FRANCE is set to shut its borders to non-EU travellers from Sunday except for essential travel.
It comes amid the row between the bloc and Brit firm Astrazeneca over the delivery of vaccine doses.
Announcing the measures, Prime Minister Jean Castex stopped short of imposing a new lockdown despite infection rates remaining high in France.
Anyone entering the country from the EU must give a negative PCR test, the Mr Castex added.
Meanwhile, on Friday Brussels announced new controls on the UK which could allow it to block jabs getting to the UK, including 3.5million from Pfizer BioNTech in Belgium.
Follow the live blog below for the very latest news, updates and analysis of the coronavirus crisis…
- Niamh Cavanagh
PARTY GOES ON
British influencers in Dubai have taunted the travel ban that means they can no longer fly home saying: "Oh what a shame."
Many downed shots and lounged by the pool today as strict new Covid travel rules came into force.
Brit social media stars have faced a backlash for jetting to the sunny holiday spot during the UK's lockdown and now face being stranded after travel rules were changed at 1pm.
Henry Simmons shared the view from his balcony overlooking a glistening pool before posting The Sun's story about influencers being stranded.
The Absolutely Ascot reality star, 21, told his 108,000 followers: "Oh what a shame."
- Niamh Cavanagh
BOXING CLEVER
Boxing's Olympic golden girl Nicola Adams has weighed in to the fight to persuade EVERYONE to have a Covid jab.
Yesterday the retired world-class fighter joined in with volunteers from The Sun’s Jabs Army of helpers at a vaccination hub near her home in Leeds.
And after a report found that ethnic minority adults were up to 20 per cent less likely to accept the jab than white people, Nicola, 38, said: “I would definitely say that everyone should get the vaccine when they are offered, especially if you’re in the high-risk category.
“There’s nothing to worry about. It’s a standard jab, it’s no different to any other jab you’ve had.
"It’s important to listen to the Government’s advice and get the vaccine.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
VIRUS SLOWS
UK Covid cases have plunged 28 per cent in a week in the latest sign the national lockdown is working.
Official daily figures released today show the UK recorded 29,079 Covid cases – with another 1,245 fatalities reported.
Cases have plunged 28 per cent on the 40,261 infections recorded a week ago.
The seven-day average was around 60,000 cases a day on January 9 but is now less than half of that at around 27,000.
Today's figures also represent an elevent per cent drop in deaths on the 1,401 fatalities recorded last Friday.
The number of patients in hospital and fighting for life on ventilators has also fallen this week.
- Niamh Cavanagh
GRIM REAPER
The Covid death toll may hit 220,000 in the pandemic fallout, according to Sage documents.
New official estimates show 161,000 Brits could have died by the end of next month, including 120,000 struck down directly by the bug.
Experts also warned of a mortality time-bomb sparked by the virus – with cancer treatments delayed, job losses and mental health problems due to lockdown.
They feared this could impact the next 50 years, with Sage papers from mid-December published today, estimating up to 61,000 extra deaths directly due to the shutdowns.
Leading scientists wrote: "Evidence suggests that the recession resulting from Covid-19 and restrictions on activities could have large effects on lives through unemployment, mental health, decreases in income and wealth and increased financial and employment uncertainty.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
AIR RAGE
An air crew threatened mutiny after being told to work on a packed jet despite a colleague being hospitalised with Covid on an earlier flight.
A British Airways stewardess began vomiting at 30,000ft on Flight BA113 from London Heathrow to New York on Sunday.
Emergency services met the Boeing 777 on touchdown and she was taken to hospital, where she tested positive for coronavirus.
But despite knowing of the crew member's positive test her concerned work pals were told to operate on the return service to the UK, which left the US on Monday evening and arrived at Heathrow on Tuesday morning.
Furious union leaders have contacted the Civil Aviation Authority to ask why the BA crew and passengers were put “in jeopardy”.
- Niamh Cavanagh
FRENCH PM SAYS WE CAN STILL AVOID A THIRD COVID LOCKDOWN
Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Friday the coronavirus variants first detected in Britain and South Africa posed a dangerous risk to France but that a third nationwide lockdown could still be avoided.
Instead, Castex said France would further tighten COVID-19 controls at its borders, reduce the number of people allowed into shopping malls and increase police controls against people breaking a nightly curfew.
- Niamh Cavanagh
VIRAL STALL
Over a million people in England are still infected with Covid-19 despite cases falling across the country, new official data shows.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said one in 55 people still have Covid and warned that the rate of decrease is "running out of steam".
The figures, from the seven days to January 23, show that London has the highest percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19.
One in 35 people in the capital currently have Covid, according to the ONS.
Public Health England yesterday stated that cases across the country were falling but that deaths "would remain high" for some time.
