Covid news – live: Concern over Omicron spread among over-50s, as Zahawi says priority is keeping schools open

Despite a drop in the UK’s daily case count, a senior minister has said the government has fresh concerns about the Omicron variant of Covid as it begins to spread in those aged 50 and above.

“They’re the ones who, if you recall in the earlier waves, ended up in hospital with severe infection and hospitalisation and sadly death rates went up,” Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding it was “good news” that 90 per cent of the age group had received a booster jab.

The education secretary also said this morning it was his “top priority” to ensure schools stayed open during the current wave of infections, having witnessed the “painful lesson” closing sites taught leaders last year at the height of the pandemic.

To curb the spread of Omicron in the classroom, students returning to secondary schools in England this week will be tested on site at least once and will then be urged to do so at home twice-weekly for the foreseeable future. They will also be asked to wear face masks at all times.

Key points

• Concern over ‘leakage’ of infections into over-50s

• Secondary schools to test pupils for Covid on site post-Christmas

• MPs due to review plan B upon return to Commons on Wednesday

• School face masks won’t be mandatory longer than necessary – Zahawi

• Schools closing in 2020 was ‘painful lesson,’ says education secretary

Covid testing facility ‘deliberately’ set alight in Scotland

11:27 , Sam Hancock

A Covid test centre was set on fire just minutes into New Year’s Day in what police believe to be a deliberate act.

Investigators say an item was thrown at the canopy of the facility in Dumbarton on Saturday morning, causing it to catch fire, reports my colleague Chiara Giordano. No one was injured in the incident and the fire was extinguished soon after.

Images of the scene show a large hole burned into the side of a gazebo at the test centre in Risk Street.

Covid testing facility ‘deliberately’ set alight

Passengers leave ‘Covid cruise ship’ after five days

11:22 , Sam Hancock

Over to Portugal. Passengers who were stuck on a cruise ship moored in Lisbon’s port for five days due to a Covid outbreak began disembarking today.

Those on board were told they had to test negative before being allowed to fly back to their respective homes.

The AIDAnova, carrying 2,844 passengers and 1,353 crew, had docked in Portugal’s capital on Wednesday. The ship was on its way to the island of Madeira for New Year’s Eve celebrations, but its operator decided to cut the cruise short after the virus was detected among what it said was a fully vaccinated crew.

By Monday, 68 positive cases, including among passengers, had been detected, port captain Diogo Vieira Branco told the Lusa news agency.

“We’re living in this situation and it can always happen. Of course it’s not nice, we imagined something else,” one passenger said as he left the boat. Another added: “We all want this to end. We’re going home.”

‘Good for everyone’ to get Omicron and build immunity, says PM’s sister

11:08 , Sam Hancock

After having the Omicron variant herself, Rachel Johnson has suggested it might be “good that everybody has it [so] we build up immunity”.

Speaking on LBC Radio, the prime minister’s well-known sister was explaining her own experience having “tested positive” before Christmas on 23 December and negative again four days later.

“Honest to goodness, if I hadn’t stuck a swab up my nose I don’t think I’d have known. I wouldn’t have even told a doctor I had a mild cold,” she said.

“But my experience of the Omicron variant is that... if that’s what [it is] like, then I think it’s really good that everybody has it and we build up immunity.”

It comes after Nadhim Zahawi announced this morning that Omicron had begun infecting people aged 50 and above.

Watch: Zahawi says number of people in ICUs coming down

10:31 , Sam Hancock

Opinion: ‘No masks in class is nonsense – it’s parents who have the problem’

10:27 , Sam Hancock

Our voices editor Victoria Richards writes about who really has an issue with kids wearing face masks in school. (Hint: it’s not the kids.)

On Christmas Eve, I went to the pantomime in London’s West End with a friend and our three children. While we were preparing to leave the house, my son – who’s five – reminded me of something vital.

“Don’t forget your mask, Mummy! I’ve got mine!” I looked at him and had to stifle a laugh, because he was wearing a bright green “Hulk” costume, the mask covering his entire face – not just his nose and mouth. If only we all took to mask-wearing so easily.

Seeing how well and how naturally my children have adapted to mask-wearing only makes the riotous clamour against them seem more ridiculous. And it’s all coming from adults: a straw man argument if ever there was one. People are arguing on behalf of children, without – seemingly – actually asking children what they think about the government asking all secondary school-aged pupils to wear masks, and for regular testing (both at school on site and at home).

‘No masks in class’ is nonsense – it’s parents who have a problem | Victoria Richards

Israel to reverse travel ban imposed after Omicron

09:55 , Sam Hancock

Israel will allow tourists with “presumed Covid-19 immunity” to enter from medium-risk countries from 9 January, the health ministry said on Monday, in a reversal of a ban on entry by foreigners imposed in late November in response to the Omicron variant.

People seeking to travel from countries on Israel’s “orange” list would have to prove in advance that they are either vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 and would be subject to PCR testing before and after their arrival, Reuters reports.

It comes after the Middle Eastern country became the first in the world to begin administering a fourth Covid vaccine, the so-called second booster.

NHS suffering not just staff shortages but tired workforce

09:50 , Sam Hancock

As Dr Amil Mehta, a GP based in Redbridge, explains:

Concern over ‘leakage’ of infections into over-50s

09:29 , Sam Hancock

Concern is growing about the “leakage” of Omicron infections from younger to older people, even as overall case numbers flatten in the hotspot of London.

The education secretary said ministers are watching closely rising case rates in over-50s – the more vulnerable age group – ahead of a decision this week on whether to introduce tougher restrictions, writes our deputy political editor Rob Merrick.

