Health

The public will be able to order lateral flow tests online for free until at least the end of August, the government has confirmed. It comes weeks after parliament was told the free asymptomatic testing using the devices would be extended until the end of this month.The government has now the scheme will run until at least the end of August.“Regular testing using rapid lateral flow tests is essential to controlling Covid-19 and variants of concern as restrictions are lifted,” a Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson told The Independent on Thursday.“So far 251,126 positive cases have been detected using LFDs that wouldn’t have been found otherwise, helping to break chains of transmission and save lives.”The spokesperson added: “In England you can continue to order free LFDs online until at least the end of August 2021. “Details of any extension of the programme will be set out in due course.”The pharmacy collection service – which also lets people with no Covid symptoms get free rapid tests – will also run until at least the end of next month.It comes afterThe Independent reported there would be a forthcoming statement about how long free rapid tests would be provided to the public.On the same day in mid-June the government announced England’s roadmap out of lockdown would be pushed back, Matt Hancock, then-health secretary, said asymptomatic testing would continue to be offered until the end of this month.In spring this year, the government said everyone in England could access two free rapid flow tests a week in a new testing regime in a bid to prevent Covid outbreaks. Lateral flow tests have also been made available in workplaces to allow those without Covid symptoms to get tested. It is estimated around a third of people with coronavirus do not show any symptoms. The government says employers have until 19 July to order free rapid lateral flow tests for employees. More

The spread of the Delta variant in the UK could have been curbed by stronger border measures, the chairman of Nervtag has said.Professor Sir Peter Horby told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that modelling of the Delta variant suggests a more transmissible strain than the Alpha, or Kent, variant and that it will be difficult to control. He believes we will soon see it spreading across Europe.Asked if the Delta variant’s spread in the UK was due to not having strong enough border measures earlier, Prof Horby said: “It’s clear that the Delta variant started to transmit within the UK because of introductions from other countries.“So I think there is a case to be said that that did happen and stronger border measures may have delayed that, may even have prevented it.“But there is an obvious trade-off that policymakers and politicians have to make between absolute complete restrictions and stopping various viruses coming in.”Boris Johnson has faced criticism for not putting India on the “red list” earlier when it became apparent that a new variant was spreading rapidly across the nation. The variant now makes up more than 90 per cent of cases in England and is estimated by Public Health England (PHE) to be 64 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant indoors.Official estimates suggest that around 20,000 passengers who could have been infected with the Delta variant between early April and 23 April, when India was put on the red list.Prof Horby’s verdict comes just weeks after Labour shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, dubbed the Delta variant the “Johnson variant” and accused the government’s “unforgivable recklessness” with its approach to border protections. Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “They have allowed the Delta variant, first identified in India to take hold here. Let’s call it what it is – let’s put the blame where it should lie. In this country – it’s the Johnson variant.” More

Ministers are pushing ahead with a ban on TV or online adverts for junk food before the 9pm television watershed, according to reports.Small businesses will be exempt from the ban, which is part of Boris Johnson’s efforts to tackle obesity, under plans due to be unveiled by the government on Thursday, the Telegraph reports.Restaurants, cafes and bakeries had raised concerns they would not be able to advertise their products on their own social media accounts if the government went ahead with the plans, which were outlined in the Queen’s Speech.However, it is understood that small businesses with 249 employees or fewer will be exempt from the ban and permitted to advertise foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS).Restrictions for online adverts will stop short of a total ban, as it will only apply to paid-for advertising, according to the Telegraph.The Advertising Association said it was “dismayed” by the move, which will mean food and drink companies will not be able to advertise “new product innovations and reformulations”.The restrictions will be enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, which will order companies breaking the rules to take down adverts and potentially sanction repeat offenders.In its initial consultation for the move, the government cited research published by Cancer Research UK in September 2019 that suggests almost half of all food adverts (47.6 per cent) shown on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky One were for HFSS products. That rises to almost 60 per cent between 6pm and 9pm – the peak viewing period for children.Analysis by the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) suggested ending the ads could benefit children by removing the equivalent of 150 million chocolate biscuits or 41 million cheeseburgers a year from their diets.A briefing document published to accompany the Queen’s Speech last month set out the plans, which have previously been criticised as “headline-chasing policy” rather than helping to reduce obesity rates by campaigners.Sue Eustace, public affairs director at the Advertising Association, said: “We all want to see a healthier, more active population, but the government’s own analysis shows these measures won’t work.“Levelling up society will not be achieved by punishing some of the UK’s most successful industries for minimal effect on obesity levels.” More

