Health experts are hopeful that England’s third lockdown will be the last as secondary schools begin a phased return of pupils, who are being asked to have swab tests for Covid and to wear face masks in classrooms.
But the leader of one of the country’s largest teachers’ unions told Sky News that the “jury’s out” on whether schools will have to close again. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, told the broadcaster that the government “hasn’t taken the safety measures it should have done” and “could have done much more”.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty told press at the government’s briefing last night that Britain is “past the peak” of the latest wave of infections. “Provided people continue to follow the guidelines, we’re on a downward slope of cases, hospitalisations and deaths in all four nations,” he added.
Indeed, a “dramatic recovery” from Covid could be just two weeks off, says The Times’ science editor Tom Whipple, who points out that the full impact of the vaccine rollout has yet to be felt, owing to the time lag before the protective effects of the jabs kick in.
Test results from the University of Oxford published in a pre-print report in The Lancet show that the first shot may reduce transmission among people who have had the jab by 67% while providing an average of 76% protection against symptomatic infections from three weeks until 90 days.
In a finding that appears to support the UK’s decision to delay second doses, the research also indicates “that spacing out the second dose by a longer period in fact further increases its efficacy”, reports Politico’s London Playbook.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news as “absolutely superb”, adding that the early results show that “vaccines are the way out of this pandemic”.
18.40 16 Dec 2020
It s another day looking at one of the 20 Most Influential Moments of the last 20 years; and today, it centered on an issue that we are still going through now.the Covid 19 pandemic.
Englishman Ade Thomas tells Newstalk Breakfast why he decided to take part in the Oxford vaccine trial.
Former Health Minister Simon Harris looks back to the start of the pandemic with Pat Kenny.
Andrew Louth joins Andrea Gilligan to reflect on the loss of his grandmother to Covid - and the wider impact on his family.
Tom Whipple, Science Editor from The Times London talks to Sean Moncrieff about what covid means for science journalists; and Kieran Cuddihy meets two people who were diagnosed with covid and live with the last effects of the virus.