That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, and the Guardian’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic for now.
Before I go, here’s a roundup of the latest developments:
- The Omicron variant has moved the Covid-19 pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in Europe, the WHO Europe director has said. “It’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,” Hans Kluge told AFP, adding that Omicron could infect 60% of Europeans by March.
- A fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than thrice-vaccinated people in the same age group, Israel’s health ministry has said.
- About 50,000 people protesting against Covid-19 restrictions in Belgium have been dispersed by police. The country is facing a fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, with the peak not expected for at least a couple of weeks.
- US authorities are confident most states will soon reach and pass a peak in coronavirus Omicron variant cases, even as hospitals struggle to cope with the current surge, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser has said.
- Nearly half of those who became ill with Covid in the first wave of infections may have long-term and even permanent changes to their sense of smell, according to preliminary research from Sweden.
- New measures are being introduced in New Zealand as coronavirus cases could rise to more than 1,000 a day driven by the more transmissible Omicron variant. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern has postponed her planned wedding in response.
- Britain reported 74,799 new Covid-19 cases and 75 deaths within 28 days of a positive test on Sunday, government data showed. The number of positive tests has fallen by 15.4% to 641,687 in the last seven days, according to the data.
- Beijing Olympics organisers say they have confirmed 72 cases of Covid-19 among 2,586 Games-related personnel entering China from 4 January to 22 January, with no cases among 171 athletes and team officials arriving in that period.
- The United States, the World Health Organization’s top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, four officials involved in the talks said, raising doubts about the Biden administration’s long-term support for the UN agency.
- Hong Kong authorities said on Sunday one hamster surrendered to authorities by pet owners had tested positive for Covid-19 and that more than 2,200 hamsters had been culled as the city struggled to contain an outbreak.
The Omicron-fuelled wave of Covid-19 infections has led wealthy countries to intensify their recruitment of nurses from poorer parts of the world, worsening dire staffing shortages in overstretched workforces there, the International Council of Nurses has said according to Reuters.
Sickness, burnout and staff departures amid surging Omicron cases have driven absentee rates to levels not yet seen during the two-year pandemic, said Howard Catton, CEO of the Geneva-based group that represents 27 million nurses and 130 national organisations.
To plug the gap, Western countries have responded by hiring army personnel as well as volunteers and retirees but many have also stepped up international recruitment as part of a trend that is worsening health inequity, he continued.
“We have absolutely seen an increase in international recruitment to places like the UK, Germany, Canada and the United States,” Catton said in a Reuters interview based on a report he co-authored on Covid-19 and the global nursing force.
“I really fear this ‘quick fix solution’ – it’s a bit similar to what we’ve been seeing with PPE (personal protective equipment) and vaccines where rich countries have used their economic might to buy and to hoard – if they do that with the nursing workforce it will just make the inequity even worse.”
Even before the pandemic there was a global shortage of 6 million nurses, with nearly 90% of those shortages in low and lower-middle-income countries, according to ICN data.
Some of the recent recruits to rich countries have come from sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, and parts of the Caribbean, Catton said, saying that nurses were often motivated by higher salaries and better terms than at home.
The ICN report said this process was also being facilitated by giving nurses preferred immigration status.
“The bottom line is that some people would look at this and say this is rich countries offloading the costs of educating new nurses and health workers,” he said.
Even wealthy countries will struggle to cope with the “mountains of backlog of unmet care” when the pandemic winds down, Catton warned, calling for more investment and a ten-year plan to strengthen the workforce.
“We need a coordinated, collaborative, concerted global effort which is underpinned by serious investment, not just warm words and platitudes and applause,” he said.
Australians may not be able to travel without quarantine to Europe even if they are fully vaccinated, with both the European Council and the United States issuing warnings about the severity of the Omicron wave down under.
On 17 January, the European Council removed Australia, Canada and Argentina from the “white list”, the list of countries for which restrictions on non-essential travel should be listed.
One day later, on 18 January, the United States updated its travel advice for Australia to “do not travel” after the Centre for Disease Control issued a level four travel health notice for Australia due to “a very high level of COVID-19 in the country”.
That was about a week after reported case numbers peaked at more than 100,000 on 8 January.
The European Council list is reviewed every two weeks, so if Australia’s case numbers continue to fall it could be reinstated as early as next week.
The recommendation is not legally binding, and countries can set their own border restrictions. Italy, Greece and Cyprus have already ignored the ruling. Many European countries are also experiencing a large number of Covid cases, including France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Denmark.
