Health News at Your Fingertips

Social care workers will not be covered by the government’s new health and care visa under the UK’s post-Brexit immigration system.

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has unveiled details of the new points-based system which comes into effect on 1 January next year, after EU freedom of movement rules end.

The health and care visa will provide an easier route for health professionals to work in the UK, but won’t include social care workers.

“We want employers to invest more in training and development for care workers in this country,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said during a press briefing.

“On care workers specifically, our independent migration advisers have said that immigration is not the sole answer here, which is why we have provided councils with an additional £1.5bn of funding for social care in 2021-22, as well as launching a new recruitment campaign.”

No new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland for the fifth day in a row, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The first minister told the Scottish government’s daily briefing that 2,490 patients had died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, no change on Wednesday’s figure.

On Sunday, there were 19 new cases – 12 of which were in Glasgow. Seven of these cases were asymptomatic and centred around one care home, which Sturgeon said was being looked into with testing and precautions in place.

A total of 550 patients are in Scottish hospitals with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, while six were in intensive care, no change on the past 24 hours.

Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge has criticised those who “no-show” after making restaurant reservations for putting hospitality workers jobs at risk.

Kerridge said on Instagram that 27 customers did not turn up to his restaurant, the Corinthia Hotel in central London on Saturday.

In a post addressed to the customers, he said: “This industry, like many others is on the verge of collapse. Your behaviour is disgraceful, short-sighted and downright unhelpful. YOU are putting people’s jobs more at risk.

“You are the worst kind of guest, and that is ‘selfish’. I hope you have [a] good look at yourselves.”

Much of the hospitality sector has been badly hit by mounting costs during the coronavirus lockdown. Many of the pubs, bars and restaurants that have reopened since 4 July have warned they may not survive, with customers reduced by up to two-thirds as a result of social distancing measures.

A formal review into whether face masks should be made mandatory in public places in England is under way, the prime minister’s official spokesman has said.

At a briefing with reporters on Monday, the No 10 official said there was further evidence about the “benefits of face coverings in some environments outdoors”.

He added: “A formal review is taking place and we will be discussing it with scientific advisers this week and setting out a final position in the next few days.”

As well as saying that people “should” be wearing face coverings in shops, the prime minister has encouraged people to holiday in the UK.

“I think this is a great, great year for people to have a staycation. This country is uniquely blessed with fantastic places to holiday, whether coastal or otherwise,” Boris Johnson said during the visit to the London ambulance service.

“And I am certainly going to be doing that, but I won’t necessarily tell you where at this stage.

“Obviously if people feel the need for a foreign holiday then that’s completely a matter for them, I totally understand it, but there are fantastic, fantastic places, peerless, wonderful, superlative places in the UK to go on holiday and that’s certainly what I will be doing.”

Following criticism that the UK government’s stance on face coverings is inconsistent and “confusing”, Boris Johnson has said an announcement will be made “in the next few days” on whether they should be mandatory in shops.

“They have a great deal of value in confined spaces where you’re coming into contact with people you don’t normally meet,” the prime minister told reporters during a visit to the London ambulance service.

“The scientific evaluation of face coverings and their importance on stopping aerosol droplets, that’s been growing, so I do think that in shops it is very important to wear a face covering if you’re going to be in a confined space and you want to protect other people and receive protection in turn.

“Yes, face coverings, I think people should be wearing in shops, and in terms of how we do that – whether we will be making that mandatory or not – we will be looking at the guidance, we will be saying a little bit more in the next few days.”

Johnson added: “We will be looking in the next few days about exactly how, with what tools of enforcement, we think we want to make progress [over coronavirus].

“As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again.

“To be absolutely clear I do think that face coverings do have a real value in confined spaces and I do think the public understand that.”

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has confirmed plans for a health and care visa under the UK’s new points-based immigration scheme.

Patel said the new fast-track visa would make it quicker and easier for “talented global health professionals to work in our brilliant NHS” and social care.

Those applying for the health and care visa will have reduced fees and can expect a decision on whether they can work in the UK within three weeks.

In a written ministerial statement to the House of Commons, she said:

At a time where an increased number of people across the UK are looking for work, the new points-based system will encourage employers to invest in the domestic UK workforce, rather than simply relying on labour from abroad.

“But we are also making necessary changes, so it is simpler for employers to attract the best and brightest from around the world to come to the UK to complement the skills we already have.

“It will be simpler for businesses to access the talent they need as we have removed the Resident Labour Market Test, lowered the skills and salary threshold, and removed the cap on skilled workers.

The lifting of Leicester’s local lockdown “can’t be rushed”, according to one of the government’s deputy chief medical officers.

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam said the easing of measures in the city depended on judgments by public health professionals when Covid-19 rates are “consistently and obviously” falling.

Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, Van-Tam said data published on Saturday showed the city is “really quite an outlier” still compared with anywhere else in the country.

The figures, from NHS England, show a seven-day rate of 126 cases per 100,000 people, compared with figures of 17.8 for Leicestershire as a whole.

“The situation has improved but it needs to go further,” Van-Tam told the BBC. “The clear exit plan is when a number of things come together – that the disease rate is consistently and obviously falling … that it is comparable and sensibly comparable with other areas of the country, when the swab positivity rate is dropping and holding its drop, and when there is a clear understanding that everything is in place to be able to keep it that way.

“All of these things are value judgments by professional public health specialists – this can’t be rushed.”

Susan Michie, the University College London professor and Independent Sage member, says the scientific evidence now supports wearing face-coverings in enclosed settings indoors.

She says: “We’re not a society that is used to wearing face masks or have done it in the past on a mass scale, and so we need to get every single lever that we can to make this happen.

We’ve had it made compulsory on public transport. I’d like to see England follow Scotland’s example on buses. But that’s not enough. We need a good mass education, persuasion and training campaign because people do need to wear the right kind of masks in the right way to make them maximally effective.

Heathrow airport passenger numbers fell “immediately” after the government’s quarantine policy came into force, the airport’s chief executive has said.

PA Media reports that the proportion of seats filled on inbound flights to Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, dropped by seven percentage points when the 14-day self-isolation requirement was introduced on 8 June.

Just 350,000 people travelled through the airport last month, down 95% on June 2019. Routes to and from North America and Africa had the biggest declines. Across all destinations, the number of flights was down 82% as demand for travel remained low due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Total passenger numbers for the first half of the year were 60% down on the same period in 2019. The quarantine requirement was lifted for people returning to or visiting the UK from around 75 countries and territories on Friday.