Covid concerns may have subsided and though they’re far from gone, now another virus, Monkeypox, has been making headlines.
Here’s what you need to know.
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What is Monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a rare viral infection that typically does not spread easily between humans. It’s comparable to smallpox but milder, less infectious, and less deadly.
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Most people recover within a week and the virus disappears on its own, prompting no long-term health effects. However, a more severe illness can occur in a few people.
The virus usually spreads through close contact with an infected person, although there’s a low risk of transmission among humans.
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The symptoms include:
Fever
Headache
Muscle aches
Backache
Swollen lymph nodes
Chills
Exhaustion.
A rash can start too, usually on the face at first before moving to other parts of the body including the genitals. This rash then goes through different changes and can transform to look like chickenpox or syphilis before scabbing. The scabs then fall off, although it can leave a scar behind.
People without symptoms are not considered infectious.
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How many cases have there been?
Three cases in London and another in north east of England have just been detected by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), bringing the total up to seven confirmed cases all diagnosed between May 6 and 15.
By May 19, a further two cases had been confirmed by the UKHSA, one in London and another elsewhere in the south east of England.
Those needing urgent care were treated in specialist disease units in hospital, although they were all found to have the West African strain, which is much milder compared to the Central African.
So, why are people concerned?
These four new cases do not have known connections with the previous cases announced earlier in May, although investigations are underway to understand the links between them.
All four individuals were infected in London. They also all self-identify as gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men.
There’s currently no link to travel abroad to places where monkeypox is currently endemic, meaning the medical community is still uncertain where the individuals picked up the virus.
Chief medical adviser for UKHSA, Dr Susan Hopkins, said that this is “rare and unusual”, and has prompted the health agency to look into monkeypox transmission in the community.
“We are particularly urging men who are gay and bisexual to be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions and to contact a sexual health service without delay.
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“We are contacting any potential close contacts of the cases to provide health information and advice,” she added.
The UKHSA’s director of clinical and emerging infections Dr Colin Brown also noted: “While investigations remain ongoing to determine the source of infection, it is important to emphasise it does not spread easily between people and requires close personal contact with an infected symptomatic person.
“The overall risk to the general public remains very low.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is now looking into how the virus is circulating and the risk it poses to both endemic and non-endemic country.
They also predicted that case numbers and the number of countries monkeypox is in will rise.
. @WHO is working with member states & partners to better understand #monkeypox circulation in endemic & non-endemic countries. We expect # cases/countries reporting to increase.
Monkeypox is a priority pathogen & requires investment in studies for transmission, severity, R&D… pic.twitter.com/aoxpQY6nTj
The infection is usually picked up from infected animals in rainforests. Minor outbreaks usually occur in West and Central Africa, but transmission is low because it can only happen through direct contact with lesions or respiratory sections.
Infectious disease epidemiologist Mateo Prochazka explained on Twitter just why the new findings were so surprising.
He wrote: “Close contact between two people (such as during sex) could also facilitate transmission – but this has never been described before.”
He continued: “What is even more bizarre is finding cases that appear to have acquired the infection via sexual contact. This is a novel route of transmission that will have implications for outbreak response and control.”
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He also pointed out that work is ongoing, especially when it comes to protecting health workers, a sexual health service response and preventing an increase in stigma and inequalities.
Yesterday, @UKHSA reported four cases of monkeypox (MPX) in gay and bisexual men in England, making a total of 7 cases nationally.
The government is repeatedly dodging calls for tighter restrictions despite rising Covid cases in the UK – so does this mean Britain could be heading for another its fourth lockdown in less than two years?
Will there be another lockdown?
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There are no current plans to introduce a lockdown any time soon. Boris Johnson has claimed there is “nothing in the data” to suggest the UK needs to tighten restrictions – but he also refused to “rule anything out”.
Hospitalisations would need to reach almost 1,500 a day for the NHS to be overwhelmed, triggering another lockdown. Government data shows there are currently around 880 people admitted each day.
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Deaths from Covid remain relatively low, too, compared to the previous rates seen shortly before lockdowns in March 2020, November 2020, and January 2021.
