The Times - UK (2021-12-22)

2 2GM Wednesday December 22 2021 | the times

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To day’s highlights

7.20am

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8.30pm

10.30pm

Gillian Keegan, care minister

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour leader

Matt Chorley and Patrick Maguire look at

the best exchanges of the year at PMQs

Mariella Frostrup chats to the

theatre director Sir Nicholas Hytner, right

David Quantick, Emmy-winning TV writer

for Veep, talks about his new quiz book

The MPs Mark Garnier and

Christine Jardine on the day in politics

Restaurants and pubs have cautiously

welcomed a £1 billion bailout for the

hospitality industry but unions have

warned that it does little to protect

workers at risk of losing their wages.

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, an-

nounced one-off grants of up to £6,

per premises to compensate businesses

for the collapse of Christmas bookings

as he acknowledged the “huge uncer-

tainty” the Omicron variant was caus-

ing for pubs, restaurants and bars at

their busiest time of year.

Hospitality businesses broadly wel-

comed the funding although the travel

industry complained that it had been

“left out in the cold”. The boss of one

major hotel chain said the package was

like a “dud cracker on Christmas Day”.

The grants will be distributed by

councils, with an extra £100 million to

be handed out at their discretion. The

government will also cover the costs of

staff absences by reimbursing small and

medium-sized employers for statutory

sick pay of up to two weeks per worker.

An additional £30 million has been put

towards the culture recovery fund.

One of the country’s largest pub

Wages warning over Sunak’s

£1bn bailout for hospitality

George Grylls Political Reporter owners said businesses had seen a

dramatic fall in trade since Professor

Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical

officer, warned of the transmissibility of

the Omicron variant. Jonathan Neame,

chief executive of the Shepherd Neame

brewery in Kent, said some venues in

London had lost 70 per cent of their

custom.

Sunak said: “We recognise that the

spread of the Omicron variant means

businesses in the hospitality and leisure

sectors are facing huge uncertainty at a

crucial time. So we’re stepping in with

£1 billion of support, including a new

grant scheme, the reintroduction of the

statutory sick pay rebate scheme and

further funding released through the

culture recovery fund.”

There was a mix of reactions from the

hospitality industry to the package. UK

Hospitality described it as generous

and the British Beer and Pub

Association said that it was a “vital life-

line”. However, the Night Time Indus-

tries Association, which represents

nightclubs, said that it was “far too little

and borders on the insulting”. The

Music Venue Trust said that the help

was “detached from reality”.

Tim Rumney, the chief executive of

Best Western Hotels, called the meas-

ures “a dud cracker on Christmas Day”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme:

“The support is always welcome but it

just doesn’t go far enough to help us

with the problems that we’re going

through at the moment with the can-

cellations and the impact on the finan-

ces of hotels and hospitality.”

Unions urged the government to

introduce a targeted furlough scheme

for the hospitality sector to compensate

workers for lost earnings. Frances

O’Grady, general secretary of the

Trades Union Congress, said Sunak

had to “go back to the drawing board”.

She said: “The economic support meas-

ures announced today are just not good

enough. There’s no targeted support for

wages. And nothing has been done to

fix our broken sick pay system.”

Earlier this year Sunak announced

the phasing out of long-term support

for hospitality. Pubs, restaurants and

bars pay VAT of 12.5 per cent, which is

set to rise to the full 20 per cent in April.

However, in his autumn budget

Sunak cancelled a planned increase in

business rates with hospitality firms

benefiting from a 50 per cent discount

until April 2023.

some pharmacies have repeatedly run

out. Ministers insist this is a distribution

problem that is improving and that

there is a plentiful supply of tests.

President Biden announced plans

yesterday to send 500 million lateral

flow tests to US homes in an effort to

fight Omicron. His administration had

previously mocked the idea and

officials branded the tests unreliable.

The British government sees the

American move as vindication of its

decision to buy “many hundreds of

millions” of lateral flow kits.

