that other companies didn t get the same chances. so, two campaign groups every doctor and the good law project took the government to the high court about this, about specific contracts that were given to two companies. the high court this morning decided that that vip lane was unlawful. they said that it had given earlier consideration to some companies, it was better resourced, it was able to respond to offers on the day that they arrived and that was in breach of the law and it was unlawful. so, that s not great for the government and certainly, in court, there were tales about how some of the equipment couldn t be used and we understand that still some masks haven t been able to be used in the nhs and other pieces of equipment. where it did come down in favour of the government, this ruling,
24 hour period. so “18,357 new cases on average per day in the last week. 19,735 people are in hospital with covid a slight fall since yesterday. and the number on ventilators has also fallen to its lowest since the middle of october just under 800. but deaths have risen again another 398 were reported of people who died within 28 days of a positive test the highest for almost a year. on average in the past week, there were 246 deaths per day. 0n vaccinations, almost 36 million people have had a boosterjab, that s more than 62.5% of those aged 12 and over. in london, the high court has ruled that the uk government s use of a so called vip lane to award contracts for personal protective equipment to two companies was unlawful. the case was brought by the campaign groups, the good law project and everydoctor, who claimed a hedge
like if i hadn t done that? 10,000 people work in coventry hospital. the numbers off sick because of covid arising. staffing levels have been very badly affected. that is medical staff, nursing staff or other support staff. infection is rife. 30% of our pharmacy staff are off. yesterday we had so many junior doctors go off. because they were testing positive. after two years of covid, the fight goes on. jane corbin, bbc news, coventry. and you can watch panorama, the nhs vs covid: the fight goes on on bbc one at 7.30pm. the high court has ruled that the government s use of a so called vip lane to award contracts for personal protective equipment to two companies was unlawful. during the first wave of the pandemic, the department of health agreed
when the whole country was locked down, he was hosting boozy parties in downing street. is he now going to do the decent thing and resign? do the decent thing and resign or will his tory mps be forced i to show him the door? and the high court ruled that the governments use of a vip lane sold millions of pounds of contracts for personal protective equipment was unlawful. and i m alice baxter with this afternoon s other top stories on the bbc news channel. an admission from tennis star novak djokovic of mistakes on his paperwork to enter australia. an arrest has been made in the unsolved murders of three british family members and a french cyclist who were shot dead in the alps in 2012.
they would look at it earlier. the campaign group said that was unfair. thejudge agreed with campaign group said that was unfair. the judge agreed with them and said that this vip lane was unlawful, that this vip lane was unlawful, that the tobacco companies did get preferential treatment by being on the vip lane. there is another side to this, as always. that the two companies. thejudge did also decide that while they may have got the preferential treatment by being on it, they did not get the contracts because they were on it. and it is probably likely that they would have got the contract anyway, without the vip lane. both sides claiming success. but frankly it is not a great look for the government that this scheme has been found by the high court to be unlawful. malia; high court to be unlawful. many thanks once high court to be unlawful. many thanks once again. chelsea are through to the final of the carabao cup. they beat spurs 3 0 on aggregate. they ll face either liverp