Deaths involving Covid-19 in England & Wales
Sky News’ science correspondent Thomas Moore has also said the government has shown “no inclination towards tightening up the rules” or even bringing in plan B.
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Waning immunity and a relaxation in behaviour have triggered small spikes in infections since the UK unlocked in July, but booster jabs have seen these spikes level off quickly.
The prime minister has refused to implement plan B – mandatory face masks and working from home – relying on the vaccine take-up and boosters instead.
The government has promised to keep an eye on the data but also appears wary of bringing about the same anti-lockdown protests seen across Europe.
Only a “firebreak” lockdown will be used if necessary, although business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News in October: “I would rule this out.”
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Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has also claimed the UK’s early and successful vaccine rollout means it’s unlikely that more restrictions will be brought in.
Austria became the first Western country to go into another full, national lockdown in November while Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn warned that by the end of winter, most of the country will be “vaccinated, cured or dead”.
The Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Croatia, Ireland, Slovakia and Czechia are all struggling with infections too.
However, Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London, part of the government independent advisory panel SAGE, told Radio 4′s Today programme that the UK has already gone through the wave Europe is experiencing, and so the population has greater immunity compared to Germany and Austria.
Will Christmas be cancelled?
As Christmas 2020 was effectively cancelled just six days before December 25, this is a major concern for many families this year.
“Although vaccinations are our primary form of defence, there are many more things we can all do to help contain the spread of this virus, like meeting outdoors where it is possible.”
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He added Christmas is possible “if we all play our part”.
Dr Mike Tildesley, part of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) told Sky News, “the idea of a winter lockdown is a long way away” unless the NHS comes under severe pressure again.
What you can do to stay safe in winter
As the UK’s future with Covid remains difficult to predict, you can reduce your own Covid risk in the upcoming months through several simple measures.
Make sure you ventilate your home for at least 10 minutes every hour. This prevents Covid from building up indoors.
Get vaccinated if you haven’t already and make sure you accept your booster jab when you are called up by the NHS.
Get your flu jab as the annual virus is likely to affect people more this year following last year’s lockdown – catching the flu could then make you more susceptible to Covid.
Wear a mask in crowded places, both indoors and outdoors, and wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds when you can.
Work from home where possible and reduce the number of people you see, or try to see more people outdoors.
Covid positive cases have increased in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in recent days.
The government continues to push the public to get booster vaccines and has just announced that it will roll out the second vaccine doses to those aged 16 and 17.
There were a total of 244,134 new Covid cases reported between November 3 and November 10 in the UK – data from November 11 to November 14 is incomplete and so has not been included.
This equates to 363.9 cases per 100,000 overall, which is higher than the last few days, but slightly below the previous week of 392.2 cases.
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Covid-19 case rates in UK nations
As a third of UK local authorities are recording an increase in rates, here’s a breakdown of just which areas are experiencing the largest jump in the Covid infection.
England
The current rate in England is 351.9 infections per 100,000 people.
The three local authorities in England which have seen the largest jump in new Covid cases are:
Torridge in Devon, case rate increased from 376.9 to 638.8.
Charnwood in Leicestershire’s rate has jumped from 350.8 to 530.7.
North Devon now has the highest rate in England, as its rates increased from 495.1 to 645.8.
Scotland
Scotland has seen its case numbers rise up to 375.7 per 100,000 – this is an increase up week-on-week from 334.7.
This means the nation has the most Covid cases it has experienced since September 26.
Only six out of 32 areas in Scotland have experienced a decrease in case numbers.
The areas with the worst Covid rates are:
Moray, where cases shot up from 318.7 to 501.5.
Perth & Kinross – cases rose from 306-8 to 479.2.
Dumfries & Galloway, where the rate increased from 394.5 to 529.4.
Scotland has the highest local rate in the whole of the UK, in the Orkney Islands – the current infection rate is at 696.4 per 100,000.
Northern Ireland
The current rate of new cases in Northern Ireland is 482.7 per 100,000 – this has increased from 421.2 the previous week.
