Professor says programme was very helpful, despite criticism about accuracy of lateral flow tests

Research still to confirm threat posed but variant does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms

One appears to have arisen in Kent, the other brought in from South Africa. Both are highly transmissible

Helped by a spineless press, ministers are set to get away with causing one of the biggest catastrophes in recent historyIt takes effort to imagine how the government could have mishandled the pandemic more disastrously than it has, yet people are blaming the crisis on themselves. For those who wish to hold our authorities to account for one of the worst death tolls in the world, polls offer bleak reading. According to a recent YouGov survey, over half of people think the public are “most responsible for the rise in coronavirus cases over the last month”, with just 31% blaming the people running the country .It is doubtful that the respondents are blaming themselves as individuals. Most would argue they have made huge sacrifices to avoid the spread of Covid-19, which is true. No, they are blaming a nefarious “other”, the ne’er-do-wells down the road, for an imagined failure of personal responsibility. Without stirring the pot of generational warfare, it is worth noting that, while the young tend to blame the government, pensioners overwhelmingly blame the “public”, by which they are likely to mean their grandchildren’s cohort, who are in reality sacrificing some of the best moments of their lives to keep their elders safe. Continue reading...

We need to follow rationality and logic, not hocus-pocus, says John ZarneckiI read with rising horror the piece by Emily Segal (The ‘great conjunction’ kicks off a new astrological epoch. So what now?, 21 December). After the third sentence, it is frankly bunkum and hocus-pocus. Especially at a time when surely we must be following rationality and logic, promoting astrological nonsense such as this is quite irresponsible.As a former president of the Royal Astronomical Society (2016-18), I am sure that I can speak for all astronomers in asserting that there is absolutely no evidence that astrology offers us anything other than an occasional 30-second diversion between other more useful activities. Continue reading...

Oxfordshire, most of Hampshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex and whole of East Sussex join strictest tier

Exclusive: April peak of 18,974 coronavirus patients expected to be surpassed in days

Unless this government stops dithering and works to eradicate Covid-19, more variants are bound to emergeAn emotional rollercoaster is probably the best way to describe the past few weeks. The UK government has lurched from allowing Christmas bubbles to cancelling Christmas altogether. Weeks after an effective vaccine was approved, the virus turned a new corner. Some have argued the new mutation is nothing to worry about – viruses mutate all the time. Others think it’s cause for panic. The truth lies somewhere in between.With limited information available about the new variant, the lesson from 2020 is to move early and enforce precautions rather than wait for things to unfold. When the government delayed a lockdown in the spring that would have reduced the death rate, Britain learned the hard way that it’s better to prevent an emerging disaster than to wait and watch. As Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, put it: if you see a train speeding towards you, do you wait to see if you get hit, or quickly react to avert the crash? Continue reading...

Dramatic international gestures are unlikely to have much impact. It’s hands, masks and space we should be focusing onBy now we all know a new variant of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, has been detected in the UK and is spreading rapidly. Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, announced that the variant, called B.1.1.7, is up to 70% more transmissible based on modelling studies. B.1.1.7 caused many infections in south-east England in a short period of time, rapidly displacing other circulating variants. Patients infected with B.1.1.7 also had higher viral loads. While this is certainly concerning, and warrants urgent scientific investigation, data supporting that this variant alone is driving the associated increase in cases is preliminary and inconclusive. Nonetheless, politicians began implementing sweeping policies right away.Multiple countries have imposed travel bans, greatly reducing travel from the UK or blocking it entirely. France closed its borders to most freight transport. New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, called on the US government to impose numerous restrictions, including banning travel from Europe. He later settled for mandatory rapid testing for all travellers on US-bound flights from the UK. Continue reading...

Robert Jenrick says government to meet to discuss measures to combat ‘very worrying’ new variant

Citizens urged to stay vigilant as investigation continues into New Zealand-born pilot blamed for spreading infection

Anthony Fauci ‘extremely confident’ in vaccine; BioNTech’s CEO says tests being run on mutant strain. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog belowCoronavirus live updates11.59pm GMTWe are closing this live blog now, but you can stay up to date with the latest on our new global blog, which you can find below.Related: Coronavirus live news: US cases increase 14% in one week, France to reopen UK border11.40pm GMTTesco has introduced buying limits on items including toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash. Customers at the supermarket are now limited to one item per person of toilet roll, and up to three products of eggs, rice, soap and handwash.It is understood the extra limits are pre-emptive measures to help smooth demand in the coming weeks, rather than a reaction to shortages or a change in buying behaviour. They are on top of a three-item limit on essential items such as flour, dried pasta and anti-bacterial wipes which has been in place for several months.Related: Tesco limits purchases of toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash Continue reading...

