Brexit: New era for UK as it completes separation from European Union - BBC News

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A new era has begun for the United Kingdom after it completed its formal separation from the European Union.

The UK stopped following EU rules at 23:00 GMT, as replacement arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation came into force.

Boris Johnson said the UK had "freedom in our hands" and the ability to do things "differently and better" now the long Brexit process was over.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the UK remained a "friend and ally".

UK ministers have warned there will be some disruption in the coming days and weeks, as new rules bed in and British firms trading with the continent come to terms with the changes.

Officials have insisted new border systems are "ready to go" amid fears of hold-ups at ports.

• What happens now that a deal's been done?
• A quick guide to what's in the Brexit deal
• Brexit: Seven things that will change

The UK officially left the 27-member political and economic bloc on 31 January, three and half years after the UK public voted to leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

But it has stuck to the EU's trading rules for the past 11 months while the two sides negotiated their future economic partnership.

After trade talks went down to the wire, a landmark treaty was finally agreed on Christmas Eve. It became law in the UK on Wednesday after it was approved by Parliament.

Under the new arrangements, which came into force at 24.00 CET, UK manufacturers will have tariff-free access to the EU's internal market, meaning there will be no import taxes on goods crossing between Britain and the continent.

But it does mean more paperwork for businesses and people travelling to EU countries while there is still uncertainty about what it will happen to banking and services, which are a major part of the UK economy.

It a moment that some will regard with huge optimism, others with deep regret.

And while this historic move happens at a moment in time, the impact, in some areas, may be less instant or obvious than others - for example, it's expected there'll be relatively little traffic at Dover on the first day of 2021 as new border checks kick in.

Nevertheless, significant changes are here - whether on trade, travel, security or immigration.

And while coronavirus continues - for now - to shut down much of society those changes could well become more apparent in the months ahead.

PM hails 'amazing moment'

Mr Johnson - who was a key figure in the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum and who took the UK out of the EU in January six months after becoming prime minister - said it was an "amazing moment" for the UK.

In his New Year message, the PM said the UK was now "free to do things differently, and if necessary better, than our friends in the EU".

"We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it," he said.

Lord Frost, the UK's chief negotiator, tweeted that Britain had become a "fully independent country again" while veteran Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash said the outcome was a "victory for sovereignty and democracy".

But opponents of Brexit maintain the country will be worse off than it was while in the EU.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose ambition it is to take an independent Scotland back into the EU, tweeted: "Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on."

In Brussels, there is a sense of relief the Brexit process is over, but there is regret still at Brexit itself.

Basically, the European Union thinks that Brexit makes it - the EU - and the UK weaker.

But they think this is less bye-bye Britain and more au revoir, because there are so many loose ends between the two sides.

The two sides still need to talk about the practicalities. We still have to find out what access Brussels is going to give to UK financial services to the single market, there's that cooperation on climate change, and in this new trade deal there is a renewal clause every five years.

For all of those reasons and more, the EU thinks this is not an end to its conversation with the UK for the foreseeable future.

What is changing?

The culmination of the Brexit process means major changes in different areas. These include:

• The free movement of people between the UK and EU countries has ended - and has been replaced in the UK by a "points-based" immigration system
• Anyone from the UK who wants to stay in most of the EU for more than 90 days in any 180-day period now needs a visa
• Duty-free shopping has returned, with people coming back to the UK from the EU able to bring up to 42 litres of beer, 18 litres of wine, four litres of spirits and 200 cigarettes without paying tax
• EU citizens wanting to move to the UK (except those from Ireland) face the same points-based system as people elsewhere in the world
• UK police have lost instant access to EU-wide databases on criminal records, fingerprints and wanted persons
• Traders in England, Scotland and Wales must complete more paperwork when dealing with EU countries

British firms exporting goods to the continent will have to fill out customs declarations straight away.

But checks on goods entering Britain from the continent will be phased in over a six-month period up to July 2021, although some new customs procedures have already come into force, on imports of alcohol, tobacco, chemicals and controlled drugs.

The first customs checks at the Eurotunnel following the UK's departure from the single market went smoothly, the company said.

Spokesman John Keefe said: "It all went fine, everything's running just as it was before 11pm. It's very, very quiet, there are very few trucks around, as we predicted."

In other major breaks from the past, the European Court of Justice will cease to have any role in deciding disputes between the UK and EU.

• New Irish Sea trade border begins operating

And the UK will gradually be able to keep more of the fish caught in its own waters.

Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland will continue to follow many of the EU's rules, as its border with the Republic of Ireland remains all but invisible. The UK government said on Thursday online retailers in Britain will not have to make customs declarations when sending parcels to customers in Northern Ireland.

How prepared is the UK?

Intensive preparations have been taking place over the past two weeks to ready the UK for the coming changes, although concerns remain many small business are not ready.

The UK's Countdown Plan has involved operational testing of infrastructure at the border and close co-operation with France, Holland and Belgium.

• Brexit: Are the borders ready?
• Dover-Calais route 'will work well on 1 January'

A government spokesman said: "The border systems and infrastructure we need are in place, and we are ready for the UK's new start."

EPA

Vehicles trying to take goods across the channel without the correct documentation face being turned back while drivers of HGVs weighing more than 7.5 tonnes who do not have permits to enter Kent risk being fined.

Traffic volumes are expected to be lower than normal on 1 January due to the pandemic but are expected to pick up from Monday, when the new procedures and the UK's contingency measures are expected to be tested.

The government said 450 "Kent access" permits had been issued to HGV lorries intending to cross the channel at Dover on 1 January and hauliers arriving without them would be identified and subject to a £300 fine.

Meanwhile, the UK and Spain have reached an agreement meaning the border between Gibraltar and Spain will remain open.

• The key points of the deal
• What does the deal mean for fishing?
• How your Europe holidays will change

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2020-12-31 23:57:00Z
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The Brexit transition is ending - but we still don't know the destination of our journey - Sky News

Heralding the end of the transition phase and a new chapter of UK-EU relations, Boris Johnson told the country correctly that "this is the beginning." 

But tonight, despite 1,246 pages of legal agreement with the EU, plus annexes, nobody actually knows the destination of the journey that we start tonight.

There are some certainties. From 1 January 2021 the UK will have finally broken the legal link with the EU first established on 1 January 1973 when it joined the European Economic Community, and hence there is no need to automatically follow EU law.

The UK will be outside the single market, which it was part of since the creation in 1993, and the customs union which it has been part of throughout.

The UK will control its own migration system, no longer giving automatic or even preferential entry to EU citizens. It will be able to make limited changes to its taxation system, like removing VAT on sanitary products.

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There will be more paperwork for exporting goods to the EU. There is even a new trade border between the Surrey and Kent borders, to stop lorries trying to travel to the continent without necessary paperwork.

Beyond that, much less is clear. The text may be printed and passed into law with the support of the main political parties, but that isn't the end of the process.

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PM signs Brexit trade deal

Indeed practical details about people's lives have even been changing today.

At lunchtime there was a provisional agreement over how to handle Gibraltar.

And this evening, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced via his legendary Twitter feed that the UK has now secured agreement with all 27 EU member states to recognise UK licences without the need for an International Drivers Permit.

Expect a lot of this - small but important changes to our lives.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis explained why the talking isn't over - because there will be a desire to weaponise the fine print of the treaty by both sides.

Image: David Davis has warned the talking with the EU is not over

He told me: "What we know from history is that Europe is very determined to make the most of its trade deals from its own point of view, so we have to negotiate or navigate all of that.

"You should remember - sovereignty is not absolute power - every sovereign country has to negotiate with its neighbours and people who have shared interests and opposing interests and resolve the best for themselves and we've got to do that."

There will also be movement because MPs will change their mind - that's the view of DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson.

He told me: "The government should have learned from last year. They had a withdrawal agreement they put through on a Saturday morning, they now have a future relationship agreement they put through on a Thursday morning and when you do things in haste, sometimes you repent at leisure."

But there's a bigger challenge. Brexit is likely to cement permanent structural change in our system of democracy.

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What will be the economic impact of Brexit?

Politics - and political parties - will now adapt and morph to the new changed circumstances. Take one example. Labour will likely over time advocate a closer relationship than the one currently created by Mr Johnson - casting it as practical improvements to problems caused by Brexit, but whose solutions tiptoe towards closer integration.

The Tories meanwhile will do the opposite, and are likely want something looser; to do more things differently. The "freedom clause" deliberately allows Mr Johnson's potential successors to offer a negotiation of an even more distant relationship in return for accepting tariffs on some sectors.

This could quite possibly seem attractive to Tory leadership contenders when they are trying to woo the Tory faithful.

And all of this means we could well be trapped in a new, different cycle of neurosis over our relationship with the EU - and in many ways the detail of the new agreement actively encourages us to do this.

The fine print gives us three months to get a deal on financial services and four on data transfer. There's a review on whether we've been playing by the rules in four years, and the transition period on fish ends in five-and-a-half. Last week's deal is just the beginning - but nobody can at the turn of the year say what the destination or when the end might be.

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2020-12-31 22:18:54Z
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Pfizer questions UK move to lengthen gap between Covid vaccine doses - Financial Times

Pfizer has criticised the UK’s decision to lengthen the gap between doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, saying the “safety and efficacy” of the new schedule had not been evaluated, as infections and hospitalisations continued to soar across the UK.

The rare intervention by the US pharma company came amid growing controversy over the move, with GPs complaining that they were having to cancel appointments and reassure anxious patients who had previously been told they needed the second dose to keep them safe.

“[Our] study . . . was designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and efficacy following a two-dose schedule, separated by 21 days,” the company said.

“The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design.”

The new dosing guidelines, approved by the UK’s joint committee on vaccination and immunisation and unveiled on Wednesday, allow the second dose of both the vaccine that Pfizer developed with BioNTech, and the newly approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, to be delivered as much as three months after the first.

The change is aimed at giving a first dose of vaccine to as many people as possible, in an attempt to counter spiralling case numbers caused by a viral variant of the coronavirus that has been found to be much more infectious.

There was fresh evidence on Thursday of the toll the virus is taking in the UK, with a further 964 deaths announced and fresh signs of the strain on hospitals.

NHS Providers, which represents health organisations across the UK, said Covid-19 pressures were intensifying, particularly in London and the south-east, where the surge in admissions over the past few days was “extremely worrying”.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said that as of Wednesday there were 22,713 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England — an increase of more than 27 per cent in seven days. “Over the same period the number of Covid-19 patients in critical care beds rose by 35 per cent,” she added.

Matt Hancock, UK health secretary, on Thursday sought to counter suggestions that the vaccination programme, which the government sees as vital to taming the pandemic, was falling behind schedule.

He said 944,539 people across the UK had had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. “The NHS has a clear vaccine delivery plan and today’s figures show once again how our fantastic NHS has risen to this enormous task . . . Now that we have authorised a second vaccine, we can expect this number to rapidly increase in the months ahead.”

Matt Hancock said more than 940,000 people had had their first shot of a Covid-19 vaccine © Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament

Although partial protection through the vaccine appears to begin as early as 12 days after the first jab, Pfizer stressed that two doses were required to provide the maximum protection against the disease, with an efficacy figure of 95 per cent. Crucially, it said: “There are no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days.”

The drugmaker said decisions on alternative dosing regimens were in the hands of health authorities and that it remained committed to talking to regulators, but it stressed each recipient should be afforded the maximum possible protection, “which means immunisation with two doses of the vaccine”.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said: “The decision was made to update the dosage interval recommendations for the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine following a thorough review of the data by the MHRA’s Covid-19 Vaccines Benefit Risk Expert Working Group. This expert group concluded that vaccine efficacy will be maintained with dosing intervals longer than 21 days.”

GPs in the UK expressed anger and concern over the switch, saying they had to spend time cancelling appointments for people who had expected to receive their top-up dose in the next few days.

Helen Salisbury, a GP in Oxford, described the situation as “a shambles” and calculated that it would take the network of practices administering the vaccine for her area 193 hours of staff time to reschedule appointments.

She questioned the judgment, and data modelling, behind the decision. “What does the science say? We don’t know.”

The British Medical Association said asking GPs to rebook appointments of tens of thousands of elderly and vulnerable patients was “unreasonable and totally unfair, and practices who honour existing appointments booked for the next few days should be supported”. 

In his new year message, Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, hailed the Oxford vaccine, saying it “offers literally a new lease of life to people in this country and around the world”.

However, he warned of “a hard struggle still ahead of us for weeks and months, because we face a new variant of the disease that requires a new vigilance”.

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2020-12-31 19:13:00Z
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Delaying second Covid jab dose will cause huge problems for partially-vaccinated elderly and vulnerable, GP - The Sun

DELAYING the second dose Covid vaccine dose will cause huge problem for those who have been partially-vaccinated, GP leaders have warned.

Regulators outlined a new dosing regimen following the approval of the Oxford vaccine yesterday - aimed at speeding up the roll-out.

⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

A man receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a drive-thru jab centre in ManchesterCredit: Reuters

Experts advising the Government, including the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said that the focus should be on giving at-risk people the first dose of whichever vaccine they receive, rather than providing the required two doses in as short a time as possible.

This now means the second dose of both the Oxford/AstraZeneca and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines will be within 12 weeks of the first.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock explained that the data from Oxford showed "very effective protection" from the first dose.

But GPs have warned this change will affect tens of thousands of elderly and vulnerable patients.

Many were due to get their second dose of the Pfizer jab in the coming days and weeks - and will need to be rebooked.

It comes as the Government revealed more than 940,000 people in the UK have now received a Covid-19 vaccine as of December 27.

A total of 944,539 people were given a first dose between December 9 and 27, including 786,000 in England, 92,188 in Scotland, 35,335 in Wales and 31,016 in Northern Ireland.

Among those getting their second dose this week was the first Brit to get the Pfizer jab, 91-year-old Margaret Keenan.

'GROSSLY UNFAIR'

Chair of the British Medical Association's (BMA) GP committee, Dr Richard Vautrey, said: "It is grossly and patently unfair to tens of thousands of our most at-risk patients to now try to reschedule their appointments.

"The decision to ask GPs, at such short notice, to rebook patients for three months hence, will also cause huge logistical problems for almost all vaccination sites and practices.

"For example, to make contact with even just two thousand elderly or vulnerable patients will take a team of five staff at a practice about a week, and that's simply untenable."

Dr Vautrey said the BMA would support practices who honour the existing appointments for the follow-up vaccination, calling for the Government to do the same.

He added: "The Government must see that it's only right that existing bookings for the oldest and most vulnerable members of our society are honoured, and it must also as soon as possible publish a scientifically-validated justification for its new approach."

The Doctors' Association has written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the JCVI outlining their concerns today.

In a tweet, they said: "We have real and grave concerns about these sudden changes to the Pfizer vaccine regime.

"It undermines the consent process, as well as completely failing to follow the science."

However, Mr Hancock said the new process will allow more people to get the vaccine sooner and help the country out of the pandemic "by spring".

He told the BBC: "It's very good news for accelerating the vaccine roll-out. It brings forward the day we can get our lives back to normal."

Explaining the 12-week gap in the dosing regimen, he said: "This is important because it means that we can get the first dose into more people more quickly and they can get the protection the first dose gives you.

"The scientists and the regulators have looked at the data and found that you get what they call 'very effective protection' from the first dose.

"The second dose is still important - especially for the long-term protection - but it does mean that we will be able to vaccinate more people more quickly than we previously could."

Margaret Keenan was the first Brit to receive the Pfizer vaccine and has since had her second doseCredit: PA:Press Association

Mr Hancock said the plan is to vaccinate all vulnerable groups first but that eventually all adults, including the under-50s, will be offered a jab.

He told MPs that the vaccine would mean the day on which restrictions are lifted can be brought forward - before announcing millions more Brits would be plunged into tougher Tier 4 restrictions.

The jab, from Oxford and AstraZeneca, could give up to 70 per cent protection 22 days after the first dose, experts today revealed.

People won't need their second dose for another three months - allowing medics to roll the first jabs out to as many people as possible.

Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, which is enough to vaccinate 50 million people, with 530,000 doses available from Monday, Mr Hancock said.

Along with the 40 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, the UK now has enough doses ordered to vaccinate the entire population, Mr Hancock said.

