Covid news live: latest updates as Scotland imposes new restrictions

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer suggested he would back more measures against the coronavirus, saying “the tighter the restrictions now, the faster we will have the virus under control.”

Sir Keir, answering questions after a speech at the Fabian Society’s new year’s conference, said he was “still concerned” about the number of infections despite signs that they are declining.

He said the “feeling that we are going through the worst” of the third wave is wrong, as he welcomed the new travel restrictions announced by the government on Friday.

The Labor leader said: “Nobody likes the restrictions, but the tighter the restrictions are now, the faster we regain control of the virus, the faster we reduce the number of hospital admissions and the faster we reduce that number of deaths, tragically.”

He added: “(The NHS) is really under pressure right now and we have to do everything we can to reduce that pressure, particularly in the coming weeks, which are going to be critical.”

India has started vaccinating healthcare workers in what is probably the largest Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the world.

The country is home to the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers and has one of the largest immunization programs, and authorities hope to give injections to 300 million people.

The recipients include 30 million doctors, nurses, and other front-line workers, followed by another 270 million who are over 50 or suffering from diseases that make them vulnerable to Covid-19.

China has built a 1,500-room hospital for Covid-19 patients in response to rising infections.

The hospital is one of six with a total of 6,500 rooms being built in Nangong, south of Beijing in Hebei province, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The government has faced criticism for an “incomplete” attempt to bring laptops to students who need them at home, as school leaders express concerns about the quality of laptops and wait times. Zoe tidman reports.

A director said The independent He had not been allowed to order a single laptop for his school since England’s new lockdown, and the online system told him that he could do so “as soon as possible.”

The independentThe “try before you go” guide has been updated to reflect the end of the travel corridors. The measures apply to anyone arriving in the UK after 4am on Monday 18 January.

Aviation Minister Robert Courts insisted that the government has a “very strong” package of measures to protect the public from any new variant of the coronavirus.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the government was “tightening already strict requirements” to ensure that no new variants arrive from abroad while the vaccine is launched.

Mr Courts said that a “total ban” on travel to the UK would not be correct, and that the pre-departure tests, passenger location forms and the quarantine period make the system “robust”.

Tighter lockdown restrictions have come into effect in Scotland.

People living in a Level Four area, which currently covers the whole of mainland Scotland, have been told not to go out or stay out of their homes except for essential reasons.

Working from home has become a default position for all businesses through counseling and legal services and only those who cannot do their work from home are required to enter a workplace.

Previously issued guidelines have also been promulgated to allow essential jobs to be performed within people’s homes.

Boris Johnson would be “very reckless” if he lifted the coronavirus lockdown restrictions in March, before most of the population had received the vaccines, warned one of the government’s scientific advisers.

Political editor Andrew Woodcock has the full story:

Professor John Edmunds said it was “likely” that there are already cases of both variants of the Brazilian coronavirus in the UK.

The leading epidemiologist told BBC Radio 4 Today program: “In terms of the South African, we had already imported cases when we established additional restrictions for South African travelers.

“For the Brazilian … I don’t think there is evidence that we have imported cases of the Manaus strain, at least as far as I know, but it is likely that we have done so fairly honestly.

“We are one of the most connected countries in the world, so it would seem unusual to me that we have not imported some cases into the UK.”

In Brazil, two variants of interest have been identified; the former has a small number of mutations and eight genomically confirmed cases of this variant have been identified in the UK.

The second, which has been detected in Manaus and in travelers arriving in Japan, has not been detected in the United Kingdom.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said there would be many new variants of the coronavirus this year, but current vaccines should protect against strains circulating in the UK.

He said Today: “As we look to 2021, we will see many new variants and we will have to get used to that.

“But the critical question is whether some of these new variants are adapting due to immunity among human populations, whether due to infection … or indeed as a result of vaccination.”

But he said that the new variants were being detected early and emphasized: “If we really need to make new vaccines, we will be able to tackle them very quickly.”