Here are the coronavirus morning headlines for Tuesday, January 18 as unvaccinated healthcare staff in England face being sacked without an exit payment, an official document shows.
From April, all health and social care workers, including nurses, in England will be required to have two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to go to work if their role involves “direct contact with patients”, unless they have an exemption.
Staff who refuse the vaccine or who decline to disclose their vaccination status will be offered redeployment to non-patient-facing roles and those who cannot be redeployed face losing their jobs, reports The Independent.
The move has already been introduced among staff working in care homes in England, as of November 2021.
The new rule means that for frontline staff to be full vaccinated by April 1 they must have had their first vaccine on February 3.
Healthcare employers have been told that from the following day – February 4 – unjabbed staff should be invited to a meeting and told that a potential outcome may be dismissal.
The guidance, published on Friday and reported on by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), is for the implementation of Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment (VCOD).
The 24-page document says: “It is important to note this is not a redundancy exercise. In the context of the regulations, there is no diminishment or cessation of work of a particular kind.
“Employers will not be concerned with finding ‘suitable alternative employment’ and there will be no redundancy entitlements, including payments, whether statutory or contractual, triggered by this process.
“The redeployment or dismissal of workers is determined by the introduction of the regulations and an individual’s decision to remain unvaccinated."
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Aside from redeployment, the guidance made clear that employers “will need to consider the termination of employment of staff whose roles are in scope of the regulations and who refuse to be vaccinated in-line with the mandated timescales… or decline to disclose their vaccination status”.
“Employers should consider an individual’s reasons for declining to be vaccinated and examine options short of dismissal, where appropriate,” the guidance said.
“However, if it’s not feasible to implement alternative solutions, staff will be taken through a formal process to dismissal.”
The guidance noted that staff who lose their jobs due to vaccination are not being made redundant and therefore will not be entitled to any statutory or contractual redundancy payments.
In recent weeks, unions, including the Royal College of Nursing and Unison, have made appeals to the government to delay the implementation of the new Covid-19 vaccination rules because of serious staffing concerns.
Top medic 'cautiously optimistic' the end of the pandemic is in sight
Wales' top medic has said that there is "room for cautious optimism " that the endemic is in sight as cases from the Omicron start to fall and hospitalisations decrease.
Dr Frank Atherton has said it is still too early to say but a good outcome would be that the country moves from pandemic to endemic, where coronavirus becomes seasonal like flu.
He added that more than 90% of people in Wales now have some level of immunity against coronavirus.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales ' breakfast show on Monday (January 17), he said: "Things have changed quite significantly over the past week. We are still in the midst of the Omicron wave with community rates still very high, but they have come down quite significantly. It is always difficult in the period just after Christmas because people's behaviours change, and we made some policy changes around testing.
"Even if you take that into account, it looks like community rates are falling. They still remain very, very high. Hospitalisation rates is still quite high, but that has been reducing a little bit. Quite a favourable position and what we predicted to happen around middle of January.
"We hope we are past the peak. The rates coming down do give us confidence things are going in the right direction.
"I do see some light. I do have some cautious optimism because the current wave seems to be diminishing, which is great news. Come March, I would expect community rates to be much lower and the hospitalisation rates will fall back.
"If that is the case we have the prospect of a reasonable spring, and then into the early summer. We do have in our population very high levels of some level of immunity either by natural infection or by our fantastic vaccination programme. More than 90% of people have some level of antibodies against coronavirus, so that stands us in good stead."
He added a warning of caution: "What we don't know is what is around the corner, we have seen with coronavirus that it can come back to bite us. We don't know what might happen in terms of new variants which might generate anywhere in the world, so we have to be cautious, but there is room for cautious optimism and we do have to learn to live with the virus.
"We need to move from pandemic to endemic where hopefully it becomes a seasonal infection, rather like flu. That would be a good outcome and something that we may well be moving towards, but it is a bit too early to say."
Downing Street denies claim the Prime Minister knew of lockdown drinks party
Downing Street rejected claims by Dominic Cummings on Monday (January 17) that Boris Johnson was told in advance staff were holding a drinks party in the No 10 garden during the first Covid lockdown.
The Prime Minister’s former chief adviser said he was willing to "swear under oath" that Mr Johnson was lying when he told MPs he had not known beforehand about the "bring your own bottle" event on May 20, 2020, reports The Mirror.
It would mean the PM lied to the Commons when he claimed he thought it was a work event.
Cummings claims he told Boris Johnson “you’ve got to grip this madhouse” after the invite was sent out asking around 100 staff to attend the BYOB party at No10.
He says at least two senior officials told Boris Johnson’s Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds to cancel the garden party on May 20, 2020.
Mr Reynolds then allegedly checked with the PM whether the event could go ahead, and was told that it could.
In his latest blog, Mr Cummings writes: “I said to the PM something like: Martin’s invited the building to a drinks party, this is what I’m talking about, you’ve got to grip this madhouse. The PM waved it aside.”
