THIS MUST BE FINAL LOCKDOWN
As jabs hit 15 million target this weekend, 63 Tory MPS tell PM to end all virus rules by May
A letter signed by 63 MPS in the Covid Recovery Group sets out a way forward, which includes no more lockdowns, as the Government expects to hit its 15 million jabs target this weekend.
It comes as an “optimistic” Boris Johnson
confirmed that the Government will not push for a zero Covid strategy and suggested instead that the virus will be something we learn to live with, like flu.
But with frustration growing over the new, harsher restrictions being brought in on travel, the Prime Minister was last night facing a serious challenge to his authority from his own MPS, who warned him that he cannot continue to “move the goalposts”.
The group of MPS, led by former chief whip Mark Harper and exminister Steve Baker, want all schools opened by March 8, and restaurants, pubs and cafes to be open for the Easter holidays.
The MPS said: “Once all nine priority groups have been protected by the end of April, there is no justification for any legislative restrictions to remain.” They
‘Open pubs and venues by Easter’
added: “The vaccine gives us immunity from Covid but it must also give us permanent immunity from Covid-related lockdowns and restrictions.”
Speaking on a trip to the Quantumdx diagnostics company’s base in Newcastle, the Prime Minister said that Health Secretary Matt Hancock was correct to say that Covid-19 could become a “manageable disease”, like seasonal flu.
He added: “A nasty disease like this will roll through. A new disease like this will take time for humanity to adapt to, but we are.
“The miracles of science are already making a huge difference, not just through vaccinations but therapies as well.
“New therapies are being discovered the whole time which are enabling us to reduce mortality and improve our treatments of the disease.
“I do think that in due time it will become something that we simply live with. Some people will be more vulnerable than others – that’s inevitable.”
But Mr Johnson appeared to resist any rapid lifting of restrictions, arguing that while infection rates are falling, overall numbers remain very high.
He said: “We have made huge progress with the rollout of the vaccines.that is great.
“But we have still got infections running very high throughout the country – levels which last year we would have thought were really very high indeed and still, sadly, a great many deaths in our hospitals.”
He added: “Something also that will be very important is the efficacy of the vaccines – are they
BORIS Johnson yesterday exchanged elbow bumps with workers as he toured plants in the north-east of England where vaccines and Covid tests are developed and PPE is made.
He told staff working at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies in Billingham, which will produce the Novavax vaccine, to keep up their “vital work”. He also visited the Quantumdx Group in Newcastle, which has developed Q-POC, a rapid testing device, and Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing Hub, Seaton Delaval, where two million gowns have been made. working in the way that we hope that they are? – and making sure they are really helping, along with the lockdown, to drive down the incidence.that is the key thing.”
Mr Johnson’s comments come after the Government announced that 14.5 million vaccines had been given by Friday.
It means that on the current trajectory the 15.2 million target of reaching the most vulnerable could be achieved today or tomorrow.
The NHS figures show that a further 544,603 had their first vaccine, taking the total to 14,556,827 by Friday, while 4,775 received their second dose, taking the number to 534,869.
There were a further 621 deaths and 13,308 cases recorded yesterday, down more than 26 per cent and 27 per cent in a week.
The latest figures from Tuesday showed that 1,741 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital, down by over
25 per cent in a week.
Leading scientists have briefed Conservatives MPS that there is likely to be a 98 per cent reduction in death rates by mid-april, following the successful rollout of the vaccines.
This has led the Covid Recovery Group to call for the Government to start to lift restrictions.
Addressing the Prime Minister – who is due to update MPS later this month on his lockdown exit plan – the MPS said: “When you said in January that together we can ‘reclaim our lives once and for all’, you created a spirit of hope and optimism. We recognise the devastating consequences of both Covid as well as lockdowns and restrictions, and so look forward to rebuilding our society and economy as we protect the vulnerable.”
And they noted that in the same month, Mr Hancock had said: “My aim is to keep these restrictions in place for not a moment longer than they are necessary.”
The letter added: “The top four risk groups account for about 88 per cent of deaths and about 55 per cent of hospitalisations from
Covid. These groups will be protected by vaccination from March 8, so any restrictions left in place after that should be proportionate to the harm Covid is by then capable of causing.”
Their key demand is for schools in England to all reopen by March 8 as “a national priority”.
The letter also demanded that “pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues can open for Easter” with proper precautions.
