Coronavirus Live Update: Latest UK news about the plan to bring students home for Christmas

Isabella’s jewel, A college student in his final year, had the following to say about the government’s “half-baked” plan to bring students home for vacation:

“ I woke up to the news that unless I travel home between December 3 and 9, I may be facing Christmas in a student apartment far from my family.

“As a final year student at the University of Manchester, tension has been mounting over the past few weeks. Students living on campus have been fenced off into accommodations and denied adequate access to the university’s resources, including on-campus study places and specialist libraries. The latter is another example of student mismanagement.

“Like many students at my university, I first found this out through WhatsApp messages and frantic tweets this morning. My immediate response was panic – how are 100,000 students in Manchester supposed to leave the city in six days? My first response was to check rates. Trains.I was shocked by what I found: Flight after flight ran out. In pre-Covid times, a return ticket from Manchester to my home near Oxford used to cost £ 52 with a train card, now the only available tickets cost three times that. “

Read her full review here:

Dozens of employees at Manchester Piccadilly train station have been forced into self-isolation after the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which resulted in 11 colleagues being infected with the virus.

Avanti, operator of trains running on the main West Coast route from Manchester to London, confirmed the news this afternoon.

A staff member reportedly took a Covid test last Monday before arriving at the station to complete his shift on Tuesday, and then got a positive test result later that day. It was at this point that he informed his managers.

Eleven members of the Avanti West Coast team tested positive, with 25 others believed to self-isolate after contact with infected individuals.

In all, 42 of Avanti’s 95 employees at Manchester Piccadilly Station are currently self-isolating. Not all of them are related to this issue.

Boris Johnson said he will be getting the coronavirus vaccine in an effort to reassure people that punches are safe.

The prime minister’s move comes after Professor Jonathan Van Tam, the UK’s medical vice president, said at a press conference today that his confidence in the impending Covid vaccine can be proven through a “mom’s test” – which means he will allow his mother the vaccine and so he’s safe in his eyes.

Professor Van Tam told Sky News, “I think the ‘mom test’ is very important here,” explaining, “My mom is 78 years old, and she will soon be 79, and I already said to her,” Mum, check when you get called, Be prepared, be prepared to take this up, it’s really important to you because of your age. “

Number 10 said the prime minister would “of course” be ready to get the vaccine, adding: “Any vaccines designed for use will go through a string of strict safety checks and will be completely safe for public use.”

Therefore, the prime minister will, of course, be very happy to take the vaccine himself. “

Professor Robin Shattuck, from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, spoke about the safety of vaccines today. He told the BBC that the long-term side effects of Covid-19 were “more dramatic” than those caused by the vaccine.

“So this equation is very clear in my mind.” Vaccines are exceptionally safe drugs and they prevent really dangerous diseases, “said Professor Shattuck, in a clear warning to anti-vaccinations.

More than 1 million cases of coronavirus have been detected in Texas since the start of the outbreak, which has infected more than 10.2 million Americans.

The state has recorded more than 19,000 Covid-19 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Texas, with a population of about 29 million, would be ranked the 10th worst hit if it were her country.

A government advisory body has recommended that residents of the UK who have tested negative for the virus should have a wristband to help them identify themselves as Covid-free.

The move will allow citizens offering wristbands to move more freely and help the country recover more quickly, according to the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) – the government-backed company known as a “push unit”.

In a new report, BIT said Boris Johnson’s government could learn lessons from Slovakia, as everyone who undergoes a negative test is given a paper certificate that allows them to escape restrictions.

Experts will wait to see how vaccines work in different and more compelling groups of people before deciding who under 50 should take priority in the vaccine.

A plan presented by the Joint Commission on Immunization and Immunization (JCVI) will see vaccines available to older people in the community first, along with care home workers and healthcare workers.

The first phase is expected to protect 99 percent of those at risk of dying from Covid-19, before moving on to younger age groups in order. However, no decisions have yet been made on how to prioritize those under 50.

“We haven’t decided who should be vaccinated after the first stage,” Professor Wei Shin Lim, Chairman of JCVI, told a press conference in Downing Street.

“This does not mean that they should not be vaccinated. We need more information about vaccines, who is suitable for them and whether they protect against transmission or infection.”

The current JCI interim directives state that the order of priorities should be:

• Older people in care homes and care home workers
• All of those 80 years or older are health and social care workers, although they may rise to the top of the list.
• Anyone aged 75 or over
• 70 and over
• 65 and over
• Adults at high risk under the age of 65
• Medium-risk adults under age 65
• Everyone aged 60 and over
• 55 and over
• 50 and over
• The rest of the population, with priority setting yet.

Additional reporting by the PA

Laura Retti, vice president of global communications at Study Consulting, said The Independent:

Millions of students and their families will breathe a sigh of relief as they reunite with their loved ones. It is time to treat students with respect, priority and compassion. They have sometimes endured draconian measures in the past few months – which is incredibly unfair given that it was the government itself that urged students to return to university at the end of the summer.

However, for hundreds of thousands of international students in the UK, this will not be happy news. Due to travel restrictions around the world, many students will not be able to return home and are likely to feel abandoned on the ghost campus. Universities should provide support for these students who may have traveled the world, only to be taught from their bedrooms. It is possible that international students have gone through a difficult first semester in the UK, trying to make friends while in custody, and the prospect of spending a month alone will be daunting and we should not forget them. ”

Read more about the plan, believed to be “full of flaws”, to bring students home Here.

The Independent‘s Andrew Grace Does not believe:

It has been a long time since something positive dominated front pages and flyers for two days in a row, with more to come, however, the good news will not resolve the “health versus economy” argument among our politicians and expert advisors.

In fact, it will only ramp up it. When the vaccine is introduced, it becomes clear to ministers that there will be a new dividing line: between those who wish to lift restrictions quickly to revive the economy and the more cautious Health First group who feared a premature lifting would lead to a spike in infections And a third closing in England. “

Read his full reflection here: