Matt Hancock today vowed to bring in population-wide mass coronavirus testing – but failed to offer a time frame and referred to the project as a ‘moonshot’. The Health Secretary told the BBC’s Today programme that the government would bring in mass testing and ministers were working as ‘fast as we can’ on the scheme … Read more
Tory MPs have clashed with Manchester mayor Andy Burnham over his claims that it would be ‘impossible’ to lift lockdown restrictions in just one borough ahead of a review today. A major incident was declared by authorities in Greater Manchester this week following a rise in the number of coronavirus infections and new measures were … Read more
Matt Hancock got in a muddle on live radio today about whether 4.5million people in the newly locked-down north-west can visit friends outside the area saying: ‘I’ll have to come back to you’. The Health Secretary was speaking to BBC Radio Manchester and appeared so flustered by the question host Becky Want then told him: ‘You … Read more
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was today condemned for announcing a local lockdown in northern England on Twitter with less than three hours’ notice. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said announcing measures late at night on Twitter is ‘a new low for the Government’s communications during this crisis’. And Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said the Government … Read more
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has banned households in parts of Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire from meeting indoors from midnight tonight. He claimed the new lockdown measures were put in force after repeated rule breaches led to a spike in new coronavirus cases. The councils going back into a partial lockdown are Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale, Bradford, … Read more
Matt Hancock today warned of a second coronavirus wave ‘starting to roll across Europe’ towards Britain and hinted that more holiday destinations on the continent could soon face UK quarantine restrictions. The Health Secretary has confirmed the Government is ‘looking at’ plans to tell people who test positive for coronavirus to stay at home for … Read more
Matt Hancock announces further plans to downgrade SAGE by confirming the secretive Joint Biosecurity Centre is taking over Britain’s coronavirus response – as he dismisses plans to reform Public Health England before winter The Health Secretary would not put a date on when the last time COBRA met MPs looked concerned that the emergency committee … Read more
Health Secretary Matt Hancock FINALLY bows to pressure from councils to hand over names and testing data of Covid patients to help tackle local outbreaks in latest Government U-turn Local authorities calling for full access to ‘named patient data’, reports suggest Matt Hancock set to announce councils will be able to access the named data … Read more
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has called for an urgent review into the way Public Health England counts coronavirus deaths. PHE is ‘over-exaggerating’ the daily coronavirus death toll because it counts people as victims if they die of any cause at any time after testing positive for Covid-19, top academics revealed last night. People are never truly … Read more
More than one hundred outbreaks of coronavirus are ‘swiftly and silently’ being dealt with every week across the UK, said the Health Secretary. Matt Hancock revealed how flare-ups in schools, businesses and pubs across the country are consistently being handled with ‘local actions’, just nine days after many businesses reopened. He stated that increased testing, some … Read more