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This is also the highest rate the nation has experienced since September 14, as Covid cases have soared in nine of the 11 local authority areas.
The case rate has jumped the most in:
Causeway Coast & Glens, has seen a large increase from 442.9 to 628.5 – the highest rate in Northern Ireland.
Mid-Ulster has seen an increase from 394.1 to 515.6.
Fermanagh & Omagh’s rate has increased from 484.9 to 591.5.
Wales
Wales has the highest case rate per 100,000 across the four nations, with 486.5 cases. Most of these cases are among just five of 22 areas in the nation.
The rate had recently risen to 551.1, so Wales has actually seen a drop in its overall week-on-week data.
The largest increases between November 3 and November 10 were seen in:
Gwynedd, where it increased from 475.3 to 551.2.
Carmarthenshire, from 480.3 to 529.3.
Vale of Glamorgan has the highest rate out of Wales, with 626.0 – down from 759.8.
PA Graphics
Second wave, starting from September 1 2020, third wave starting from May 23 2021
How does the UK compare to the rest of western Europe?
Concerns over a winter wave has seen the Netherlands implement a partial lockdown for at least three weeks and Austria impose a complete lockdown for unvaccinated people for 10 days, to start with.
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Both countries have see a rapid increase in Covid cases recently, with Austria’s cases soaring to more than 800 per 100,000 people.
The UK has a higher case rate than both France and Germany, but with a rate just under 400 cases per 100,000 people, it’s still a long way off Austria’s infections.
Vaccines have prevented 44,500 people being hospitalised with coronavirus, Nadhim Zahawi has said.
The vaccines minister hailed the rollout of the jabs, also revealing that they have saved 14,000 lives, according to government figures.
As part of a final push to get more adults vaccinated, Zahawi told a Downing Street media briefing: “Thanks to our vaccination programme, our incredible NHS, this country is getting a little bit safer every day.
“Whatever your age, whatever your background, the vaccine will protect you, it will protect your family and all the people that you care about.
“So please come forward and get both doses so we can take that final step on the road to recovery.”
UK governmentUK government Covid data
UK governmentUK government Covid data
UK governmentUK government Covid data
UK governmentUK government Covid data
The decision to delay the final easing of restrictions in England from June 21 to July 19 is also helping the NHS give more potentially vulnerable people their second vaccine dose, Zahawi added.
Two weeks ago, more than two million over-50s had not had a second dose of the jab – crucial to provide protection against the Delta variant.
But that number has been more than halved to 900,000, with some restrictions remaining in place.
Zahawi said: “Last week we took the difficult but I think essential decision to pause Step 4 in our road map for four weeks with a review of the data after two weeks – and we will absolutely have that review and share the data with the nation.
“This pause has saved thousands of lives and will continue to do so by allowing us to get more of the second doses into arms of those most vulnerable to Covid before the restrictions are eased further.”
He added: “We’re going to use these four weeks to give our NHS that bit more time so we can get those remaining jabs in arms of those who really do need them.”
The minister also hailed the government’s efforts at cutting vaccine hesitancy, particularly in ethnic minority communities.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show vaccine hesitancy halving amongst Black, Black British, Asian and Asian British people since February, Zahawi said.
But he stressed there is “much more to do” and that the government was “intensifying” efforts to get vaccines rolled out in places like Bolton where there is still some hesitancy.
“We’re honing in on areas where uptake is lower,” he said.
Government data up to June 22 show that of the 75,188,795 jabs given in the UK so far, 43,448,680 were first doses – a rise of 299,837 on the previous day.
Some 31,740,115 were second doses, an increase of 250,875.
The figures include all vaccinations reported by midnight on June 22, including those recorded on pen and paper by NHS England following an IT system crash.
Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered former MP Jo Cox, has been selected as Labour’s candidate for the Batley and Spen by-election.
Cox represented the seat until she was shot and stabbed by a far-right extremist in June 2016.
A by-election was triggered earlier this month by the decision of Tracey Brabin, who succeeded Cox, to step down as an MP following her election as the first mayor of West Yorkshire.
