Week 4 2021

Week commencing 25th January 2021.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson under pressure and faces questions over Covid Death toll.

The UK’s official Covid death toll passed 100,000, stoking pressure on Boris Johnson to explain the loss of life. Richard Murray, chief executive of the King’s Fund, said it is “almost impossible to believe that a wealthy island nation with a universal healthcare system” would have “one of the highest death tolls from the coronavirus pandemic”. The PM said he was “deeply sorry” that so many had died, adding: “it’s hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic”.

Covid-19 could become a “much more treatable disease” over the next 18 months, according to a health service chief. Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told MPs that in the “second half of the year and beyond we will…see more therapeutics” and “more treatments for coronavirus” which will help us have a “much more normal future”.

UK to announce quarantine hotels. The government is expected to announce today that some travellers coming to England will have to quarantine in hotels on arrival. The new measures are likely to apply to UK citizens and those with permanent residency rights arriving from high-risk countries, including South Africa. Whitehall sources told BBC Newsnight that those quarantining in hotels would have to pay for the costs of their own accommodation. The measure will be an “effective closure of our borders”, the airline industry said.

Schools may reopen in weeks. Government advisers have said primary schools in England may be able to safely reopen after half-term if Covid infections continue to fall. Public Health England said that there was now a “strong case” for a return to class as pupils in primary school age groups are believed to be “resistant” to wider coronavirus trends and play only a small role in spreading infection. Outbreaks were recorded in just 3% of primary schools during the autumn term, with most cases occurring among teachers rather than pupils.

Pupils ‘forgotten victims’ say MPs, A group of Conservative MPs say schoolchildren have become the “forgotten victims” of the pandemic as a backlash grows against plans that could keep classrooms closed until Easter. The chairman of the education select committee, Robert Halfon, has asked for the government to set out a “routemap” for the reopening of schools in England - but the government says it is “too soon” to say when schools will reopen to all pupils.

The UK risks becoming a “failed state”, Gordon Brown has written in the Daily Telegraph, after the pandemic “brought to the surface tensions and grievances that have been simmering for years” between Downing Street and the various parts of the UK. The former prime minister suggests that Boris Johnson should set up a commission to review how the country is run.

Flood defences ‘almost useless’. An Environment Agency inquiry has found that thousands of England’s vital flood defences were in such a state of ruin last year they would fail to protect communities from extreme weather. Storm Christoph recently left at least 600 homes under water as two months’ worth of rain fell in 48 hours in some areas.

Apple warning on pacemakers, Apple is warning customers that its smartphones could interfere with medical devices, including pacemakers. In a new notice published on the tech giant’s support page, the company warned users that iPhones contain magnets and radios that emit electromagnetic fields, both of which “may interfere” with medical devices. Health experts have long warned against holding mobile phones too close to implanted medical devices, however, this is the first time that the tech giant has acknowledged any danger.

Keep your iPhone 6 inches away from your pacemaker. Apple (AAPL) notes that iPhone 12 versions contain more magnets than prior iPhone models, but it also said they don't pose a greater risk of magnetic interference with medical devices than earlier models.