Health secretary Sajid Javid said we must “learn to live with” Covid
Work-from-home advice and rules on face coverings in classrooms have ended after Plan B measures to curb the spread of Omicron were axed.
Other measures including the mandatory use of face masks on public transport and in shops and the NHS Covid pass will also end next Thursday.
The government hopes to see the legal requirement for people with coronavirus to self-isolate scrapped when regulations expire on 24 March.
Health secretary Sajid Javid said we must “learn to live with” Covid – but also urged caution.
He told Sky News: “Covid is not going away, it’s going to be with us for many, many years – perhaps forever – and we have to learn to live with it.
“We do still need of course to remain cautious; prevalence remains high.”
Asked whether self-isolation rules would be scrapped in March, he added: “We are not there yet –that’s a few weeks away.
“We’ve said we would review those rules and we would like to see it scrapped by the end of March but that decision will be made closer to the time.”
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1642677015Scotland eases care home restrictions
Care home restrictions in Scotland have been eased, with self-isolation times reduced or removed.
Patients being transferred from hospital will no longer have to isolate for two weeks if they test negative for Covid-19 before arriving at the care home.
The isolation period for infected care home residents is also being cut from 14 days to 10, while the limit on the number of households able to visit has been lifted.
Under the changes, isolation requirements have been removed where residents are taken to hospital overnight for acute treatment, provided there is no clinical reason to suspect they may have coronavirus.
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 11:10
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Downing Street party revelations ‘damaging’ to Britain’s democracy, Javid admits
Health secretary Sajid Javid has admitted the disclosures over Downing Street parties during Covid lockdown have been “damaging” to Britain’s democracy.
Mr Javid told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme anyone in Whitehall found to have broken the rules should be disciplined.
“If there were people at the heart of government who were not following the rules, absolutely they should be disciplined and I look forward to seeing that disciplinary action taking place,” he said. “We do now know there were some parties. We know that because some of the people that were involved and broke the rules have come forward to say so.
“Of course things like this damage our democracy. From what we already know from the people who have come forward and apologised for the parties that took place, for example the one on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, that was completely wrong. It was wrong in every single way. That is already damaging, of course it is.”
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 10:54
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Boris Johnson’s daughter Romy ‘badly’ hit with Covid at five weeks old
Boris Johnson’s six-week-old daughter was reportedly ‘badly hit’ by Covid-19.
Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson, daughter of the prime minister and wife Carrie Johnson, is now said to be ‘on the mend’ after contracting the virus at five-weeks-old.
My colleague Furvah Shah has more on this story:
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 10:41
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NHS staff sickness drops 15%
There were 68,871 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England who were absent for all sickness reasons on January 16 including self-isolation, down 15% on the previous week (80,824) but still up 15% from the start of December (60,136), NHS England said.
NHS hospital staff absences fell week-on-week across all England’s seven regions: down 19% in the North East and Yorkshire, and 16% across London, the North West and the South West.
Hospital trust staff absences fell by 12% in eastern England and the Midlands, and 8% in the South East.
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 10:30
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NHS chief warns virus hasn’t ‘magically disappeared’
Nursing and NHS leaders have warned scrapping Covid measures “will do nothing to relieve the pressure” on hospitals and the virus hasn’t “magically disappeared”.
The NHS is still battling extreme pressures such as high levels of staff sickness, record-length delays in emergency care and a growing backlog that has left six million on waiting lists.
Our health correspondent Rebecca Thomas has the full story:
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 10:10
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Sajid Javid ‘optimistic’ self-isolation rules will end in March
Sajid Javid has said he is “optimistic” the legal requirement for people in England to self-isolate with Covid can be lifted in coming weeks.
The health secretary said the government was approaching a “decision point” and that it would be “guided by the data” in coming to a judgement.
“The current legislation is expiring in March unless parliament decides to renew it. As a government, we have to make a decision on that,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
“We will make it in the next few weeks but it will be guided by the data at the time. From what we are seeing at the moment, from the case numbers, hospitalisations, the direction we are travelling at the moment, I am optimistic but I don’t want to say exactly what will happen in March.
“But I do want to see a time as soon as we can to remove all remaining rules and restrictions around Covid because we do have to learn to live with this virus in the same way we have learned to live, for example, with the flu.”
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 09:48
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Sajid Javid defends decision to end classroom face mask requirement
Health secretary Sajid Javid has defended the decision to end the requirement for schoolchildren to wear face masks in class as Covid Plan B restrictions lift in England.
Mr Javid said, while prevalence remained high, case numbers were falling across the country and ministers had to consider the impact of mask-wearing on children’s education.
“There has long been a debate about face masks, particularly in schools. The government’s job is to take a balanced and proportionate decision, in this case balanced against the best interests of children,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
“It is harder to teach children and it will have an impact on their education if they are required to wear face mask at all times in classrooms.”
He added: “Case numbers are falling in every part of the country, we are starting to see hospitalisations falling throughout England, in every area they are stabilised, in most areas they are starting to fall.”
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 09:25
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People should make ‘personal judgement’ on wearing face masks when rules end, says Javid
Health secretary Sajid Javid has said he will continue to wear a face mask going shopping when Plan B Covid restrictions lift in England.
Mr Javid said people would have to make their own “personal judgement” about what precautions to take as legal requirements come to an end.
“Will I be wearing a face mask? Yeah, I think I probably would be in a week’s time,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“Because prevalence is still high and there will be people there, especially if I am going to my local shop which is small and enclosed and can have quite a few people in there at one time in quite a small space, I don’t know most of those people, I think that would be sensible.
“I think it will be sensible on the tube in London, for example – quite an enclosed space.
“People will be asked to make their own personal judgment just as we do in fighting flu.”
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 09:10
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‘We must learn to live with Covid,’ says Sajid Javid as rules scrapped
Health secretary Sajid Javid has said we must “learn to live with” Covid – but also urged caution as the virus is still prevalent in the UK.
He told Sky News’ Kay Burley this morning: “Covid is not going away, it’s going to be with us for many, many years – perhaps forever – and we have to learn to live with it.
“We do still need of course to remain cautious; prevalence remains high.”
Asked whether self-isolation rules would be scrapped when regulations expire on 24 March, he added: “We are not there yet –that’s a few weeks away.
“We’ve said we will review those rules closer to the time but would like to see that happen.”
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 09:00
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Work-from-home guidance and face coverings in schools axed
Work-from-home advice and rules on face coverings in classrooms have ended today after the government axed Plan B measures to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Other measures including the mandatory use of face masks on public transport and in shops and the NHS Covid pass will end next Thursday.
The government also hopes to see the legal requirement for people with coronavirus to self-isolate scrapped when regulations expire on 24 March.
Chiara Giordano20 January 2022 08:51
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/covid-vaccine-restrictions-masks-latest-b1996828.html
