thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--What We Know About Oestrogen's 'Protective Effect' Against Covid-19

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Every Monday, we’ll answer your questions on Covid-19 and health in a feature published online. You can submit a question here. This week, HuffPost UK reader Gill asked: “I heard that research has shown that reduced oestrogen makes you more vulnerable to bad Covid. Is this true?”
Early on in the pandemic, it became obvious that men – as well as older women – were more susceptible to negative outcomes from Covid-19. Men, especially, are more likely to be hospitalised by the virus and end up in intensive care. They are also twice more likely to die from the virus as women.
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It led researchers to hypothesise that the female sex hormone oestrogen might have some kind of protective effect. The hormone – which is considered to be immunity-enhancing and can help the female body fight off viruses better – also decreases as a person ages, which could explain why older women are more susceptible to the virus than younger women.
Dr Louise Newson, a GP and menopause specialist, said during a webinar on the topic that women have “a stronger response to infections, but especially to viruses, compared to men” – and this is because women have different immune systems. She added that “frustratingly, so much research on immunity and in general is done in men and not in women”.
Earlier in the year, researchers from the Covid Symptom Study app set out to determine whether women entering menopause were more likely to test positive for Covid-19.
An analysis of data from 500,000 female members of the app suggested post-menopausal women aged 40-60 years old had a higher rate of *predicted* Covid. But the findings haven’t been peer-reviewed, and it’s important to note this was based on people having symptoms of Covid that were input into the app, rather than people testing positive. Hence the use of *predicted*.
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The preprint also looked at whether women taking the combined oral contraceptive pill and post-menopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had lower predicted rates of Covid-19. It found women aged 18-45 years old who were taking the contraceptive pill had a lower rate of predicted Covid-19, with a reduction in hospital attendance too.
There was a bit of a spanner thrown in the works for the oestrogen theory, though, as post-menopausal women using HRT – which is basically an oestrogen top up – were found to have increased rates of predicted Covid-19. Researchers said these results should be considered with caution, though, “due to lack of data on HRT type, route of administration, duration of treatment, and potential co-morbidities”.
At the time, Dr Richard Quinton, a consultant and senior lecturer in endocrinology at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, pointed out that age increases a person’s risk of developing severe illness from Covid-19 – “so it might be an age effect, rather than a hormone effect”. A person’s age is the strongest predictor of their risk of dying from Covid-19, with the risk increasing from the age of 50 – around the same time a woman hits menopause.
Due to research in this area being limited, Haitham Hamoda, consultant gynaecologist and chair of the British Menopause Society, said people shouldn’t change what they’re doing with their prescriptions – and women should continue to use HRT and the contraceptive pill. “Overall, this is an interesting concept which requires further research,” he said.
There are other initial findings that suggest oestrogen could be a helpful player in the fight against Covid-19. A preprint study from China looked at Covid-19 patients hospitalised with the virus in January to March. Researchers looked at the correlation between menstruation status, sex hormones and prognosis of Covid-19.
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It found women with low oestrogen levels were more likely to suffer severe Covid-19 symptoms than women with normal oestrogen levels. They concluded that the hormones E2 (a form of oestrogen) and AMH (anti-müllerian hormone) are “potential protective factors” for female Covid-19 patients.
When asked whether a decline in oestrogen makes a person more susceptible to Covid, Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, director of the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit at the University of Cambridge, told HuffPost UK “if there is a protective effect of oestrogen, it’s unlikely to be large”.
Sabra Klein, a scientist studying sex differences in viral infections and vaccination responses at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the New York Times that if oestrogen was such a protective factor for women, then older women would fare as badly as elderly men – because women’s hormones plummet after the menopause – but this isn’t happening.
“Older men are still disproportionately affected, and that suggests to me it’s got to be something genetic, or something else, that’s not just hormonal,” she told the publication.
Other factors that could influence the gender gap – aside from sex hormones – include the number of ACE2 receptors (which basically welcomes Covid-19 in with open arms) in men’s bodies compared to women, as well as differences in lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--I’m A Restaurant Owner. Covid Has My Entire Industry Hanging By A Thread

