Confusion as Matt Hancock tells Britons they can expect 'a happy and free great British summer' THIS YEAR thanks to Covid vaccine rollout - before Trade Secretary Liz Truss warns against ministers 'making promises about people's holidays'
- Health Secretary said he expected a 'Great British summer' powered by the success of the vaccine rollout
- Less than half an hour later Truss said it was 'dangerous ... making promises about people's summer holidays'
- Holiday industry has been badly hit by coronavirus restrictions that have decimated holiday industryMinisters sparked confusion over the summer holidays today as they gave conflicting views on how 'normal' life will be in six months' time.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock raised the hopes of millions of Britons as he said that he expected a 'Great British summer' powered by the success of the vaccine rollout.
But less than half an hour after his local BBC interview, Trade Secretary Liz Truss said it was 'dangerous' for ministers to go on television 'making promises about people's summer holidaysIn addition a senior government health expert warned against rushing to lift the lockdown. Public Health England's Dr Susan Hopkins warned that relaxing lockdown measures would have to be done 'very slowly, very cautiously' to avoid a surge in infections.
Appearing on BBC Politics East this morning, Suffolk East MP Mr Hancock said he was confident that a high percentage of the UK population would have had their jab within the next six months, enabling a roll-back of restrictions that have been in place since the new year.
'In six months we will be in the middle of, I hope, a happy and free great British summer. I have a high degree of confidence that by then the vast majority of adults will have been vaccinated.
'That is not just the clinically vulnerable groups but then going to all groups, people like me - I'm in my 40s and healthy and we will have got though everybody. 'That will give a high level of protection.'
It came as:
- Figures showed daily positive Covid tests have fallen by 31 per cent in the past week to 23,275
- Hospital admissions down by 16 per cent over the same period, and deaths down six per cent to 1,200;
- German claims that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective in over-65s were rubbished by senior government adviser Professor Andrew Harnden
- Mr Johnson signalled that he wanted to relax lockdown rules on exercise
- Some of the UK's biggest firms, including John Lewis and Tata, said rapid workplace tests have prevented thousands of sick days and the closure of sites;
- A major US study found proof that Covid-19 originated in China, undermining Beijing's claims it may have come from elsewhere.
The Health Secretary said he was confident that a high percentage of the UK population would have had their jab within the next six months, enabling a roll-back of restrictions that have been in place since the new year.
Less than half an hour after his local BBC interview, Trade Secretary Liz Truss said it was 'dangerous' for ministers to go on television 'making promises about people's summer holidays'.
Mr Hancock has long been a summer optimist despite the horrific coronavirus death rate. In December he revealed he had already booked his summer holiday
Public Health England's Dr Susan Hopkins warned that relaxing lockdown measures would have to be done 'very slowly, very cautiously' to avoid a surge in infections.
Speaking a short time later on LBC radio, Ms Truss said that the government's focus was on schools.
'We have to just focus on step by step and summer holidays, I'm afraid, are a lower priority than getting kids back to school,' she told the radio station.
'If there is one thing we have learnt during the coronavirus crisis so far, is how unpredictable things are, what things could emerge.
'I think it would be very dangerous for a government minister to go on your show making promises about people's summer holidays.'
The travel industry, both domestic and international, has been among the worst-hit by the repeated lockdowns over the past 10 months.
Mr Hancock has long been a summer optimist despite the horrific coronavirus death rate.
In December he revealed he had already booked his summer holiday, travelling to Cornwall with his osteopath wife Martha and their three children.
Speaking in the Commons he said: Mr Hancock replied: 'I do have high confidence that the summer of 2021 will be a bright one without the sort of restrictions that made the summer of 2020 more restrictive. I've booked my holiday. I'm going to Cornwall.'
The success of the UK vaccines programme has fostered hopes that lockdown restrictions can be lifted sooner rather than later, with a review expected to take place late in February.
Last night Michael Gove said the Government is 'fully on course' to hit its target of vaccinating the 15 million most vulnerable individuals in the UK by mid-February, as official data showed 8,378,940 had received first doses.
It has set September as a target for vaccinating all adults in the UK.