PFIZER ASSESSMENT

The criticism comes after Pfizer said that it only assessed its vaccine on a two-dose regimen where people were given the jab three weeks apart, and there was "no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days".

In a statement, Pfizer says: "Pfizer and BioNTech’s Phase 3 study for the Covid-19 vaccine was designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and efficacy following a 2-dose schedule, separated by 21 days.

"The safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules as the majority of trial participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design.

"Data from the Phase 3 study demonstrated that, although partial protection from the vaccine appears to begin as early as 12 days after the first dose, two doses of the vaccine are required to provide the maximum protection against the disease, a vaccine efficacy of 95 per cent.

"There are no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days."

Pfizer adds that it is working with the UK authorities on the vaccine rollout.

Speaking at a Downing Street briefing on Wednesday, Prof Wei Shen Lim, chairman of the JCVI, said that with Covid infection rates currently at a high level, the "immediate urgency is for rapid and high levels of vaccine uptake".

He added: "This will allow the greatest number of eligible people to receive vaccine in the shortest time possible and that will protect the greatest number of lives."

Speaking at the same briefing, Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of the Commission on Human Medicines expert working group on Covid-19 vaccines, added: "Because of the design of the trial, some people got second doses at different time intervals.

"This allowed an analysis of the effectiveness of the vaccine if you were to be able to delay between four to 12 weeks.

"This showed that the effectiveness was high, up to 80 per cent, when there was a three-month interval between the first and second doses, which is the reason for our recommendation."

The Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca is approved for use in the UK, paving the way for rapid rollout

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2020-12-31 17:36:00Z
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Hospitals move to Covid-19 'disaster mode' amid staff shortages - The Times

Britain’s busiest hospital has only one nurse for every three Covid patients being treated in intensive care as the capital faces a tsunami of new cases, leaked correspondence shows.

The Royal London Hospital in east London has reached “disaster medicine mode” and is no longer able to provide adequate critical care, according to management.

In an email sent last night and seen by The Times, critical care staff were told: “We are now in disaster medicine mode. We are no longer providing high standard critical care, because we cannot.

“While this is far from ideal, it’s the way things are, and the way they have to be for now. Things are going to get harder before they get better.”

It comes as the hospital’s

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2020-12-31 18:00:00Z
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School closures: We've all seen this coming, say angry heads - BBC News

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Teachers and unions have criticised the government's last-minute move to delay the start of term for all secondary schools and some primaries in England.

Vice president of the ASCL headteacher's union Pepe Di'Iasio said ministers should have decided earlier.

"We've all seen this coming, and we would have preferred to have been able to plan for this before the end of last term," he told BBC News.

There is also concern over how areas have been chosen for primary closures.

On Wednesday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said some primary schools in Covid hot spots would remain closed - this equates to about 15% of primary schools.

But there would be a review of these every two weeks, the Department for Education said, in the same way that local tier restrictions are reviewed.

Meanwhile, Year 11 and Year 13 pupils are now due to return to face-to-face lessons on 11 January - a week later than planned - with others returning on 18 January.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, called on ministers to explain its decisions on which primary schools will re-open.

He labelled the government's strategy as little more than "keep calm and carry on".

"There is obviously a huge amount of concern over how it can be safe for schools in some tier four areas to open," he said, "while schools in other tier four areas are being told to move to remote learning.

"In some instances that means different approaches for schools only a few roads away from each other," he added.

• TESTING: How do I get a virus test?
• LOOK-UP TOOL: How many cases in your area?
• THE R NUMBER: What it means and why it matters
• SCHOOLS: What will happen if children catch coronavirus?

In December - on the last day of the Christmas term for many - the government asked schools to start setting up mass testing programmes for January.

But heads and teachers said the timescale was not workable, as they would be setting up online learning for the majority of pupils in the first week of term as well.

The delay to the start of term offers schools an extra week to get their mini test and trace systems up and running.

There had been growing pressure for earlier school shutdowns as virus cases soared in many areas, including parts of London and south-east England, and as attendance figures dropped dramatically.

Mr Di'Iasio said: "I think everyone in the country has known that there's going to be a surge and a peak, particularly in January."

