The European Union will urge the US to export millions of doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine to Europe, it has been reported.
According to reports in the Financial Times, the EU is scrambling to manage supply shortfalls of Covid-19 vaccines. The European Commission told the newspaper: “We trust that we can work together with the U.S. to ensure that vaccines produced or bottled in the US for the fulfilment of vaccine producers’ contractual obligations with the EU will be fully honoured.”
It comes as Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Government’s SPI-M modelling advisory panel, told Times Radio that children going back to classrooms on March 8 would cause a rise in the reproductive number – or R value – of the virus while more vaccinations would cause it to reduce.
He said: “We do need to get this balancing act correct and we need to open up at the rate of vaccinations and keep the R number in check, as it were.”
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Kate highlights public support for ‘amazing’ work of frontline staff
The Duchess of Cambridge has said it is “sad, almost” how it has taken a pandemic for the public to “really back and support all those working on the front line”.
Kate’s comments are part of a BBC programme featuring the royal family celebrating the Commonwealth which will be screened on Sunday.
In an extract from the programme, Kate and William chat in a video call with Dr Zolelwa Sifumba, from South Africa, an advocate for the rights of healthcare workers on the front line.
The duchess tells the medic: “Here in the UK there’s been masses of public recognition of the amazing work the front line are doing and it’s sad, almost, that it’s taken the pandemic for the public to really back and support all those working on the front line.”
William, Kate and their children were pictured last year joining in the weekly applause for frontline workers during the early part of the pandemic.
Life in Lockdown: our photography and video competition capturing personal reflections of the time
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We want to see your photos and videos telling personal stories of lockdown in the capital
Ex-Tory health minister: Now is not the time for NHS pay restraint
A former Conservative health minister has said it is the “wrong time” to be restraining the pay of NHS workers who have gone “above and beyond” during the pandemic.
In a sign that a Conservative rebellion over the Government’s 1% pay rise recommendation may be brewing, MP Dr Dan Poulter has called for a rethink on the proposal.
Dr Poulter, who has been assisting on the NHS front line during the pandemic, said it is “very valid” for ministers to turn their attention to paying back the £400 billion borrowed during the coronavirus crisis – but it is the “wrong time to be making this decision”.
His warning came before disgruntled NHS workers announced they are set to hold a socially-distanced protest outside Downing Street and in Manchester city centre on Sunday over the pay offer.
Dr Poulter told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “A lot of health professionals in the early part of the pandemic were working without the right equipment to protect themselves, and many people have gone above and beyond the hours they are already paid for during the pandemic and have really pulled together in very difficult circumstances.
“For me, this is, from a moral perspective, the wrong time to be applying pay restraint.”
No evidence Brazil strain of Covid has spread in Scotland, Health Secretary says
There is no evidence the mutated coronavirus strain first found in the Brazillian city of Manaus has been transmitted by the three Scots infected with the variant, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has said.
A total of six cases of the P1 variant were identified in the UK last month – three in Scotland and three in England.
Since then, approximately 300 contacts or contacts of contacts liked to the three Scottish cases have been reached, told to self-isolate and offered a Covid-19 test, Ms Freeman has revealed.
Ms Freeman has now announced that there has been no community transmission linked to the variant strain of coronavirus identified since the first cases were discovered on February 27.
She also confirmed that attempts to track down all passengers on the Heathrow to Aberdeen flight taken by the three Scots who tested positive for the mutated virus have ended, despite a failure to locate 21 of the 90 people on the plane.
Fourteen more people have died with Covid-19 in Ireland
Another 539 infections were confirmed.
As of 8am, 414 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, of whom 101 are in intensive care units.
Six arrests in connection with Irish anti-lockdown demonstration
Six people have been arrested in connection with a demonstration in Ireland against lockdown restrictions.
The gathering in Cork city centre passed off without major incident on Saturday afternoon.
Garda said more than 200 officers were involved in Saturday’s policing operation.
Two men were arrested in Cork city, one for a breach of coronavirus regulations and the other for public order offences.
Garda said four arrests were made linked to the event in Cork.
Three men and one woman were arrested in Kildare, Kerry and County Cork for failing to comply with Garda directions.
Here’s the latest Government data on coronavirus vaccines:
Government data up to March 5 shows that of the 22,887,118 jabs given in the UK so far, 21,796,278 were first doses – a rise of 437,463 on the previous day.
Some 1,090,840 were second doses, an increase of 56,772.
Covid roadmap out of lockdown: Everything you can and can’t do from March 8
Here we take a look at how the restrictions will change next week:
Covid lockdown roadmap: Everything you can and can’t do from March 8
The first major easing of England’s third lockdown is set to take place on Monday with the return of students to school.
Irish protesters gather in Cork to demonstrate against the lockdown
The demonstration against lockdown restrictions in Ireland has passed off peacefully.
There was a heavy police presence and some shops boarded up their windows as an estimated crowd of several hundred gathered on Patrick Street.
Checkpoints were carried out by Garda on routes to Cork, and organisers have claimed that some who had been planning to attend the demonstration were turned back.
Demonstration organisers the People’s Convention said it would be a “peaceful assembly”.
Speeches were heard by participants carrying banners, some of which read “Tell the Truth” and “Freedom Not Tyranny”.
It ended with the singing of the National Anthem.
