Health News at Your Fingertips

A third Covid vaccine – produced by Moderna – has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Britain has ordered 7m doses of the vaccine, which has been approved by regulators in the EU and US. But UK authorisation will not help the government towards its goal of vaccinating the most vulnerable by mid-February.

The Moderna vaccine is similar to the Pfizer/BioNTech version and has produced equally strong results in late-stage clinical trials, with efficacy of 94%. However, it was not part of the portfolio of vaccines bought by the UK until those results were released.

The European Medicines Agency has already approved the Moderna vaccine, making it the second coronavirus shot to be cleared for general use across the EU, as tensions continued to rise over the slow progress of vaccination programmes in the bloc.

Here’s our story this morning on the background to the MHRA decision

More than half of all major hospital trusts in England currently have more Covid-19 patients than at the peak of the first wave of the virus, new analysis shows.

In two regions – eastern England and south-east England – more than three-quarters of trusts are above their first-wave peak.

Other trusts have seen their numbers rise so rapidly that they could pass their first-wave peak within days.

The analysis by the PA news agency found that of 139 acute hospital trusts who reported figures for January 5, 84 – or 60% – had more Covid-19 patients than at the peak of the first wave in spring 2020.

Examples include:

• East Suffolk & North Essex, which had 367 confirmed Covid-19 patients as of 8am on January 5, compared with a first-wave peak of 143.
• Barts in London, where there were 830 Covid-19 patients on January 5 compared with a first-wave peak of 606.
• Portsmouth Hospitals University, which had 457 patients compared with a first-wave peak of 244.
• University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, which had 426 patients versus a first-wave peak of 252.
• Hull University Teaching Hospitals, where the number stood at 208 on January 5 compared with a first-wave peak of 112.

London firefighters encountered a surge in callouts to rescue animals in 2020, figures show.

The London fire brigade (LFB) was involved in 755 such incidents across the capital – more than two a day. The number of rescues rose by 20% compared with 2019 when there were 602, with the biggest rise coming in the number of non-domestic animals rescued, the figures released this week show.

When traffic fell to almost half its normal rate during the spring lockdown, social media was awash with reports of animals spotted roaming the unusually quiet city.

In April, the musician Billy Bragg posted pictures on Twitter of a herd of deer that had colonised some front gardens on Harold Hill, east London. Firefighters were on hand the next day to help one unfortunate deer stuck in metal railings.

Compliance with most measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 “remained high” over the Christmas and new year period, according to the latest release by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) social impacts study.

Some 90% reported always or often hand-washing after returning home, 97% using a face covering, and 89% avoiding physical contact when outside their home.

In other findings:

• A quarter (25%) of adults felt that life will return to normal in six months or less, compared with 22% the week before.

• There was an increase in those likely or highly likely to have a vaccine, with 85% of people reporting so, compared with 78% over the period 10 to 13 December 2020.

Among a further 7% of adults who reported over Christmas and new year that they are very or fairly unlikely to have a vaccine if offered, the most commonly reported reasons were feeling worried about the side effects (51%) and feeling worried about the long-term effects on their health (51%).

Some 47% of those reported wanting to wait to see how well the vaccine works (47%). These are similar reasons reported compared with the previous two data collection periods in December last year.

Four in 10 adults in Britain formed a Christmas bubble to celebrate Christmas Day, figures suggest.

Forty-four per cent of adults in England, Scotland and Wales said they met up to two other households on 25 December, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The same proportion said they had not done so, while 10% said this was not permitted in their area.

Families had hoped to take advantage of a five-day relaxation of social restrictions to meet family members and friends indoors.

But on the weekend before Christmas this was pared back to one day, and removed entirely for 18 million people in England in tier 4, who were not allowed to meet people outside their household or support bubble.

The Department for Education was premature in cancelling next summer’s exams, the head of a schools trust argues in a piece for Schools Week, in which he calls for a reversal of that decision.

Stuart Lock, the head of Advantage Schools trust in Bedford, which runs a primary and secondary school, writes that 12 months from now, “the anti-exam voice will only be louder, and the consequences even more severe for young people if it is successful.” He says, however:

But this is a Department for Education that has made a habit of changing their minds. Doing it again on this might be politically unpalatable, but it wouldn’t even be in the top 10 unpalatable things that have happened this week. In my view, this is one decision they should rescind.

To many Conservative MPs, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is the real opposition leader these days, writes Katy Balls in an interesting Spectator column today which touches on the the implications for politics after Covid-19.

Until the pandemic, opinion polls showed little change in appetite for Scottish independence. But since then, support for separation has surged.

It’s not that the Scottish government has managed the crisis well – an Imperial College study found that Scotland along with England had among the highest rates of death from all causes in the first wave of the pandemic – but politically, Sturgeon’s handling has been deft.

Scientists have been giving a cautious welcome to the news that new research suggests the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech appears to protect against two coronavirus variants that are causing rapid spread across the UK.

Daniel Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said: “This is indeed an important finding to calm any concerns about lack of vaccine coverage for the variants.”

He added that “neutralisation of the variant looks excellent from this study”.

Ravi Gupta, a professor of microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said the research was lacking and looked at only one mutation “which was not expected to have significant impact alone”.

Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh, said: “So far, so good. There will be other new mutants and we will need to monitor the situation carefully by repeating this type of study on new variants as they appear. It may be necessary to tweak the vaccine over time.

