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‘Too early’ to know if lockdown can be lifted on 21 June, Hancock says
The Government’s plans for a final lifting of remaining Covid restrictions will likely move forward as planned later this month if there is no increase in hospital admissions over the coming days, Matt Hancock has said.
The health secretary said the number of serious illnesses will be the “crucial” test in determining whether the 21 June lifting of restrictions can move ahead.
Pointing out that the number of people in hospital is currently “flat”, despite the surge of the Delta variant, he said it was still “too early” to say whether restrictions will be fully lifted.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to urge G7 leaders to “defeat Covid” by seeing the world vaccinated by the end of next year.
The PM is set to call on his G7 counterparts, including President Joe Biden to prioritise the world vaccination programme at an upcoming meeting in Cornwall on Friday.
The meeting will be the first in-person G7 summit since the coronavirus pandemic began.
According to the Press Association, the PM will call on his counterparts to “rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era” by “vaccinating the world by the end of next year”, in a move has branded the single greatest feat in medical history.
Vaccinating children over age of 12 could have ‘upsides’ for education, Hancock says
Vaccinating children over the age of 12 could have “upsides” for education, Matt Hancock has said.
Speaking on Sky News, the health secretary said he was “delighted the regulator, having looked very carefully at the data and with their typical rigour and independence, has come forward and said that the jab is safe and effective for those who are over the age of 12.”
“So, we’re only talking about children over the age of 12 here and we’re taking advice currently from the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI), the experts in this, on the right approach to putting this into practise,” he said.
The health secretary said that vaccinating young people could help further prevent the spread of Covid and help education move forward safely.
“Now, of course, for the time being, as of today we are vaccinating people aged 30 and over, next week we’ll move to opening up vaccinations to the under-30s who are adults, so we have a few weeks yet until we come out with a plan for exactly how and if we take this forward,” he said.
“We know that the vaccine both protects you and helps you stop transmitting, and I want to protect education as much as anybody does … and so making sure that we don’t have those whole bubbles having to go home, especially as we saw over the autumn for instance, that has upsides for education.”
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 09:31
Final lifting of restrictions will move ahead if no increase in hospital admissions: Hancock
A final lifting of Covid restrictions will move forward as planned later this month if there is no increase in hospital admissions in the coming days, Matt Hancock has suggested.
The health secretary said the number of serious illnesses will be the “crucial” test in determining whether the 21 June lifting of restrictions can move ahead.
Mr Hancock pointed out that the number of people in hospital is currently “flat”, despite the surge of the Delta, or Indian, variant, but he said it was still “too early” to say whether the full lifting will happen.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 09:07
Hancock says it is ‘too early’ to say whether 21 June lifting of restrictions will move forward
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said it is “too early to make a final decision” on whether the Government’s planned full lifting of coronavirus restrictions will move forward on 21 June, as planned.
The health secretary said he, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and others would be “looking at all of the data this week”.
He said the Government would “give people enough time” to know whether the lifting of restrictions would move forward.
“The critical thing is to see whether the four tests that we’ve set have been met,” he said, referring to the Government’s four tests allowing restrictions to ease.
“We are not saying no to the 21st of June at this point,” he said. However, he said the Government would need to consider that “cases are rising slightly” as well as the “impact of new variants”.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 09:04
Health secretary defends timing of India red list designation
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has once again defended the timing of the Government’s decision to add India to its “red” travel list amid the rise of the Delta variant.
“What I can tell you is as we saw the case rise in India and as we saw this new variant, the now Delta variant, arriving, we took the caution to put India on the red list,” Mr Hancock said.
His comments came amid ongoing criticisms of the Government’s timing in adding India to the red list, with some accusing leadership of delaying the designation to allow a trade trip to move forward.
While Mr Hancock admitted that “hindsight…is very helpful”, he said the Government could not “take decisions” with information it did not “have at the time”.
“You can’t ask anybody to take decisions with information that isn’t in your hands,” he said.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:54
Matt Hancock open to idea of health passes for vaccinated
Health secretary Matt Hancock has suggested he is open to the idea of “health passes” for vaccinated people.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Hancock said “the good news is we now have the technology available to do this”.
