UK government ministers are coming under mounting pressure to implement “Plan B” winter measures to address rising Covid-19 cases and a faltering booster vaccine programme.
The head of the NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare provider in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, has said medics are braced for what could be “the most challenging winter on record”.
Matthew Taylor urged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to move to the next stage of planning and reveal the details of a “Plan C”.
Britain's daily coronavirus cases and the seven-day rolling average reached their highest level in three months, while on Tuesday the highest daily Covid-19 death toll since March was recorded.
Concerns have been raised over a sluggish booster shot programme for over-50s and low uptake of vaccines among 12 to 15-year-olds.
The UK's earlier success with its vaccination programme has led to double-vaccinated people's immunity waning. Prof Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said a third shot was needed to improve immunity across the country.
Under Mr Johnson’s winter plan announced in September, Plan B would include a return to working from home for many, mandatory mask-wearing in some settings and vaccine certificates required at large indoor gatherings.
Ministers said the measures would be ushered in only if the NHS came under “unsustainable pressure”.
Mr Taylor said the public should “show extra support for the NHS” as winter approaches by “behaving in ways that will keep themselves and others safe”.
He said immediate action was required to prevent the NHS “stumbling into a crisis” where elective care recovery would be jeopardised.
''We are right on the edge – and it is the middle of October,” he said.
"It would require an incredible amount of luck for us not to find ourselves in the midst of a profound crisis over the next three months.”
Experts have detected a sub-variant of the Covid Delta strain called AY.4.2 in the UK, which scientists say could be more infectious after the proportion of cases to which is was linked doubled in a month.
“It is time for the government to enact Plan B of its strategy without delay because without pre-emptive action, we risk stumbling into a winter crisis,” Mr Taylor said.
“Also, health leaders need to understand what a ‘Plan C’ would entail if these measures are insufficient. The government should not wait for Covid infections to rocket and for NHS pressures to be sky high before the panic alarm is sounded.”
The UK declared the highest number of new infections in about three months when 43,738 cases were recorded on Tuesday.
Government figures also showed another 223 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid, bringing the UK's total number of fatalities to 138,852.
While the numbers are often higher on Tuesdays because of a delay in reporting deaths and cases at the weekend, this is the highest figure for daily reported deaths since March 9.
The seven-day average for cases is 44,145 per day – the highest level for almost three months.
ONS data released on October 6 showed 296 reinfections had occurred among 20,262 people who had tested positive for Covid between July 2020 and September 2021.
There was an average of 203 days between the two positive tests.
Mr Taylor said if the government “fails to get a grip” on rising coronavirus cases, the nation’s recovery from the pandemic could be “put at risk”.
His warning came only weeks after millions of workers returned to offices and other workplaces, many for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Masks are not mandatory in indoor settings such as shops, restaurants and bars in England.
Mr Johnson makes decisions for England while the devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland take their own approaches in response to the pandemic in their regions.
Meanwhile, the booster programme which started last month has hit a brick wall.
The government is offering a third dose to double-vaccinated people over 50 but uptake has in the past few weeks been low.
GPs and pharmacists, who are administering the bulk of the booster programme, are also having to deal with a major flu vaccine campaign.
Some pop-up vaccine centres in community centres and sports facilities have been closed at a time when social activities and gatherings resume.
The government is offering shots to the 12 -15 age group but this uptake has also been slow.
From next week, parents will be able to book an appointment for their children online – currently open only to those aged 16 and older – to get inoculated at a vaccination centre.
The change is designed to increase the vaccination rate among teenagers over the half-term break this month.
Prof Pollard said both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines, which have been widely used in the UK, were “holding out well against severe disease”.
He said the British population was “highly immune” to Covid and “boosters will make things even better”.
“Certainly, we can’t be absolutely sure of the future and so the booster programme as it rolls out is de-risking the future,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday morning, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng ruled out another nationwide lockdown.
Last winter ministers said society would not be shut down for a second time only for lockdown measures to then be implemented.
Mr Kwarteng said this year would be different because “the vaccine has changed our total approach to this”.
He was asked about comments made by Prof Stephen Reicher – a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, which feeds into the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies – who had said the prospect of further lockdowns could not be discounted.
“No, I would rule that out," Mr Kwarteng said.
“Throughout this process, there have been people saying the lockdown was unnecessary, there have been other people saying we should continue the lockdown. We’ve really plotted a path between those two extremes."
Adam Finn, who is on the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation, said the government should be encouraging the public to adhere to measures.
“If you are wearing a good quality mask or surgical mask indoors with other people around, it will substantially reduce the risk if you have the virus and are not aware of it to the people around you," he told the BBC.
“If you wear a mask we use in hospitals, it will reduce the risk of you getting the infection from other people. You can actually protect yourself but, at the very least, you can contribute to stopping the virus from spreading about.”
He said he had seen people not wearing masks in his area. “My observation is that we look sideways at each other and copy behaviour and it makes people stand out if they are wearing a mask," he said.
“If I go into a supermarket now, I’m one of a few wearing masks. Most people go with the flow and we’re not being told not to.”
He said hospital admissions and deaths would keep rising until "we can’t cope any more and we will be back to the bad old days of being asked to stay at home”.
“We can stop that if we go about our normal lives by wearing masks and taking lateral flows.”
Match info
Karnataka Tuskers 110-3
J Charles 35, M Pretorius 1-19, Z Khan 0-16
Deccan Gladiators 111-5 in 8.3 overs
K Pollard 45*, S Zadran 2-18
SPECS
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Europe wide
Some of French groups are threatening Friday to continue their journey to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, and to meet up with drivers from other countries on Monday.
Belgian authorities joined French police in banning the threatened blockade. A similar lorry cavalcade was planned for Friday in Vienna but cancelled after authorities prohibited it.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
Trolls World Tour
Directed by: Walt Dohrn, David Smith
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake
Rating: 4 stars
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
'The Lost Daughter'
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
Christopher Robin
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi
Three stars
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
