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Covid news live: UK warned of 2m infections a day; Germany restricts travel from UK

Published




08:32

The reimposition of new Covid restrictions in England have been cited as one of the reasons for the resignation of a key UK government minister.

The departure of Lord Frost, who was the government’s ‘Brexit’ minister in charge of overseeing the continuing difficulties surrounding Britain’s departure from the European Union, presents yet a new political setback for the increasingly beleaguered prime minister.

It comes after month in which one after another has popped up like – as one minister put it – a “bad advent calendar.”

Conservative MPs are now already warning the prime minister that he would have to regain control of the government to survive as leader until the next election, it emerged on Saturday night that Frost is to leave the government after frustrations over Brexit negotiations and broader concerns over the government’s Covid policies and tax increases.

The peer has been vocal in recent weeks about his concerns over tax increases and the reimposition of Covid restrictions. He is understood to have spoken out against a rise in national insurance to pay for health and social care spending.

He also has concerns about plan B Covid measures, which provoked the largest ever Tory rebellion under Johnson’s leadership.

At a conference last month he said:


I am very happy that free Britain, or at least merry England, is probably now the freest country in the world as regards Covid restrictions. No mask rules, no vaccine passports, and long may it remain so.

Updated




08:25

Ben Quinn

Hello and welcome to coverage of all Covid-19 related news, internationally and here in the UK, where the scale of the threat posed by the Omicron variant has been laid bare by government scientists who warned that there are now hundreds of thousands of infections every day in Britain.

They warned daily number could reach between 600,000 and 2 million by the end of the month if new restrictions are not brought in immediately.

In other developments:

• Nations across Europe moved to reimpose tougher measures to stem a new wave of Covid infections, with the Netherlands leading the way by imposing a nationwide lockdown.

• Germany is tightening restrictions on travel from the UK in an attempt to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.

• The World Health Organization reported Saturday that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in 89 countries, and Covid cases involving the variant are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission and not just infections acquired abroad.

• Kamala Harris has conceded that the Biden administration was blind to the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants of Covid-19, and said she fears “misinformation” over vaccines will prolong the pandemic well into a third year in the US.

• Australia’s federal health minister has said it is unlikely the country will follow the Netherlands and impose significant lockdowns to suppress surging Omicron infections, although the deputy chief medical officer, noted that the new variant was highly transmissible

This is Ben Quinn in London. You can flag up any news that we should be aware of on Twitter at @BenQuinn75 or email me

Updated

source: theguardian.com