“If you download the NHS app right now and you get yourself registered on it, then you will be able to see your vaccination status,” he said.
“We’ve got the technology in place”, he said.
The health secretary’s comments came after former Prime Minister Tony Blair called for health passes to differentiate between the vaccinated and vaccinated to allow greater freedoms both at home and around the world for those who have a jab.
Asked whether he supported that idea, Mr Hancock said: “We know that this is going to be needed internationally because some countries have said it will”.
He said he understand that part of his role is to help Britons be “able to travel when it’s safe to do so”, which he acknowledged could mean overseeing the development of such health passes.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:49
Tony Blair says it is ‘time to distinguish’ between vaccinated and unvaccinated people
Tony Blair has said it is “time to distinguish” between “the vaccinated and unvaccinated” to allow greater freedoms for those who have received a Covid jab.
The former prime minister said that marking the difference between the two would allow for a greater lifting of restrictions for those who have been vaccinated both in the UK and around the world.
Mr Blair recommended the use of health passes to differentiate between the two.
Read more on his comments:
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:48
Workers with Portugal travel plans will need to have ‘meaningful’ discussions with employers, expert says
An employment law and HR specialist has said that workers whose summer travel plans will be affected by the Government’s latest change to quarantine rules will need to have “meaningful” discussions with their employers about their plans.
Starting after 4am on Tuesday, holidaymakers arriving back in Britain from Portugal will need to self-isolate at home for 10 days as the Government moves the country from its “green” travel list to “amber”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, employment law expert Kate Palmer said employees have a “fundamental right…to be treated fairly and reasonably”.
Those who have already made the trip to Portugal and will be returning after Tuesday’s deadline, as well as those who have already booked trips to the southern European country, she said, will need to have a “meaningful discussion” with their employers to see what the possibilities are.
She said employees should discuss the issue with their bosses sooner than later to establish “what that period of self-isolation is going to look like” and “the options available on the table”.
Palmer said that employers should “take an empathetic approach” given that holidaymakers could not have known Portugal would be pulled from the green list.
The HR expert said she had seen an influx of calls from worried employers and employees alike following the Government’s announcement on Portugal’s status.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:40
Vaccinating teens in summer could be difficult, GP says
A doctor has warned that attempting to vaccinate teenagers during the summer months could prove difficult.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Sunday morning, Dr Ellie Cannon said summer can be a “difficult time to get ahold of teenagers”.
Rather than vaccinating them in the summer months, she said it would make more sense to administer jabs through schools.
“Schools are certainly a better way to get teenagers vaccinated,” Dr Cannon said.
Her comments came amid reports that that children and teenagers ages 12 to 15-years-old could start getting Covid jabs in the summer holidays.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned that “a huge proportion of the latest cases [of Covid-19] are in children”, as education minister Gavin Williamson urged pupils to get tested for Covid before returning to schools after the half-term break.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:25
Education secretary urges pupils to get tested before returning to schools
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has urged pupils and their families to get tested for Covid before students return to schools next week after the half-term break.
“Asymptomatic testing helps break chains of transmission by taking people who are infectious but don’t know it out of circulation,” Williamson said, amid concerns over the spread of the Delta variant in the UK.
“As the half term comes to an end, take a Covid test before going back to the classroom,” he has said.
Pupils have been urged to adopt twice-a-week testing routines.
The Government has said the effort has been “critical” to reaching the milestone of seeing more than 50 million rapid tests taken in schools and colleges across England since January.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:16
Boris Johnson to push for world vaccination by end of 2022
Boris Johnson is expected to call on G7 leaders to “defeat Covid” by seeing the world vaccinated by the end of next year when he meets with counterparts in Cornwall on Friday.
The prime minister is expected to call on G7 leaders to “rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era” by “vaccinating the world by the end of next year”, according to PA.
If the global community succeeds in that goal, it will be the single greatest feat in medical history, he is expected to tell G7 counterparts.
The meeting in Cornwall will be the first face-to-face G7 summit since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:06
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