Coronavirus news LIVE updates – UK sends aid to pandemic hit India as Brits over-30 to be ‘offered Covid vaccine by May’
THE UK is sending ventilators and vital aid to Covid-ravaged India after harrowing images showed people dying in the street.
The outbreak in world's second most populous nation has been described as "hell on earth" as a mutant strain spreads like wildfire.
India set a new global record for daily Covid infections on Sunday with another 349,691 cases, bringing the total to 17million.
Experts warn there could be 5,700 deaths a day at the predicted peak next month, and 750,000 more deaths by August.
Dominic Raab tweeted: “Today we have sent the first of several urgent deliveries of surplus medical equipment to our friends in India to help provide life-saving care for vulnerable Covid patients.
"No one is safe until we are all safe.”
Meanwhile pubs reopened today in Wales and Scotland in the next phase of lockdown easing.
And Brits in their 30s are set to be offered Covid jabs by early May.
People aged 44 will be formally invited this morning to get vaccinated — with a new TV ad campaign also encouraging uptake among young people.
Insiders say it is likely all over-40s will get an invite by the end of this week.
It was also possible that those in their 30s will get one as soon as next week — depending on supplies.
In a further sign of life returning to "nornal", Wembley Stadium last night hosted 8,000 football fans in the biggest Covid test event yet.
All those watching Manchester City beat Spurs in the Carabao Cup final had to take a lateral flow coronavirus test at a designated site – not at home – 24 hours beforehand.
They were also required to send off for a PCR Covid-19 test to take again within five days.
Read our coronavirus live blog below for the latest updates...
INDIAN DOCTORS SEND OUT SOS MESSAGE FOR OXYGEN
Indian doctors have sent out SOS messages begging for oxygen as wards are on the brink of collapse.
The country is fighting the "world's worst" coronavirus outbreak, with dying Covid patients lined up on stretchers outside hospitals.
On Friday, India reported more than 332,730 new infections - the highest daily sum of the pandemic anywhere in the world for the second day in a row.
The surging cases are pushing health services to the limit, with medical oxygen scarce and hospitals understaffed and overflowing.
PRICE OF PINTS RISE
THE price of a pint has shot up to £7 as some pubs hike costs in a bid to claw back for lockdown losses.
Since reopening on April 12, a pint of Peroni has gone up by 60p in one boozer in Roehampton, South West London, from £6.40 to £7, reports the
Others have slammed the "shocking" prices, with one punter claiming a pint of Sam Smiths at their local has gone up by £1.10.
It comes after we reported how a pub group told its landlords to push up prices by 40p a pint because customers who pay by card "won't notice".
NO MASKS BY SUMMER
Brit should be able ditch facemasks over the summer months as vaccines continue to reduce infection rates, government scientists have said.
The next step in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown is set for May 17 - with further restrictions easing on hospitality and mixing indoors.
elative normality is set to resume by June 21, with all legal limits on social contact will be removed with events such as weddings and gigs able to resume once more.
Speaking today, government scientists said that vaccines are working so well, and there is such good vaccine uptake among members of the public, that things will return to much more like normal life over the summer months, with cases dropping very low, particularly in May.
TURKEY LIFTED BAN ON BRITS
Turkey has lifted the travel ban on Brits - and tourists won't need a vaccine to go on holiday.
UK arrivals will still need proof of a negative PCR test but it is great news for younger travellers yet to be given the jab.
Countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal have all said they will welcome vaccinated travellers, although will let in tourists with a negative Covid test.
However, Turkey has said they will even offer Covid tests on departure for £25 - something the UK requires when families return from holiday, and can cost up to £120 per person.
Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the season will be "even safer" than last year due to the vaccine rollout in both the UK and Turkey.
SURGE IN COVID TESTING IN BIRMINGHAM
More surge-testing is to begin in Birmingham after a confirmed case of the Covid-19 variant first identified in South Africa was discovered.
Households in the Highgate and Bordesley ward, which includes the city's bustling Digbeth creative district, are to be targeted.
Earlier this week, surge-testing had already been announced for households in the city's nearby Alum Rock area, as well as Glebe Farm and Tile Cross, after a confirmed case of the variant.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the individual concerned had "self-isolated and their contacts have been identified".
PUBLIC SHOULD BE ABLE TO GO MASK-FREE IN THE SUMMER – GOVERNMENT ADVISERS
The public should be able to scrap face masks over the summer as vaccines do the heavy lifting in controlling the virus, Government scientific advisers believe.
Step four of the Government’s road map for England currently states that all legal limits on social contact will be removed by June 21 at the earliest, when restrictions on large events such as festivals are also expected to ease.