However, Dr Hopkins today caustioned against excessive speed in lifting the lockdown, despite fears over the economy and the impact on schoolchildren.
'We have learnt, as we did on the first occasion, we have to relax things really quite slowly, so that if cases start to increase we can clamp down quite fast,' she told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.
'The NHS is going to be under pressure until the end of March, as normal in winter, but even more so with the amount of inpatients they still have with Covid-19.
'Any releases that we have will have to happen very slowly, very cautiously, watching and waiting as we go, with a two-week period to watch and see the impact of that relaxation because it takes that to see what's happening in the population.'
Meanwhile some social distancing may remain in place until the end of the year - while coronavirus vaccines would have to be 85 per cent effective to prevent a surge in deaths if restrictions were totally relaxed, scientists warned today.Modelling passed to Downing Street warns that the UK could see a large spike in deaths if inoculation fails to significantly cut transmission.
A paper commissioned by SAGE subgroup SPI-M and produced by modellers at the University of Warwick showed a 'high uptake' was also vital to get the country back to normal without risking a third wave of Covid cases.
It also warned that even with Britain's breakneck vaccine rollout underway, the decline in deaths would be slow - and finds that even in a best-case scenario, lockdown would have to be kept in place until June to prevent another significant spike in deaths, according to the Telegraph.
The paper said: 'Only vaccines that offer high infection-blocking efficacy with high uptake in the general population allow relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions without a huge surge in deaths.'
The modelling, which helps to explain why Boris Johnson is so reticent to end the third national coronavirus lockdown, comes as the Government plans on presenting a 'roadmap' out of the economy-wrecking shutdown.
It follows an extraordinary spat between Britain and the EU where Brussels attempted to isolate the UK by imposing a vaccines blockade of Northern Ireland.
Boris Johnson handed the EU a stark warning that a vaccines blockade of Northern Ireland could kill British pensioners in 'spicy' late-night phone calls with Ursula von der Leyen.
The Prime Minister told the European Commission president that plans to stop 3.5 million doses from the Pfizer factory in Belgium the UK risked preventing people from receiving the second injection, forcing it into a hurried climbdown.
While a single vaccination gives some protection from coronavirus, both are needed to achieve the maximum impact and Mr Johnson told Ms von der Leyen the EU's hardline plan could lead to the deaths of the most vulnerable, including elderly grandparents.
During two phone calls just 30 minutes apart, the Prime Minister made Ms von der Leyen abandon the 'nuclear option' of imposing a hard border on Northern Ireland to prevent vaccines reaching the UK.
She immediately capitulated in a tweet sent out shortly before midnight on Friday.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss this morning said it was important to 'resist vaccine nationalism and protectionism', adding: 'The Prime Minister has spoken to Ursula von der Leyen. She's been very clear those contractual supplies won't be disrupted.'
Following the PM's diplomatic victory, Britain yesterday recorded a daily record for first-dose jabs – 487,756 – to bring the total to almost 8.4 million.
UK Covid cases fall 29% in a week to 21,088 and deaths fall by 3.7% with another 587 fatalities recorded as public health experts say impact of vaccine should be seen in 'two weeks'
Coronavirus cases and deaths fell again today on last week as the latest official figures suggest that the national lockdown is helping to suppress the virus.
Data from the Department of Health show that the UK recorded 21,088 daily Covid-19 cases today, down by 29.7 per cent from 30,004 cases last Sunday.
The same figures also show that daily Covid-related fatalities fell by 3.7 per cent from 610 deaths last week to 587 deaths today.
There are currently nearly 35,000 people in hospitals in the UK and 3,832 patients on ventilators, according to the latest official figures.
The second wave has seen bigger numbers of coronavirus patients in hospitals, with 21,684 patients during the peak of the first wave of the pandemic last April.
Grim new graphs lay bare the dilemma facing Boris Johnson as officials try to work out how to reopen the country without causing a third wave of coronavirus infections, as SAGE recommends keeping social distancing measures in place until 2022
It comes as Public Health England said the impact of Covid vaccinations in the over-80s should be seen 'over the next two weeks'.
