Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reiterated the government's strategy of vaccinating as many people as possible before easing lockdown restrictions. The Prime Minister will be looking at how lockdown restrictions may be eased before making an announcement on the "roadmap" next Monday. .
Buckingham Palace announced it is to investigate allegations of bullying made against Meghan by former royal staff.
Coronavirus infection rates are continuing to fall across England, with one in 220 people testing positive for the virus outside of hospital, latest figures show. Around 248,100 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the community in England during the week ending 27 February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Cases fell in all English regions apart from the North East, East and East Midlands, where the decrease appears to have slowed or plateaued.
The UK-wide figure has risen slightly to between 0.7 and 0.9.
Boris Johnson has challenged the EU's decision to approve the blockade of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia, warning that the restrictions "endanger" global efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. On Friday, Downing Street questioned the European Commission over its acceptance of the Italian government's decision to use EU-wide export controls to prevent the shipment from going ahead. Asked about the controversy, Mr Johnson's spokesman pointed out that Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, had previously assured the Prime Minister that the controls would not be used in this way. Speaking at the Number 10 daily lobby briefing, the spokesman said: "We're not privy to the specific agreements between other countries and vaccine manufacturers. "However, the PM spoke to President von der Leyen earlier this year, and she confirmed that the focus of their mechanism was on transparency and not intended to restrict exports by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities. "We would expect the EU to continue to stand by its commitments. The global recovery from Covid relies on international collaboration. We are all dependent on global supply chains, and putting in place restrictions endangers global efforts to fight the virus."
The Duchess of Sussex won her case for privacy and copyright infringement against the paper.
Richard Barnett, 60, of Arkansas faces federal charges including disorderly conduct in a capitol building
It is time to stop this nonsense – the best vaccine you can get is the one you’re offered on the day
Police seized a £170,000 Lamborghini from Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré after he was caught driving the car through north London without insurance, a court heard. Doucouré was “shocked” when shown the speed gun reading, Bromley magistrates heard, suggesting he may have been confused because the speedometer on his French car is in km. On July 2, he was then pulled over in his wife’s Lamborghini Urus in Dartmouth Park Hill when driving without insurance.
Group leaders have paused the ratification process amid the latest row
The Duchess of Sussex is a woman who fell in love with a man. That’s it. Unfortunately for her, this man happened to be a British prince
The documents related to the botched investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by the former First Minister.
France has threatened to block exports of AstraZeneca vaccines from the European Union, after Italy used EU rules to stop 250,000 doses of the Oxford University jab being sent to Australia. The threat was made as the European Commission, which approved the bloc’s first vaccine export ban, said the decision by Rome and Brussels was designed to “send a message” to AstraZeneca. “The message is very clearly [...] that we expect companies with which the European Union has signed advanced purchasing agreements to do their utmost to comply with the contracts,” the commission’s chief spokesman said. A “frustrated” and “disappointed” Australia demanded assurances from Brussels that future vaccine shipments will go ahead and asked the commission to review the decision. Trade minister Dan Tehan spoke to the EU’s Trade Commissioner this morning, who told him there will be no problems with shipments from companies that honour their contracts with the EU. The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company has been embroiled in a rumbling row over supply shortfalls with the EU since January. Brussels says it is in breach of contractual obligations, which AstraZeneca denies. AstraZeneca cut its supplies to the EU in the first quarter to 40 million doses from 90 million foreseen in the contract, and later said it would cut deliveries by another 50 percent in the second quarter. European leaders increasingly see the Oxford University jab as pivotal in their efforts to kickstart the EU’s vaccination programme, which lags far behind the UK, US and Israel. The EU initially trumpeted the merits of its common vaccine strategy, after signing deals with six labs for 2.5 billion shots, including 400 million AstraZeneca doses, from six labs for a total population of 450 million. The bloc has only given 33 million to date and only 11 million Europeans have been fully vaccinated. The EU has a target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the adult population by the end of summer. An increasing number of EU countries, including France and Germany have removed age restrictions on the AstraZeneca jab to speed up inoculations.
Tourists would be required to have had their second dose at the latest seven days before travel.
More than two dozen scientists have called for a new investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, amid concerns it was “all but impossible” for a World Health Organization-led team to operate free of political influence. In an open letter, published on Thursday, a group of 26 experts claimed the probe did not “constitute a thorough, credible and transparent investigation”. “We believe it essential that all hypotheses about the origins of the pandemic be thoroughly examined and full access to all necessary resources be provided without regard to political or other sensitivities,” the letter added. During a highly anticipated trip earlier this year, a WHO-convened team spent four weeks in Wuhan - where the first Covid-19 cases were detected in late 2019 - to investigate how the virus first emerged. The scientists suggested that while “all hypotheses remain open”, it is highly unlikely that the virus emerged as a leak from a laboratory. Instead, they said, Sars-Cov-2 most likely jumped from bats to humans via an as-yet-unknown intermediary host. While most experts expected inconclusive findings - establishing the origins of diseases usually takes years, if not decades - the lack of a “smoking gun” has only heightened geopolitical squabbles and already intense scrutiny around the probe.
From ex-Sussex squad members citing bullying allegations to the Hollywood dream team fighting the Duke and Duchess’ PR battle from LA, Katie Strick has a who’s-who of this week’s royal drama
Opponents of the Scottish nationalists are desperate to use these divisions to derail the SNP before they win a mandate for independence in the May election
Cameras have captured the moment a car crashed through a supermarket window and knocked over shoppers. It happened at an Aldi store in Chelmsford, Essex, just before 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.
FBI looking at whether lawmakers knowingly or unknowingly helped pro-Trump mob
Just 13 out of 315 local areas are currently recording a week-on-week rise in rates.
Institutions now allowed to collect overseas students from airports and isolate on-site instead
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