A source told PA that what happens will depend on people’s behaviours as well as measures such as increased ventilation indoors, good hand hygiene and whether people isolate when they display symptoms.
SALON OWNER PAY FINE
A salon owner has said she is "happy" to pay a £635 fine after breaking Covid rules to host a balloon release for her dad-in-law who died of the bug.
Vicki Hutchinson, 34, had faced a £10,000 fixed penalty for holding an illegal gathering of more than 30 people in November.
No police officers attended and there was no disorder during the gathering by St Mary's Church, Horden.
But following a complaint, police investigated and analysed a livestream of the event which showed there was an unknown number of people there, which was more than 30.
The video showed many people did not keep apart or wear masks, the court heard.
INDIAN DOCTORS SEND OUT SOS MESSAGES
Indian doctors have sent out SOS messages begging for oxygen as wards are on the brink of collapse.
The country is fighting the "world's worst" coronavirus outbreak, with dying Covid patients lined up on stretchers outside hospitals.
On Friday, India reported more than 332,730 new infections - the highest daily sum of the pandemic anywhere in the world for the second day in a row.
The surging cases are pushing health services to the limit, with medical oxygen scarce and hospitals understaffed and overflowing.
GRAPHIC: COVID-19 VACCINATIONS IN THE UK
ONE JAB OF EITHER PFIZER OR ASTRAZENECA VACCINES LEADS TO A TWO-THIRDS DROP IN COVID CASES
It was yesterday revealed that just one dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccines leads to a two-thirds drop in coronavirus cases and is 74 per cent effective against symptomatic infection.
And two doses of Pfizer, there was a 70 per cent reduction in all cases and a 90 per cent drop in symptomatic cases - the people who are most likely to transmit coronavirus to others.
The view of government advisers is that the spike in cases over the winter months will be lower - meaning the third wave is not as severe, due to high vaccine uptake an levels of immunity.
The advisers said that infection levels will also depend on how people behave in the coming months.
This includes keeping spaces ventilators and hand hygiene.
SALON OWNER ‘HAPPY’ TO PAY £635 COVID FINE FOR BALLOON RELEASE IN MEMORY OF DAD-IN-LAW WHO DIED OF BUG
A SALON owner has said she is "happy" to pay a £635 fine after breaking Covid rules to host a balloon release for her dad-in-law who died of the bug.
Vicki Hutchinson, 34, had faced a £10,000 fixed penalty for holding an illegal gathering of more than 30 people in November.
But that was reduced after she attended Peterlee Magistrates' Court on Friday to admit the offence, based on her ability to pay.
On November 11, the mother-of-three had posted an invitation on her Facebook page for friends and family of Ian Stephenson to attend a balloon release on a field opposite the church where his funeral was due to take place in the following days.
The well-liked 58-year-old former miner had just died from a Covid-related illness, the court heard.
BREAKING: UK COVID DEATHS PLUNGE BY A THIRD IN TWO WEEKS WITH 40 FATALITIES AND 2,678 CASES IN LAST 24 HOURS
COVID deaths in the UK have fallen by a third in a fortnight, with 40 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.
There were 2,678 coronavirus cases reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 4,398,431.
Last Friday, there were 34 deaths and 2,596 cases recorded, down from 60 deaths and 3,150 reported cases on Friday, April 9.
Altogether, 127,385 Brits have now died of Covid within 28 days of a positive test.
It comes after Britain recorded its lowest death toll in more than seven months on Monday, when four deaths were reported. Cases are still falling across the UK as the jabs rollout and lockdown continues to slash infection rates.
EMA SAYS BENEFITS OF ASTRAZENECA VACCINE OUTWEIGH RISKS OF RARE BLOOD CLOTS
The European Medicines Agency has said the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh the risks of rare blood clots, and that the benefits of having the jab increase in older age groups and in areas with higher levels of coronavirus infection.
In a press briefing on Friday, the agency's deputy executive director Noel Wathion said: "Based on data from initial clinical trials and early real-world evidence collected as of the start of national vaccination campaigns, we carried out an analysis of benefits and risks during different stages of Covid-19 exposure and how both the vaccine and the disease may affect different age groups in different situations.
"Our interim conclusion is that overall the data showed that the benefits of vaccination increase with age, and with increasing levels of infection in the community."
NO MASKS BY SUMMER AS LIFE COULD RETURN ‘TO RELATIVE NORMALITY’, SAY NO10 SCIENTISTS
BRITS should be able ditch facemasks over the summer months as vaccines continue to reduce infection rates, government scientists have said.
The next step in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown is set for May 17 - with further restrictions easing on hospitality and mixing indoors.
Relative normality is set to resume by June 21, with all legal limits on social contact will be removed with events such as weddings and gigs able to resume once more.