Ministers are not claiming that mass

testing will definitely avoid the need for

further restrictions but they see it as

vital for minimising the risk to families

over the festive period.

“We want to encourage people to

take a test before going round to

relatives for Christmas dinner,” a senior

government source said. “If you’re

going to see your family, especially

more vulnerable people, then taking

that lateral flow test will be a really good

way of making it safer.”

The source insisted that people were

taking to regular testing before social

events, with almost a million lateral

flow kits known to be used each day. “If

everyone is negative it really reduces

the risk of super-spreader events and

if we’re all using them, tests can

have a really significant impact,” the

source said.

“We are facing a variant that

spreads like nothing we’ve seen before,

and, in the face of that, testing is even

more important in controlling it. It

means we’re going into a difficult

festive period in the strongest possible

position.”

A hundred Conservative MPs

rebelled over the introduction of Covid

certification in the government’s plan B,

but some scientific advisers believe

controversy over “vaccine passports” is

misplaced as requiring testing to enter

venues will have a bigger effect.

With speculation mounting about

possible restrictions on pubs and

restaurants after Christmas, one senior

adviser said: “Paradoxically, I suspect

that keeping hospitality open and full,

but demanding testing, would have a

very beneficial effect.”

Coronavirus reports, pages 10-

NEWS

ELEPHANT SENSE

How old tuskers

keep their young

out of harm’s way

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PA G E 7 0

continued from page 1

Public urged to take Covid tests What do tests pick up?

0 5 10 15

Days since exposure to virus

Viral load

INFECTIOUS PERIOD

Positive by PCR

Detectable

by lateral flow

Detectable by PCR

Just before the infectious period,

the lower sensitivity of lateral

flow tests means they

could miss an infection

that a PCR test would

pick up

Negative results are

expected in the first

couple of days after

exposure, but a

positive could be

just hours away

It’s possible to test

positive by PCR several

days after lateral flows

would no longer detect

the virus

Note: this is a guide and individuals can become infectious

in a shorter time or for different lengths of time. Source: FT

Detection threshold

Q&A

What is the advice on

using lateral flow tests?

The official advice since

November has been for

people to take the rapid

at-home tests on days

when they are more

likely to catch or spread

Covid-19, including

when they “mix with

people in crowded

indoor places” or “visit

someone who is at

higher risk of getting

seriously ill from Covid-

19”. Those going to

school are still advised

to do a test twice a

week, as are NHS staff.

Since last week

people who have been

in contact with

someone with Covid-

and are fully vaccinated

or under 18 years and

six months old,

meaning they do not

need to self-isolate,

have been advised to

take a daily test for

seven days. From today

people who have tested

positive for Covid-19 will

be allowed out of self-

isolation after seven

days, rather than ten, if

they receive negative

lateral flow results on

day six and seven from

tests taken 24 hours

apart.

When should I take

them?

They are designed for

use when people do not

have symptoms.

Between one in four

and one in three people

with Covid-19 never

show symptoms but

may be infectious.

Lateral flow tests are

designed to find those

people and stop them

spreading the disease.

It is best to take the

tests as close as

possible to leaving

home. Dr Peter English,

former chairman of the

BMA public health

medicine committee,

said: “Test as close as

possible to the time of

the meeting — a test the

previous day, or early in

the morning, may be

invalid hours later.”

What about if I have

symptoms?

If you have any

symptoms you must

isolate and get a PCR

test. They are more

sensitive and can pick

up lower levels of the

virus.

How do the tests work?

While PCR tests look for

the presence of the

virus’s RNA, or genetic

code, lateral flow tests

look for the

surrounding proteins,

which are less likely to

mutate, than the spike.

Do they pick up cases

of Omicron variant?

Yes, UKHSA laboratory

tests show that all five

tests available for use

by NHS Test and Trace

work on the Omicron

variant.

How do I get hold of

them?

Tests can be ordered for

home delivery on

gov.uk or by calling 119.

Many high street

pharmacies also have

stocks.

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