The European Council recommended that states gradually lift their travel restrictions for people coming from New Zealand, Indonesia, South Korea, Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Kuwait, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Uruguay, and China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity
Good morning, this is Helen Livingstone taking over from Charlie Moloney to bring you the day’s Covid news.
First of all, an update from Australia, where the two biggest states, New South Wales and Victoria, have reported a combined 41 deaths and almost 27,000 new cases.
NSW COVID-19 update – Monday 24 January 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 23, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 95.3% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 93.9% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/qwPkAfdWyt
Millions of patients are currently on tenterhooks, often in agony, hoping the NHS will find time to treat them. In my local hospital trust alone, there are 100,000 people stuck in this limbo, with 8,000 of them waiting for more than a year to date. The backlog for operations has reached an all-time high, with Covid making an already difficult situation impossible. Those patients expecting surgery may be shocked by how the current system could encourage those who treat them to see pound signs rather than patients.
During the pandemic, the government has poured funding into private healthcare firms, nominally to relieve pressure on overstretched NHS hospitals. The kind of spending that was once deployed for cataracts and hip operations is now being used routinely to deliver cancer and cardiology care.
Nobody objects to every effort being made to cut waiting lists: but that has not happened, and costs have also rocketed. During the Covid crisis, private companies have pocketed millions in furlough payments while billing the NHS for services that we now know weren’t fully used...
Summary
Here’s a round-up of some key Covid news so far:
- Britain reported 74,799 new Covid-19 cases and 75 deaths within 28 days of a positive test on Sunday, government data showed. The number of positive tests has fallen by 15.4% to 641,687 in the last seven days, according to the data.
- Beijing Olympics organisers said on Sunday they had confirmed 72 cases of Covid-19 among 2,586 Games-related personnel entering China from 4 January to 22 January, with no cases among 171 athletes and team officials arriving in that period.
- The United States, the World Health Organization’s top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, four officials involved in the talks said, raising doubts about the Biden administration’s long-term support for the UN agency.
- Hong Kong authorities said on Sunday one hamster surrendered to authorities by pet owners had tested positive for Covid-19 and that more than 2,200 hamsters had been culled as the city struggled to contain an outbreak.
Updated
About 50,000 people protesting against Covid-19 restrictions in Belgium have been dispersed by police, Reuters reports.
European Commission foreign policy chief Josep Borrell thanked police and condemned “the senseless destruction and violence” in a tweet that showed him standing in front of a broken pane of glass.
Some protesters let off fireworks as police advanced into a park. Riot officers ringed the water cannon. “I’m not an anti-vaxxer, I’m anti-dictator,” read another placard.
Belgium is facing a fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, with the peak not expected for at least a couple of weeks.
Some 89% of Belgian adults are fully vaccinated and 67% have now also received a booster shot.
Updated
US authorities are confident most states will soon reach and pass a peak in coronavirus Omicron variant cases, even as hospitals struggle to cope with the current surge, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser said on Sunday.
“I think [we’re] as confident as you can be,” Anthony Fauci told ABC’s This Week. “You never want to be overconfident when you’re dealing with this virus, because it has certainly surprised us in the past.
“But, if you look at the patterns that we have seen in South Africa, in the UK and in Israel, and in the [US] north-east and New England and upper midwest states, they have peaked and started to come down rather sharply.
“There are still some southern states and western states that continue to go up but if the pattern follows the trend that we’re seeing in other places … I believe that you will start to see a turnaround throughout the entire country.”
The Omicron variant has moved the Covid-19 pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in Europe, the WHO Europe director has said.
“It’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,” Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview on Sunday, adding that Omicron could infect 60% of Europeans by March.
Once the surge of Omicron currently sweeping across Europe subsides, “there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity, either thanks to the vaccine or because people have immunity due to the infection, and also lowering seasonality”.
“We anticipate that there will be a period of quiet before Covid-19 may come back towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back,” Kluge said.
Updated
A fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than thrice-vaccinated people in the same age group, Israel’s health ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry also said the fourth dose, or second booster, doubled resistance against infection compared with those in the age group who received only three shots of the vaccine.
Israel began offering a fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine to people over 60 earlier this month, Reuters reports.
Updated
Nearly half of those who became ill with Covid in the first wave of infections may have long-term and even permanent changes to their sense of smell, according to preliminary research from Sweden.
A sudden loss of smell, or an impaired or distorted perception of odours, emerged as an unusual symptom of Covid early on in the pandemic. While many people swiftly recovered, others found that their sense of smell never quite returned to normal.
