UK Coronavirus Update Live: Breaking News As Hancock Says Lockdown Lifted ‘Too Far’

Birmingham police broke up a student party where people were traveling from up to 200 miles away on Friday night.

According to West Midlands Police, some partygoers were found hiding in cupboards and kitchen cabinets in student housing on Lower Loveday Street. The force posted images of the police finding the hidden students on social media.

Some attendees had traveled from as far away as Newcastle, Nottingham and London to attend the party.

50 fixed penalty notices were issued. During the raid, an officer was assaulted when a student escaped and police will be watching CCTV to identify him. The officer was unhurt.

Inspector Steven Barnes said: “We understand that young people are frustrated that they can’t have fun and I feel their pain, but we have to stick to the rules so that we can get back to some kind of normalcy sooner rather than later.

“People are dying and we have to prevent the spread of this virus.

“We hear the criticism that some are saying about our actions to police restrictions and, more than anyone, we want to focus on catching criminals, so my message is clear: let’s play by the rules and do our job to protect communities and solve crime. “

Portugal held a presidential election today despite a devastating surge in Covid-19 cases that gripped the nation.

Marcelo Revelo de Sousa, a moderate incumbent candidate, is heavily favored for a second five-year term. However, Portugal has the highest rates of new infections and daily deaths in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, and the public health system is under enormous pressure.

Find out more about the situation there:

The UK has detected 77 cases of the South African variant of Covid-19, as well as nine of a Brazilian variant, the Health Secretary said.

Matt Hancock told the BBC that the 77 cases were connected to travel from South Africa and were being closely monitored, as were the cases with the Brazilian variant.

“They are under very close observation and we have improved contact tracing to do everything possible to prevent them from spreading,” he said.

Professor Anthony Harnden, vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), said the variants from abroad were concerning because the available Covid-19 vaccines may not be effective against them.

He told Sky News: “New variants overseas are a real concern. The South Africans and the Brazilian Amazonians, there are indications that there will be an escape of vaccines ”.

The shadow Home Secretary has called on the government to “monitor and have that comprehensive plan in place” when it comes to quarantining travelers arriving in the UK.

Nick Thomas-Symonds said Sophy Ridge Sunday: “It has to be a complete system, clearly it would have to have a very different system for hauliers, for trucks crossing the English Channel, which would obviously have to be very different, but in terms of travelers coming to the UK , you would need to have that comprehensive system.

“The government introduced a quarantine system too slowly in June last year. The government’s own figures show that between June of last year and September around two million people had their passenger locator forms, their data if you wish , randomly reviewed by Border Force at the border.

“Only about three percent of them were successfully contacted to make sure they were quarantined, now that is not good enough, it is not effective. The government has not had control over this situation at all times. We desperately need you to. take control and have that comprehensive plan in place.

“Even the meeting tomorrow and Tuesday that they are talking about should have happened on Thursday, even that is too slow. This cannot continue.”

Police issued £ 200 fines to 78 people, totaling £ 15,600 after dispersing an illegal rave in London on Saturday.

Officers, including a dog unit and a police helicopter, raided the unlicensed music event attended by around 300 people at a railway arch on Nursery Road, Hackney, around 1.30am.

The Metropolitan Police said officers had to force their way in as organizers had padlocked the door from the inside. Dozens of attendees scaled fences to escape, the force added.

Chief Superintendent Roy Smith, who attended the incident, said: “This was a gross and flagrant violation of public health regulations and the law regarding unlicensed music events.

“Officers were forced, once again, to put their own health at risk to deal with a large group of incredibly selfish people who were huddled together in a confined space, providing an ideal opportunity for this deadly virus to spread.

“Our front-line officers continue to handle this public health crisis with compassion and professionalism, but it is completely unacceptable that they face such unnecessary risks to their own health and also to their families.”

Professor Anthony Harnden, vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), has said that the vaccine’s implementation strategy could be reconsidered if it is found to prevent transmission.

He said that currently teachers are not in the first four priority groups, because it is not known what impact the program is having on the spread of the virus.

“One of the things that we really don’t know, which is a key piece of information, is whether these vaccines prevent transmission or not.”

He added: “If studies show they prevent transmission, it could be a whole new board game in terms of who gets vaccinated and in what order.”

“But right now our clear focus is trying to prevent hospitalizations and deaths.”

Matt Hancock has warned that lifting lockdown restrictions in England is a “long, long, long road” as case numbers were “incredibly high” and the NHS remains under intense pressure.

The health secretary said there was evidence that the current restrictions were having an impact and that the vaccination program was making “brilliant progress,” but downplayed the possibility of easing the restrictions in the short term.

He said Sophy Ridge Sunday: “There is preliminary evidence that the lockdown is starting to reduce cases, but we are very, very, very far from being low enough because the case rate was incredibly high.

“You can see the pressure on the NHS, you can see it every day.”

The vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has said that delaying a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine could provide stronger long-term protection.

Professor Anthony Harnden said: “We carefully examined the data from the Pfizer study and concluded that there was no real evidence that a second dose provided substantially longer and better protection.”

“We think he should get a second dose, but we think it can be delayed.”

Speaking in Sophie Ridge on SundayProfessor Harnden cited data from a study of the Moderna vaccine, which uses technology similar to the Pfizer vaccine, which showed that 1,000 people had 90 percent immunity two months after receiving a dose.

He added: “If you look at the AstraZeneca data, which I accept is a different technology, it may be that the longer you leave the second dose, the better protection you will have.

“Hopefully this strategy will not only vaccinate more people and protect the vulnerable elderly and save thousands upon thousands of lives, but ultimately can provide protection for the population as a whole.”

Rapid coronavirus tests are rolling out to dozens of companies and public sector organizations to screen employees who cannot work from home.

Royal Mail, DVLA and Tate & Lyle are among the employers that have signed up to the government plan, which will roll out millions of lateral flow test kits.

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Matt Hancock has defended the government’s decision to delay the time between vaccine doses, saying it was “essential” to save more lives, faster.

“We know that this policy will save lives,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge Sunday.

“As long as there is decent efficacy after the first dose, and we have a high degree of confidence that that is the case, then in a situation where there is a limited supply … you want as many people to have the same amount protection as quickly as possible.

“If you have grandparents who are between 70 and 80 years old, obviously you want each of them to have a dose when you know that one dose is effective, rather than one having the full two doses and the other having no protection.

“That is why we have made this decision and it is essentially to save the most lives faster and you can totally understand why we have done this.”