Britain’s coronavirus cases have dropped to a third of the level three weeks ago, as the country’s second wave continues to run out of steam amid brutal lockdown measures.
Department of Health statistics show 20,089 infections were registered today – well below the 45,533 announced two weeks ago, and 40 per cent less than the 33,355 recorded last Tuesday.
But amid the promising sign the UK’s Covid-19 death toll passed the grim milestone of 100,000 for the first time today bringing the total to 100,162, after health chiefs announced another 1,631 fatalities in the last 24 hours.
It marked a one per cent rise on the same time last week when 1,610 people succumbed to the virus, amid predictions from experts that the second wave will peak this week.
Deaths lag about three weeks behind cases because it takes this long for someone who has caught the virus to suffer symptoms severe enough to be admitted to hospital and sadly die from the disease.
Boris Johnson said at a Downing Street press conference tonight it was ‘hard to compute the sorrow contained in the grim statistic; the years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and, for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye’.
It comes as it’s revealed Britain has missed its vaccination target for a second day running after 279,757 received a first dose which is more than 100,000 below the 400,000 the Government must get jabs to every day to hit its target of inoculating 15million of the most vulnerable by mid-February.
The Prime Minister has promised to get jabs to those most at risk from the virus – the over-70s, care home residents, NHS staff and the vulnerable – by this time.
Boris Johnson offered his ‘deepest condolences’ to everyone that had lost a relative to coronavirus at a Downing Street press conference today after the UK’s death toll crossed the grim milestone of 100,000
Vaccine centres are opening all over the UK but Matt Hancock last night admitted that supplies are ‘tight’ and the access to more doses is the ‘rate-limiting factor’ of the rollout (Pictured: Dale Snowden gets his vaccine in Sunderland)
Early figures show there were 220,000 vaccinations in the UK yesterday. The number will be updated later today by the Department of Health to include jabs in all settings
SINGLE MOTHER AND TRAINEE NURSE DIES FROM COVID-19 AFTER BEING IN A COMA FOR TWO WEEKS
Mother-of-two Naggayi Angella, pictured with children John Jeremiah Mugisha, aged eight, and 12-year-old Annmarie Yiga
A trainee nurse died from coronavirus – leaving behind two young children she had been raising alone.
Naggayi Angella, a mental health nursing student, passed away from Covid-19 on Monday after being in a coma for two weeks.
Grieving children John Jeremiah Mugisha, aged eight, and daughter Annmarie Yiga, aged 12, described her as irreplaceable and ‘caring’.
Mother-of-two Angella worked part-time in community integrated care while studying at Edinburgh Napier University.
She was from Uganda and had earned a degree in social science from Nkumba University before moving to the UK where she had no family.
Prior to that she worked as a professional in the insurance sector in Kampala.
Her daughter Annmarie said: ‘I love everything about her and miss everything about her.
‘I love how she always took time to squeeze in her faith no matter how tired she was.’
She wrote on a fundraising page: ‘In life, we love you dearly, in death we love you still, in our hearts you hold a place no one will ever fill.’
And younger brother John added: ‘Mummy was a nice caring person who loved me so much.’
Organiser Ubuntu Gla is fundraising £10,000 to help the bereaved children, and to return their mother’s body to her home country.
On another day of grim coronavirus news:
- Pfizer said it was developing booster shots amid fears its Covid-19 vaccine may be less effective against highly infectious strains;
- German paper behind fake Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine story still prominently displays the article on its website despite claims being rubbished;
- After German health ministry admits claims ‘Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is only eight per cent effective in over-65s’ was a lie;
- Cabinet continues to argue over plans to ask all arrivals in the UK to quarantine in hotels for two weeks at their own expense;
- London hospitals are giving Covid jabs to people who turn up without appointments to avoid wastage;
- UK could miss out on 3.5million doses of the vaccine if the EU suspends deliveries across the channel;
- Vaccine passports could pose data risks and create a ‘two-tier society’ based on who’s had jabs, warns MP;
- Covid could become a ‘much more treatable disease’ in the next six months according to NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens as he warns half of patients in intensive care are under 65.
Speaking at the conference today, the Prime Minister offered his ‘deepest condolences’ to everyone that had lost loved ones during the pandemic.
‘I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one: fathers and mothers; brothers and sisters; sons and daughters and the many grandparents who have been taken,’ he said.
‘And, to all those who grieve, we make this pledge: that when we have come through this crisis, we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost, and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others.
‘We will remember the courage of countless working people – not just our amazing NHS and care workers, but shop workers, transport staff, pharmacists, teachers, police, armed forces emergency services and many others – who kept our country going during our biggest crisis since the Second World War.
‘We will commemorate the small acts of kindness, the spirit of volunteering and the daily sacrifice of millions who placed their lives on hold time and again as we fought each new wave of the virus, buying time for our brilliant scientists to come to our aid.
‘In that moment of commemoration, we will celebrate the genius and perseverance of those who discovered the vaccines and the immense national effort – never seen before in our history – which is now underway to distribute them, one that has now seen us immunise over 6.8 million people across the United Kingdom.’
The EU today vowed to force firms to declare what vaccines are being exported to the UK, amid frustration in Brussels after AstraZeneca said it would not be able to meet orders of its jab – which the bloc is still yet to approve – previously agreed.