A broader strategy of suppression is needed while vaccines are rolled out, according to Prof Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at Edinburgh University and an adviser to the Scottish government.

There are questions about when and if the vaccines can be given to children, how long it will take before herd immunity is achieved, and other issues, she told Sky News.

We were fortunate that the vaccines appeared to work against the mutations which had recently emerged, but she cautioned there could be one emerging elsewhere which could be more challenging. A strategy of suppression was crucial against this backdrop.

In Wales, the decision to enter lockdown before Christmas has led to a drop in coronavirus transmission rates, according to the first minister, Mark Drakeford.

But that has not yet translated into fewer seriously ill people being admitted to hospital.

He told BBC Radio Wales this morning: “The numbers (of transmissions) have fallen compared to where we were before Christmas, so we’re seeing the impact of the measures that we have taken already.

“The positivity rate in Wales has been falling over the last week. There are some positive signs that the huge collective effort that we are making is making a difference.

The numbers are still “stubbornly high”, he added, and authorities were not yet seeing an impact of those falls feeding into the number of people being admitted to hospital.

My colleague Steve Morris reported earlier on how additional safety measures may be introduced in Welsh shops and workplaces to try to bring Covid-19 under control, as the nationwide lockdown was extended for at least another three weeks and teachers were told remote learning was likely to continue until the February half-term.

Welsh ministers were reviewing whether supermarkets and other retailers needed to put further measures in place to protect shoppers and what else employers needed to do to make workplaces safer and help people work from home.

There’s some very encouraging news from new research suggesting that the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech protects against two new variants that are rapidly spreading across the UK.

The pharmaceutical giant and researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch carried out lab tests on the variants, one of which was found in the UK while the other originated in South Africa.

The variants contain mutations including N501Y, an alteration in the spike protein of the virus, which is a target for vaccines.

In the new study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, blood samples were taken from 20 people who received the Pfizer vaccine.

Laboratory studies found the samples had neutralising levels of antibodies which appeared to work against the variants.

The third lockdown in England was in response to the rapid spread of the variant found in the south-east, which has now spread to other parts of the UK.

Pfizer has tested 16 different mutations and none of them have had any significant impact on how the vaccine works. However, further studies are planned on other mutations.

On the new requirements for arrivals to the UK, the Heathrow airport chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, has said the government should move to a “global standard” for pre-departure testing.

He told Sky News: “Having people taking a test three days before they are due to fly, self-isolating in their home country, and then taking a second test at the airport to confirm that they don’t have Covid before getting on the plane, and then being able to travel freely afterwards.

“Now is not the time to do that – we are facing a new threat with these new variants from South Africa and here in the UK, so we need a much tighter regime, but there has to be a plan put together now for what comes next.”

Data from a study run by King’s College London suggests there are 69,958 daily new symptomatic cases of coronavirus in the UK on average, a 27% rise on a week ago.

The study also put the current UK “R” value – which represents how many people an infected person will pass the virus on to on average – at 1.2.

Regional R values are 1.1 in England, 1 in Wales and 1.3 in Scotland.

“In England, daily new cases continue to rise slowly but the numbers are being driven by recent big increases in London, south-east and east of England,” according to the study authors.

Tim Spector, the lead scientist on the study, said: “The UK is now worryingly at 70,000 new daily cases and around 800,000 infected individuals, and the worst-hit areas continue to be Wales, London and the south-east.

“One in 42 people in London has symptomatic Covid now, so those living in the capital must take care. The good news is that we are now seeing new cases in London coming down slightly.”

Fears that Covid vaccines will not work against the new South African Covid variant have prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland from abroad, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said.

Outlining the new testing regime, he said: “This is an extra check and we’re doing this now because there are these variants that we’re very keen to keep out of the country, like the South African variant, for example.

“There are the concerns about the South African one in particular, about how effective the vaccine would be against it, so we simply cannot take chances. So today because of that variant it has become much more urgent.”

Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of developments in the UK today amid increasingly grave concerns about the NHS becoming overwhelmed and a sprint to roll out vaccines against the backdrop of rising infections.

Just when you may have felt that we didn’t have enough to worry about, the transport minister, Grant Shapps, this morning spelled out the very real concerns which he said were held in government circles about the ability of the new South African variant to impact on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.

It’s one of the driving factors behind measures requiring international travellers to show a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed into the UK. Anyone arriving by air, rail or sea will have to take a test before their departure in measures that will be introduced next week.

Shapps told the BBC this morning:

The reason for doing it now is that we have got a very deep concern about the South African and other mutations of this virus and what we don’t want is to be in a position where the vaccines are rendered less useful by having different variations here.

My colleague Gwyn Topham has a story here on the new measures.

Among other news developments happening or on the way:

• The Office for National Statistics will publish its weekly coronavirus social impacts survey, followed at noon by the weekly UK Covid-19 infection survey. Other releases include details of the latest ‘R’ number and papers from the government’s Sage advisory panel.

• Lockdown restrictions in Wales will be strengthened in “key areas” to try to halt the spread of the new coronavirus variant, the country’s first minister has announced. There is a briefing at noon.

• A third Covid vaccine is likely to be approved for use in Britain next week but it will not be available until April because the UK is no longer part of the EU.

I’ll be bringing you coverage of those developments and more. For any news tips you can email me or find me on twitter at @BenQuinn75