Babak Belurs

Kamis, 27 Mei 2021

Covid-19: Up to 75% of new UK cases could be Indian variant - Matt Hancock - BBC News

Up to three quarters of new UK Covid cases could be of the Indian variant, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

Public Health England data shows cases of the variant have risen by 3,535 to 6,959 since last week.

Mr Hancock told a Downing Street briefing that the government had always expected cases to rise as restrictions were eased.

But he said it was "critical" to monitor the link between cases and hospitalisations.

On Thursday, a further 3,542 coronavirus cases and 10 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK.

Over the last seven days, cases are up 20.5% compared with the week before.

'Remain vigilant'

Mr Hancock told the briefing on Thursday: "The latest estimates are that more than half and potentially as many as three-quarters of all new cases are now of this variant.

"As we set out our roadmap we always expected cases to rise - we must remain vigilant."

Mr Hancock said the increase in cases was still focused in hotspots.

The PHE data found the worst-affected areas continue to be Bolton, Bedford, and Blackburn with Darwen, which have seen 1,354, 366 and 361 confirmed cases, respectively.

PHE added, however, that there are small numbers of cases of the variant in most parts of the country.

Mr Hancock said there was surge testing and vaccinations in the eight hotspot areas, and there was also increased testing in places where cases are lower but rising.

The health secretary urged people to get both vaccine doses, saying all of the evidence showed it was the best way to protect yourself, loved ones and the wider community.

Of the 49 people in hospital with Covid in Bolton only five had received both doses, he said.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said England "may need to wait" for the lifting of all Covid restrictions, which is currently planned for 21 June.

The PM said he saw nothing "currently in the data" to suggest the government would have to delay unlocking.

But he added there were signs of an increase in the number of cases of the Indian variant.

Epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling was crucial to the decision to go into the first lockdown in March 2020, said the reopening of society is now "in the balance".

He told the BBC: "The key issue as to whether we can go forward is: will the surge caused by the Indian variant... be more than has been already planned into the relaxation measures?"

On 21 June, the government hopes to move to the final stage of its roadmap for lifting lockdown.

Step four would see all legal limits on social contact removed, nightclubs would reopen, and restrictions on large events and performances would be lifted.

Scientists advising the government are currently studying all relevant data since the last set of lockdown relaxations on 17 May.

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2021-05-27 16:40:38Z
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COVID-19: UK coronavirus cases increase by 3,542 in latest 24-hour period, with 10 more deaths - Sky News

The number of people with coronavirus in the UK has gone up by 3,542 in the latest 24-hour period, and another 10 people have died with COVID-19, government figures show.

Yesterday, a total of 3,180 cases were reported, with another nine coronavirus-related deaths.

Today's daily infections figure is the highest since 12 April when 3,568 cases were reported.

It comes as 236,119 people had a first dose of a COVID vaccine on Wednesday, taking the total to 38,614,683.

Live coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world

And 427,458 had their second jab on Wednesday, meaning 24,043,956 people are now fully vaccinated in the UK.

Since the pandemic began, a total of 127,758 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19, according to government figures.

There have now been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, data published by the Office for National Statistics show.

Boris Johnson has avoided answering questions on Dominic Cummings's explosive allegations - but suggested some claims were not based on reality.

Mr Johnson sidestepped questions about the claims - including that he is not fit to be PM - during a visit to a hospital on Thursday by saying he was "getting on with the job of delivering the roadmap".

He did not say whether he has confidence in Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who took much of Mr Cummings's flak, but said: "I think some of the commentary I've heard doesn't bear any relation to reality."

Michael Gove has said there was not an "ironclad" link between the 21 June date earmarked for the next stage of the roadmap out of lockdown and the possible introduction of COVID status certification.

The Cabinet Office minister told MPs: "People have quite rightly linked COVID status certification to stage four. There's no absolute necessary ironclad inviolable link between the two.

"But, naturally, as we contemplate reopening at stage four, people will understandably want to know what our approach towards certification will be and how that will operate."

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2021-05-27 15:56:15Z
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Fred West: No human remains found in Mary Bastholm search - BBC News

Fred West and suspected victim Mary Bastholm

No human remains have been found by police searching a cafe in Gloucester for a suspected victim of the serial killer Fred West.

Officers have been searching for Mary Bastholm, 15, who worked at the Pop-In Cafe - now called The Clean Plate. She was last seen in 1968.

Gloucestershire Police began excavating the cafe cellar in Southgate Street on 19 May and said it had finished.

Miss Bastholm's family said they were sad but hoped she would yet be found.