Speaking today, goverment scientists said that vaccines are working so well, and there is such good vaccine uptake among members of the public, that things will return to much more like normal life over the summer months, with cases dropping very low, particularly in May.
They did however add that masks and possibly other measures may be needed next autumn and winter if cases surge, they said.
COVID NEWS ROUND UP: THE LATEST
- Wales set to SPEED UP end of lockdown with indoor group activities brought forward by 2 weeks and pubs to reopen Monday
- Map reveals where lockdown should be eased FASTER, top expert says
- UK cases of Indian Covid variant rise 75% in a week – everything you need to know
- Britain ‘no longer in a pandemic’ as jab rollout slashes Covid infections by 90 per cent, experts say
- Twelve-year-olds to get Covid jabs from September under plans to stop killer winter wave
OFFICIAL COVID R RATE UP AGAIN BUT REMAINS BELOW CRUCIAL 1 AS CASES FALL
THE official coronavirus R rate has risen slightly in England this week and now sits between 0.8 and 1.0.
Cases are still falling across the UK as the jabs rollout continues to slash infection rates.
INDIA HOSPITAL SCENES DESCRIBED AS 'BIBLICAL'
Journalist Iram Hussein described the country's hospital scenes as "biblical", the reports.
She said she was forced to beg for her parents - both critically ill with Covid - to be given a hospital bed, only to find there were no facilities to treat them.
She added: "They have got nothing to fight this. No medicines, no oxygen. I am seeing biblical scenes."
An extreme shortage in oxygen has led the Health Ministry to urge hospitals to implement rationing.
Tanks of oxygen are being shuttled across the country to hotspots to keep up with the demand - but local officials have alleged that many have been intercepted by other states en route to be used to meet local needs.
INDIA'S 'MUTANT COVID TSUNAMI' (CONTINUED...)
The hold-up is so severe that families are having to wait hours in 35C heat before they can cremate their loved ones.
Funeral pyres have been sending smoke into the sky across the country non-stop.
Dr A Fathahudeen, a medic part of Kerala state’s Covid taskforce, said: "I said in February that Covid had not gone anywhere and a tsunami would hit us if urgent actions were not taken.
";Sadly, a tsunami has indeed hit us now."
INDIA SUFFERING ‘MUTANT COVID TSUNAMI’ WITH BODIES BURNED 24/7
INDIA is suffering a Covid mutant "tsunami" with bodies being burned 24 hours a day. New virus super-mutants are ravaging the country, which is fighting the "world's worst" coronavirus outbreak.
On Friday, India reported more than 332,730 new infections - the highest daily sum of the pandemic anywhere in the world.
The figures raised India's case total to above 16 million since the pandemic began - the second-highest global total after the United States.
The country's overall coronavirus death toll stands at more than 186,000, according to Johns Hopkins University's count.
Bodies are being cremated through the night - contrary to Hindu custom which dictates no bodies be burned after sundown - to cope with the backlog.
EXPERT WARNS AGAINST FOREIGN HOLIDAYS RESUMING THIS SUMMER
Professor Sir John Bell, Oxford University's Regius Professor of Medicine, told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme: "You only have to look at what is going on in India.
"I think you have to say, really? Do we want people flying around the world and getting exposed to those sorts of issues?
"Just to be clear, things are great here, they are not so great in Europe. There is quite a lot of variants circulating in Europe, they have got a lot of disease in this current wave.
"And then you get to the developing economies - India, Africa, central and south America - where they have terrible disease, with lots of variants."
ALMOST 37 MILLION COVID VACCINATIONS ADMINISTERED IN THE UK TO DATE
A total of 37,687,736 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and April 22, according to NHS England data.
Today's figures include first and second doses, which is a rise of 449,663 on the previous day.
NHS England said 27,995,196 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 103,988 on the previous day, while 9,692,540 were a second dose, an increase of 345,675.
WHO - INDIA IS 'DEVASTATING REMINDER'
People are dying across the world because they are not being vaccinated, they are not being tested and not being treated, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.
He said he was concerned about the growing caseload in India.
"The situation in India is a devastating reminder of what the virus can do," he told a virtual briefing in Geneva.
PUBLIC SHOULD BE ABLE TO GO MASK-FREE IN THE SUMMER - GOVERNMENT ADVISERS
The public should be able to scrap face masks over the summer as vaccines do the heavy lifting in controlling the virus, Government scientific advisers believe.
Step four of the Government's road map for England currently states that all legal limits on social contact will be removed by June 21 at the earliest, when restrictions on large events such as festivals are also expected to ease.
A source told PA that what happens will depend on people's behaviours as well as measures such as increased ventilation indoors, good hand hygiene and whether people isolate when they display symptoms.