UK Covid live: tier 3 rules brought in across southern England as furlough scheme extended to end of April 2021
Tier 3 #Tier3
10.17am EST 10:17
The future of the Erasmus university exchange programme post Brexit is hanging in the balance with little sign it is secure following an appearance by Michael Gove before the Brexit select committee.
The UK has the option of paying into both the Erasmus and flagship Horizon Europe programme post Brexit but Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, hinted they were not equally valuable to the country. He told MPs:
Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. We are considering which EU programmes we should be part of in the future. When we are looking at both Erasmus and Horizon, there are different judgments about their value to the UK, but we’re looking at those in the round as part of the discussion.
EU sources say the UK does not want to become an associate Erasmus participant because it would mean a seven-year commitment in line with the EU’s budget cycle.
10.15am EST 10:15
In his statement to MPs earlier Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that “a much wider area of the east and south-east of England” was moving into tier 3. This was confusing because he did not mention places that are normally thought of as part of the east of England.
Carl Baker, a researcher at the House of Commons library, has an explanation.
10.02am EST 10:02
Gove claims chances of UK-EU trade deal now ‘less than 50%’
Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, has put the chances of a Brexit trade deal with the EU being agreed by Sunday night are below 50%.
This is significantly lower than the 66% chance he had placed on a potential deal two months ago and dampens hopes of a breakthrough in the next day or two.
He told MPs on the Brexit select committee this afternoon:
I think regrettably the chances are more likely that we won’t secure an agreement so at the moment less than 50%.
He also put paid to the idea that the UK and EU could resume talks early next year if trade talks currently in their final furlong fail to produce a deal by the end of the transition period. In those circumstance, he told the committee:
There would be contact between UK and European nations … as we would expect, but what we would not be doing is attempting to negotiate a new deal.
The EU have put in place no deal contingency plans to keep planes flying and trucks moving goods across the border in the event of no deal. Sources in the EU have said this is to allow for a temporary situation, running to a number of weeks, between the end of transition and a deal either being agreed or coming into force.
9.58am EST 09:58
Public Health England has published its weekly Covid surveillance report (pdf). It covers the period up to the end of last week (or week 50, in PHE terms).
Here is an extract from the summary.
Detections of Covid-19 cases in England increased in week 50. Overall positivity rates also increased in both Pillar 1 and 2. Sharp increases in case rates were seen in London, south-east and east of England in week 50, while smaller increases were observed in all other regions. Case rates have increased in the majority of age groups in week 50. Positivity has increased in individuals who have reported having symptoms.
The report says case rates per 100,000 were highest in London, where there was a rate of 319.3 per 100,000 population. London also saw the biggest increase on the previous week, when there was a rate of 199.9 per 100,000 in the capital.
This chart shows how the proportion of positive cases per 100,000 people has started to rise sharply.
Case rates per 100,000 Photograph: PHE
And this chart shows how positivity rates – the proportion of people who get a test who turn out positive – are also rising.
Positivity rates for people tested under pillar 2 (most non-hospital tests) Photograph: PHE
Updated at 10.03am EST
9.37am EST 09:37
Sunak extends furlough scheme until end of April amid speculation tough restrictions could last months
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has announced that the furlough scheme will now be extended until the end of April. When it was last extended, in November, it was due to run until the end of March.
Sunak has also announced that the budget will be held on 3 March, and the Treasury says in its news release that extending the furlough scheme until the end of April “gives businesses certainty well ahead of the 45-day redundancy notice period, with the budget setting out the next phase of support more than 45 days before the new end date of the scheme”.
But the announcement will also be seen as further evidence that the government expects large areas of England to be under the strictest restrictions well into the spring. (See 12.17pm.)
The Treasury is also extending government loan schemes for businesses, that were due to close in January, until the end of March.
When the furlough scheme was first announced in March, it was initially set to run for three months. But since then it has been repeatedly extended.
Updated at 10.08am EST
9.24am EST 09:24
The Department of Health has released a written ministerial statement giving the reasons for the decisions taken today about why areas in England are staying in, or moving from, particular tiers. It’s here – although the version up at the moment only covers the north-west, the north-east and London.
9.13am EST 09:13
The government is to provide interim cover for EU holiday healthcare costs for people who require routine hospital treatment such as dialysis and chemotherapy in the event there is no Brexit deal to replace the current European Health Care Insurance Scheme (EHIC).
In a written ministerial statement, Edward Argar, a health minister, said:
This government will introduce the scheme with the intention that it is used by individuals who are certain to require treatment while abroad, such as regular dialysis, oxygen therapy or certain types of chemotherapy. The government recognises that these ongoing, routine treatment costs can be expensive, and makes travelling abroad extremely challenging for many people.
This means British citizens who need life-sustaining treatment, equipment and medication can now make travel plans for next year at no extra cost.
The arrangements will last for 12 months from 1 January 2021.
Travel insurance for people with pre-existing conditions is expected to rocket to prohibitive prices next year unless there is a replacement scheme for the EHIC system.
Fiona Loud, policy director for charity Kidney Care UK, said the announcement could help up to 30,000 who are on dialysis in the UK right now.
She said travel is “greatly valued” to kidney patients and their families. “Having a break means the world to them; now the vaccination programme has started this is something to look forward to. We welcome this move for patients and the reassurance it gives, but need arrangements to be made so people don’t have to pay in advance,” she said.
Updated at 9.58am EST
8.53am EST 08:53
Starmer says tier system ‘not strong enough’ to work
Sir Keir Starmer has launched a fresh attack on the government’s handling of the pandemic. Speaking to the BBC this morning during a visit to South Yorkshire, he made the following criticisms:
The numbers are heading in the wrong direction, the medical advice is that this could lead to real problems in January.
Instead of the prime minister stepping up himself and saying ‘I’m leading from the front’, he is effectively saying ‘it’s over to you, families and communities’ and trying to shift the blame to other people to take responsibility for Christmas when he should be leading from the front.
My concern about the tier system is that it’s just not strong enough to control the virus. We’ve been seeing the numbers going in the wrong direction across the country in the last seven days in particular …
There are many areas that are going to stay in tier 3 and they will be asking themselves how on earth do we get out of this situation …
We had a tier system before lockdown which didn’t really work. We’re in another tier system and it seems to me that it’s not doing the work that the prime minister promised it would do.
The messaging has been all over the place – work at home, don’t work at home, go out to eat, don’t go out to eat, enjoy Christmas, have a small Christmas. So, the messaging needs to improve.
Keir Starmer Photograph: BBC News
Updated at 9.07am EST
8.34am EST 08:34
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in south Wales has suspended non-urgent care at its hospitals following increased pressure on services in Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil. It said in a statement:
Across the health board there are 419 suspected, confirmed or recovering Covid-19 patients in our hospitals and our intensive care beds are currently near capacity.
We have more than 50 patients in our temporary hospital Ysbyty’r Seren. Many of our health and social care staff are off work with Covid-19 and this brings additional challenges in delivering our services.
For that reason, on 16 December Cwm Taf Morgannwg took the difficult decision to begin to stand down some services and to redeploy staff from these services to assist in maintaining core and emergency services across the health board.