They said: "We were hoping to get a final closure on her disappearance so that we could put her to rest.

"We have been opened minded throughout this process and we now know that the cafe can be ruled out.

"Mary was a strong willed and happy-go-lucky teenager dearly loved by her parents and two brothers.

"She enjoyed life and was just coming into her own when her life was tragically cut short."

Police started excavations after a TV production company filming at the site said it had found blue material in the cellar, suggesting Miss Bastholm might possibly be buried there.

She was last seen wearing a blue jacket with a blue and white dress and was carrying a blue bag.

However, police have confirmed no blue material was found in the cellar and what the production team saw was likely to have been part of a pipe.

It said it was "appropriate and proportionate" to investigate and forensic archaeologists and anthropologists had been focusing on six voids beneath a toilet floor.

Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden and Family Liaison Officer Detective Sergeant Faye Satchwell-Bennett

"Everyone working on this is disappointed that we didn't find Mary," Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden said.

"Allowing her family to finally lay Mary to rest after over 50 years was always the most important reason for our excavation.

"I hope that eliminating this location will bring some comfort, however small to her family.

"We have always been clear that we may not find Mary's remains. Sadly that proved to be the case, but it does not mean we were wrong to look - the new information made it the right thing to do."

The force said the anomalies were identified by experts who concluded the remaining areas of the cellar had been undisturbed since before Miss Bastholm disappeared.

"Each area was carefully examined by the forensics team with support from officers from the constabulary," a spokesperson said.

"The team worked each day, everything that was dug up was analysed on site and all activity was meticulously logged and photographed."

Police at the Clean Plate cafe in the centre of Gloucester

Miss Bastholm went missing in January 1968 on her way to catch a bus to visit her then boyfriend Tim Merrett.

He said when the excavations began he thought it was unlikely police would find Miss Bastholm in the cafe because she had no reason to return there.

In a statement her relatives said:"[Mary's] parents and two brothers were never the same after she went missing. They have now sadly passed away without ever knowing what happened to their loving daughter and sister."

West, who was a regular at the Pop-In Cafe, took his own life in 1995 while in prison awaiting trial, accused of the murders of 12 women and girls.

The cafe is due to be handed back to its owners once reparation work has been completed.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

Taking selfies

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an inquiry after the officers were accused of taking selfies by the dead bodies.

In November, the IOPC referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The watchdog is also carrying out a separate inquiry into how the Met handled calls from worried relatives and friends of missing Ms Smallman and Ms Henry before their bodies were discovered on 7 June.

Danyal Hussein, 19, of Blackheath, is facing trial at the Old Bailey on 9 June accused of the sisters' murders.

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2021-05-27 14:02:46Z
52781625597991

Fred West: No human remains or 'items of significance' found under cafe linked to serial killer and Mary Bastholm - Sky News

No human remains have been found under a cafe in Gloucester believed to have links to serial killer Fred West and missing girl Mary Bastholm, police have said.

Gloucestershire Police said no other "items of significance" were discovered at the Clean Plate Cafe, which sits on the same site as an old cafe - the Pop-In - where Mary worked as a waitress.

She was last seen alive in January 1968.

The Bastholm family said in a statement: "We are still very sad that Mary has not been found. We were hoping to get a final closure on her disappearance that we could put her to rest."

They described her as a "strong willed, happy-go-lucky teenager, dearly loved by her parents and two brothers".

Her life was "tragically cut short" when she disappeared and her family "were never the same after she went missing", they said.

Gloucestershire Police said in their statement: "Excavation work at the Clean Plate café has now been completed and we can confirm no human remains or items of significance to the investigation have been found.

"Digging to access and examine six areas of interest or 'anomalies' in the cellar area began last Wednesday, 19 May.

"The anomalies were identified by a team of expert forensic archaeologists and anthropologists ahead of the excavation work, with the experts able to determine that the remaining areas of the cellar had been undisturbed since prior to 1968, when Mary Bastholm disappeared.

"Each area was carefully examined by the forensics team with support from officers from the constabulary.

"The team worked each day, everything that was dug up was analysed on site and all activity was meticulously logged and photographed."

Police added that the cafe will be handed back to its owners once reparation work is complete.

Owners The Nelson Trust said their "support of the police" has "always been driven by what we thought were in the best interests of the family".

Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden said at a news conference on Thursday: "Everyone working on this is disappointed we didn't find Mary."

But he said the investigation was "appropriate and proportionate" and "it does not mean we were wrong to look".

The force's thoughts are with her family "whose dignity has been humbling", he added.