The MPS also want action on outdoor sports and swimming pools, gyms, personal care businesses, care home visits, hotels, and events industry businesses.
Their letter insisted that all restrictions after March 8 “must be proportionate” and they must all end by May.
One of the MPS who signed the letter, Esther Mcvey, said: “We are seeing a real change in the mood of our constituents.
“The letters we are getting now are much more about the need to lift lockdown and less about fears
over Covid.” Meanwhile, NHS staff will begin vaccinating people aged 65 to 69 and those who are clinically vulnerable against Covid-19 from tomorrow, with more than one million people already invited to book a jab.
Almost 1.2 million letters were due to land on doorsteps by yesterday asking people to log on to the national booking service at nhs.uk/covid-vaccination, with another 1.2 million due to arrive this week.
In another development, further targeted areas will have additional testing made available, to help monitor and suppress the spread of a Covid-19 variant.
Working in partnership with the local authorities, additional surge testing is being deployed to targeted areas in Middlesbrough within the TS7 postcode.
It will also be used in areas in Walsall and in specific parts of the RG26 postcode in Hampshire, where the variant first identified in South Africa has been found.
EXPERTS have called for urgent action to protect children from the harm of lockdown, saying youngsters are being used in “an unethical mass experiment” and warning we are on the brink of a “national emergency”.
They are urging the Government to take urgent steps to examine and address the collateral damage that has been caused to children from issues such as school closures, lockdowns and social isolation as a result of the pandemic.
One specialist is calling for a task force to be launched immediately and to remain in place for 10 years, which would include experts in child abuse and neglect, childhood depression, suicide and anxiety, as well as physical, educational and developmental health.
Generation Lockdown is facing
CRUSADE
lower life expectancy, poverty, long-term mental health problems and higher suicide rates.
There is an urgent “need to promote hope”, insist experts.
Dr Robert Hughes, a clinical research fellow in early childhood development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “We are seeing the tip of a very dark iceberg and we need both an emergency and long-term response.
“I’m concerned that while the Government has lately talked about children being a priority, actions – and budgets – speak louder than words.
“Protecting the NHS and saving lives are of course vital, but a year in we mustn’t stop there.
“Our politicians need to acknowledge there are a range of priorities, which surely must include addressing the long-term effects of lockdowns which we know will have a detrimental effect on the next generation.”
He said that his biggest fear “is that we will have a lifetime of harm caused by this policy unless we place a bigger emphasis on children in our pandemic response and an ambitious, urgent programme of support to those who have already, and are right now suffering”.
He added: “Lockdowns should not be seen as a binary choice – open or closed, safe versus not safe. It is more complicated than that.we need to accept that this is about mitigating risks and benefits and we need to balance these, prioritising what really matters – including the next generation.
“A dedicated task force, or a new Sage sub-group focusing on the long-term, could help us to plot the best way out of this lockdown and to plan for the longer term, addressing some of the less obvious harms this pandemic is causing.
“Children do not employ lobbyists and I worry they are suffering because not enough people – including at Cabinet level – are speaking out for them.”
Ellen Townsend, a professor in psychology at the University of Nottingham, said: “With school closures and stay-at-home orders we are conducting an unethical mass experiment with child development.
“Social interaction shapes us and our brains as we grow up.
“Social prescribing exists in healthcare because it promotes fundamental human needs and can improve health.
“The impacts of restrictions are life limiting and will ultimately lead to reduced life expectancy through poor education attainment, long-term mental health problems and unemployment/ poverty. This is a national crisis which is becoming a national emergency and we urgently need a group to be taking the needs of children into account when making any decision about the pandemic policy which reports to someone at Cabinet level.” Their comments follow shock findings from a study by health provider Bupa which revealed last month that more than four million young people had experienced symptoms of poor mental health over the past 10 months – many for the first time. These issues have manifested as physical health issues for 3.9 million, with many feeling close to breaking point.
Prof Townsend, a member of the Health Advisory and Recovery Team, said: “More evidence is emerging each week that schools are not significant in transmission and teachers are no more affected by Covid-19 than other professions.
“We need to open schools urgently with an emphasis on play, socialising and fun. We also need to promote hope. Hopelessness, entrapment and defeat are key ingredients for suicidal crises and we have asked young people to live in circumstances that exacerbate these issues for nearly a year.
“Suicide is the leading cause of death in people under 35 in England. Disaster planners indicate that we should have put them first from the beginning. Somehow, we have forgotten this.”
