Coronavirus UK news update – Brazil Covid variant is in 15 nations NOT on UK quarantine list amid mystery traveller hunt

THE Brazilian variant has been found in 15 countries that aren't on the UK's red quarantine list.

The World Health Organisation revealed that more countries have now reported the P1 strain, first reported in the UK but originally from Brazil.

Health officials revealed at the weekend they had found six cases of the Brazil variant in the UK.

Three are in England and three in Scotland – and experts are concerned the vaccines may not be as effective against it.

And the hunt is on for one person who didn't fill in their contact details correctly and may have no idea they were carrying it.

Follow our coronavirus live blog below for the very latest news and updates on the pandemic

  • Hana Carter

    TEEN DIES OF COVID

    A teenager with no underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for Covid.

    The 17-year-old was one of 279 people who died from coronavirus in the past 24 hours in England.

    The deaths bringing the total number of confirmed fatalities in hospitals in England to 83,529

    The patients were aged between 17 and 102 years old.

    All except 11 of them – aged 17 to 89 years old – had underlying health conditions.

    Last month, a 16-year-old without any underlying conditions also died from the bug.

  • Hana Carter

    COUNTRIES ON THE UK'S QUARANTINE LIST

    1. Angola
    2. Argentina
    3. Bolivia
    4. Botswana
    5. Brazil
    6. Burundi
    7. Cape Verde
    8. Chile
    9. Colombia
    10. Democratic Republic of the Congo
    11. Ecuador
    12. Eswatini
    13. French Guiana
    14. Guyana
    15. Lesotho
    16. Malawi
    17. Mauritius
    18. Mozambique
    19. Namibia
    20. Panama
    21. Paraguay
    22. Peru
    23. Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores)
    24. Rwanda
    25. Seychelles
    26. South Africa
    27. Suriname
    28. Tanzania
    29. United Arab Emirates (UAE)
    30. Uruguay
    31. Venezuela
    32. Zambia
    33. Zimbabwe
  • Hana Carter

    BRAZILIAN VARIANT FOUND IN 23 COUNTRIES

    The Brazil Covid variant has now been found in 23 countries around the world – and 15 of them aren't on the UK's red quarantine list.

    The World Health Organisation revealed that more countries have now reported the P1 strain, first reported in the UK but originally from Brazil.

    Health officials revealed at the weekend they had found six cases of the Brazil variant in the UK.

    Three are in England and three in Scotland – and experts are concerned the vaccines may not be as effective against it.

    And the hunt is on for one person who didn't fill in their contact details correctly and may have no idea they were carrying it.

  • Hana Carter

    COVID DEATHS DROP BY 37 PER CENT

    Covid deaths have plunged by 37 per cent in a week – as a top scientist said fatalities could drop below the normal rate by Easter.

    A further 6,391 cases and 343 deaths were recorded today, as Matt Hancock hailed that "freedom is on horizon" with all adults set to be jabbed by July.

    Today's stats are a drop from last Tuesday, when 8,489 cases and 548 deaths in the UK were reported.

    Separate figures also showed that fatalities not involving Covid-19 were below the five-year average in the third week of February.

  • Hana Carter

     

  • Hana Carter

    EU COUNTRIES ABANDONING FAILED VACCINE SCHEME

    Panicked European countries are abandoning the EU's failed vaccines scheme amid warnings the continent is facing a third wave and longer lockdowns.

    Leaders are jumping ship from the Brussels-led buying programme and scrambling to carve out their own deals with drugs giants.

    In growing signs of chaos France performed a screeching U-turn and green-lighted the AstraZeneca shot for over-65s, with Germany set to follow suit.

    Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz led the breakaway, slamming the European Medicines Agency for being "too slow" to approve jabs.

  • Hana Carter

    NORTHERN IRELAND REVEALS ROADMAP

    Stormont deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neal has outlined "tentative" preparatory steps out of lockdown restrictions.

    She said the approach will be driven by “health, community, economic data and analysis”, not hard dates that will “only disappoint”.

  • Hana Carter
  • Hana Carter

    MYSTERIOUS DATABASE FOUND IN WUHAN

    A mysterious dark database hidden by China could be the smoking gun that proves Covid DID leak from a Wuhan lab, a study has claimed.

    The Sun Online can reveal the closely guarded cache of information is believed to include unpublished samples of data on new viruses and hidden bat collection sties.