“They’re the ones who, if you recall in the earlier waves, ended up in hospital with severe infection and hospitalisation and sadly death rates went up,” Nadhim Zahawi said of the age group.

Concern over ‘leakage’ of Omicron infections into over-50s, minister says

Bin collections cancelled amid staff shortages

08:58 , Sam Hancock

Bin collections have been cancelled across the country as Covid infections continue to drive staff shortages, writes Thomas Kingsley.

Local authorities in Manchester, Essex, Somerset and Buckinghamshire have announced reduced services or a complete suspension of waste collections because staff numbers have been diminished due to the self-isolation period.

Chelmsford City Council was forced to cancel three days worth of food waste collections because 23 members of staff were off sick and conceded that it does not know when the staff shortage will end. Elsewhere, North Somerset Council said it was unable to collect around 1,000 recycling bins over the weekend due to staff shortages, insisting that additional crews would be out to deal with the issue in the hardest-hit areas.

Bin collections cancelled as Covid infections cause staff shortages

Issues ordering Covid tests? Refresh the page, advises Zahawi

08:54 , Sam Hancock

Last bit from Zahawi now, who this morning advised anyone struggling to get lateral flow tests to “just refresh” their webpage.

The education secretary told Sky News he had organised a separate supply of tests for schools ahead of children’s return to the classrooms, at which point they’ll be required to test themselves twice a week.

“All exams are going ahead this year, this summer,” he promised.

“I think there’s a big difference from last year to this year.”

Omicron: What to look out for from Covid variant

08:39 , Sam Hancock

The emergence of Omicron has made it even harder to know whether your sore throat and sniffles are a common cold or indeed the symptoms of Covid-19.

Professor Tim Spector, from Britain’s ZOE Covid app, has said it is now more important than ever to get tested - even without symptoms - as we seek to bring the new variant under control against soaring infection rates. He also said that around half of all Delta variant cases are being “missed” because people are only on the lookout for the “classic” Covid symptoms (fever, new and persistent cough and a loss or change of smell or taste).

But, that’s not how Omicron presents itself, he adds.

So, how can you spot the latest variant? Alisha Sarkar, Celine Wadhera and Joe Sommerlad take a closer look.

What are the symptoms of Omicron variant?

‘Nothing suggests we need to go further than plan B,’ says minister

08:13 , Sam Hancock

Following my last post, here’s what Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News about the possibility of tighter measures when ministers review plan B on Wednesday.

MPs due to review plan B upon return to Commons on Wednesday

08:07 , Sam Hancock

MPs will return to the Commons on Wednesday, following the Christmas recess, where they are set to review the current plan B measures on the same day.

The regulations are not due to expire until 26 January, but Downing Street said at the point they were announced in December that a review would take place three weeks after implementation.

Health minister Ed Argar said on Sunday that the government was “doing the responsible and sensible thing” by asking the public sector to prepare for a worst-case scenario of up to a quarter of staff off work.

However, he also insisted he saw “nothing” in the current data to suggest further measures were needed at present.

“Restrictions or curbs must be the absolute last resort,” he told Times Radio. I’m seeing nothing at the moment in the data I have in front of me, in the immediate situation, that suggests a need for further restrictions. But that data changes day by day.”

It came after Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said the day before that staff were working “flat out” and that the NHS was under “arguably more pressure” from Omicron compared with this time last year.

Asked whether he could rule out announcements on wider restrictions on people in England in the coming week, Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay told Sky News separately: “We don’t think the data supports that at this stage. Of course, we keep the data under review, but we’ve seen significant behaviour change as a result of plan B.”

Schools closing in 2020 was ‘painful lesson,’ says education secretary

08:02 , Sam Hancock

Following my last post, here’s a bit more from Zahawi’s interview with Times Radio. Here, he discusses his determination to keep schools open.

School face masks won’t be mandatory ‘day longer’ than necessary – Zahawi

07:58 , Sam Hancock

Let’s hear from Nadhim Zahawi now, The education secretary has insisted that guidance for secondary school children to wear face coverings in the classroom again will, he hopes, not be in place “for a day longer than we need it”.

He told Times Radio: “It really is based on a couple of things.

“One, obviously UK Health and Security Agency recommendation, Omicron being far more infectious, and when you look at the epidemiological data from SPI-M on this, and we’ve done a piece of work in the department at the end of last year, with 123 schools, where we’ve done an observational study where they’ve adhered to mask wearing in classrooms.

“It’s one of a number of, I think, really important mitigations to make sure that education is fully open and children are in school, in class.

“What we’re saying is, look, with Omicron, because it’s so infectious, we want to make sure that we give you as many tools to be able to make sure that education is open.”

However, he admitted it was “more challenging, of course, to deliver education with masks on in the classroom”.

Secondary schools to test pupils for Covid on site post-Christmas

07:54 , Sam Hancock

Secondary schools are being told to test all pupils for Covid on site before they return to classes this week, amid a union warning that staff are “nervous” that kits will run out.

Students and teachers should then test at home twice a week, new government guidance for England says – as should those at colleges and universities – to try to curb the spread of infections, reports our deputy political editor Rob Merrick.

The advice comes as schools were given the go-ahead to keep pupils at home and return to online teaching if they have what the education secretary called an “impossible” shortage of teachers.

Secondary schools told to test all pupils for Covid on site before return

Good morning

07:43 , Sam Hancock

Hello, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling Covid coverage. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest pandemic updates, statistics and analysis.