NHS coronavirus contact tracers struggled to reach tens of thousands of potentially infectious people yesterday after phone lines crashed following an IT malfunction. As workers attempted to catch up on a backlog of calls to the 16,000 infectious people missed from the database – due to an error caused by an outdated version of Microsoft’s … Read more
Mayor of Middlesbrough launches fresh attack on Ministers for lying about holding ‘extensive’ discussions with council leaders ahead of new Covid-19 restrictions Mayor Andy Preston has criticised the government’s handling of the lockdown Residents in Middlesbrough are banned from mixing indoors with other families He claimed the Government failed to liaise with him ahead of … Read more
People in my town are frustrated, angry and dismayed at the Government’s draconian proposals to impose even more oppressive local restrictions. There’s nothing compassionate or pragmatic about what Health Secretary Matt Hancock intends to do. It’s badly thought out, illogical and – despite what the Government claimed yesterday – it is not based on consultation … Read more
The Government will reconsider vitamin D as a coronavirus treatment after the health secretary wrongly shot down its potential without any scientific backing. Experts have for months been calling for officials to look into the nutrient’s effect on Covid-19 patients due to its immune system-boosting properties. Matt Hancock told the House of Commons last week he … Read more
All NHS staff must be tested for coronavirus every week to prevent them being put at ‘further unnecessary risk’ of catching and spreading the virus, MPs have said. The Health and Social Care Committee urged ministers to provide swabs to Britain’s 1.3million-strong healthcare workforce as a matter of urgency, and warned it was ‘yet to … Read more
A Newcastle chef sent Boris Johnson a very cheeky message during a BBC interview yesterday amid North East fury over new lockdown rules. On Monday, Matt Hancock announced that residents of Northumberland, Newcastle, Gateshead, North and South Tyneside, Durham and Sunderland would be banned from meeting friends outside their bubble indoors. However, it later emerged that … Read more
Thousands of ventilators bought to treat Covid-19 patients are sitting in warehouses due to a lack of demand, the spending watchdog has revealed. Ministers prioritised ‘speed over cost’, meaning they paid 50 per cent over the odds for foreign-supplied machines, the National Audit Office (NAO) found. In one case, 750 ventilators purchased at a cost of … Read more
The slim margin between areas put into new coronavirus lockdowns and those that are spared is laid bare by infection and hospitalisations data from North East England as local leaders complain of being plunged into Government restrictions by surprise. Data shows large variations in coronavirus infection rates across the region and some areas which have … Read more
Spit for Britain! Government will use saliva-based tests to check 4.5million people a day for Covid by December as part of £100bn Operation Moonshot Companies putting forward ideas make ‘3.0 million saliva collection kits per day’ Saliva test allows people to avoid uncomfortable swabs currently being used Operation Moonshot pledged increase tests by around 12-fold by … Read more
Care home residents and staff will be the first to get a Covid-19 vaccine when one is approved, according to fresh government advice. Everyone over the age of 80 and NHS staff will be second in line, updated guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation states. The body, which consists of 20 top … Read more