To find out how common the impairments might be, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm ran comprehensive tests on 100 individuals who caught Covid in the first wave of infections that swept through Sweden in spring 2020.
Their early findings show that 18 months after recovering from Covid, very few people – only 4% – had lost their sense of smell entirely, but a third had a reduced ability to detect odours, and nearly half complained of parosmia, where the sense of smell is distorted. Most of those with a reduced sense of smell were unaware of it before they joined the study.
Updated
The Queen flew by helicopter to her Sandringham estate in East England on Sunday after delaying her traditional Christmas trip for a month due to COVID-19, a Buckingham Palace source said.
Reuters reports that the queen flew from Windsor Castle to the residence in Norfolk, where the monarch had spent Christmas with members of her family for decades before the pandemic struck in 2020.
The 95-year-old monarch has been at Windsor Castle to the west of London for most of the pandemic.
She will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne, this year.
Updated
Some American conservatives are taking aim at policies that allow doctors to consider race as a risk factor when allocating scarce COVID-19 treatments, saying the protocols discriminate against white people.
The wave of infections brought on by the omicron variant and a shortage of treatments have focused attention on the policies, AP reports.
Medical experts say the opposition is misleading. Health officials have long said there is a strong case for considering race as one of many risk factors in treatment decisions. And there is no evidence that race alone is being used to decide who gets medicine.
The issue came to the forefront last week after Fox News host Tucker Carlson, former President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio jumped on the policies. In recent days, conservative law firms have pressured a Missouri-based health care system, Minnesota and Utah to drop their protocols and sued New York state over allocation guidelines or scoring systems that include race as a risk factor.
74,799 new Covid-19 cases reported in UK
There were 74,799 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the UK on Sunday, the Government said.
The Government also said a further 75 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 153,862.
A total of 52,223,105 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK by January 22, Government figures show.
Some 48,158,421 second doses have been delivered, an increase of 42,473.
A combined total of 36,890,079 booster and third doses have been given, a day-on-day rise of 68,795.
Updated
Summary
Here’s a round-up of today’s Covid-19 news so far.
- Russia has again broken its record for the number of new Covid-19 cases, after reporting 63,205 new infections.It is the third day in a row it has beaten its highest previous total. Another 679 people have died, bringing the death toll to 326,112.
- Two million people will be tested for Covid in Beijing, a fortnight before the Winter Olympics is set to begin. An outbreak of nine cases saw restrictions introduced as athletes, delegates and other personnel start arriving in the city.
- Thousands of protestors have marched through Brussels opposing coronavirus rules. Police have used tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators who are angry about restrictions including mandatory vaccinations and Covid passports.
- A hamster surrendered to Hong Kong authorities by its owners has tested positive for Covid-19 and more than 2,200 hamsters have been culled, as the city grapples to contain an outbreak of the virus.
- The UK is past the worst of the Covid pandemic but should be braced for some “possible bumps on the road”, according to the Prof Neil Ferguson, the scientist who helped shape Britain’s lockdown strategy.
- England has been labelled an “outlier” by Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon over vaccine passports and mask wearing in public places, she told BBC One’s Sunday Morning politics programme.
- Dominic Raab told Sophie Raworth, who is now fronting the BBC show, that Boris Johnson should resign if he misleads parliament, in keeping with the ministerial code.
- Senior World Health Organization official Maria van Kerkhove has said the Omicron variant will not the last mutation of concern, adding that globally the population is still vulnerable.
- New measures are being introduced in New Zealand as coronavirus cases could rise to more than 1,000 a day driven by the more transmissible Omicron variant. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern has postponed her planned wedding in response.
As reported earlier, thousands of protesters are demonstrating in Brussels, Belgium today against Covid-19 measures in the country. Police have set off tear gas and used water cannon in an attempt to control and deter crowds.
Updated
It’s not just people who are feeling the effects of the pandemic, as a cull of hamsters is underway in Hong Kong.
On Tuesday officials ordered the killing of hamsters from dozens of pet shops after tracing a Covid-19 outbreak to a worker and asked people to surrender any of the animals bought on or after 22 December. One who had been surrendered to authorities has tested positive.
While a handful of hamsters had already tested positive for the virus, this case is the first involving a hamster in the care of a pet owner that has tested positive.
Read more:
Dozens of Olympic Games personnel have tested positive for Covid, according to organisers of the Beijing event which starts in 12 days.
They reported 72 cases among 2,586 Games-related personnel arriving in China from Jan 4 to Jan 22. But there were no cases among the 171 athletes and team officials arriving during that period, according to Reuters in the Chinese capital.