- Niamh Cavanagh
HERO DOC
A hero NHS doctor was killed by coronavirus after telling friends “this isn’t a time for cowards” when they begged him to step back from ICU.
Gamal Osman, 63, died in the early hours of yesterday after being rushed to intensive care when he contracted Covid-19.
The dad-of-seven lost his brother to the virus in September last year and friends and family begged him to minimise his risk by reducing his commitments.
However, the heroic North Bristol NHS Trust doctor told colleagues “this isn’t a time for cowards” and continued to work.
Sadly he tested positive for coronavirus just three weeks before the vaccine was given to frontline staff.
- Niamh Cavanagh
'SNACCIDENTS'
Working from home is causing a rise in ‘snaccidents’, derailing the January diet plans of 90 per cent of Brits, according to research.
A poll of 2,000 adults found 47 per cent are snacking more at home than they did in the office, with boredom the most common trigger.
Almost a third (31 per cent) are most tempted when having a cup of tea, while 27 per cent snack due to stress.
And 41 per cent simply reach for a treat because they crave something sweet.
But 38 per cent even confessed to having a dedicated snack cupboard at home.
- Niamh Cavanagh
OVER HALF OF MOSCOW RESIDENTS HAD CORONAVIRUS SAYS MAYOR
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that over a half of Moscow residents have already had coronavirus, TASS news agency reported citing his interview for Rossiya 1 TV channel.
"Over a half of Moscow have had it," Sobyanin was quoted as saying.
- Niamh Cavanagh
OFFICIAL R RATE STALLS BUT COULD BE AS LOW AS 0.6 IN LONDON
BRITAIN'S official coronavirus R rate has stalled, new estimates show, but may have dropped to 0.6 in London.
The R rate – which represents the number of people an infected person will pass Covid onto – is now between 0.7 and 1.1, Sage said today.
It was estimated to be between 0.8 and 1 last week, and 1.2 and 1.3 the week prior.
It suggests the lockdown has successfully pushed the R rate down, but the progress has slowed.
Further data from different research teams also shows case numbers are not coming down as quickly as hoped.
- Niamh Cavanagh
FRENCH CORONAVIRUS DEATH TOLL JUMPS ABOVE 75,000
France's coronavirus death toll jumped above 75,000 on Friday as the government reported 820 new deaths, taking the cumulative total to 75,620.
Friday's figure included 355 deaths in hospitals, compared with 344 on Thursday, and 465 deaths in retirement homes over the past three days, health ministry data showed.
The seven-day moving average of deaths increased to 425 from 400 on Thursday.
- Niamh Cavanagh
VACCINATION ROLLOUT IN THE UK
- Niamh Cavanagh
JAB BOOST
Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine prevents 99.96 per cent of cases, a new study suggests.
The jab is currently being rolled out across the UK alongside the Oxford vaccine, with more than 7.4 million Brits having received their first dose.
An Israeli study suggests that just 0.04 per cent of people who received both doses of the Pfizer jab went on to develop Covid-19.
Israel has been at the forefront of the vaccine rollout having started its rollout on December 19.
- Niamh Cavanagh
YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
Cops have warned lockdown partygoers they face £800 fines if they attend a house party as new regulations come into place tonight.
Anyone caught after 5pm today attending an illegal indoor party or rave of 15 people or more can now be fined £800, four times high than the previous penalty.
Commander Alex Murray, the Met’s lead for Covid-19 enforcement, said: “If you are planning on attending an illegal gathering, party or rave this weekend you are not only taking a very serious health risk but also a much bigger financial risk.
“I hope that these increased fines will discourage some of the events we’ve seen in recent weeks – events which are no doubt adding to the already huge pressure on our health services and potentially leading to avoidable deaths.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
WESTERN ISLES MOVE TO LEVEL 4 RESTRICTIONS AS CORONAVIRUS CASES SPIKE
The Western Isles are being placed in the toughest tier of coronavirus restrictions after a spike in cases.
At the Scottish Government's daily Covid briefing on Friday, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said six new cases were reported there on Friday and nine on Thursday.
A separate outbreak on Barra recently pushed that island into Level 4.
As a result of the spikes, the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway has now reached capacity.
Meanwhile, Ms Freeman also announced the Scottish coronavirus death toll under the daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 6,040.
That came after a further 70 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours. Case numbers also continue to rise, with 1,155 positive tests in the past day.
- Patrick Knox
NHS CHIEF PAYS TRIBUTE ONE YEAR AFTER FIRST CONFIRMED COVID PATIENTS TREATED
The boss of the NHS in England marked the anniversary of the first confirmed coronavirus patients being treated by paying tribute to the staff’s “extraordinary work in a year like no other”.
Sir Simon Stevens visited the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, where two Chinese nationals were treated after they tested positive.