NHS England chief Simon Stevens swiped at the ‘uproar’ today, suggesting it underlined the pressure on supplies and how Britain had done ‘very well’.
And Health Secretary Matt Hancock said protectionism was ‘not the right approach’, insisting that the huge push to get the four most vulnerable groups of Britons covered by mid-February will not be derailed.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Berlin has been forced to issue a denial after two German newspapers claimed the EU’s regulator could refuse to give the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab full approval, with officials anonymously briefing its efficacy for pensioners was just eight per cent.
The claim was angrily rejected by the pharmaceutical company – and No10 sources told MailOnline it was ‘rubbish’. It is understood the issue came up at Cabinet this morning, and Boris Johnson said it was ‘not correct’. Science chief Patrick Vallance told the meeting that data showed a good immune response among all older patients.
He suggested the publications could have been confused between the proportion of the trial participants who were over 65, and the effectiveness. One Whitehall source told Playbook it was the kind of tactics ‘you expect from the Russians’.
The number-crunching body said there were 1,705 deaths in English care homes reported to the Care Quality Commission in the seven days to January 2, up from 661 a fortnight ago
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference last night, Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted that Britain was ‘on track’ to reach the most vulnerable groups by the middle of February.
He said that 6.6million people had now received a jab, more than one in nine of the adult population, and in the last week 2.5million got a vaccine, which was equal to a rate of more than 250 people per minute.
And, he said, 78.7 per cent of over-80s have received a jab.
Mr Hancock told the Downing Street press conference: ‘We’re on track to offer everyone in the top four priority groups a jab by February 15’.
The race to deliver the vaccine comes after care home residents have accounted for almost a third of the total number of coronavirus deaths in England and Wales. As of January 15 2021, a total of 30,851 residents had been killed by the virus.
Separate damning ONS figures show weekly fatalities among care home residents in England alone have almost tripled in the last fortnight, as the virus makes a deadly resurgence in the sector.
The number-crunching body said there were 1,705 deaths in English care homes reported to the Care Quality Commission in the seven days to January 2, up from 661 a fortnight ago.
For the first time the ONS has released data bringing together the deaths of care home residents in care homes and other settings since March 2020 up to the present.
The number of deaths involving Covid-19 in care home residents has been rising in recent weeks. A total of 1,719 deaths were registered in the week to January 15 – the highest figure since the week ending May 21 2020.
The Independent Care Group, which represents providers in York and North Yorkshire, said the figures make ‘grim reading’ and demonstrate the need to avoid complacency.
Chairman Mike Padgham said: ‘Yes, we now have vaccines, and the Government is to be congratulated on the speed at which it is protecting the vulnerable.
‘But Covid-19 is not beaten yet and we must remain cautious and, on our guard, observing all the guidance and keeping everyone in care settings – care and nursing homes and those receiving care in their own homes – as safe as we can, alongside those who are caring for them.
‘The news that carers are going to be supplied with lateral flow tests they can do at home is another positive step and will hopefully have an impact and help protect carers who are selflessly looking after others.’
Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research Sarah Scobie said that care homes are ‘feeling the strain’ and said it will take time for the vaccine rollout to affect figures.
She said: ‘The number of registered deaths from Covid of care home residents has increased by 25 per cent since last week.
‘The sector is again feeling the strain, and while the vaccine roll-out for the most vulnerable is continuing at impressive speed it will be a while until the benefits feed through to the figures.’
The ONS report today also found coronavirus accounted for four in 10 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending January 15 – the highest proportion recorded during the pandemic.
There were 7,245 deaths registered where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate in England and Wales, a 20 per cent rise from the previous week, when 6,057 deaths were registered.
It is also the third highest weekly number recorded during the pandemic and at 40.2 per cent, the week with the highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 recorded so far.
There have also been concerns the drive could be held up by supply of the vaccine, which has been described as ‘lumpy’ and could yet threaten to derail the plans.
Ministers have refused to reveal how much is already in the country, citing a security risk, but there have been reports of deliveries to centres being scaled down.
Confusion has also been sparked over whether supplies are being diverted to areas lagging behind in the rollout, with the vaccines minister denying this after Mr Hancock said the Government would be redirecting stocks last week.
And both Pfizer and AstraZeneca – suppliers of the only two vaccines being used in the UK – have faced disruption to their shipments as they have scaled up manufacturing.
It comes after EU leaders arranged an urgent meeting with AstraZeneca executives after the company unexpectedly slashed its supply of vaccines to the bloc.
The jab-makers have blamed the EU’s supply chain for their failure to deliver the promised 80million vaccines by the end of March as part of a £300million deal.
AstraZeneca, which developed its shot with Oxford University, said on Friday they could only offer 31million vaccines in the first quarter, a cut of 60 per cent.
Furious EU officials said they will investigate their claims and have questioned why Britain is not suffering from similar delays in the rollout.
Peter Liese, an EU lawmaker from the same party as Angela Merkel, said: ‘The flimsy justification that there are difficulties in the EU supply chain but not elsewhere does not hold water, as it is of course no problem to get the vaccine from the UK to the continent.
‘AstraZeneca has been contractually obligated to produce since as early as October and they are apparently delivering to other parts of the world, including the UK without delay.’
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had received an up-front payment of 336 million euros (£298million) from the EU when they struck a deal in August, an EU official told Reuters.