Of the confirmed positive cases, 39 were found in testing at the airport and 33 inside the “closed loop” bubble that separates all event personnel from the public. Participants in the bubble are subject to daily testing.
Thousands of protestors have marched through Brussels opposing coronavirus rules.
A sprawling crowd appeared far larger than previous demonstrations that have paraded through the Belgian capital to the seat of the European Union, according to reporters from Agence France-Presse.
Protesters carried signs slamming Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and the Covid Safe pass proving you are vaccinated or have tested negative that is required for entry into many venues.
Organisers including the World Wide Demonstration for Freedom and Europeans United for Freedom had called for people to come from other EU states and flags from Poland, the Netherlands and Romania could be seen.
“What has been happening since 2020 has allowed people to wake up to corruption,” said Francesca Fanara, who had travelled from northern France,
“It’s a health dictatorship,” said Adolfo Barbosa from Portugal. “It warms the heart to see these people here.”
Wedding bells are postponed for New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The 41-year old had planned to marry next weekend but is putting her nuptials on hold following the discovery of nine cases of the omicron variant in a single family that flew to Auckland, Associated Press reports.
Ardern announced new COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday to try and arrest the spread of the variant as one of the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of omicron finally succumbed.
“I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic and to anyone who’s caught up in that scenario, I am so sorry,” she told reporters.
The so-called “red setting” of the country’s pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings. The restrictions will go into effect on Monday. Businesses can remain open and people can still visit family and friends and move freely around the country.
My colleague Nicola Davis has spoken to Prof Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist who first raised the alarm over the scale of the threat posed by Covid cases in the UK in March 2020.
The UK is past the worst of the Covid pandemic but should be braced for some “possible bumps on the road”, according to the scientist who helped shape Britain’s lockdown strategy.
Neil Ferguson, a leading epidemiologist at Imperial College London, said things were looking up as the country passed the peak of yet another wave of coronavirus infections.
“I am optimistic that the bulk of the pandemic, in terms of deaths and hospitalisations, is behind us. Though we should still be prepared for some possible bumps on the road,” he said, adding that any new variants – which were highly likely to arise – may have a less dramatic impact than Omicron.
See more:
Back to the UK, where the Conservative party’s Scottish chief whip says prime minister Boris Johnson’s resignation over parties during Covid-19 lockdowns is “inevitable”.
Stephen Kerr told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show that whatever the outcome of the investigation, it would likely end Johnson’s time in Downing Street, according to PA Media. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, has already called for him to resign.
“I think the longer it takes for the Sue Gray report to come out, the more detail there’s going to be in it, the more investigation that will have taken place,” Kerr said.
“I think there’s an inevitability to what happens next and it gives me, as you can imagine, no joy whatsoever about a Conservative prime minister having to leave office, but I think that is where this ends up.”
Here’s something a bit different. An Irish trainee nurse, who has previously adapted famous works of art for the Covid-era, has taken on Mona Lisa to raise money for charity.
Chloe Slevin, a 21-year-old nursing student at University College Dublin, has painted the Corona Lisa, and is auctioning it off to raise funds for Ireland’s children’s hospice, LauraLynn. In it, the subject of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous portrait is wearing full PPE.
She told PA Media that she drew inspiration from working on a children’s emergency ward.
“The PPE became normal to us and we were wearing it day in, day out and that’s kind of what inspired the Corona Lisa,” she said.
“I loved this placement but it was a very tough time. There I experienced my first paediatric cardiac arrest and that’s something you’d never forget. You never forget the moment you got that phone call, we ran in to put on our PPE and we did everything we could.
“It was probably the toughest thing I’ve gone through so far, it was an incredibly difficult time. The impact it had on me, I still get emotional talking about it today.”
She has previously recreated Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring as Girl With a Surgical Mask. Slevin also painted The Separation of Adam, from Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, seen on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.
The city government in Beijing has introduced new measures to deal with an outbreak of Covid-19, two weeks before the Winter Olympics begins in the city.
Nine cases were identified on Saturday, with six in the Chinese city’s Fengtai district.
Testing has been increased, with 2 million set to be checked, and authorities have asked residents from the district and other affected areas not to leave the city, and to avoid mass gatherings.
In Fengtai, some kindergartens have told parents that children who have not been vaccinated against coronavirus will not be able to attend, two parents told Reuters.
Some delegates, athletes and media personnel have already begun arriving in China ahead of the games which start on 4 February.