Her selection was welcomed by Keir Starmer who said her roots in the community would make her a “fantastic champion” for the constituency.
“Batley and Spen holds an important place in the Labour Party’s heart. And Kim’s work to bring people together, just as her sister Jo Cox did, has inspired us all,” he said.
Labour is desperate to hold on to the seat following the party’s crushing defeat in another “red wall” by-election in Hartlepool earlier this month.
The result triggered a bitter round of recriminations, with the Labour left – marginalised under Starmer – gunning for the party leader.
Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott – a close ally of ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn – said it could be “curtains” for Starmer if they lose again.
No date has been been set for the contest. Labour is defending a majority of 3,525 from the 2019 general election.
After cases of the Indian variant more than doubled in the past week, the prime minister told a Downing Street press conference on Friday that the four-step “road map” we will move to step three in England from Monday as planned – be he raised the possibility of altering the final stage.
The PM said: “But I have to level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to step four in June.
“I must stress we will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe.”
At the briefing, chief medical officer Chris Whitty said there is “now confidence” that the India variant is “more transmissible” than the strain first discovered in Kent.
It is expected that the Indian variant will overtake Kent to become dominant in the UK, though there is currently no evidence to suggest vaccines do not work against it.
Johnson said that if the Indian variant proves to be “significantly more transmissible” than other Covid strains “we’re likely to face some hard choices”.
In recent days, the government has launched a series of measures in a bid to dampen any impact from the Indian variant.
The latest is people over 50 and the clinically vulnerable being offered their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine eight weeks after the first – rather than 12.
The variant is now in at least 15 areas of England – including Bolton, Blackburn, London, Sefton and Nottingham – where councils and Public Health England officials are working to contain any clusters.
This includes surge testing, encouraging people to isolate if they test positive and longer opening hours at vaccination centres.
Johnson said that if the variant turned out to be much more transmissible than other variants, the country could face “hard choices” as he warned of the need to be “utterly realistic”.
He said: “This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible that we will be able to go ahead with step four, I don’t think that’s the case at all. But it does mean there is now the risk of disruption and delay to that ambition. And we have to be utterly realistic about that.”
Boris Johnson will apply to a county court to “strike out” a claim against him for a £535 unpaid debt because it is “totally without merit”, Downing Street has said.
Private Eye reported on Wednesday that the official register for county court judgments (CCJs) in England and Wales shows the prime minister was served with a notice of the judgment in October 26, 2020.
A search of the county court judgments database shows the “unsatisfied record” registered to Johnson at “10 Downing Street”.
The official court records do not state who the creditor is, nor the nature of the debt.
County court judgments can be issued if someone takes court action against an individual and they do not respond.
The judgment means the court has formally decided the money is owed, according to the government site.
But HuffPost UK understands that No.10 regards the claim as not genuine.
Responding later on Wednesday, a No.10 spokesperson said: “An application will be made for an order to set aside the default judgment, to strike out the claim and for a declaration that the claim is totally without merit.”
The man appointed by Boris Johnson to probe David Cameron’s lobbying has cleared the government of “favouritism” in the award of £17bn in Covid contracts.
City lawyer Nigel Boardman admitted that some government practices, such as a fast-track “VIP” priority system for firms known to MPs and ministers, gave rise to the “suspicion” of bias.
But he found no evidence of favouritism in the award of the contracts.
The review covered five key areas of the government’s response to the Covid crisis, taking in spending on PPE (personal protective equipment), ventilators, vaccines, test and trace and food parcels for the clinically vulnerable.
Most of the contracts were awarded without usual competitive tenders, a process that ministers defended on grounds of the urgent need to get new equipment.
Boardman, who is overseeing a separate review the Greensill Capital lobbying affair, has already been accused by Labour of being “a close friend of the Conservative government”.
In his latest report, Boardman concluded there was no evidence of favouritism but there were big holes in processes that increased risk.
“I have not seen evidence that any contract within the scope of the review was awarded on grounds of favouritism. In my view there are, however, factors which may have encouraged such a suspicion,” he said.
