Matt Hancock: UK could live with Covid ‘like flu’ by end of year February 13, 2021 Vaccines and treatments mean Covid-19 could become a disease we live with “like we do with flu” by the end of the year, Matt Hancock has said. The health secretary said new drugs designed to tackle the virus could arrive in 2021, helping to make Covid a “treatable” disease. In an interview with the Daily [...]
Matt Hancock unveils ‘blistering’ NHS reforms as government prepares to seize control February 11, 2021 Matt Hancock has unveiled plans to reform the NHS, insisting that the pandemic is the “right time” for the government to shake up the health service at “blistering pace”. In its biggest set of reforms for a decade, ministers are set to be handed “general power to direct NHS England on its functions”, amid widespread [...]
Lambeth to receive surge testing amid concerns over South African Covid mutation February 9, 2021 Extra coronavirus testing will be carried out in Lambeth following confirmed cases of the South African Covid variant in the south London neighbourhood. Surge testing and genomic sequencing will be carried out in the SE27 0, SE27 9 and SW16 2 postcodes in Lambeth. People living within the targeted areas are strongly encouraged to take [...]
Ministers to seize control of the NHS in sweeping reforms February 6, 2021 Ministers will take direct control of the NHS amid ongoing frustration at its performance during the pandemic, marking the biggest reform for the health service for a decade. The plans are understood to have begun before the 2019 election, but have been accelerated amid mounting frustration from Number 10 over the state of the health [...]
NHS chief earmarks summer for return to normality January 26, 2021 NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has signalled that the UK could begin to see a return to normality by the summer if plans to ramp up the nation’s vaccination programme go to plan. Teachers and police could be fast-tracked for the Covid vaccine as early as mid-February, the NHS boss said. Ministers have set [...]
Moderna to trial new Covid vaccine for South African mutation January 25, 2021 Moderna is set to trial its new Covid-19 vaccine specially designed to tackle a new coronavirus strain that first emerged in South Africa, the company announced today. The US pharmaceutical firm said laboratory tests showed its current vaccine appears to work against the UK Covid variant first identified in Kent. However, it warned that the [...]
Coronavirus: UK R rate falls to between 0.8 and 1 January 22, 2021 The UK’s R rate has dropped sharply to a best estimate of between 0.8 and 1, according to latest official data, suggesting lockdown restrictions across the four nations are beginning to make their mark. The figure marks a significant fall from last week’s rate of reproduction of the virus, which was estimated to be somewhere [...]
Health secretary Matt Hancock self-isolating after NHS app alert January 19, 2021 Matt Hancock is self-isolating after receiving an alert from the NHS coronavirus contact tracing app. The health secretary today said he had been “pinged” by the app and would not be leaving his house until Sunday. “This self-isolating is perhaps the most important part of all the social distancing,” he said in a video posted [...]
Patient admitted to hospital ‘every 30 seconds’ as Covid hospitalisations hit record January 18, 2021 “Someone is admitted to hospital with coronavirus every 30 seconds,” the health secretary has said, as hospitalisations continue to hit fresh heights amid the rapid spread of new Covid mutations. There are currently 37,475 people in UK hospitals with coronavirus, with more than a tenth on ventilators. “That is the highest that it’s been throughout [...]
Exclusive: Government scraps ‘game-changing’ antibody tests at NHS sites January 17, 2021 The government has quietly scrapped antibody tests at NHS sites, City A.M. can reveal, despite calls to increase testing of immunity levels alongside the vaccine rollout. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) yesterday deleted a section from its website advising people on how to get free antibody tests at community clinics, mobile testing [...]