Coronavirus live news: UK set for 'worst weeks of pandemic', warns Whitty; China says WHO team to arrive within days

Worst is yet to come for the UK, warns England ’s chief medical adviser;China says WHO Covid-19 origins inquiry team to arrive 14 JanuaryChina agrees to let in WHO team investigating Covid origins‘South Africa is going to get a third wave, even a fourth’Vaccine explainer: when will things go back to normal?See all our coronavirus coverage8.38amGMTThe UK ’s test and trace system does not work effectively and needs to be fixed, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation has said, as he warned of high infection rates. Speaking to Sky News,Danny Mortimer said:We need the rate of infection to go down well in advance of the benefit of the vaccination programme. We still, for the last few weeks now, have seen growing incidences of infection in our communities.We ’ve struggled as a country to have a test, trace and isolate system that works effectively – it just doesn’t work as well as it does in countries like Australia and various other parts of the world. That has to be fixed.8.34amGMTHere ’s a little more detail on Fontanet’s suggestion that France think about closing its borders. He told BFM televisionIt is important that we consider whether we need to close the borders to a limited number of countries, notably the United Kingdom and Ireland. This is certainly a point for the agenda. It is not up to the scientific council to decide this, but we want to raise the issue.The new Covid variant is nearly a new epidemic within the epidemic.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus World news UK news Science Infectious diseases US news Source Type: news