Police started investigating the site earlier this month after being alerted to possible evidence of human remains in the cellar by a documentary crew who were filming there.

ACC Holden said that "blue material" photographed by the production company was not found, but was likely to have been connected to a buried pipe.

Mary worked at the Pop-In cafe in Southgate Street before vanishing in 1968 at the age of 15, at a time when builder West was abducting girls in Gloucester.

West was suspected over her disappearance but took his own life in prison, aged 53, in 1995. He was said to have confessed to killing the teenager in conversation with his son, Stephen, but never admitted it to police.

Mary's body has never been found and was not discovered during an excavation of the Wests' home - known as the House of Horrors - in Cromwell Street in Gloucester in 1994.

West was charged with 12 murders but killed himself before his trial.

Rose West, his wife, was convicted of 10 murders in November 1995 and is serving a whole life sentence.

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2021-05-27 12:14:21Z
52781625301000

Nicola Sturgeon cautious as decision looms on Glasgow Level Three lockdown - Daily Record

Nicola Sturgeon says coronavirus has the "capacity and potential" to take more lives in the future if tough decisions are not made.

The First Ministers comments come ahead of an announcement on the current Level Three lockdown situation in Glasgow.

Cases in Scotland's biggest city have increased over the last month which led the Scottish Government to take the decision to keep it at Level Three.

Although the cases rate is still high the SNP leader says there is some optimism that the level of infection in some areas is starting to fall.

The south side of the city, in particular the postal areas of G41 and G42, have seen portable testing units flood the area in an attempt to catch the spread of the virus. The vaccine programme has also been expanded in the area.

Earlier this week Sturgeon announced she would hold a government briefing on Friday to speak about the situation in Glasgow.

It's not expected the city will move down to Level Two like the rest of mainland Scotland. As of May 25 there were 144 cases per 100,000 in Glasgow.

Sturgeon issued a note of caution on the increase in cases in some parts of the country and the consequences of them.

Speaking at First Minister's Questions, she said: "This country like much of the world now is in the grip of a global pandemic and it has taken too many lives already.

"It has the capacity and potential, if we don't take the decisions, to take more lives in future.

Scottish politics

"This is very difficult for everybody, businesses and individuals. My responsibility is to try to take those decisions in the best way possible to get the country through this and as safely as possible.

"That's the responsibility I will continue to take with the upmost seriousness."

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2021-05-27 12:25:21Z
52781624839940

Fred West: No human remains found in Mary Bastholm search - BBC News

No human remains have been found by police searching a cafe in Gloucester for a suspected victim of the serial killer Fred West.

Officers have been searching for Mary Bastholm, 15, who worked at the Pop-In Cafe - now called The Clean Plate. She was last seen in 1968.

Gloucestershire Police began excavating the cafe cellar in Southgate Street on 19 May and said it had now finished.

Miss Bastholm's family said they were sad but hoped she would yet be found.

They said: "We were hoping to get a final closure on her disappearance so that we could put her to rest.

"We have been opened minded throughout this process and we now know that the cafe can be ruled out.

"Mary was a strong willed and happy go lucky teenager dearly loved by her parents and two brothers.

"She enjoyed life and was just coming into her own when her life was tragically cut short."

Police started excavations after a TV production company filming at the site said it had found blue material in the cellar, suggesting Miss Bastholm might possibly be buried there.

She was last seen wearing a blue jacket with a blue and white dress and was carrying a blue bag.

However, police have confirmed no blue material was found in the cellar and what the production team saw was likely to have been part of a pipe.

It said it was appropriate to investigate and forensic archaeologists and anthropologists had been focusing on six "voids" beneath a toilet floor.

The force said the anomalies were identified by experts who concluded the remaining areas of the cellar had been undisturbed since before Miss Bastholm disappeared.

"Each area was carefully examined by the forensics team with support from officers from the constabulary," a spokesperson said.

"The team worked each day, everything that was dug up was analysed on site and all activity was meticulously logged and photographed."

Miss Bastholm went missing in January 1968 on her way to catch a bus to visit her then boyfriend Tim Merrett.

He said when the excavations began he thought it was unlikely police would find Miss Bastholm in the cafe because she had no reason to return there.

West, who was a regular at the Pop-In Cafe, took his own life in 1995 while in prison awaiting trial, accused of the murders of 12 women and girls.

The cafe is due to be handed back to its owners once reparation work has been completed.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

Kamis, 27 Mei 2021

'Remain vigilant'

More on Covid-19

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Taking selfies

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Scottish politics

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