Damaged PM dithers and delays over new Covid curbs for England as his nightmare before Christmas darkens

Boris Johnson’s authority has been so weakened by recent events that he appears willing to gamble the nation’s health service and people’s lives in order to appease right wing Tory tabloids and his own backbench MPs. The embattled prime minister’s personal nightmare before Christmas – featuring the key resignation of a staunch Brexit ally, a […]

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Johnson’s Plan B for pandemic at risk over Tories’ Christmas parties scandal

Scientists have said Boris Johnson’s Plan B to tackle the coronavirus pandemic is at risk over the Christmas parties scandal engulfing the Conservatives. Reports that the Tories held “up to seven” parties in lockdown – including a “raucous” event at Conservative party headquarters on December 14 last year – have added to the consternation caused […]

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Arrests at anti-lockdown protests; summer blow for ‘average holidaymakers’

Thousands of anti-lockdown protestors defied the government and Covid restrictions to take to London’s streets today, with at least 33 arrested by the Metropolitan Police after “ugly clashes”. Huge protests in Manchester passed without any arrests reported though the city centre was brought to a standstill by demonstrators against the new policing bill, violence against […]

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Johnson declares ‘the end is in sight’ while Sage says at least 32,000 more could die with Covid

Boris Johnson has laid out England’s exit from lockdown, declaring “the end is in sight” on the day the UK passed 129,498 deaths of people with Covid-19. The prime minister’s “cautious but also irreversible” road map out of lockdown is, he hopes, a “one way road to freedom” where even nightclubs could be open on […]

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Lifting lockdown in February will be a ‘disaster’, says Sage member, who warns Manaus variant is probably already in UK

The government has been warned by a member of its Sage panel of experts, that lifting lockdown next month would be a “disaster” that puts the “NHS under enormous pressure again.” Prof John Edmunds also said that the highly infectious Covid variant detected in Manaus, Brazil is probably already in the UK, although no cases […]

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Vaccine and mass testing boost for UK but Covid deaths hit highest daily toll since May

Doctors and soldiers have been put on notice to prepare for a national immunisation and mass testing drive across the UK following yesterday’s announcement of a coronavirus vaccine. Some 1,500 GPs and drive-through centres will deliver “at least 1,000 jabs a week” of the Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine from December 1, with health officials saying […]

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Covid mass testing in Liverpool – an ‘incredible opportunity’ or an ‘expensive, dangerous mess’?

The first Covid mass testing trial in the UK is underway in Liverpool with the city’s 500,000 people urged to take part in what the mayor called “an incredible opportunity to turbo-charge our efforts to reduce coronavirus in the city.” Some 2,000 soldiers have been called on to assist the trial and administer tests in […]

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