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Owning and operating a restaurant is like riding a rollercoaster. There are days of absolute highs, but there are also days of complete lows, when you’re just not sure what to do next.
March 20 was one of those low days. A few days prior, Boris Johnson had announced that Brits should avoid going to restaurants, bars and pubs, for fear of spreading coronavirus. Then, on the Friday, he delivered the death knell: we would have to close indefinitely.
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I opened Tredwells in Covent Garden, the heart of London, back in 2014. Since then, we’ve seen times of great prosperity and popularity, and we’ve weathered Brexit and suggestions of a recession. But this was something else all together. It was heartbreaking, and incredibly stressful.
My first thought was that 45 people relied on me for their income and livelihood; how was I supposed to take care of them with no revenue? It was a very anxious time until the furlough scheme was announced, alleviating some of that stress.
I was determined to adapt to the situation as much as possible, so we initially pivoted to a meal and grocery service, with my team working around the clock to create something we’d never done before. However, after just a week, I felt too conflicted asking the team to travel in so we decided not to continue.
“To effectively close something that was such a huge part of me was incredibly surreal, and it felt very lonely.”
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We officially ‘shut up shop’ a week later. Leaving the restaurant that afternoon was indescribable. To effectively close something that was such a huge part of me was incredibly surreal, and it felt very lonely.
I then began to adjust to the daily routine of being at home – something that, being a chef and restaurant owner, I had not done much of since I moved to London 16 years ago. Adjusting to a different pace, and a different world, took some time but I got to a point where I really enjoyed having time to do many things I had neglected for so long. Cooking for myself was, ironically, one of those things, and I jumped on the sourdough starter bandwagon and enjoyed having time to learn more about food.
The furlough scheme was a lifesaver at the time, and the process to apply for the funds online was prompt and efficient. However, it wasn’t without its faults. The functional aspects of it weren’t thought through and in some cases, had the impact of discouraging people to work. Similarly, the rates relief has also been a welcome reprieve, although covering rent and other overheads, and now contributing to employee wages is a little challenging. Rent should have been addressed – it’s such a huge cost for hospitality businesses. I know this is much further reaching than just tenancies but it will be the root cause of a lot of closures, and job losses, that are yet to come.
We re-opened Tredwells in August and had a very positive month. The added bonus of Eat Out To Help Out really helped both the morale and the reservations. The social distancing measures definitely affected profit levels but it felt positive to be back doing what we loved.
Chantelle, at Tredwells HuffPost UK
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In contrast, September was very challenging. Covent Garden has the triple effect of no theatregoers, no office workers and no tourists, so we have a long way to go to get footfall and visitor numbers back up. We are operating in a very limited capacity and, with the furlough scheme previously set to finish at the end of October, we’re not sure what’s next.
The new ‘rule of six’ and 10pm curfew has almost undone all the support and positivity in August. It felt as if the general consumer confidence, which was building at a steady rate, was obliterated within days. The latest measures have squeezed things even further, perhaps to breaking point for many. It is really disheartening to see so many livelihoods being challenged like this when the evidence I have seen surrounding infection from hospitality venues is minimal.
At present, we’re staring down the barrel of limited Christmas dining, which traditionally is one of the biggest revenue drivers for most hospitality businesses. Without group dining and larger groups, it’s hard to know exactly how many will survive past December.
Looking past that to the long term is just too difficult to fathom right now. Things are moving at such a swift pace in all directions so it is impossible to make any assumptions about the long-term future.
“The next three to six months are going to be some of the most trying for restaurateurs all over the country.”
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I have a feeling there are many, many more casualties to come in the restaurant industry, in terms of businesses, jobs and livelihoods. I am grateful for the support we have received, but it just won’t be enough in many cases. This is a wonderful industry where a plethora of practical skills are learnt, and where delight is experienced. It is heartbreaking to think of where things may be in six months time. I am constantly telling myself to take things day by day and week by week, otherwise the anxiety and stress becomes unbearable.
I don’t think there’s a restaurateur who hasn’t had any sleepless nights over the last six months. My mental health has been a boomerang – just when everything was looking okay, something would cause a landslide into sadness. It’s the usual recommendations that I found most helpful – exercise and talking to others in particular – but the multiple mental health charities that support the hospitality industry have also been instrumental. Pilot Light, Hospitality Action and Me, Myself in Mind have all been doing fantastic things in such a trying time.
The next three to six months are going to be some of the most trying for restaurateurs all over the country, but at the end of the day we can only do our best. And that is what I intend to do.
Chantelle Nicolson is chef patron at Tredwells in Covent Garden, London. Follow her on Twitter @chef_chantelle
Have a compelling personal story you want to tell? Find out what we’re looking for here, and pitch us on ukpersonal@huffpost.com


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Labour Calls On Tory MPs To Back Marcus Rashford Free School Meals Plan