Updated
Russia breaks daily case total for third day in a row
Russia has again broken its record for the number of new Covid-19 cases, after reporting 63,205 new infections.
It is the third day in a row it has beaten its highest previous total, Reuters reports. More than 57,000 new cases were reported the day before. Another 679 people have died, bringing the death toll to 326,112.
WHO official cautions Omicron will not be the last variant of note
A senior World Health Organization official cautioned against countries thinking they were over the worst of Covid-19 after infection rates dipped following the Omicron variant.
Maria van Kerkhove, speaking to Sophie Raworth on BBC One said: “You may be out of the latest wave of Omicron. In many countries like the UK, that has a high population level of immunity level from infection and vaccination coverage, you will see a difference going forward. You’re in a different stage of the pandemic.
“[However] out of the 10 billion doses of vaccines that have been administered to date, there are still 3 billion people waiting for their first dose. We still have a highly susceptible population, even if there are some countries further along, the rest of the world is still in it. It’s a global problem, we need to treat it with global solutions.”
She added: “It will not end with this latest wave with Omicron, and it’s not the last variant you will hear us talking about.”
Updated
As part of a series of questions asking whether the first minister has a deadline in mind for when Covid measures will end, Raworth asks how long masks in public places will remain in Scotland.
Sturgeon replies: “I don’t want them to be in place for any longer than they should be. None of us enjoy wearing them, but they are not the biggest handicap to endure to stop transmission. While they make a difference, I think it’s something we should do. I’d suggest it’s England that’s an outlier, not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland or other countries across the world.
“An opinion poll showed that 2/3 of people think we’ve taken the right approach during the pandemic. People understand to protect ourselves, each other and our society, doing things like wearing face coverings is a small price to pay, and allows the most clinically vulnerable to live something like a normal life.”
Sturgeon: 'England an outlier over vaccine passports, not Scotland'
Sturgeon talks about the impact on business. She said she realises that hospitality has been badly affected by the pandemic.
“It’s not about having protective measures and businesses are damaged, or having no measures and everything is fine. It’s having measures than stem transmission, or allowing things to be controlled.”
She says that vaccine passports don’t eradicate the chance of an outbreak, but reduces it. “If you do have an outbreak in one of these higher risk settings, you reduce the number of people who are likely to get very seriously ill and reduce the pressure on our health service.
“If you look across Europe right now, many many countries have Covid certification schemes in place and many countries have them in place in a much wider spread of venues than is the case here in Scotland. Of course Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have all chosen to do this… We feel as if we are being described as somehow doing things uniquely, and because England hasn’t done them we’re the outlier.
“It’s a statement of fact that in many of these cases, it’s actually England that’s the outlier - not just the UK context, but in a European context. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are actually following the path that many European countries are.”
Updated
First minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is now up on the BBC.
She says the decisions over the government easing measures in England is a matter for them, with her government taking a “cautious path” through the pandemic. “We have learnt from experience that this virus is unpredictable.”
Raworth says infection rates are roughly the same in Scotland and England, have the stricter restrictions in Scotland worth it?
“Overall throughout this pandemic, levels of infection have been lower in Scotland.
“Yes, I think they were worth it. I know that they have had a big impact on businesses and individuals. While I understand the Scotland/England comparison, it’s not the most important one.
“What’s important is are we in a better position than we would have been without these restrictions? It’s hard to absolutely prove cause and effect, but if you look at what we were predicting through our modelling, what we were on track for, 50,000 infections a day, we didn’t see that materialise.
“That was a combination of an acceleration of our booster programme, Scotland is the most vaccinated part of the UK ... these sensible balanced protective measures introduced before Christmas, and the magnificent responsible response from the public who have changed their behaviour. We are hopefully now seeing Scotland very firmly on the downward slope.”
Raab: 'PM should resign if found to have misled parliament about parties'
An interesting exchange as Raworth asks Raab whether Johnson should resign if it’s found he had misled parliament. She mentions news that emerged overnight in the Sunday Times that Sue Gray’s inquiry has been expanded to include parties in the prime minister’s flat.
Raab says it’s a significant and important development and Gray will look into it.
In response to her asking about whether the prime minister should resign if he’s found to have lied. “We’ve been clear that ministerial code of conduct is there for everyone, including the prime minister. The facts are there for Sue Gray to determine. There will be full transparency and accountability.
“The code of conduct for ministers is clear, if that you mislead parliament it is a resigning matter. I’m full square behind what the code of conduct for ministers says, it’s important for integrity in public office.”
