The Times - UK (2020-10-20)

8 2GM RK Tuesday October 20 2020 | the times

News

Wales will go into a two-week national

lockdown to try to get the spread of the

coronavirus under control before

Christmas, Mark Drakeford, the first

minister, announced yesterday.

Everyone in the country will have to

stay at home between 6pm this Friday

and November 9, with all gatherings

banned and all non-essential retail,

hospitality and tourism businesses

having to shut.

Mr Drakeford said that no gatherings

would be allowed during Halloween or

Bonfire Night but organised events for

Remembrance Sunday on November 8

would be allowed to go ahead.

The first week will fall during the

school half-term. In the second week,

all primary schools will reopen and

been encouraged by earlier talks where

a hardship fund to top up furlough pay-

ments and support the self-employed

had been tabled by the government.

Sir Richard urged the government to

introduce shielding for the elderly and

vulnerable in the region rather than a

Tier 3 lockdown. His suggestion that

the stricter rules could be avoided if the

government spent £14 million a month

to protect those most at risk was backed

by key Tories in the area, including Sir

Graham Brady, according to The Daily

Telegraph. The monthly figure would be

less than a fifth of the cost of business

Rapid-result Covid tests are to be

trialled in hotspot areas from this week

in a move that ministers hope will

prevent transmission in hospitals, care

homes, schools and universities.

Seven hospitals will start testing

asymptomatic staff in England with

one of two tests.

Manchester, Southampton and

Basingstoke in Hampshire will immedi-

ately begin using the so-called Lamp

test, which gives a result within 90

minutes. Pilots of swab saliva tests in

Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and

Newcastle would follow shortly, Down-

ing Street said.

In a second series of pilot schemes,

care homes, schools and universities in

the north of England are to be sent

lateral-flow test kits, with areas in the

“very high” Tier 3 category, currently

Liverpool and Lancashire, given priori-

ty as the kits are distributed.

Ministers hope that kits that give a

rapid result will reduce the need for

pupils to isolate when there is an out-

break of Covid in a school.

In care homes the tests will offer en-

hanced screening to keep infection at

bay.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman

said a positive result for Covid using the

lateral-flow test would have to be con-

Boris Johnson is expected to offer Andy

Burnham one last chance to agree to

harsher Covid-19 restrictions for

Greater Manchester before imposing

the measures today.

The prime minister was “carefully

considering next steps”, a government

spokesman said last night after the

failure of talks with Mr Burnham, the

mayor of Greater Manchester, and

other civic leaders.

Downing Street wants to move areas

across the north of England and the

Midlands into the most severe Tier 3

local lockdowns in time for half-term,

which starts for most next Monday.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary,

said that the government wanted to

move South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire,

Nottinghamshire, the northeast and

Rapid-result tests go

on trial in hotspots

Francis Elliott firmed using existing swab technology
in the laboratory.
“This is a pilot. And obviously the
purposes of the pilot is to see how this
might work,” he said.
“What will happen initially is that if
you get a positive result from one of the
lateral-flow tests, that would then trig-
ger a further test using the existing
swab technology in order to confirm
the result, because this is a new techno-
logy that we’re using here.”
Matt Hancock said the government
was “ramping up our ability” to produce
the next generation Covid tests, as well
as purchasing available supplies.
The health secretary said: “Some of
these tests can produce a result as
quickly as 15 minutes and we will make
them available to local directors of
public health as part of our strategy for
local action, starting with areas in the
very high alert level.
“These tests have shown real promise
and we are both buying them now and
ramping up our ability to produce them
at scale right here in the UK.
“We are working hard to discover
and evaluate new testing technologies
that are simpler and faster and cheaper.
“We’re rolling them out across hospi-
tals and across care homes to test
patients and residents [even] more reg-
ularly to keep people safe, and for
schools and universities so that we can
keep education open safely through the
winter.”
Jeremy Hunt, the former health sec-
retary and chairman of the Commons
health committee, who is an advocate
of mass testing, said confirmation of the
pilots was potentially the most signifi-
cant news in recent weeks.
Although Mr Johnson and Downing
Street has dropped talk of a “moon-
shot”, the announcement reflects confi-
dence that mass testing will offer the
chance to fend off a full lockdown as
cases surge.
Senior figures in No 10 are said to be
worried that laws inhibiting NHS data-
sharing threaten to frustrate the con-
struction of a testing regime that relies
on private companies.
The Conservative Home website
quoted a government insider as saying:
“We need to get to the point where, say,
pubs and football clubs can deliver the
lateral-flow tests themselves”.
Rapid tests are the way to break the virus
impasse, Thunderer, page 28

Wales locks down to control spread

ling outside those areas without

“reasonable excuse”.