    The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) has been at the centre of a storm ever since the virus first emerged just a stone's throw from the facility which was known to be studying very similar bat viruses.

    Most of WIV's databases were once accessible online – but have since all been taken systematically taken offline by China.

    And it is believed one of the data files – which was password protected before being taken down – could be holding information on new viruses.

  • Hana Carter

    HUNT FOR MISSING COVID CASE

    The hunt for the missing Brazil Covid case has narrowed to 379 homes, Matt Hancock said today.

    The Health Secretary told MPs in the Commons there was "no information that suggests the variant had spread" to other areas of the UK.

    It comes after Public Health England (PHE) said six cases of the Brazilian variant, known as P1, were detected in the UK.

    While five of the six people submitted their details to Test and Trace, one passenger failed to fill out the correct details.

    Residents in five postcodes in England were urged to get tested for Covid after two of the six cases were linked to South Glocestershire.

  • Hana Carter

    COVID SEES RISE IN SPERM DONATIONS

    Covid-19 has sparked a rise in demand for online sperm donations, claims one dad who says he has "fathered 35 kids".

    Kyle Gordy, 29, says women from all over the world have contacted him and that he's been busier because of the pandemic.

    Mr Gordy works in Los Angeles in the US as a part-time accountant and also runs two Facebook groups dedicated to helping prospective parents find sperm.

    He runs one group specifically for US donors which has nearly 15,000 members and is called Sperm Donation USA.

    The other, named Private Sperm Donors, caters for people across the world and has around 8,000 members, including some from the UK.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    FIRST MEETING OF TASKFORCE PLANNING RETURN OF OVERSEAS HOLIDAYS

    A taskforce planning the resumption of foreign holidays has met for the first time.

    Transport Secretary Grant Shapps chaired the meeting of the Government's Global Travel Taskforce.

    Travel firms, transport operators and industry bodies joined the virtual session with several Government departments.

    Boris Johnson announced last month that foreign leisure travel for people in England could be permitted from May 17.

    This is dependant on various factors related to the coronavirus pandemic, such as vaccine rollouts and the prevalence of Covid-19 variants.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    BREAKING

    A teenager with no underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for Covid.

    The 17-year-old was one of 279 people who died from coronavirus in the past 24 hours in England.

    The deaths bringing the total number of confirmed fatalities in hospitals in England to 83,529

    The patients were aged between 17 and 102 years old.

    All except 11 of them – aged 17 to 89 years old – had underlying health conditions.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    DIP IN CORONAVIRUS VACCINE SUPPLY WILL NOT AFFECT ROLLOUT TARGETS, SAYS STURGEON

    A possible dip in coronavirus vaccine supplies next week will not affect the government's targets for the programme, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

    The First Minister said the government still hoped to offer a first dose to all people over 50, all unpaid carers, and all adults with an underlying health condition by mid-April.

    Supply of the vaccines is the constraining factor in the rollout, she said.

    The daily rate of vaccinations was scaled back in February as suppliers Pfizer scaled up their manufacturing capacity.

    Anas Sarwar, the newly-elected leader of Scottish Labour, asked Ms Sturgeon about the dip as she updated MSPs on Tuesday.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    BREAKING

    Covid deaths have plunged by 37 per cent in a week, as 343 more fatalities were reported in the last day.

    A further 6,391 cases were recorded today, as the Health Secretary hailed that "freedom is on horizon" with all adults set to be jabbed by July.

    Today's figures are a drop from last Tuesday, when 8,489 cases and 548 deaths in the UK were reported.

    The total number of infections recorded since the beginning of the pandemic in Britain now stands at 4,188,400.

    And the combined death toll is 123, 296.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    OBEY RULES, PM WARNS, AS PORTUGAL TURNS CORNER IN TOUGH COVID BATTLE

    Portugal had its fewest COVID-19 patients in hospital in four months on Tuesday, data showed, as its prime minister warned that enforcing lockdown curbs remained essential in a country that topped global death rates a month ago.

    For several weeks in January, Portugal's health service stood on the brink of collapse as it recorded the world's worst surge in coronavirus infections and fatalities per capita.

    But a nationwide lockdown put in place on Jan. 15 has rapidly brought those figures down, and the 38 deaths and 691 new cases recorded on Tuesday were back on a par with averages logged in October, when businesses were still open.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    JAB BLITZ

    More than half of older adults had immunity against Covid by mid-February, official stats show.

