Matt Hancock tells @LBC that "at the moment" the UK is expecting to receive & administer half a million Ox/AZ doses a week. Claims that will increase in the near future.
Urging public to follow the rules closely, Hancock says: "We've only got a few more weeks of this - we have a vaccine, the cavalry is here."
Hancock tells #r4today: "The reason that we're not putting a numerical target on it is because the limiting step is a lack of supply... We're working with Pfizer & AstraZeneca who are doing a remarkable job in getting that supply ready so we can then deliver it through the NHS."
Hancock: "I really, really hope we get 2 million doses a week by the middle of this month but that is up to AstraZeneca." Dismisses suggestion that that is AZ's current target.
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Instead of free parking for all staff, DHSC will fund NHS trusts to scrap charges for night shift workers only, plus disabled patients and parents of seriously ill children: inews.co.uk/news/politics/…
Have written for @TheCriticMag on the failure (so far) of Dominic Cummings & Michael Gove to live up to the radical ideas they espouse in their writings & speeches: thecritic.co.uk/dont-do-as-i-d…
Cummings knows that alternative viewpoints within a team make it stronger; yet he merrily purged dissident Tories. thecritic.co.uk/dont-do-as-i-d…
He thinks little of MPs, but this government is repeatedly forced into U-turns by backbench rebellions - even with a majority of 80. thecritic.co.uk/dont-do-as-i-d…
NEW
Newly released Sage minutes reveal that on 13th March, govt scientists warned that 'seeking to completely suppress spread of Covid19' through a full lockdown would lead to a second peak in the virus, even as lockdowns were starting to be imposed across Europe.
'SAGE was unanimous that measures seeking to completely suppress spread of Covid19 will cause a second peak. SAGE advises that it is a near certainty that countries such as China, where heavy suppression is underway, will experience a second peak once measures are relaxed.'
Re decision to allow Cheltenham (10/3-13/3) and Liverpool-Atletico (12/3)
5/3: 'SAGE agreed there is no evidence to suggest that banning very large gatherings would reduce transmission'
10/3: 'SAGE noted that public gatherings pose a relatively low but not zero public risk'
Update on new rules for Hongkongers seeking to live/work in UK: Home Office appears to confirm that if China presses on with security law, *all* 2.9m 'British nationals (overseas)' in Hong Kong will be allowed to come to UK whether or not they *currently* hold a BN(O) passport.