Good morning. Its wednesday, the 30th of december. Our top story. Millions more people in england are expected to be moved into the highest level of coronavirus restrictions, after a record rise in infections. The Health Secretary, matt hancock, will make the announcement in the house of commons this afternoon. Anisa kadri has more. The centre of southampton empty, after the toughest coronavirus restrictions came in on boxing day. Today, the government is expected to announce more areas of england will enter tier 4. And theres also talk of whether four tiers is enough. Yesterday, the uk announced another 53,135 covid cases, a record daily figure. Its partly down to a christmas lag in reporting, but also reflects the fast spreading new variant of the virus. And nhs staff say theyre at risk of becoming overwhelmed. The peak is not going to come for maybe two weeks from now, three weeks from now . And the big thing for us will be weve had the christmas social mixing. People will do the sa
Pause to proceed: clearing the backlog created by COVID-19 requires a careful plan
The pressures COVID-19 has placed on doctors are unprecedented, and without a carefully thought out plan to return to business as usual, many will not be able to cope. Tim Tonkin reports Location: UK Published: Tuesday 13 April 2021
‘It’s only since I went on maternity leave that I quite realised how tired I was,’ explains London GP Rammya Mathew.
‘Whilst you’re in it [work] you’re not even getting a chance to stop and think about how the situation is affecting you.
‘Once you step out of that environment you have a chance to look back, reflect and digest a bit of what has happened,’ says the GP. ‘It’s been a year like no other and not everyone has had the chance to even recognise or realise that.’
Boris Johnson voiced bitter regret at brutal new coronavirus restrictions at Downing Street press conference
The Midlands, North East, parts of the North West and parts of the South West went into Tier 4 today
Everyone else apart from 2,000 people on Isles of Scilly, which is remaining in Tier 1, is under Tier 3 curbs
Mr Hancock tried to soften the blow by saying AstraZeneca vaccine approval will end the crisis by the spring
UK has ordered 100million doses - enough to vaccinate 50million people - with first jabs starting on Monday
Is the great vaccine drive doomed already? Retired medics beg NHS to use 40,000-strong Dad s Army to dish out 2m jabs a week - but their deployment is held up by having to submit 21 documents, including proof they re not a terrorist
MailOnline analysis reveals Britons over 50 could be waiting until December 2022 to get the Covid-19 vaccine
And that s just the first dose, assuming the NHS fails to administer more than 300,000 a week
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says the Army stands ready to deliver 100,000 doses a day when called on
But GPs complain vaccines taskforce to administer two million doses a week is yet to materialise
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ESSEX today called in the Army after declaring a major incident at their crippled hospitals with patients being treated in the back of ambulances.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, MP for Harwich and North Essex, made the plea as it was revealed frontline workers are facing unprecedented pressure.
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Patients could be treated in triage tents - usually reserved for large-scale disasters, like terror attacksCredit: AFP - Getty
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Ambulance crews are under unprecedented pressure, it was claimedCredit: Twitter/lizbenne
He asked Health Secretary Matt Hancock for military support in building extra hospitals and to help roll out the Covid vaccine.
Sir Bernard told MPs today: I can confirm that Essex has declared a major incident and can I also inform [Hancock] that at this very moment they are submitting a request for military assistance to the civil authority, a MACA request to assist with the construction of community hospitals, additional hospital capacity and supported by