LONDON (REUTERS) – It is too early to say when the national coronavirus lockdown in England will end, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday (Jan 21), as daily deaths from Covid-19 reach new highs and hospitals become increasingly stretched. Britain posted a fresh record in daily deaths on Wednesday for the second day […]
PARIS (REUTERS) – The French government is now recommending that people wear surgical masks in public because they offer better protection from Covid-19 transmission than fabric face coverings, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday (Jan 21). France already requires masks to be worn in public places, but until now has not made recommendations about […]
Matt Hancock hopes for a ‘great British summer’ post-lockdown This year Good Friday falls on April 2, 2021, and many are hopeful lockdown restrictions may start to ease by Easter. By that point England would have been under a third national lockdown for three months, and the nation would have surpassed the one year mark […]
Firefighters were called upon to save the bacon of a 31-stone pig who found herself stuck in the mud while taking a nap. The three crews had to get Dolly “back on her trotters”, after the eight-year-old got into difficulty at her sty in Felsted, near Braintree, Essex. She had dozed off and unfortunately couldn’t […]
Northern Ireland’s lockdown has been extended to 5 March, First Minister Arlene Foster has confirmed. Stormont health minister Robin Swann proposed the move to help drive down case numbers. And the plan was agreed following a meeting of the devolved government. Ms Foster said there would be a review of the situation on 18 February. […]
A hospital in the West Midlands is receiving support from the military during an ‘extremely challenging’ upsurge in Covid-19 patients. Walsall Manor has 50% more coronavirus patients than it had during the April peak with a 250 per cent occupancy rate in its intensive care unit. Army medics are working under the supervision of senior […]
Laptops provided to schools from the Government arrived with a virus on them that connected to servers in Russia. The discovery raises concerns that hackers could steal data on vulnerable students learning from home amid the pandemic. Employees of a Bradford school sounded the alarm in an online forum after receiving laptops containing malware installed […]
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak during the first lockdown to provide financial help for companies and workers. Employers were given the option to furlough their staff instead of making them redundant or being laid off, with the government paying a certain amount of an employee’s pre-tax salary per month […]
Macron’s approach to Merkel successor discussed by expert Despite Brexit trade talks being firmly in the past, debate over the UK’s future is still rife as the EU’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the bloc’s unity has been strengthened. He said this week: “Contrary to what many predicted at the time of the 2016 Brexit […]
Since the first national lockdown in March 2020, each country in the UK has been living with varying levels of restrictions. A third national lockdown came into effect in England in January, after Boris Johnson announced the planned measures on January 4, stating that he had ‘no choice’ but to impose the new lockdown, with […]