Dr Susan Hopkins, the Covid-19 strategic response director at the body, said rates a declining 'in all age groups' currently but it's 'a bit early to say' if the trend is due to the vaccine or more stringent lockdown measures.
Speaking to BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Dr Hopkins said: 'What we would like to see is a divergence in the case rate in the over-70s and over-80s who have been vaccinated from the younger age groups, to show that they are declining faster.
'We have now hit 80 per cent of the over-80s being vaccinated and really fast numbers climbing in the under 80-year-old age group as well.
'We expect over the next two weeks to start seeing that impact of that vaccine in that age group, and also an impact on hospitalisation.'
Nearly 600,000 coronavirus vaccines have been given out in the past 24 hours in Britain, smashing the previous record of 491,970 jabs in a single day.
The total number of people in the UK who have now received at least one dose of the jab, seen as the antidote for our way out of the pandemic, is 8,977,329.
Government data up to January 30 shows of the 9,468,382 jabs given in the UK so far, 8,977,329 were first doses - a rise of 598,389 on the previous day's figures.
Some 491,053 were second doses, an increase of 10,621 on figures released the previous day. The seven-day rolling average of first doses given in the UK is now 374,858.
Based on the latest figures, an average of 401,512 first doses of vaccine would be needed each day in order to meet the Government's target of 15 million first doses by February 15.
In England alone, nearly 550,000 vaccines were given, while a further 25,299 jabs were administered in Wales and 23,055 in Scotland. Figures for Northern Ireland have not been published.
According to NHS England data, 7,792,996 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 539,691 on the previous day's figures, while 458,150 were the second dose, an increase of 10,252, between December 8 and yesterday.
This marks the highest number of jabs given to Britons so far as the government looks to bring the cycle of coronavirus lockdowns to an end by proceeding with its breakneck rollout of the vaccines.
Volunteers are trained by St John Ambulance instructors to administer Covid-19 vaccines at Manchester United Football Club yesterday
Lecturer Dr Jacquie White demonstrates drawing a solution into a syringe as she trains volunteer vaccinators to be deployed to assist in the national Covid-19 vaccination programme, in the Allam Medical Building at the University of Hull yesterday
Boris Johnson told Ursula von der Leyen the EU's planned vaccines blockade of Northern Ireland could KILL British pensioners by preventing them getting a second jab in 'spicy' phone calls that forced Brussels to abandon the 'nuclear option'
Boris Johnson handed the EU a stark warning that a vaccines blockade of Northern Ireland could kill British pensioners in 'spicy' late-night phone calls with Ursula von der Leyen.
The Prime Minister told the European Commission president that plans to stop 3.5 million doses from the Pfizer factory in Belgium the UK risked preventing people from receiving the second injection, forcing it into a hurried climbdown.
While a single vaccination gives some protection from coronavirus, both are needed to achieve the maximum impact and Mr Johnson told Ms von der Leyen the EU's hardline plan could lead to the deaths of the most vulnerable, including elderly grandparents.
During two phone calls just 30 minutes apart, the Prime Minister made Ms von der Leyen abandon the 'nuclear option' of imposing a hard border on Northern Ireland to prevent vaccines reaching the UK.
She immediately capitulated in a tweet sent out shortly before midnight on Friday.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss this morning said it was important to 'resist vaccine nationalism and protectionism', adding: 'The Prime Minister has spoken to Ursula von der Leyen. She's been very clear those contractual supplies won't be disrupted.'
Following the PM's diplomatic victory, Britain yesterday recorded a daily record for first-dose jabs – 487,756 – to bring the total to almost 8.4 million.
The astonishing diplomatic drama came as:
Boris Johnson made European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ditch plans to stop 3.5 million doses of the Pfizer jab from reaching the UK from a factory in Belgium
Mr Johnson warned Ms von der Leyen (pictured) that her actions risked denying millions of British pensioners their second Pfizer injectionsLast night vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi revealed Britain will help the EU fix its jab supply issue.
After Brussels backed down on its threat to block vaccine supplies at the border, Mr Zahawi said the focus has moved to 'collaboration' with the EU, reported The Sunday Telegraph.
