Covid news – live: Latest updates as ministers accused of ‘reckless’ attitude towards schools

Gavin Williamson is facing calls to keep all schools in England closed for the first two weeks of January, following a government reversal of the opening of primaries in London for the start of the new term.

The National Education Union will hold an emergency executive meeting to discuss the situation in schools on Saturday, after which it is expected to issue urgent advice to schools on the proposed reopening next week.

Our political correspondent, Ashley cowburn, has the full story below:

The president of the Royal College of Physicians has warned that hospitals in the rest of the UK should expect to come under heavy pressure such as in south-east England, London and South Wales in the coming weeks.

Professor Andrew Goddard said the current case figures, which showed another 53,285 new cases on Friday, were “quite mild” compared to what was expected in a week, adding that healthcare workers were “really concerned” for the next few months.

He said BBC breakfast: “There is no doubt that Christmas is going to have a great impact, the new variant is also going to have a great impact, we know that it is more contagious, more transmissible, so I think the large amount that we are seeing in the South , in London, in South Wales, it will now be reflected over the next month, even two months, in the rest of the country. “

Professor Goddard added: “All hospitals that have not had the great pressure that they have had in the South East, London and South Wales, should wait for it to come to them.

“This new variant is definitely more contagious and is spreading throughout the country. It seems very likely that we are going to see more and more cases, wherever people work in the UK, and we need to be prepared for that. “

The deputy general secretary of the National Education Union, Dr. Mary Bousted, has said that her union is calling for all schools to be closed for two weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“We wrote to the prime minister before Christmas and told him that if you look at the infection rates now among high school students, they are the highest range of Covid infection and primary school students are the second highest age range. “said Dr. Bousted. BBC breakfast.

“We know that students can now transmit the virus through their homes, their families and the community, they are the most effective transmitter of the virus.

“If you combine that with the new variant that is up to 70 percent more infectious than the previous Covid virus, which was highly infectious, then clearly we have to do something to break the chain of increasing infection levels in our community.”

He added: “The danger is that by opening schools as infection levels are increasing so much and already so high among students, then we are not going to break that chain and our NHS will be overwhelmed by what we said that all schools They should be closed for the first two weeks.

“We are sorry to have to say that, we don’t want to have to say that schools will close, but our fear is that if we don’t do something now, they will have to be closed for a much longer period later. in this month “.

The vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has defended the government’s plans to delay the second dose of the BioNTech / Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from three to 12 weeks after the first puncture.

Professor Anthony Harnden told BBC Radio 4 Today program that the patients he had dealt with had accepted the decision to delay the process to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

“When it was explained to them that the vaccine offers 90 percent protection for one dose, and that the priority was to vaccinate as many people in the elderly and vulnerable community as possible, they understood,” said Professor Harnden.

“I think the country is in this together. And I think we really want to come together to try to make the best possible strategy. “

America’s leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said his country will not follow the UK’s plan to delay the administration of second doses of coronavirus vaccines to allow more people to receive their first. dose as quickly as possible.

Under the new plans, second doses of BioNTech / Pfizer or Oxford / AstraZeneca jab will be administered within 12 weeks of the first dose instead of 21 days as initially planned.

UK Medical Directors have said they are confident this strategy will bring protection to more people more quickly.

However, Dr. Fauci told CNN on Friday that the US would continue to follow guidance from BioNTech and Pfizer.

“We know from clinical trials that the optimal time is to administer it in one day and wait 28 days [for the Moderna vaccine] and for Pfizer 21 days later, ”he said.

He added: “We will continue to do what we are doing.”

Troubled families will be hit by increased financial pressure in the coming weeks and months as government support for the coronavirus expires, Labor said.

The opposition party has warned that the government’s ban on evictions will come to an end on January 11, while on January 29 the deadline for the self-employed to access subsidies expires.

Our policy correspondent, Jon stone, has the full story below:

A union boss has accused ministers of having a “reckless” attitude towards schools during the coronavirus crisis following a U-turn regarding the closure of schools in London this week.

The government confirmed late Friday that all of London’s primary schools would remain closed for the start of the new term next week, scrapping plans to allow pupils from some parts of the capital to return on Monday.

The Deputy Secretary General of the National Education Union, Dr Mary Bousted, told BBC Radio 4 Today program: “What the government should be doing is what the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are doing.

“This chaos does not occur in the other countries of the UK.

“And does the government really believe that Covid in England is somehow different from the other UK countries?”

Dr Bousted added: “I find the recklessness of the government in this regard, both with the health of education professionals and with the health of the community, and the increasing questions about children’s health, inexplicable.”