'Do not wreck this now': UK govt scientist urges lockdown-weary Brits not to flout Covid rules amid 'burning' infection pockets
England’s deputy chief medical officer has urged people to adhere to the current lockdown restrictions and warned there’s been a slight uptick of Covid-19 case rates in some areas of the UK. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the Midlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland are among the…
Looking into Palantir: Activists want NHS to come clean about secretive deal with data-mining company
Under a deal negotiated in secret with the British government, shady data firm Palantir will continue to manage NHS data for two years. Activists calling for transparency have now brought the NHS to court. When the British government unveiled its ‘Covid-19 data store’ last March,…
Covid cases fall across UK to last October’s levels, statistics office reports
Covid-19 levels have fallen across the UK to rates similar to mid-October 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported Friday, with slightly more than 421,000 cases in the community for the week ending February 19. The weekly ONS snapshot said that one-in-145 people in…
Johnson ‘biggest recruiting sergeant for nationalism,’ ex-PM Brown says in blistering attack on Britain’s Covid-19 response
The UK appears “dysfunctional” by its uncoordinated devolved responses to Covid-19 and Boris Johnson risks being “the biggest recruiting sergeant for nationalism,” former PM Gordon Brown’s stinging assessment has claimed. Writing for the Scottish Fabian Society, a left-wing think tank associated with Britain’s Labour Party,…
UK vaccine rollout: Police union critical as under 50s to get Covid jabs ahead of officers or teachers
The UK will stick with offering Covid-19 vaccines to specific age groups rather than changing to prioritise teachers, police, other professions or ethnic groups in the next stage of its vaccination rollout. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said on Friday people…
Black & Asian communities trust family more than govt and media for Covid-19 vax information amid lagging BAME jab uptake in UK
New research commissioned by the British Red Cross has revealed that black, Asian and minority ethnic groups (BAME) are more likely to trust vaccine information given to them by their families than the government or the media. A survey published on Friday by the British…
UK Supreme Court denies ISIS bride Shamima Begum right to return to fight for her citizenship back
British-born Shamima Begum, who fled the UK to join the Islamic State in 2015, should not be allowed to return home to challenge the British government’s revocation of her citizenship, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Friday. Begum and two friends travelled to Syria via Turkey…
‘Completely defiant’ minority have no regard for Covid-19 rules, police say, as almost 70,000 fines issued in England and Wales
A total of 68,952 fixed penalty notices have been handed out by police officers in England and Wales since Covid-19 laws came into effect last year, with more than 10,000 given in London alone. Data compiled by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) on penalties…
Another UK care home company announces ‘no jab, no job’ coronavirus vaccine policy
One of the UK’s biggest care home companies has announced that new workers will be required to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or face being unemployed, after another major care home operator made the jab mandatory. Care UK, which runs 120 care homes, warned on Thursday…
Nearly 14% in England have Covid antibodies from past infection or vaccination, new study says
A major study of 155,000 people in England shows that one in seven have evidence of Covid-19 antibodies from infection or vaccines, with people in London and ethnic minorities having the highest rates from contracting the virus. The study, released Thursday by Imperial College London-REACT,…
UK’s Covid-19 app can be converted into vaccine certificate whether Brits want it or not – reports
The National Health Service app initially developed for users to show their Covid-19 test results can be converted into a digital vaccine certificate without further technical alterations – bad news for the privacy-conscious. In December, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove unilaterally denied Britons would be required…
Dip in UK’s vaccination rate tied to ‘supply fluctuations’ as Covid jab makers get to grips with production push, deputy CMO says
A drop-off in the UK’s rate of Covid-19 vaccinations is down to “supply fluctuations” of doses, England’s deputy chief medical officer has said, adding that “global supply constraints” are also hitting the inoculation rollout. Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it…