The government should not rule out a fourth coronavirus lockdown in winter, a Public Health England adviser has said, amid warnings of a possible rise in Covid-19 cases towards the end of the year.What have the scientists said?Dr Susan Hopkins, the strategic response director for Covid-19 at Public Health England (PHE), warned there may need to be further lockdowns over winter.On Sunday, she told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We may have to do further lockdowns this winter, I can’t predict the future, it really depends on whether the hospitals start to become overwhelmed at some point.”But I think we will have alternative ways to manage this, through vaccination, through anti-virals, through drugs, through testing that we didn’t have last winter.”All of those things allow us different approaches rather than restrictions on livelihoods that will move us forward into the next phase of learning to live with this as an endemic that happens as part of the respiratory viruses.”She said there were “rises and falls” in cases across the country, with the virus having “definitely reserved” in Bolton and “stabilised” in Blackburn with Darwen, but continuing to “rise quite fast” in London and the northeast.Similarly, Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises the government, has also warned that the emergence of new respiratory viruses means a “pretty miserable winter” for the UK with further lockdowns a possibility.On Sunday, Professor Semple told Times Radio: “I suspect we’ll have a pretty miserable winter because the other respiratory viruses are going to come back and bite us quite hard. But after that, I think we’ll be seeing business as normal next year.”There’s a sting in the tail after every pandemic, because social distancing will have reduced exposure, particularly of pregnant women and their newborn babies, they will have not been exposed to the usual endemic respiratory viruses.”The protection that a pregnant woman would give to their unborn child has not occurred.”So we are going to see a rise in a disease called bronchiolitis, and a rise in community acquired pneumonia in children and in the frail elderly, to the other respiratory viruses for which we don’t have vaccines.”So that’s why we’re predicting a rough July, August and then a rough winter period.”Professor Semple called it the “fourth wave winter” but added it would be much milder than the previous ones.What have the politicians said?When he announced a delay to the final stage of lifting England’s lockdown last week, Boris Johnson told the public he was confident the restrictions will not need to continue beyond 19 July.“We will monitor the position every day and if after two weeks we have concluded that the risk has diminished then we reserve the possibility of proceeding to Step 4 and full opening sooner,” the prime minister said.“As things stand – and on the basis of the evidence I can see right now – I am confident we will not need any more than four weeks and we won’t need to go beyond 19 July”.Kwasi Kwarteng has suggested it is “unlikely”the remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted before 19 July, stressing the government would “always err on the side of caution”.Pressed on the date, the business secretary, Mr Kwarteng, who said he hoped for “some type of normality” on 19 July, told Sky News: “I think between you and me, I would always err on the side of caution and I would look to 19 July.“It could be before, but I think that’s unlikely. Well, I don’t know, that’s just my guess. Generally we’ve stuck to the dates that we’ve said.“I remember in the previous dates there was a lot of push to try to get the dates 12 April earlier, the 17 May earlier. That didn’t happen.”Wales’ first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said another lockdown in the country is highly unlikely but not inconceivable because of the potential threat posed by coronavirus variants.The Welsh Labour leader warned the risk of mutations developing which vaccinations are less effective against means “it simply doesn’t make sense” to rule out reimposing the highest level of restrictions.Mr Drakeford has delayed the further easing of Wales’s Covid restrictions for four weeks in response to a spike in cases of the variant to see if they lead to increased pressure on the NHS. More