Mr Zahawi said the UK had sent engineers to the Halix plant in the Netherlands to help with supply problems last month, and that there would be a continued tone of 'collaboration' with the bloc.
Ms Truss also struck a conciliatory tone this morning, hinting on Sky that the UK could export excess doses of vaccine abroad as long as it did not impact on the UK rollout.
'It's a bit too early to say how we would deploy excess vaccines. But we certainly want to work with friends and neighbours, we want to work with developing countries, because we are only going to solve this issue once everybody in the world is vaccinated,' she said.
'Some of these supplies there have been supply issues so we need to make sure the new drugs that are coming online are delivered, the population is vaccinated. But of course as we are developing that, we are also working with other countries about how we can help.
'Because it won't benefit people in Britain if we become a vaccinated island and many other countries don't have the vaccine, because the virus will continue to spread, so we need to tackle this on a global basis.'
Conservative former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was a 'huge wrong step' for the EU to have triggered a provision in the Brexit deal to control vaccine exports.
He told Sky News' Sophy Ridge programme: 'It (the EU) got it completely wrong and I think the Government is being very wise to lower the temperature in a situation like this.
'Because this year the big threat, which is not something many people predicted, is around these new variants, particularly from South Africa and also Brazil.
'If we are going to tackle these new variants, and they could happen to be South Africa and Brazil this time, could be anywhere else next time, we are going to need to have high levels of close co-operation and collaboration across the world.
'We all know the problems that happened because we didn't find out about the virus in China as quickly as we might have, so we really do need to be working closely with everyone and we have the capacity to do that in this country with our world-beating genomics capacity.
'That's why I think this was a huge wrong step for the EU to take, but I think it's very welcome that it's been resolved.'
As part of an implicit 'peace deal' with the EU, No 10 yesterday adopted a conciliatory tone. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the EU recognised that it had 'made a mistake' and both sides agreed on the need for a 'reset'.
After Brussels backed down on its threat to block vaccine supplies at the border, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said the focus has moved to 'collaboration' with the EU
Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster was less diplomatic, branding the EU's move an 'incredible act of hostility'.
Meanwhile Tory MPs were jubilant, with one describing the EU's surrender as Mr Johnson's 'Falklands moment'.
The Mail on Sunday understands that before Brussels was forced to blink twice, the Government had drawn up contingency plans to break any EU blockade.
Under a 'vaccine security exercise' adapted from plans for a No-Deal Brexit, supplies of the Pfizer jab could have been airlifted out of the continent.
The EU – and Ms von der Leyen in particular – were savaged by the European media for their handling of the row as governments across the bloc faced a backlash from their voters.
And with the EU having only vaccinated 2.5 per cent of its population – compared to 12 per cent in the UK – Ms Foster suggested that Northern Ireland could help to provide vaccine supplies to Dublin.
The simmering row over vaccines exploded on Friday evening when Brussels said it would trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement – thereby creating a hard border on the island of Ireland – and take other measures to stop supplies of the Pfizer vaccine from reaching Britain.
Mr Johnson called an emergency meeting at No 10 to decide the UK's response, then spoke to the Commission President just before 10pm to set out his demands and warn Ms von der Leyen her actions could threaten the Irish peace process.
They spoke again at 10.30pm when Ms von der Leyen agreed to issue a climbdown message that 'there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities'.
The fiasco has put Ms von der Leyen's position in doubt, with one senior EU source saying 'the disquiet is growing'.
Tory MPs on both sides of the Brexit divide heralded Mr Johnson's efforts. One Remainer said: 'If this had happened in 2016, I would have voted to Leave without blinking.'
Yesterday's daily death toll has plummeted as well, as official figures showed 1,200 have died after testing positive - an 11 per cent drop on last Saturday's 1,348 fatalities
The UK's Covid cases plunged yet again after 23,275 people tested positive yesterday - down 30.6 per cent on last Saturday
The UK has streaked ahead of Europe in terms of the number of vaccines administered (pie chart shows the number of vaccines given by January 26)
The Prime Minister visiting a French biotechnology laboratory in Livingston, Scotland
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said this afternoon the EU 'recognises they made a mistake' and 'stepped back' following the conversation between the two leaders
The move was slammed by Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster (pictured), who accused the EU of an 'incredible act of hostility'
Another Tory backbencher said: 'This could be Boris' Falklands moment… Ministers have played a blinder.'