Mr Drakeford said the “short, sharp

shock” of the lockdown would slow

down the virus but its benefits would

not be seen by the end of the two weeks.

The Welsh government has created a

£300 million “extra economic resil-

ience fund” and all businesses that

close will be able to receive support

from the UK government.

Stephen Crabb, Conservative MP for

Preseli Pembrokeshire, was sceptical

that the fire break would tackle the situ-

ation in the worst-affected areas. He

said: “For places like Pembrokeshire

with very low rates of infection, it feels

like we are being dragged into a cycle of

damaging lockdowns with little justifi-

cation.”

Common sense to tackle virus, letters,

page 30

years 7 and 8 will return to secondary

schools. Childcare facilities will be open

throughout.

The incidence rate of Covid-19 infec-

tions in Wales is 130 cases per 100,

people with an R number of 1.4, mean-

ing it is increasing exponentially.

Mr Drakeford said this translated in-

to significant pressure on hospitals. He

said the two-week “fire break” was

being advised by the UK government’s

scientific advisers and was “the best

chance of regaining control of the virus

and avoiding a much longer and more

damaging national lockdown”.

He added that new national restric-

tions would be introduced later to try to

ensure the virus is kept in control.

About 2.3 million people, about two

thirds of the population, are already in

communities that have local lock-

downs, which include bans on travel-

Will Humphries

Southwest Correspondent

The national picture

*Counting of cases has changed to remove duplication. Numbers

now include those tested in all settings. 14-day change trends

use 7-day averages. Source: Gov.UK

Yesterday

14-day change

UK total

England

Scotland

Wales

N Ireland

18,

61.4%

741,

629,

47,

36,

28,

80

131.3%

43,

38,

2,

1,

621

MarAprMay JunJul Aug SepOct

10,

0

20,000 cases

7-day

average

New

cases

Cases Deaths

News Coronavirus

Burnham given final chance to

Francis Elliott Political Editor

Charlotte Wace

Teesside into the highest category in

the coming days.

Mr Johnson remains keen to avoid

the restrictions, which include the clo-

sure of pubs and bars, because of fears

that they could further fray compliance

and because of the political damage

they would cause. He was running out

of room for manoeuvre, however, after

talks described by a cabinet minister as

“final” failed to provide a breakthrough

on the question of extra help for workers

laid off as a result of the restrictions.

Last night Mr Burnham and Sir Rich-

ard Leese, the leader of Manchester city

council, accused the government of

trying to raise concern about the re-

gion’s NHS with “selective statistics”. A

statement signed by them also said that

they had gone into yesterday’s meeting

“with a positive and unanimous view

.. .that we should seek a resolution as
soon as possible”. It said that they had

William fears mental health catastrophe

The Duke of Cambridge is

said to fear a “mental health

catastrophe” if coronavirus

restrictions prevent people

from socialising (Greg

Wilford writes).

Prince William also

discussed the challenges

facing the entertainment

industry in a video call with

business owners in

Liverpool yesterday.

Natalie Haywood, an

entrepreneur who runs

wedding, events and

restaurant venues in

Liverpool, where Tier 3

restrictions are in force, and

has recently been forced to

make 40 staff redundant,

said that William, 38, was

“very focused on the

wellbeing of things and

spoke of the mental health

catastrophe Britain will face

if people aren’t allowed to

experience social aspects of

their lives”.

Ms Haywood added:

“William agreed that we

won’t really see the true

effects of the virus for many

months but was

encouraged that businesses

are pulling together.”

William has been involved

in campaigns to promote

positive mental health

throughout the Covid-

pandemic. A royal aide said

that the issue of mental

health was “always at the

forefront of the duke and

the duchess’s mind”.

Asked what prompted his

call to entertainment

industry professionals in

Liverpool, the aide said:

“Sometimes just listening to

people can help provide

reassurance that their

voices are being heard.”