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Confusion over the government’s approach is undermining efforts to control coronavirus, an adviser has suggested, amid reports face masks could remain in use after 21 June if cases continue to rise. Plans to ease lockdown restrictions further next month remain in the balance as experts nervously monitor a new strain of the disease first identified in India. Professor Stephen Reicher, a psychologist on the Sage sub-committee which advises ministers on behavioural science, told BBC Radio 4's Today: The data we are seeing at the moment suggests we have a problem. We don't know how big the problem is - it might be bad, it might be very bad, we will learn in the next week or two. But, he said, the government’s advice was affecting attempts to get the virus under control. "They (ministers) ...

Boris Johnson has defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying none of the decisions have been easy. The prime minister has come under fire from his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings during an explosive appearance before MPs this morning. Mr Cummings claimed the government failed the public when they needed them most and that the PM initially considered COVID a scare story like swine flu. Keir Starmer used his weekly chance to question the prime minister to bring up some of the most serious allegations made by Mr Johnson's former adviser. The PM denied that his inaction led to needless deaths at the beginning of the pandemic and in reference to Mr Cummings accusing him of failing to realise the severity of COVID-19, he said: I don't think anybody can accuse this gover...

Post-Brexit British visitors to France and Spain may be asked to show proof of their accommodation, including an official certificate obtained in advance if they are staying with friends or family, once Covid travel restrictions are lifted. Since the UK left the EU, anyone in France hosting non-EU nationals is expected to complete an attestation d’accueil form and submit it for approval to their town hall, a process that can take up to a month. Once stamped, the form, which costs €30 (£26) and requires supporting documents such as proof of address, income and right of residence, must then be forwarded to the guest so they can show it at the border, where officials are entitled to ask for it. Second homeowners and holidaymakers staying in hotels or rented accommodation will not need th...

More than 20 million people in the UK are now fully vaccinated after receiving two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, official data shows. India is currently being devastated by a deadly second wave of Covid. You can support Oxfam's Covid relief efforts in India, including reaching out to the most affected and vulnerable communities, distributing and installing medical equipment and accessories, and supporting the most marginalised households. The incredible landmark figure comes as the government moves to speed up second doses for over-50s and the vulnerable amid the spread of the Indian variant of coronavirus. More than 1,300 people in the UK have been infected with the new variant, which experts have warned could be 50 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant. New data also...

India is currently being devastated by a deadly second wave of Covid. You can support Oxfam's Covid relief efforts in India, including reaching out to the most affected and vulnerable communities, distributing and installing medical equipment and accessories, and supporting the most marginalised households. You can donate here. Boris Johnson was under mounting pressure on Saturday to reconsider Monday’s relaxation of Covid rules in England because of the threat posed by the India variant. His own advisers and independent health experts raised fears that it could lead to a surge in hospital admissions, especially among young adults. From Monday people will be able to meet in groups of up to 30 outdoors, while six people or two households will be permitted to meet indoors. Pubs, bars, ca...

Cases of the new Indian variant have more than doubled for the second week in a row with 1,313 cases confirmed – and some scientists fearing the B.1.617.2 variant will become dominant in the UK. The clusters remain predominantly located in the North West and London, but health officials in Bedford have also raised alarm at an apparent spike. In Blackburn, where multi-age surge vaccination will take place from Monday, as well as Bolton, the B.1.617.2 variant is thought to have driven a doubling of infections over the past seven days. It has spread three times faster than previous variants of concern, such as that from South Africa, according to analysis by the Telegraph. Experts are now urgently trying to establish to what extent the new Indian variant is more transmissible than the d...

Lockdown saw violence plunge by a third as the country enjoyed 'the safest year on record' in 2020, a study has shown. Covid-19 restrictions meant 56,653 fewer people were treated in hospitals in England and Wales for violence-related injuries in 2020 compared to the previous year. Emergency hospital treatment for violence injury among men fell by 33 per cent, with a drop of 28 per cent for women, according to a Cardiff University study. Professor Jonathan Shepherd, co-author of Violence in England and Wales in 2020, said: From a violence perspective, 2020 was the safest year on record. Data gathered from 133 NHS hospital emergency units showed 119,111 people attended for treatment of violence-related injuries in 2020, down from 175,764 in 2019. The figures showed the biggest falls si...

The government has promised to tackle obesity and improve mental health support, but there is no sign of long-promised legislation to reform adult social care. Boris Johnson has set out his legislative agenda for the new parliamentary session in the Queen's Speech for unleashing our nation's full potential as the UK emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. 'We have been given an historic opportunity to change things for the better, level up opportunities across the whole of the United Kingdom, and address the problems that have constrained us far too often before,' he said. Proposals on social care will be brought forward, but there is no specific bill mentioned to tackle an issue that has bedevilled successive governments. Upon becoming PM in 2019, Mr Johnson said he had a clear plan to ...