Dr Sunil Bhopal, a leading paediatrician at Newcastle University, said: “Action is needed now and I do not think the needs of children have been considered enough in our response to the pandemic in which children have been at the back of the queue. This is unconscionable.
“There has been a feeling around that nothing can touch you in childhood and you can bounce back. We in the children’s sector are saying what happens in the earliest years of your life matters lifelong.we know that people who have a tough childhood struggle through adulthood.”
WE HAVE nothing to fear from the latest covid variants because they do not “drift” far enough from the original to evade the current vaccines, leading experts say.
They spoke out after concern was raised over a new variant found in Bristol last week that is similar to the South African virus and listed as a “variant of concern”.
It was reported that this variant – characterised by key mutations from Kent and South Africa – could spread fast and also get past immunity from vaccines.
It is the latest in a series of variants that have caused alarm for the Government and its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
The Kent variant discovered in September led to a third lockdown being brought in at the end of 2020 and shattered Christmas plans for families across the UK.
But other leading experts dismissed the latest “variant of concern” and insist we should not panic as intensive surge testing for the South African variant is being conducted in several parts of the country.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Robert Dingwall, a member of the Government’s New and Emerging Virus Threats Group – Nervtag – said: “We should not be panicking about these variants.
“The sort of variants we will see are such a small drift from the original virus that they do not change it in a radical way.
“The changes we have seen and we will see are pretty minor modifications of the virus which can be easily matched by the vaccine or tweaks to it.”
He also questioned the need for quarantine hotels which were announced by Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock as a measure to prevent variants arriving from 33 “red list” countries.
He said: “I fail to see how hotels will keep variants out. Shutting borders does not stop variants emerging. Variants spontaneously appear in the UK as anywhere else and you cannot totally shut borders because we rely on imports of food and medicine.
“I’m confident in our ability to fine tune vaccines if they become less effective against some new variant but any of the vaccines will still reduce severe disease, protect the NHS and allow us to get on with our lives.”
Professor Anthony Brookes, geneticist from the University of
Leicester said: “I question whether we are over interpreting the significance of new strains.
“A new strain only needs a slight advantage over others to take off and become dominant. This is because all the different strains compete with each other.”
“New strains occur naturally all the time with any virus. It is futile to try and stop them from emerging and becoming dominant.”
Professor Hugh Pennington – a public health expert from the University of Aberdeen said: “We have enough virus buzzing around for variants to occur in this country. It is impossible to predict which will take off but if one was to become resistant to the coronavirus vaccine it would be unheard of. It has never happened with any other vaccine.
“However, if such a thing were to happen and it mutated enough we would have good advance warning as we would pick it up quickly with the level of surveillance we have combined with the sequencing we are doing, and this information could be passed to vaccine manufacturers. This is not something that will wipe out the benefits of the vaccine programme.”
Scientists first raised alarm over new variants in December after the discovery of a Kent variant in September which was said to be 70 per cent more transmissible by scientific modellers.
This modelling was instrumental in the justification of a third lockdown as well as cancellation of Christmas plans for families.
Since then there have been concerns over strains from Brazil, South Africa and now Bristol.
These discoveries on samples sent to Public Health England triggered the rollout of surge testing across large parts of the country with every result being sequenced for signs of mutation.
And last week Matt Hancock announced new rules intended to reduce the introduction and transmission of variants. Travellers having
‘We should not be panicking’ ‘New strains occur naturally all the time. It is futile to try and stop them from emerging and becoming dominant’
Rules come into force on Monday
to stay in quarantine hotels in England will be charged £1,750 for their stay. The measures, which come into force tomorrow, apply to UK and Irish residents returning from 33 red list countries.
Surge testing is being carried out in parts of Hampshire,walsall and Middlesbrough after cases of the South African variant were found. Anyone over the age of 16 is being urged to get tested whether they have symptoms or not as officials introduce door-todoor testing and new centres.
The operation inwalsall has also been extended in response to a confirmed second case of the variant which is not believed to be linked to international travel.
The discovery of a case in the village of Bramley, near Basingstoke, was announced yesterday with rapid testing to begin this week.
Meanwhile a vaccination centre in Surrey had to be evacuated after a fire broke out. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service said people left Emberbrook Community Centre in Thames Ditton on Saturday before firefighters arrived at 3.33pm.