These “factors” included the so-called “VIP lane” for PPE, a fast track email address system available to MPs and others, as well as “certain counterparties being associated with the governing party”.
Other factors included delays in publishing contracts, the time taken to publish contracts awarded during the crisis and high prices paid.
Boardman made 28 separate recommendations for change.
“Given the amounts of money spent on these programmes, and the importance of the programmes to the national recovery, it is imperative that there is proper scrutiny of the procurement actions taken by the Government,” he said.
Shadow minister Rachel Reeves, who has already predicted that Boardman’s lobbying probe will end in a “whitewash”, was scathing about the new review.
She told HuffPost UK: “This barely scratches the surface of the conflicts of interest in government procurement, and the deep and troubling pattern of taxpayers’ money being sunk into crony contracts.
“We need a complete overhaul to tackle cronyism, and an urgent end to emergency procurement measures.”
Boris Johnson and health secretary Matt Hancock have come under intense pressure over the award of billions of pounds of public money, not least over the government’s “VIP lane” for PPE.
A court case brought by the campaign group the Good Law Project heard last month that civil servants were “drowning” in bids that lacked credibility. The group has also exposed a lack of transparency in the registering of many contracts.
In a previous review of the award of communications contracts by the Cabinet office, he called for better “management of actual or perceived conflicts of interest in a procurement context”.
The NAO watchdog issued a withering report last year, concluding that a lack adequate documentation “means we cannot give assurance that government has adequately mitigated the increased risks” from its emergency procurement.
The Commons Public Account Committee was even more scathing about Test and Trace, saying its “unimaginable” £25bn cost had failed to deliver its central promise of averting another lockdown.
In response to the Boardman report, the Cabinet Office said it was accepting all 28 recommendations in full and its permanent secretary would write to the PAC setting out how he would implement them.
Hopes have been raised that the UK could move a step closer to pre-pandemic normality if the one-metre plus rule for social distancing is relaxed next month.
The government has been targeting June 21 as the earliest date on which the vast majority of coronavirus restrictions can be lifted as part of its four-step “roadmap” out of lockdown.
With around 50 million doses of a vaccine in people’s arms, the UK’s successful inoculation programme appears to be influencing the government’s thinking on how far it can go with re-opening.
While post-weekend reporting of Covid cases tends to be lower than the average, official figures on Monday showed the UK has recorded just one death in the latest 24-hour period.
What could happen?
The Times reported social distancing rules will be lifted to allow pubs, restaurants and theatres to open to full capacity for the first time in more than a year.
One-way systems, screens and mask-wearing while moving around might remain for hospitality venues but customer numbers will no longer be limited, the newspaper said.
Audiences in theatres and cinemas will have to wear face coverings during performances, while there will be strict guidance on ventilation and staggered entry, The Times reported.
A government insider told The Times: “The evidence we’ve got so far from the pilots is very positive and the general background on data is hugely encouraging in terms of numbers, falling deaths and hospitalisations.
“The pilots have shown us that mitigations have worked sufficiently to allow us to remove social distancing at least in the settings that we really need to in order to get them in a viable position again.
“The kind of thing we’re looking at is keeping in place mask wearing, extra ventilation, staggered entry — all of that has been shown to have worked so far.”
What has the government said?
Responding to the report, Boris Johnson said there was a “good chance” the one-metre plus rule for social distancing can be ditched next month.
The final decision on whether the change can be brought in from June 21 will depend on the data, the prime minister added.
Johnson said he feels like the next stage of reopening on May 17 – which covers indoor hospitality, entertainment and possibly foreign travel – “is going to be good”.
Speaking during a campaign visit to Hartlepool, Johnson told reporters: “As things stand, and the way things are going, with the vaccine rollout going the way that it is – we have done 50 million jabs as I speak to you today, quarter of the adult population, one in four have had two jabs.
“You are seeing the results of that really starting to show up in the epidemiology.
“I think that we will be able to go ahead, feels like May 17 is going to be good.