We don’t know if B117 is more deadly, but we do have evidence it’s transmitting fast. Failure to react could be catastrophic

MSPs told tough measures likely in coming days, while ministers may soon extend English restrictions

Monitoring shows new B117 strain has clearly spread beyond tier 4 areas

My team at the Genomics UK consortium sequenced the new Sars-CoV-2 variant, but we’ll need more evidence to understand how it might change the pandemicIt was always predictable that the genome of Sars-CoV-2 would mutate. After all, that’s what viruses and other micro-organisms do. The Sars-CoV-2 genome accumulates around one or two mutations every month as it circulates. In fact, its rate of change is much lower than those of other viruses that we know about. For example, seasonal influenza mutates at such a rate that a new vaccine has to be introduced each year.Even so, over time the virus population will accumulate a fair few mutations in different combinations. The striking feature of the Sars-CoV-2 lineage 1.1.7 that we discovered here at the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (familiar now from headlines as the “new variant”), is that its genome has a large number of mutations compared with other lineages we’ve picked up in the UK. It has a total of 23, which is what sets it apart. Continue reading...

Chief executive Uğur Şahin says team will know within two weeks if vaccine works or needs adaption

Ministers did not suppress the virus, and now a new variant is surging in the south-east of England

Space Rider expected to carry medical and biological experiments on maiden voyageThe European Space Agency (ESA) has signed contracts for its first reusable space transportation system. Known as Space Rider, it is a robotic laboratory about the size of a couple of eight-seater minivans.ESA has signed two contracts. The first is for delivery of the spacecraft by co-prime contractors: Thales Alenia Space Italy and Avio. The second covers delivery of the ground segment (the infrastructure needed to launch and operate the Space Rider) by Italian co-prime contractors: Telespazio and Altec. Designed for launch on an ESA Vega-C rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, the Space Rider will stay in orbit for about two months. It will carry up to 800kg of experiments and technology demonstrations in its 1,200-litre cargo bay. Continue reading...

Other firms better placed to supply antibody tests, argues case against health secretary Matt Hancock

Less than a year since Covid-19 was genetically sequenced, vaccinations against it have begun. Despite being a cause for celebration, the vaccines have been met with some public hesitancy. In the first of a two-part exploration into Covid-19 vaccine scepticism, Nicola Davis speaks to Dr Samantha Vanderslott and Dr Caitjan Gainty about why some people are apprehensive, and how much of a problem vaccine scepticism really is Continue reading...

Here are the current coronavirus hotspots in New South Wales and what to do if you’ve visited them

Jupiter and Saturn have come closer than at any time in 400 years in the event dubbed the great conjunction, prompting people around the world to turn out and try for a glimpse. The orbital paths of the two huge planets ensure great conjunctions every 20 years, but many are impossible to see with the naked eye because they happen during the daytime. Great conjunctions happen when Jupiter, which laps the sun in a shade under 12 years, and Saturn, which orbits every 29.5 years, come into near alignment with the Earth. It will be 2080 before the planets align so closely again Continue reading...

Catholic church says researchers’ use of cell material derived from foetuses does not amount to cooperating with abortion

Two planets appeared closest to each other in the night sky for almost 400 yearsStargazers’ attempts to observe a once-in-a-lifetime sight were hindered in the UK by a far more everyday occurrence – bad weather.Many hoping to see the “great conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday evening, where the two planets appeared closer together in the night sky than they have for almost 400 years, were disappointed when their view was obscured by clouds. Continue reading...

EMA’s move paves way for inoculations to begin across Europe within next few days

An NHS doctor writes of their concerns about the decision to vaccinate health workers at a later time, while Martin Lippitt and Tony Green wonder why Rupert Murdoch has been among the first to receive the jab

EU border closures | Festive dining | Bearded men | Brian Sykes obituaryYou report that EU member state France has temporarily closed its border with the UK (Covid chaos disrupts Kent ports as France bans UK freight, 21 December). You also report that its fellow EU member states Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and others have done likewise. One could almost be forgiven for thinking these were sovereign countries in control of their money, laws and borders. A bit like the UK (except for the borders bit, obviously).

The last time the planets were this close from our viewpoint on Earth was almost 400 years agoThe moment has arrived. Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies tonight and whatever else you are doing, make the attempt to see the extraordinary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Continue reading...

For four years we’ve viewed nearly every EU-related event through the lens of Brexit. To do it this time would be wrongThough a ban on freight from the UK was imposed this weekend, France and some other European Union countries hope to be able to ease the restriction from Wednesday – for lorry drivers, returning citizens and other travellers who can prove they have recently tested negative for coronavirus.Emergency EU talks will be held in Brussels today on how to organise and police a system of checks at airports, Channel ports and the Eurotunnel. And senior EU leaders held a series of crisis talks by phone and videoconference last night. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke privately to Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the pair also spoke to the European council president, Charles Michel, and European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. Continue reading...

Labour shadow minister Yasmin Qureshi speaks of slow recovery after hospital admission

On 21 December 2020, the planets will align, appearing closer than they have since the middle ages, in what is being called a ‘Christmas kiss’This year, stargazers will have the chance to see a Christmas “kiss” beneath interplanetary mistletoe when Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer to one another and brighter than they have in 800 years in an event known as a “great conjunction”. Continue reading...

