, second week of March, where you should be seeing very clear evidence of a sort of a break in the correlation between infection rates and hospitalisation and obviously death.
“Because this is a race against death.” As 10 more mass vaccination centres opened in England, including one in the crypt of Lancashire’s Blackburn Cathedral, NHS Confederation boss Danny Mortimer warned the health service could hit its limit in days.
A new Covid patient was arriving in hospital every 30 seconds, and he said:
“I think, this next week, we will be at the limit of what we probably have the physical space and the people to safely do.
“And, of course, this is the week when we expect also the highest rate of admissions, the highest demand for the care we’re providing.”
The Independent last night reported that figures collected by Oxford University research programme Our World in Data showed the UK had the highest per capita rate of deaths, overtaking the Czech Republic on Sunday. Public
Health England data shows infection rates are falling in 279 of the 315 local authority areas.
The rates have fallen across every region, with the highest drop in London, down from 1,015 cases per 100,000 people to 761 in the week to January 13.
In eastern England rates fell from 755 to 557, in the North West, 597 to 554 and in the South West, 382 to 349. The Welsh government has defended a slower rollout of the vaccine.
As of last week, 3,215 per 100,000 of population had been given the vaccine in Wales, compared to 3,514 in Scotland, 4,005 in England and 4,828 in Northern Ireland.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said the differences were “very marginal”.
The Scottish government announced that almost all care home residents had received their first dose and 264,991 people had so far been vaccinated.
London has given the lowest number of jabs in England’s regions, 417,225 from December 8 to January 17, compared to 746,487 in the Midlands and 681,317 in the North East and Yorkshire.
No10 has said it will be guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on who is prioritised in phase two of the vaccine programme.
Mr Zahawi suggested he would include retail staff, teachers and police.
The PM’S spokesman said: “It is for the JCVI to look at phase two and advise where the vaccine priority will be.”
The Office for National Statistics found Covid-19 was the leading cause of death in England for the second month in a row in December.
Deaths from all causes were 25% higher than expected compared to the five-year average for December. There have been 105,000 deaths with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate now.