“But it also looks to me as though June 21 we’ll be able to say social distancing as we currently have to do it, the one-metre plus, I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre plus from June 21.
“That is still dependent on the data, we can’t say it categorically yet, we have got to look at the epidemiology as we progress, we have got to look at where we get to with the disease. But that’s what it feels like to me right now.”
WPA Pool via Getty ImagesBoris Johnson poses for a ‘selfie’ photograph as he meets members of the public while campaigning in Hartlepool.
A Cabinet Office spokesman pointed back to the wording of the road map out of lockdown, which states that the government “will complete a review of social distancing measures and other long-term measures that have been put in place to limit transmission”.
The review’s findings “will help inform decisions on the timing and circumstances under which rules on one-metre-plus, face masks and other measures may be lifted”.
What does the hospitality industry say?
One industry chief has said a return to unrestricted trading for hospitality from June 21 is “critical” and will mean firms can “come off life support”.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UKHospitality, said: “These reports are very welcome if true.
“However, we must wait to see the full detail of plans as any restrictions in venues will continue to impact revenue and business viability.
“A return to unrestricted trading on June 21 is critical and will mean hospitality businesses (can) come off life support and be viable for the first time in almost 16 months.
“We urge the government to confirm reopening dates and these plans at the earliest opportunity, which will boost confidence and allow companies to step up planning and bring staff back.”
A spokesman for the UK Cinema Association indicated that the organisation hopes face coverings will not be a continued requirement.
He said: “We strongly believe that our exemplary record on safety – with not a single case of Covid traced back to a UK venue – and our ability to manage the movement of cinema-goers in modern, highly ventilated indoor environments offer ample evidence that any relaxation from June 21 can be undertaken safely without the need for further ongoing restrictions, including any requirement for face coverings.”
Do scientists agree?
Last month, government scientific advisers said the public should be able to remove face masks over the summer as vaccines do the heavy lifting in controlling Covid-19 – but they cautioned that masks and possibly other measures may be needed next autumn and winter if cases surge.
But there is a fierce debate within the scientific community.
In an open letter, one group of scientists said last month “a good society cannot be created by obsessive focus on a single cause of ill-health” and that Covid-19 “no longer requires exceptional measures of control in everyday life”.
The 22 signatories – who include Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at University of Oxford and Professor Karol Sikora from the medicine school at the University of Buckingham – say mandatory face coverings, physical distancing and mass community testing should end no later than June 21.
The letter states: “It is more than time for citizens to take back control of their own lives.”
But others were less optimistic.
Professor Stephen Reicher, from the University of St Andrews and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, which advises ministers, said calls from scientists and academics to end coronavirus restrictions are “wrong” and “remarkably insular”.
He said: “We have heard from these people before, arguing that Covid isn’t a risk and that restrictions should be lifted.
“They were wrong then and they are wrong now.”
Prof Reicher said the irony of saying “it’s all over” makes such measures less likely, makes increased infections more likely and therefore makes lockdown restrictions “a real possibility”.
What other measures have been relaxed?
And the last sign of progress being made, the government announced the limit on the number of mourners who can attend funerals is to be lifted in England.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the legal restriction of a maximum of 30 mourners will be removed as part of the next stage of lockdown easing, expected on May 17.
The capacity will be determined by how many people venues, such as places of worship or funeral homes, can safely accommodate while maintaining social distancing, the department added.
PAUL ELLIS via Getty ImagesFans watch Blossoms perform at a live music concert hosted by Festival Republic in Sefton Park in Liverpool.
Meanwhile, thousands of revellers without face coverings danced shoulder to shoulder to live music for the first time in more than a year at a pilot music festival.
Around 5,000 people packed into Sefton Park in Liverpool on Sunday for the outdoor gig which included performances from Blossoms, The Lathums and Liverpool singer-songwriter Zuzu.
Pictures and videos showed people packed together, arms in the air, dancing to the music at the event which has been hailed as a milestone towards getting live events running again.
Everyone had to produce negative coronavirus tests to enter the event but did not have to wear face coverings or follow social distancing rules.