Updated
On the BBC, Sophie Raworth is still presenting its Sunday morning politics show since Andrew Marr’s departure.
On Sunday Morning, her first guest in the studio is Dominic Raab. She asks him if he could be prime minister by the end of the week, given the upcoming publication of the Sue Gray report.
He says not and adds: “The reality is Sue Gray will report on the issues around Number 10. We take these issues seriously and it;s right they’re investigated by Sue Gray properly and there’s that transparency and due process.”
She asks if he’s preparing for a vote of no confidence. “There is a rallying of support behind the prime minister. You could feel it in the chamber. I think it’s because the booster campaign has been so successful. We’re coming out of lockdown measures. We’re coming out of Plan B, opening up the economy, and this is all because of calls the prime minister has made.”
Brown: 'Johnson's government will end in scandal'
Appearing on Sky, former prime minister Gordon Brown said Boris Johnson’s government will end in scandal.
He said: “My fear is that scandal is going to follow Boris Johnson as long as he is prime minister.
“We don’t just have the scandal - and all the details will probably come out later this week about partying - we have the conflicts of interest, we have the dubious appointments, we have foreign money and question marks over that, who is paying the bills for what?
“And I don’t think we are going to see this administration end in anything other than scandal.”
Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry on now.
She says that on vaccines for NHS staff or they will be sacked, the priority should be working with people within the health service.
“The principle behind [compulsory vaccinations for staff], we do agree with. The question is when should that policy deadline be implemented. There is discussion about putting off that deadline in relation to that, and if we are going to do that we need to work with the hospitals, trade union movement about how it is that we can convince as many people as possible who work in the health service to get vaccinated.
“Nobody works in the health service for the money, but it’s to help others. Arguments need to be put forward to say they’re not helping people by not getting vaccinated.”
Phillips says that partygate has made it look “grim” for the government and that it’s paralysing them. He says Dominic Cummings will be reinterviewed tomorrow by Sue Gray and another “red wall” Conservative MP has submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister.
“I accept the seriousness of the issue, that’s why Sue Gray should determine who, when and how she investigates. I will point to decisions made this week, the success of the vaccine rollout, the measures that open up the economy, none of which would have happened if we’d have listened to the Labour party,” Raab says.
“All of this shows that not withstanding these all of these other issues, the PM is taking the right calls, the big decisions to take us through the worst pandemic in living memory.”
Phillips says that 73,000 health service staff will be sacked if they remain unvaccinated, and asks if it’s the right decision. The Royal College of General Practitioners has asked for it to be delayed.
Raab replies: “We’ve got 9 out of 10 NHS staff vaccinated, there’s been a big push to encourage vaccinations. It shows progress being made. We encourage anyone to come forward to get those jabs before the deadline. But we’ve also got to think about people who would be at risk if NHS staff don’t have the vaccine.”
Raab says 'partygate' not distracting government from big issues
We’re underway with Trevor Phillips on Sunday, on Sky.
Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab is up first.
He says that issues like partygate as a “distraction” while the government waits for the publication of the Sue Gray report. Johnson announced plan B lockdown measures will be lifted from January 26.
“This week has shown that we’re dealing with the big issues, that we haven’t been distracted. We’ve been able to ease up on the lockdown measures, that only happens because of the success of the vaccine rollout, that only happens because the prime minister held his nerve, when others including the Labour Party were encouraging him to stay in lockdown measures,” he says.
Updated
Good morning from London, I’m Harry Taylor and I’ll be bringing you coverage today, as the saga around parties in Downing Street during coronavirus lockdowns continues to unfold.
The senior civil servant investigating allegations of at least nine events has been given access to a log of staff movements in and out of the building from security data, which includes swipecards.
Sue Gray, the official putting the report together, is expected to publish her findings this week, and will examine the precise timings of arrivals and departures. The outcome could determine the future of UK prime minister Boris Johnson, with some of his MPs ready to submit letters of no confidence depending on what her report contains.
The issue is likely to be explored in the Sunday morning politics shows. Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister will appear on both Sky and BBC this morning. Nicola Sturgeon will also be speaking to Sophie Raworth on the Beeb, with Gordon Brown, Emily Thornberry, Rachel de Souza and Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko on Trevor Phillips on Sunday.
While the focus in the UK is over parties that went ahead, in New Zealand it’s on one that won’t be, as prime minister Jacinda Ardern has cancelled her wedding to fiancée Clark Gayford amid the Omicron variant. It’s expected the country will see 1,000 cases a day in the coming weeks.
