[ad_1]
Infection levels in England may have risen at the start of January, scientists track the spread of the coronavirus have said, with swab tests indicating the highest figures were in London.
Researchers from the Imperial College London found that 1.58 per cent were positive for the virus between 6 and 15 January, while London stood at 2.8 per cent.
They say infection levels may have risen in early January, despite the lockdown beginning on 6 January, due to people’s activity increasing after the holidays ended.
The report’s data is more up to date than the government’s daily case figures, the scientists claim, because it does not rely on those being tested developing symptoms.
The developments comes as the UK reported its highest daily death toll yet on Wednesday, with 1,820 people dying within 28 days of testing positive for the virus. It is the second consecutive day that the daily death toll has been a record figure.
Education secretary says he hopes schools will resume daily testing
The education secretary has said he hopes secondary schools will be able to restart the daily rapid testing programme after it was “paused” on Wednesday on the advice of Public Health England over concerns about the new variant of the virus.
Mr Williamson told BBC Breakfast: “With the emergence of a new variant what we have been asked to do by Public Health England is that they wanted to look at more detail as to how that was working with the new variant.
“We very much hope that we will be able to restart that programme that worked so well.”
However, some scientists have consistently voiced concerns about the reliability of lateral flow tests due to the high percentage of false negatives.
Clea Skopeliti21 January 2021 08:16
Education secretary wants schools to reopen ‘at the earliest opportunity’
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, has said he wants schools in England to reopen at “the earliest possible opportunity”.
Mr Williamson said one of the “key criteria” for reopening schools would be whether the pressure on the NHS was lifting.
He brushed off calls by the opposition to resign following a series of policy U-turns.
“My real focus is making sure that children get back into school at the earliest possible opportunity,” he told Sky News.
“Schools were the last to close and schools will very much be the first to reopen.”
He said he intended to give schools a “clear two-week notice period” before they reopened.
Clea Skopeliti21 January 2021 08:00
Just over half of British Indians would get Covid vaccine, survey shows
Only a little over half of British Indians say they would get a coronavirus vaccine, according to research.
Some 56 per cent of British Indians said they would take up a vaccine when asked by the 1928 Institute, a new think tank led by academics from the University of Oxford.
The findings echo those published by the Royal Society of Public Health in December, which found Asian communities were least likely to take a Covid-19 vaccine (55 per cent compared to 79 per cent of white respondents).
Clea Skopeliti21 January 2021 07:50
Hello and welcome to the Independent’s rolling coverage of the coronavirus crisis.
Clea Skopeliti21 January 2021 07:47
[ad_2]
Source link