A cabinet minister has refused to rule out another Covid-19 lockdown this winter after Dr Susan Hopkins said it could be necessary to control the virus.Boris Johnson has promised an “irreversible” end to Covid-19 restrictions — a move that was due to take place on Monday but is now delayed until 19 July amid a surge in cases.But Dr Hopkins, the director for Covid-19 at Public Health England, said Britain needed to move to a situation where we can “live with this” in the longer term.She told The Andrew Marr Show: “I think that means that we wouldn’t normally put people into lockdown for severe cases of influenza.“We may have to do further lockdowns this winter, I can’t predict the future – it really depends on whether the hospitals start to become overwhelmed at some point.“But I think we will have alternative ways to manage this through vaccination, through antivirals, through drugs, through testing, that we didn’t have last winter, and all of those things allow us different approaches, rather than restrictions on lives and restrictions on livelihoods, that will move us forward into the next phase of learning to live with this as an endemic, as something that happens as part of the respiratory viruses.”Asked about her comments, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland declined to rule out more restrictions, telling Times Radio: “The essence of the virus is you can’t ever say mission accomplished”.Dr Hopkins, who is a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said there had been “rises and falls” in coronavirus cases across the country, with the virus having “definitely reversed” in Bolton and “stabilised” in Blackburn with Darwen but continuing to “rise quite fast” in London and the northeast.The scientist appeared to suggest it was unlikely remaining social-distancing measures would be lifted in England sooner than the earmarked 19 July date.“My strong opinion is the longer we just take our time and get through this period to get the maximum amount of people vaccinated is a positive thing for this summer and to get us through this winter,” she said.“So my view would be to keep going, that we can live at this level and then that would mean hopefully when we come out of this level of restrictions, which are much easier to live with I think for many of us, then we would be able to get on and get back to normal and stay back to normal for a very prolonged period.”She also suggested people should opt for a staycation over a holiday abroad this summer, but offered some hope for the future.“I think we should be predominantly deciding to holiday at home this summer while we get all of our population vaccinated – but I think we are moving step wise closer to being able to renew our lives and move around to other countries and to change the way we manage to live with this virus,” she told the programme.The UK recorded more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row on Saturday, while the death toll from the virus rose to 127,970 after a further 14 fatalities. More

The UK government’s hopes of scrapping the final social restrictions imposed on the public to tackle the coronavirus pandemic have been put on hold as the Delta variant of the disease continues to drive up infections.At Monday’s 6pm press conference, Boris Johnson confirmed that the lifting of remaining coronavirus restrictions in England will be delayed by four weeks to 19 July.It was “sensible to wait just a little longer” and potentially until 19 July, he said, adding he was “confident” no further extensions of lockdown measures will be needed.As it stood, Boris Johnson’s roadmap was originally scheduled to end on 21 June when the last precautionary measures were due to be lifted.But the threat posed by the new strain – thought to be 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant – raised doubts about the wisdom of pressing ahead.When asked whether he could rule out extending this delay to the easing of lockdown, the prime minister said: “At a certain stage we’re going to have to learn to live with the virus and to manage it as best we can.”“At the end of that [four-week delay] … we do think that we will have built up a very considerable wall of immunity around the whole of the population.” More

Urgent action must be taken to address the backlog in cancer treatment after Covid and prevent a second “devastating” health crisis, MPs and medical experts have warned.Nearly 70 MPs, heads of medical colleges and leading oncologists are urging the government to deliver a new “radical” national plan to tackle the cancer backlog or risk “tens of thousands of needless cancer deaths”.The open letter addressed to the prime minister warns that “without urgent action we face a second devastating health crisis as the Covid wards empty and the cancer wards fill.”The letter has been signed by chairs of all-party parliamentary groups (APPG), former cabinet ministers and a former cancer minister, and calls on the PM to consider the seven recommendations put forward by the cancer community and cross-party MPs.The recommendations include the need to recognise the urgency of the backlog and deliver a new radical national plan, driven from ministerial level and backed by investment in equipment, technology, IT and workforce and to sweep away bureaucracy that restricts cancer care capacity. Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron, chair of the APPG for radiotherapy, said: “It feels like ministers and NHS leaders are hearing our words but still not accepting the magnitude of this Covid-caused cancer crisis. We keep hearing that ‘everything is in hand’ and that there are ‘encouraging signs’ but this flies in the face of warnings from frontline staff, patients and cancer experts.”He added: “This crisis can’t be solved by just exhorting the already exhausted staff to ‘work harder’.  And getting more patients to present is only part of the solution. We urgently need the prime minister to intervene and ensure we have a radical national plan backed with a real cash ‘super-boost’ to give cancer services the tools and capacity they need to catch up.”Professor Pat Price, a leading oncologist, said the cancer community was “pleading” with the PM to treat the issue as a national priority. “The entire cancer pathway needs urgently restoring throughout the country, staff are exhausted and we simply don’t have the capacity to catch up,” he said.“We need proper investment, backed by the political leadership to ensure that investment gets to where it is needed most. The prime minister has shown what can be done with the vaccine programme.  Now, it’s a national imperative that he works with us to do the same for cancer.”The Department for Health has been contacted for comment. More