But former Brexit Secretary David Davis warned: 'I fear we are still going to see them trying to do similar things by the backdoor.'
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said: 'The EU cocked up big time.'
Mr Gove said: 'I think the EU recognises they made a mistake in triggering Article 16... But now the EU has stepped back.'
The row came just before today's first anniversary of Britain leaving the EU.
Marking the day, Mr Johnson said: 'The destiny of this great nation now resides firmly in our hands. I take on this duty with a sense of purpose.'
He has asked former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith to set up a taskforce of MPs to 'think more inventively about how we boost growth, innovation and competition'.
Last night Ms von der Leyen tweeted: 'Constructive talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson tonight.
'We agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities.'
It came about an hour after a statement from the Commission outlining the detail of the export controls of vaccines.
It said: 'To tackle the current lack of transparency of vaccine exports outside the EU, the Commission is putting in place a measure requiring that such exports are subject to an authorisation by Member States.
'In the process of finalisation of this measure, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected.
'The Commission is not triggering the safeguard clause.
'Should transits of vaccines and active substances toward third countries be abused to circumvent the effects of the authorisation system, the EU will consider using all the instruments at its disposal.
'In the process of finalising the document, the commission will also be fine-tuning the decision-making process under the implementing regulation.'
Following the conversation between the PM and Ms von der Leyen, an ally of Mr Johnson told the FT: 'The call was fine, hopefully that's the end of it.'
But the move by Brussels to initially say it was triggering Article 16 - seen as the nuclear option - left figures in Britain and Ireland reeling.
Stormont's first minister Arlene Foster called the move an 'incredible act of hostility' and this morning said the rift emanated from the 'EU's vaccine embarrassment and mismanagement'.
Meanwhile former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said the EU's move offered no understanding of the delicate political landscape of the island of Ireland.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'Years have been spent trying to ensure goods will flow freely and there will be no hard border and last night the EU pulled the emergency cord without following any of the process that are in the protocol if one side wants to suspend it.
'And they did that, in my view, without anywhere near the understanding of the Good Friday Agreement, of the sensitivity of the situation in Northern Ireland, and it was an almost Trumpian act.'
European newspapers lashed out EU leaders on Saturday after the bloc tried to impose Covid vaccine controls on the Northern Ireland border. A leading correspondent for Germany's Die Welt paper savaged European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, saying she had committed an 'unforgettable Brexit own goal'
France's Le Monde editorial called the move 'deplorable', adding that Von Der Leyen had 'fortunately' given up on the inflammatory border decision
Elsewhere the Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the EU's U-turn was 'welcome' but added 'lessons should be learned'.
In a statement on Twitter, he said: 'Welcome news, but lessons should be learned; the Protocol is not something to be tampered with lightly, it's an essential, hard won compromise, protecting peace & trade for many.'
Brussels had triggered the controversial Article 16 just 29 days after the UK and EU struck the post-Brexit trade deal when Britain left the transition period.
The EU's chief negotiator in that agreement, Mr Barnier, today called for 'co-operation' between Brussels and the UK over the supply of vaccines across Europe.
Mr Barnier told The Times: 'We are facing an extraordinarily serious crisis, which is creating a lot of suffering, which is causing a lot of deaths in the UK, in France, in Germany, everywhere.
'And I believe we must face this crisis with responsibility, certainly not with the spirit of oneupmanship or unhealthy competition. I recommend preserving the spirit of co-operation between us.'
Last night, Lord Ricketts, a former UK ambassador to France, accused Brussels of 'escalating recklessly in an attempt to get more doses [of the vaccine] from the UK'. He added: 'The EU is all at sea on this.'
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted: 'The European Union was originally inspired by Christian social teaching – at the heart of which is solidarity.
'Seeking to control the export of vaccines undercuts the EU's basic ethics. They need to work together with others.'
The World Health Organisation also said the export ban was a 'very worrying trend'.
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