    Research by the Office for National Statistics shows 56.4 per cent of over-80s in England had protective antibodies against the virus by February 11.

    It is more than double the wider population, with 23.5 per cent showing signs of immunity.

    Experts say it's most likely down to the success of vaccines, combined with the most recent surge in cases, as Covid antibodies normally appear in the blood around two weeks after infection or vaccination.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    279 PEOPLE WHO TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID IN ENGLAND HAVE DIED

    A further 279 people, who tested positive for the Coronavirus (Covid-19) have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 83,529

    Patients were aged between 17 and 102 years old. All except 11 (aged 17-89 years old) had known underlying health conditions.

    Date of death ranges from 3 December 2020 to 1 March 2021 with the majority being on or after 21 February.

    Their families have been informed.

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    SUPERMARKET WEEP

    An Asda in Wales refused to sell a mum school uniform for her five-year-old daughter, telling her it was "a non-essential item".

    Little Amber Davies from Swansea had grown out of her old uniform and desperately needed new clothes after some kids returned to school in Wales last week.

    But when her mum and gran explained their situation to staff at Asda, Llansamlet, Swansea on Friday, they were turned away.

    Amber's gran, Alison Clement, said: "Amber turned five last week and started back at school. She is very tall for her age and her last uniform was age seven to eight and did not fit her anymore.

    "We went to the customer services desk at Asda and explained the situation.

    "The staff were lovely but told us trading standards had been there the previous day and told them that under no circumstances were they allowed to sell non-essential items."

  • Chiara Fiorillo

    HANCOCK WARNED AGAINST NHS POWER GRAB

    Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been warned against trying to take "excessive" powers to control the NHS in England.

    Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers representing NHS trusts, said any new powers assumed by ministers must be "very tightly defined".

    A Government White Paper published earlier this year would give the Health Secretary greater control over NHS England as part of a wide-reaching reorganisation of health and social care.

  • Chiara Fiorillo

    PRIMARY SCHOOL KIDS WON'T HAVE TO WEAR FACE MASKS

    Primary school kids won’t have to wear face masks when pupils return next week.

    The Government today said youngsters won't be told to wear the coverings after overruling a London council which snubbed official Covid advice.

    This means just secondary school students will be asked to wear face masks if it is not possible to socially distance at two metres apart.

  • Chiara Fiorillo

    ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 2021 TO GO AHEAD

    The Isle of Wight festival will go ahead this year but has been moved to September from its usual summer date.

    The annual event was cancelled last year due to the Covid pandemic much to the dismay of music lovers.

    But with Reading and Leeds Festival now scheduled to go ahead this year, organisers have confirmed the three-day weekender will also take place.

    The event has been moved from its usual dates in June to September 16 and 19.

    Click here to read more

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    'LET'S NOT WAVER AND DO WHATEVER IT TAKES' SAYS HEALTH SECRETARY

    Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: "This country is on the road to recovery and we have freedom on the horizon, we must proceed with caution because although we're moving quickly, the virus moves quickly too.

    "So let's not waver and do whatever it takes to keep this virus under control."

    For Labour, shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said tougher border controls should have been in place sooner before adding: "How on earth can a test be processed that doesn't collect the contact details and what mechanisms will be put in place to fix this in the future, because £22 billion has been allocated to this system – it feels to me that somebody has vanished into thin air."

    SNP health spokeswoman Dr Philippa Whitford pressed the Government to review its hotel quarantine policy and "make it fit for purpose".

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    OVER 60S TO BE VACCINED

    Mr Hancock said: "I'm pleased to inform the House that we're now inviting over-60s to be vaccinated too, although the day-to-day figures of supply are lumpy, we have some bumper weeks ahead later this month.

    "Given that our vaccination programme began 12 weeks ago today, from now we begin in earnest our programme of second vaccinations which ramps up over the month of March.

    "I can assure the House that we have factored these second jabs into our supply projections and we're on track to meet our target of offering a vaccine to all priority groups one to nine by April 15 and all adults by the end of July."

  • Niamh Cavanagh

    SEARCH UNDERWAY FOR SIXTH PERSON WITH VARIANT

    The search for an unidentified sixth person in Britain who tested positive for a coronavirus variant first found in Brazil has been narrowed to under 400 households in southeast England, health minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.

    The mystery individual tested positive more than two weeks ago but failed to give proper contact details.

    "Our search has narrowed from the whole country down to 379 households in the southeast of England, and we're contacting each one," Hancock told parliament.

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