Dr Nicholas Christakis says once pandemics end, often there is a period in which people seek out extensive social interactionsIt is almost exactly one year since the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 was identified by Chinese scientists as the source of a new, lethal respiratory illness.Since, more than 1.5 million people have died globally, economies worldwide have shut down multiple times and societies have isolated in their homes and watched holidays pass without the closeness of family and friends. Ahead of us is a year undertaking the most logistically challenging public health campaign ever. Continue reading...

Minister Greg Hunt says Australia will not ban flights from UK because it has mandatory 14-day hotel quarantineCases of a Covid-19 strain that has plunged the UK into chaos have been detected in small numbers in Australia, but the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, has said there are no plans to follow other countries in halting flights from the UK.On Sunday the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said there was “no evidence” the strain caused more severe illness or higher mortality, but “it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily”. It prompted some European countries, including Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, to ban flights from the UK. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:

A mutant virus cannot wholly explain why the UK is in this mess or distract from the other failures that have led us hereThe lockdown in the south-east of England may be the shape of things to come. Sixteen million people are under new severe tier 4 restrictions and there are suggestions that these tougher new rules could be in place for months. Many more across the country have seen their plans torn up at the 11th hour. The reason for the government’s change of plan is a new strain of the virus, dubbed B117, that appears no more lethal than the original Sars-CoV-2 but is much more transmissible. European nations have banned flights from the UK, fearful that a mutant pathogen, homegrown in Kent, will spread across our borders and seas. If the new virus’s effect on the rate of transmission is as bad as government advisers’ fear then we will need a national shutdown of the kind imposed in March.The prime minister should have acted sooner. He may not have known exactly what was driving the growth in Covid cases but ministers have been aware for a week that something was going wrong. On Tuesday, the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal warned that if current trends continued, even without the planned Christmas relaxation, there were likely to be 19,000 Covid patients in English hospitals by New Year’s Eve – the same as at the peak of the first wave in April. Continue reading...

My father was exiled from my emotional life – and it was only when he was dying that I started to understand whyMy father was my first love. It wasn’t a romantic love, of course, but all the ache of love was in it. He was handsome, charming and dangerous. It was more than just a minor crush – it was a fatal, all-consuming yearning for his affection that engulfed me like a slow, devastating bushfire. Heartbreak was inevitable.Dad shared his birthday with Jesus. “Look! Everyone celebrates my birthday,” he’d exclaim, pointing at the houses lit up like Harrods on our street, the joke never getting old. He was a bon vivant – nothing made him happier than a festive table creaking under the weight of calorific delights. On Christmas Day 2010, we turned a blind eye to him scarfing a third helping of birthday cake – and I am glad we did. It was his 70th and his last. Continue reading...

The response to Covid-19 has been momentous but discoveries in AI, diet, conservation, space and beyond, show the power of science to improve the world post-pandemic

Seasonal damage in bone fossils in Spain suggests Neanderthals and their predecessors followed the same strategy as cave bearsBears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.Evidence from bones found at one of the world’s most important fossil sites suggests that our hominid predecessors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by sleeping through the winter. Continue reading...

The virus is likely to have spread more widely than the south-east of England, so the lockdown is likely to expand

The prime minister made the right decision in the face of rising infections, but he left it far too late‘We don’t want to cancel Christmas… I think that would be inhuman,” the prime minister said just last Wednesday in response to calls from scientific experts to reduce the relaxation of social restrictions allowing households to mix over Christmas.Four days later, he was forced to abruptly change course in light of alarming data indicating a steep increase in infection rates in London and parts of the south-east and east of England, thought to be linked to a new and more easily transmitted variant of Covid-19. The government was right to immediately impose tougher tier 4 restrictions on these parts of the country and elsewhere to restrict indoors household mixing to Christmas Day only. Continue reading...

Italy and Australia announce new lockdowns; France death toll surpasses 60,000; Sweden introduces tough new measures

Scientists from around the world submitted art grown in petri dishes for the American Society of Microbiology’s annual contest, which has announced the winners. Restricted access to labs broadened the remit, with traditional art on the beauty of microbes accepted for the first time Continue reading...

Testing of the prevalence and effects of the new variant will take weeks, but scientists don’t expect it to cause more severe disease or be resistant to the vaccine

Vice-president’s announcement marks first birthday of signature Trump program but social media mockery followsMembers of the new US space force will be known as “guardians”, Vice-President Mike Pence announced on Friday, at a ceremony to mark the first birthday of the newest branch of the US armed forces, one of Donald Trump’s signature policy initiatives.Related: Trump unveils logo for Starfleet ... er, Space Force ... and Trekkers take to Twitter Continue reading...

Jab could be given green light by 28 December, triggering immediate NHS distribution

While variant seems to spread more quickly, it does not appear to be more dangerous

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian says ‘don’t panic buy’ and asks greater Sydney to abandon non-essential activity

The discovery that bilbies, bandicoots, Tasmanian devils and echidnas emit bio-fluorescence under UV light has sparked the burning question. Why?Dr Kenny Travouillon turned off the lights and headed straight for the shelf holding the stuffed platypus, armed with an ultraviolet torch to test something out. Would the monotreme glow?“All the platypuses were glowing,” says Travouillon, the mammals curator at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. “We went through with other mammals and we found they were glowing too.” Continue reading...