It is hoped that test events like this will pave the way for festivals and venues across the country to reopen for mass gatherings again.
What about foreign holidays?
The ban on foreign holidays is expected to be lifted for people in England from May 17 as part of the next easing of coronavirus restrictions.
But Johnson cautioned that while there will be “some openings up” from that date, the approach must be “sensible” to avoid an “influx of disease” when international travel resumes.
Johnson’s cautious tone came as some MPs called for restrictions on foreign holidays to be maintained to protect the country from Covid-19 variants, and Labour leader Keir Starmer urged a “careful” approach.
Johnson told reporters during a campaign visit to Hartlepool: “We do want to do some opening up on May 17 but I don’t think that the people of this country want to see an influx of disease from anywhere else.
“I certainly don’t and we have got to be very, very tough, and we have got to be as cautious as we can, whilst we continue to open up.”
Asked if people should be planning foreign holidays, he told reporters: “We will be saying more as soon as we can.
“I think that there will be some openings up on the 17th, but we have got to be cautious and we have got to be sensible and we have got to make sure that we don’t see the virus coming back in.”
Starmer criticised the “chopping and changing” of the travel corridors list introduced last year and said such a situation should be avoided this holiday season.
Questions have been raised over the accountability of the Metropolitan Police after it emerged the force was facing 63 active investigations from the independent watchdog – with some going back years.
The figure was provided by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after a request from HuffPost UK following a series of complaints about the UK’s largest police force in recent months.
Our data request initially revealed one investigation still ongoing that was first opened in March 2015, and four cases still active for each of 2018/19 and 2019/20. One of these, involving an officer who hit a vulnerable teenager 34 times with a baton and sprayed her up close with CS gas, was finally concluded on Friday as we published this story.
The watchdog, set up out the ashes of the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2018 toensure “greater accountability to public”, has an annual budget of around £73m and last year received around 4,300 referrals nationally.
Forces must refer the worst incidents to the IOPC – such as if someone dies or is seriously injured following police action – and if they receive a complaint it considers legitimate. The IPOC can also “call in” smaller investigations being carried out by forces into themselves, if they consider incidents to be serious enough.
But there are warnings “the system is broken” as the IOPC’s probes into the Met have come into sharp focus this year.
In March, the watchdog announced it was launching two separate investigations relating to Sarah Everard, whose death put a global spotlight onto violence against women and girls. One is examining how Wayne Couzens, the serving officer charged with Everard’s murder, came to sustain serious injuries while in custody. The other investigation is examining an “inappropriate” graphic that was allegedly shared by an officer who took part in search operations.
Hannah Mckay via REUTERSPolice detain Patsy Stevenson as people gather at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand following the murder of Sarah Everard.
In the last week, the IOPC’s investigations of the Met led to two more developments.
On Monday, it announced the Met would face scrutiny over how it handled the disappearance of 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye, whose body was found in Epping Forest, Essex, in April. The watchdog is investigating whether racism played a part in the search following complaints from Okorogheye’s mother, Evidence Joel.
“Maybe it’s the culture, my language barrier,” Joel told Channel 4 News, adding that she believed officers considered her to be “one of those African women who was being frantic” and did not immediate take action to find her son.
On Wednesday, the Crown Prosecution Service announced two police officers had been charged with misconduct following an IOPC investigation into the circulation of inappropriate photographs of sisters Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, who had been stabbed to death in a north London park. The watchdog carried out a criminal investigation into allegations that the officers, Pc Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Pc Jamie Lewis, 32, took “non-official and inappropriate photographs” of the crime scene before sharing them on WhatsApp.
PABibaa Henry (left) and Nicole Smallman, who were stabbed to death at Fryent Country Park in Wembley in the early hours of June 6.
But the investigations go back a number of years.
The longest-running, HuffPost UK understands, relates to the death of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence. In 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced former Scotland Yard commissioner Lord Stevens would be investigated into claims that documents were not passed to the 1998 Stephen Lawrence public inquiry led by Sir William Macpherson.
