He added that if a high vaccination rate was achieved by the fall – “I am sure this will happen,” he asserted – “we could have a normal winter next year.”
In other developments, Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Emergencies Scientific Advisory Group (SAGE) said it was “too early to judge” whether December 2 would be too early to lift the national lockdown in England and replace it with a regional three-tier lockdown system. However, it was clear that a return to the lowest alert level, Level 1, would be “extremely unwise.”
Live updates
Breaking: Latest UK numbers in …
Italy reported nearly 34,000 new cases overnight
Italy recorded 33,979 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours – down from 37,255 yesterday.
The country’s Ministry of Health also reported 546 Covid-related deaths, up slightly from 544 the previous day.
The ministry said that about 195,275 tests were conducted for the Corona virus during the past 24 hours, compared to 227,695 previously.
The northern Lombardy region, centered in the Italian financial capital Milan, remains the worst-affected region, with 8,060 new cases reported.
Matt Hancock will appear at GMB tomorrow as the boycott ends
The government “boycott” of ITV’s Good Morning Britain program will end on Monday, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock is set to appear on the show.
Hancock’s scheduled appearance on Monday will be the first by a member of the cabinet since April.
“Break: I just got a call from Downing Street. The 201-day government boycott of GMB has ended and Health Secretary MattHancock will appear on the show tomorrow morning,” presenter Pierce Morgan said in a tweet.
Morgan had previously accused the government of “cowardice” for not asking cabinet members for questioning.
Rishi Sunak is often described as a potential successor to the Prime Minister, but he doesn’t seem very keen …
A prominent epidemiologist has warned that the risks of contagion associated with the widespread return of people to Ireland to celebrate Christmas may be a recipe for disaster.
Dr. Gabriel Scully said he agreed with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s assessment that it was too early to consider booking flights home during the holidays.
Dr Scully, head of epidemiology and public health at the country’s Royal Society of Medicine, said that some travelers who have returned won’t have “much Christmas” because of the need to comply with self-isolation restrictions depending on where they are. Arrived from.
“I really don’t think travel should be on the agenda for this Christmas this year,” he told this week’s program on RTE Radio.
“I hope that people will stick to that because we know this virus is very well transmitted and that the flow of people to and from countries, through airports and all the other trips that it involves is a recipe for disaster.”
Last week Varadkar warned people against booking flights to Ireland for Christmas.
He told the newspaper that it was “too early” to make travel arrangements.
He said, “We are not in a position at this point to advise people that it is safe to return home on Christmas and I know that this is a difficult message.”
Cases rose by more than 1,300 in Wales overnight
The death toll from the Coronavirus has risen to 16 in Wales, with another 1,333 cases confirmed overnight.
Here is a breakdown of the latest numbers:
The death toll rose 9 in Northern Ireland with 472 new cases
Nine more people have died from Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.
The death toll recorded by the country’s Ministry of Health has reached 855.
Another 472 cases of the virus were confirmed in the country during the past 24 hours.
A total of 46,831 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland since the pandemic began.
Here’s what happened in an angel’s baptism that was broken up by the police …
Police stop baptism service that violated lockdown rules
Police officers prevented an Evangelical Church from holding baptismal prayers, in violation of lockdown restrictions.
About 30 worshipers gathered at Angel Church in north London on Sunday before the Metropolitan Police stopped prayers.
Reverend Reagan King, 28, said he wanted to perform the baptism in defiance of restrictions because he had “served a greater good.”
Two police trucks and a police car were parked outside the Church’s Mount Zion Hall in Clerkenwell, while about four officers stood at the entrance to prevent people from entering.
“We were told not to baptize us and the police started preventing people from entering the church, so we decided to make other arrangements,” said Mr. King.
“There were 20 people here in the beginning and it was about 30.”
When asked why he decided to break the restrictions, King said: “Because I think we are serving a greater benefit. We have greater good than anything else.”
Referring to the presence of the police, he said, “This is not something I wanted at all.
“This is an essential service that we provide. It is about loving our neighbor, and you can talk to a number of people here who are very vulnerable, homeless or about to be very isolated.”
Police allowed 15 people to stay inside the church, while another 15 participated in a socially distant outside service nearby.
“While restrictions do allow people to go to the supermarket to get food, I think spiritual food should be taken into consideration as well,” said a 22-year-old man from Lambeth, who took part in the Foreign Service but did not want to be named.
Global update: Romania checks all intensive care units after 10 deaths in hospital fire
Romanian officials will inspect all intensive care units after a fire kills 10 people in a hospital treating coronavirus patients.
A fire broke out on Monday in a room in the intensive care unit of the Piatra Neamt County Hospital in northeastern Romania and spread to an adjacent room.
Six other patients contracted the Covid-19 virus and were transferred to another hospital.
The calling doctor, who suffered severe burns while trying to save patients from the flames, was taken to a specialized hospital in Belgium early this morning.
The Romanian government said public health inspectors and the emergency agency will check the conditions under which medical equipment is operating in all intensive care units from tomorrow.
Prosecutors said an investigation was under way into the cause of the fire.
Nearly 13,000 patients are being treated for the virus in hospitals across Romania, including 1,169 in intensive care units.
The country has reported 360,281 coronavirus cases since February and 8,926 deaths.