A woman aged 50 and a 23-year-old student had fallen ill in York, were initially treated in Hull and were transferred to Newcastle in the early hours of January 31 2020.
Since then, hospitals have treated more than 320,000 patients with Covid, with about one person with the virus admitted to critical care every 30 minutes.
Hospitals have been transformed to increase critical care and their “surge capacity” by around half.
Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England, Sir Simon Stevens, meeting Dr Matthias Schmid and Pauline McNicolas in the High Consequence Infectious Diseases ward during a visit to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in NewcastleCredit: PA:Press Association - Patrick Knox
UK COVID CASES PLUNGE 28 PER CENT IN A WEEK
Official daily figures released today show the UK recorded 29,079 Covid cases – but due to 'an issue in processing data' do not currently include the number of deaths.
- Patrick Knox
‘SIGNIFICANT CASE FOR CLOSING UK'S BORDERS COMPLETELY’
Closing the UK's borders completely would offer "greater" protection against coronavirus than restrictions announced by the UK Government this week, Wales's first minister has said.
Mark Drakeford said the introduction of new border controls to protect the UK against the spread of new Covid-19 variants was Westminster "doing the least they thought they could get away with".
Mr Drakeford told the Welsh Government's press briefing he could "envisage" the UK shutting its borders off for a period of months, saying: "I think those protections would be greater than the ones the UK Government has decided on this week.
- Patrick Knox
THE UK’S HISTORIC JAB CAMPAIGN
- Patrick Knox
RELAXING RULES 'WILL LEAD TO ANOTHER WAVE IF NOT DONE CAUTIOUSLY'
Relaxing Covid-19 restrictions will lead to another wave of coronavirus infections if it is not done in a cautious way, scientists advising the Government have warned.
In a set of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), the experts said that the number of cases, hospital and ICU admissions, and deaths, remain high nationally, with "significant pressure" on the NHS.
It comes as the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows coronavirus infections to be levelling off across the UK, with one in 55 people in private households in England infected with Covid-19 between January 17 and 23.
The ONS said the percentage of people testing positive in England "remains high", with more than one million people infected in the most recent week's data.
- Patrick Knox
COVID-HIT CUMBRIAN HOSPITAL DISCHARGING NON-CORONA PATIENTS
Some hospital patients in north Cumbria will be discharged to a hotel due to pressures caused by Covid-19, the county council has said.
About 10 people are initially expected to be discharged to temporary care accommodation at the Station Hotel in Carlisle, with space available for more, a spokesman for the authority said.
He said the arrangements had been made in response to the "unprecedented pressure on health and care services in north Cumbria as a result of Covid-19".
John Readman, executive director at Cumbria County Council, said: "This is a positive new development which means medically-fit people can be discharged from hospital in comfort even if they can't yet return home because of their circumstances
- Patrick Knox
COVID-19 DOCTOR'S DIARY DETAILS INTUBATED PATIENTS' FEAR ON ICU
An intensive care consultant said an "indelible memory" of treating coronavirus patients will be the fear they showed if they need to be intubated.
Dr Richard Cree, who works at Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital, has been blogging about his experiences on the front line fighting Covid-19.
His nomoresurgeons.com diary notes that cases are falling slightly and the number of patients needing intensive care treatment has stopped increasing.
But as the national figure for coronavirus deaths passed 100,000, Dr Cree said the toll at his hospital continues to increase, with three more patients dying overnight.
- Patrick Knox
FIVE COVID-19 PATIENTS DIE IN ROMANIA HOSPITAL FIRE
Romania was in shock today after a fire broke out in the country's main hospital for coronavirus patients, killing five in the second such incident in three months.
Emergency responders in capital Bucharest found three patients dead at the Matei Bals hospital and could not resuscitate a fourth, junior minister Raed Arafat told reporters.
The body of a fifth victim was later found in one of the bathrooms, Interior Minister Lucian Bode said.
Fire broke out on the hospital's ground floor around 5am local time (3am GMT) and soon reached four wards, while 102 patients had to be evacuated to other hospitals, fire chief Orlando Schiopu said.
Firefighters work at the site of Covid-19 hospital Matei Bals, after a fire broke out in one of its buildings, in BucharestCredit: INQUAM PHOTOS - Patrick Knox
BRUSSELS BANS VACCINE EXPORTS AMID CLAIMS UK 'HIJACKING SUPPLIES'
An export ban on some coronavirus vaccines has been adopted by the European Commission, it has been announced.
Executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told a Brussels press conference: "Today the commission has adopted an implementing regulation making the export of certain products subject to an export authorisation.
"This regulation concerns the transparency and export of Covid-19 vaccines."
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides hold a news conference Credit: Reuters
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