British firms draw up ‘no jab no job’ contracts ahead of lockdown easing February 18, 2021 British companies are beginning to draw up “no jab, no job” contracts after the government yesterday admitted it was “up to businesses” to decide how to enforce vaccination requirements. Barchester Healthcare, which runs more than 200 care homes across the country, said it will not hire new staff who refuse the Covid-19 vaccine on non-medical [...]
Covid: Half a million self employed still excluded from government’s SEISS scheme February 17, 2021 Half a million self-employed still excluded from government help despite having no work
Vaccine passports mean no nightclubs until autumn, warn industry figures February 17, 2021 Vaccine passports will likely shut young people away from venues such as nightclubs, theatres and cinemas until the autumn, hospitality chiefs have warned. The Prime Minister announced on Monday that the government will prioritise rapid Covid tests to reopen “those bits [of the economy] that have been the toughest nuts to crack”. He said a [...]
Surge testing for Covid mutations extended to London commuter areas February 16, 2021 A coronavirus testing blitz will be carried out in Surrey, Southampton and Norfolk following confirmed cases of the South Africa Covid variant in the commuter regions. Surge testing and genomic sequencing will be carried out in the GU22 postcode in Woking, SO15 in central Southampton and IP22 in Diss to tackle the “variant of concern”. [...]
Breaking: Entire UK population will ‘probably’ receive two Covid vaccine doses by August February 16, 2021 Every adult in the UK will “probably” receive both doses of a coronavirus vaccine by August, according to the head of the UK’s vaccine taskforce. Clive Dix, who runs C4X — the body that buys vaccines on behalf of the UK government — said the entire UK adult population would likely be fully vaccinated within [...]
Coronavirus: London suffers ‘heaviest job losses in UK’ during pandemic February 16, 2021 London suffered the largest number of job losses of any UK region during the pandemic last year, as the capital continues to feel the weight of a “geographically unequal crisis”, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The number of London employees on payrolls dropped 5.5 per cent between February and December last year, [...]
Pandemic set to land SMEs ‘extra £173,000 debt’ each year February 16, 2021 The pandemic will likely land small businesses an additional £173,000 debt pile each year as loans taken out during the coronavirus crisis continue to pile up, according to a new report. Half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK have taken out a Covid-related loan, according to a survey of more than 1,000 [...]
Further 1.7m people in England told to shield ahead of lockdown easing February 16, 2021 A further 1.7m people have been added to the shielding list in England, after a new risk assessment model found them to be at serious risk from Covid-19. The government used a new predictive tool to identify adults with multiple risk factors that made them more vulnerable to coronavirus. Scientists at Oxford University looked at [...]
Over-80s now most likely age group to have Covid antibodies February 16, 2021 Over-80s in England are now the most likely age group to have antibodies, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the surest sign yet that the nation’s largest ever vaccination programme is starting to pay off. The latest ONS antibody survey found that the highest percentage of people testing positive [...]
Daily Covid cases fall below 10,000 for first time since September February 15, 2021 The UK’s daily coronavirus caseload has fallen below 10,000 for the first time in five months, according to the latest official figures. A further 9,765 coronavirus cases were reported in the past 24 hours — the lowest figure since 28 September, when 9,929 infections were recorded. The number of coronavirus-related deaths also fell to the [...]