An earlier decision would have meant that teachers could have made preparations in time for children to go back as normal, he said.

Parent, Chihera Mai Shingi, agreed with the decision, posting on the BBC News Family and Education Facebook page: "We got Covid from our Year 7 daughter. Schools should be closed."

But Charlotte Elizabeth Hayward expressed her concerns about schools carrying out the testing: "Space? Staff? Resources (financial and otherwise).

"It's not just a quick set up. We have 1,600 kids and around 200 staff. All on an already fit to burst site. The man does not have a clue."

Chairman of the Commons Education Select Committee Robert Halfon said teachers and support staff should be made a priority for vaccinations.

"If we can make sure that they are vaccinated and they are safe, it's less likely that schools will have to close, and this two weeks has to mean two weeks.

"Schools just can't be a revolving door that never stands still, open one day, shut the next."

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Joint general secretary of the National Education Union, Dr Mary Bousted, said she was astonished that any pupils were going back at all before 18 January.

"A longer period of online working for all primary, secondary and college students could suppress virus levels and buy time both for the roll out of the vaccine and to put in place measures that can keep schools safer."

She added: "We would like Gavin Williamson to explain, if schools are not centres of transmission, why school age pupils are now the most infected age groups?"

Richard Sheriff, executive head teacher of Harrogate Grammar School, said regular testing could be key to minimising classroom disruptions but criticised the government for announcing the plans just days before the Christmas break.

"Testing and the delayed return is a realistic program, but it still puts a huge amount of pressure on schools," he said.

"We need reassurances in the physical arrangements for testing, including extra space and support on the ground to make it happen."

The government says schools are being supported financially to set up testing and argued that they are only being closed as a "last resort" because of the rising number of cases.

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2020-12-31 14:48:00Z
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COVID-19: Nightingale hospitals being 'readied' for use as COVID patient numbers rise - Sky News

Nightingale hospitals across England are being "readied" for use if needed as COVID-19 patient numbers rise.

The NHS in London has been asked to make sure the Excel centre site is "reactivated and ready to admit patients" as hospitals in the capital struggle.

Other Nightingale hospital sites across England include Manchester, Bristol, Sunderland, Harrogate, Exeter and Birmingham.

Follow all the news on coronavirus in the UK, and across the world, live as it happens

A spokesman for the NHS said that while staff were going "the extra mile," hospitals in London were coming under significant pressure from high COVID-19 infection rates.

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He added: "The NHS in London is opening more beds in NHS hospitals across the capital to care for the most unwell patients. It is crucial that people do everything they can to reduce transmission of the virus.

"In anticipation of pressures rising from the spread of the new variant infection, NHS London was asked to ensure the London Nightingale was reactivated and ready to admit patients as needed, and that process is under way."

More from Covid-19

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the military was standing by to staff Nightingale hospitals if the NHS exceeded its capacity of critical care beds.

Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Wallace said: "Of course we stand ready to help with Nightingales if the critical pressures go beyond the capacity of the existing NHS.

"We are on, I think, 17,000 ventilator beds currently being used, of a capacity of 21,000.

"If it starts to tip over there, then of course you'll see those Nightingales being more active and, yes, we have a number of medical staff."

He said the Army currently had 5,000 personnel deployed in the COVID-19 response.

Trusts across the country all continue to face pressure, with COVID patient numbers in England having surpassed the April first-wave peak.

And people have been urged to ring in the New Year by staying at home and not mixing. NHS England's national medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, warned: "COVID loves a crowd."

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMidmh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2NvdmlkLTE5LW5pZ2h0aW5nYWxlLWhvc3BpdGFscy1iZWluZy1yZWFkaWVkLWZvci11c2UtYXMtY292aWQtcGF0aWVudC1udW1iZXJzLXJpc2UtMTIxNzYzMzjSAXpodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9hbXAvY292aWQtMTktbmlnaHRpbmdhbGUtaG9zcGl0YWxzLWJlaW5nLXJlYWRpZWQtZm9yLXVzZS1hcy1jb3ZpZC1wYXRpZW50LW51bWJlcnMtcmlzZS0xMjE3NjMzOA?oc=5

2020-12-31 13:36:33Z
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