A referral followed a complaint to the force on behalf of Neville Lawrence, Stephen’s father, that there was a “failure of top rank or very senior officers, including but not limited to the deputy commissioner Sir John Stevens, to provide full, frank and truthful information to the Macpherson Inquiry on the issue of corruption”.
It focused on two letters sent by Lord Stevens, but was halted while four former Met officers were investigated over their work on the initial murder investigation. The CPS is still to decide if the four are to be charged, six years after the complaint was opened.
Another still ongoing investigation began following British sprinter Bianca Williams accusing the Met of “racial profiling” after she and her partner were stopped and searched by officers in west London in July last year. The European and Commonwealth gold medallist and Ricardo dos Santos, 25, the Portuguese record holder over 400m, were stopped and handcuffed while with their three-month-old baby in Maida Vale.
Video footage shared widely on social media showed the pair – who are both Black – being aggressively pulled out of a car by officers. The distressed athlete is heard repeatedly saying: “My son is in the car.”
— Linford Christie (@ChristieLinford) July 4, 2020
Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick later apologised and launched a review into the use of handcuffs pre-arrest after the vehicle stop.
Last year, the watchdog said it made 11 recommendations for the Met to improve its use of stop and search powers after a review of cases found the “legitimacy of stop and searches was being undermined” by a number of issues, including a lack of understanding about the impact of disproportionality and poor communication.
In one investigation, a Black man in possession of someone else’s credit card was suspected of having stolen it even after providing a credible explanation. In another case, officers used stop and search powers after brothers Liam and Dijon Joseph, who are Black, fist-bumped, claiming they believed they had been exchanging drugs.
Family HandoutPAThe family of Richard Okorogheye have questioned the force’s handling of the investigation into his disappearance.
Not all the outstanding cases are so well-known. On Friday, a probe that had only appeared to prompt two write-ups in local media based on an IOPC press release saw a police officer dismissed for hitting a vulnerable teenager 34 times with a baton.
The Met said Pc Benjamin Kemp used force that was “utterly inappropriate” on a 17-year-old girl, who was on escorted leave from a mental health unit and had become separated from a group in Newham, east London, in May 2019. CS spray and handcuffs were used on the girl, as well as the baton strikes. Kemp was sacked following a misconduct panel that came after complaints were made by an NHS trust staff member and the girl’s mother.
The number of cases has raised concern among politicians. Jenny Jones, a Green party peer and ex-member of the London Police Authority, revealed in 2014 she had been recorded on a database of “domestic extremists” by the Met Police and that officers had been tracking her political movements since 2001.
Asked about our findings, she told HuffPost UK: “It is extremely difficult for people to hold the Met Police accountable for their wrongdoing. My own personal experience of being spied on by the Met Police and taking complaints to the IOPC confirms that the system is broken.
“The IOPC is massively underfunded and under-resourced. It took them nearly three years to investigate a complaint I brought against multiple police officers, and if I hadn’t been assisted by an excellent legal team then it probably would have taken even longer.
“The IOPC is so heavily reliant on gathering witness statements from police officers that unless there is some massively compelling external evidence, it is very hard for the IOPC to actually uphold any complaints.
“Unless people obtain justice for legitimate complaints against the police then not only will we have a second rate and potentially corrupt police service with officers regarding themselves as above the law, we will also have a groundswell of public opinion that is alienated from the police and mistrustful of them.”
Former police officer Lord Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on home affairs in House of Lords, said: “Liberal Democrats have had concerns for some time about what is happening in the Metropolitan Police, particularly around culture and diversity.
“Persistent disproportionate focus of stop and search on Black Londoners, particularly when section 60 [a temporary power that lowers the bar for police to be allowed to search people] authorises searches without suspicion, together with a disproportionate focus of internal misconduct on ethnic minority officers and staff, raise serious questions about the culture inside the Met.
“The police must foster trust and confidence with all communities if they are to be effective in tackling crime, particularly knife crime.”
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We investigate the most serious and sensitive incidents and allegations involving the police in England and Wales. Most complaints about the police are dealt with by the relevant police force.”