He said it was “not credible” that Mr Reynolds would have told senior officials he would check with the PM and then failed to do so.
Mr Cummings said: “The events of May 20 alone, never mind the string of other events, mean the PM lied to Parliament about parties. Not only me but other eyewitnesses who discussed this at the time would swear under oath this is what happened.”
Mr Johnson attended the party, it is understood with his wife Carrie. He sparked widespread disbelief last week at PMQs when he claimed he “implicitly believed” it was work related.
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Latest coronavirus infection rate for Wales
Eighteen more people have died with coronavirus in Wales, according to latest figures from Public Health Wales.
The data, published on Monday, January 17, and covering a 48-hour period up to 9am on January 16, shows 3,975 new positive cases to bring the total to 744,717.
The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales has now reached 6,707.
The latest infection rate, based on the seven days up to January 12 is 650.2 cases for every 100,000 people – which is down substantially the 1,109.1 recorded on Sunday.
However, sharp daily drops are expected as the change to testing rules filters through into the weekly infection rate. Anyone who has a positive lateral flow test, but does not have symptoms, will no longer need to take a PCR test to confirm they have Covid which will impact testing figures.
Three hospitals under 'extreme pressure' facing 'exceptionally high levels of demand'
A warning has been issued to patients after all three Cwm Taf Morgannwg hospitals have been under "extreme pressure".
On Sunday, January 16 Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board issued a statement stating all three of the health board's acute hospitals have recently faced "extreme pressure".
The statement released on Sunday read: "All three of our acute hospitals are under extreme pressure tonight as we are experiencing exceptionally high levels of demand.
"Remember EDs are for emergencies only. Use the NHS 111 Wales symptom checker to find out how you can get the right carehttps://111.wales.nhs.uk/."
Back last week a hospital in Rhondda Cynon Taf was urging people not to visit for minor emergencies due to pressures on staff.
On Monday, January 10 Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board issued a notice to patients asking them not to attend Royal Glamorgan Hospital, in Talbot Green, for minor emergencies.
A statement issued by the health board said: "From Monday January 10, between 7am and 5pm on a weekday, patients who attend the Royal Glamorgan Hospital Emergency Department with a minor injury will be offered an appointment in the Minor Injury Unit (MIU) in Yswbty Cwm Rhondda. This is only for certain conditions.
"Due to the current pressures and crowding in the Emergency Department, if you have a minor injury, we do ask you call 111 first to make an appointment in the MIU instead of coming to the Emergency Department. Thank you for your cooperation."
Six Nations in crisis as unvaccinated players banned from playing in France
Professional rugby players who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 will not be able to play in France this year.
The French Assemblée Nationale has passed a new law that requires people to be vaccinated if they are to visit many public places like restaurants, bars, stadiums and cafes.
And as such, professional athletes will no longer be allowed to enter the country to compete if they have not had the vaccine, according to AFP.
Les Bleus have home games against Italy, Ireland and England this year. Wayne Pivac's Wales side aren't travelling to Paris this year and will be hosting France on March 11.
France's new law was approved by parliament on Sunday and is expected to come into force on January 20.
"The rule is simple. The vaccine pass will be imposed, as soon as the law is promulgated, in establishments that were already subject to the health pass," the ministry said.
"This will apply to everyone who is a spectator or a professional sportsperson. And this until further notice.
"Now, as far as Roland Garros [the next tennis Grand Slam Djokovic will hope to play in] is concerned, it's in May. The situation may change between now and then and we hope that it will be more favourable.
"So we'll see, but clearly there's no exemption."
It's unclear how many Six Nations players will be affected. England's Henry Slade is one who has previously revealed his is not vaccinated.
Unvaccinated over-60s in Greece now face monthly fines
Greece has imposed a vaccination mandate for people over the age of 60, as coverage remains below the EU average and a recent rise in infections has sustained pressure on hospitals, the Associated Press reports.
Older people who fail to get vaccinated will face penalties, starting at a €50 ($57) fine in January and followed by a monthly fine of €100 ($114) after that.
About two-thirds of Greece’s 10.7 million population is fully vaccinated – the EU average is just over 70%. The rate of death and daily hospitalisations has increased following the recent spread of the Omicron variant, though pressure on ICU capacity has eased slightly.
The health minister, Thanos Plevris, said fines would be collected through the tax office with the money to be used to help fund state hospitals.
“The age factor is important because of its impact on the public health service,” Plevris told private Open TV on Sunday.
A vaccination mandate was imposed for health care workers last year. And starting on 1 February, vaccination certificates for adults will expire after seven months unless the holder receives a booster shot.
New infections sharply surged in early January, and have eased over the past week.
The mandate for over-60s was announced in late December and, according to government data, 41.5% of the 530,000 people targeted by the measure are now fully vaccinated.
Greece has the seventh oldest population in the world, as measured by share of residents aged 65 and over, according to the US-based Population Reference Bureau.
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