Children across your constituency are eligible for free school meals, and this number will increase as unemployment rises. Many of these children are growing up in very difficult circumstances – in families with low incomes at a time when jobs across the country are at risk.
Parents were more likely than other working people to be furloughed, and as the Job Retention Scheme ends this month ahead and is replaced by the inadequate Job Support Scheme, many more families could see their incomes fall sharply. I am sure you would agree that we must do everything we can to support children growing with these unprecedented challenges.
That is why Labour have called for all children who are eligible for free school meals to receive them in every school holiday until next Easter, starting with the October half term, which is now just days away. This would provide additional support to families on low incomes and help to ensure that all parents can put food on the table for their children, whatever their circumstances. This policy would support the many families in your constituency who are struggling to make ends meet.
I was deeply disappointed that the Prime Minister’s spokesperson rejected this proposal out of hand last week, saying that it is not the role of schools to provide food in the holidays. This shows a shocking ignorance about the role schools have always played in supporting pupils and their families, and it is not a good excuse for failing to provide any free school meals support over the holidays. It is absurd for a government that rightly extended free school meals over the summer to argue that schools should not be supported to do this just because the Prime Minister and Chancellor no longer want to foot the bill.
I believe that it is essential that the Government changes course as a matter of urgency so that children do not have to go without food over the holidays. I am sure you recognise that free school meals are an important means of support for families across your constituency, many of whom will be worrying about how they put food on the table over the half-term and Christmas holidays.
Labour have said that if the Government does not urgently U-turn, we will force a vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday – this will mean that you and your colleagues will have to take a clear stance on this issue. I hope that you will join me in calling for the extension of free school meals during the holidays, and that you will vote for it this week if that proves to be necessary.
I look forward to your urgent reply, which I’m sure will be of interest to your constituents.
Best wishes,
Tulip Siddiq MP


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Government Issues Greater Manchester Leaders Deadline To Agree Tier 3 Restrictions

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The government has issued an ultimatum to leaders in Greater Manchester to agree a lockdown deal or risk having stricter restrictions imposed upon them.
In a statement, communities secretary Robert Jenrick has said that he has written to local leaders in Greater Manchester giving them until midday on Tuesday to reach an agreement on the introduction of Tier 3 restrictions.
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He accused local leaders of being “unwilling to take the action that is required to get this situation under control”.
Mayor Andy Burnham earlier said that they still wanted agreement on a financial support package before agreeing to go into the highest, Tier 3 restrictions.
Jenrick said: “The deteriorating public health situation in Greater Manchester means that we need to take action urgently.
“We have held discussions in good faith with local leaders for ten days in order to ensure that the measures put in place were tailored to the local community. ’We have offered an extensive package of support for local people and businesses, proportionate to the approach we have taken in the Liverpool City Region and Lancashire and in addition to the wider national support.
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“There are now more Covid-19 patients in Greater Manchester Hospitals than in the whole of the South West and South East combined. But, unfortunately, despite recognising the gravity of the situation, local leaders have been so far unwilling to take the action that is required to get this situation under control.
“I have written to local leaders this evening to make clear that if we cannot reach agreement by midday tomorrow then I must advise the prime minister that despite our best endeavours we’ve been unable to reach agreement. It’s not too late for local leaders to work with us to take action for the sake of the people of Greater Manchester.”
The statement follows a warning last week by Boris Johnson that the government would act to impose the stricter measures it they could not get an agreement with local leaders.
It came after the latest talks on Monday aimed at securing an agreed way forward broke up without a deal.
In a joint statement, Burnham and Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said they still hoped for a “positive outcome”.
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But at the same time they made clear their determination to hold out for a financial support package.
They said it was “surprising and disappointing” that an earlier offer of a hardship fund to top up furlough payments and support the self-employed had been taken “off the table” by health secretary Matt Hancock.
“This evening we have written to the prime minister reiterating our willingness to continue to work towards an agreement but reminding him that Greater Manchester has been in Tier 2 style restrictions for almost three months, and that this has taken a toll on people and businesses here,” they said.
“With this in mind, we do not believe it is in any way unreasonable for us to require better protection for our lowest-paid residents.”
People wearing face masks on Market Street in Manchester. PA


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Will The Welsh Firebreak Persuade Boris Johnson To Unite The Disunited Kingdom?

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It wasn’t on his lectern, but the mantra is back. ‘Stay at home, Save lives, Protect the NHS’ was the message from Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford today and it was a depressing reminder of just how serious the Covid second wave has now become.
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Calling his tough new two weeks of restrictions a “firebreak” was savvy comms on Drakeford’s part. The public will get the urgency and danger of that phrase a lot easier than “circuit break”, which somehow became the buzzword in Whitehall in the past few weeks.
The “sharp and deep” lockdown, which starts on Friday at 6pm, will be brought in to coincide with the school half-term. As Boris Johnson gambles on his own regional tiers approach, Wales will in many ways now be the lab experiment that Keir Starmer needs to make his own case for similar measures in England: Labour-led government (albeit in coalition with the Lib Dems) taking decisive action to save lives.
Drakeford stressed that he was following scientists’ advice (a report from the Welsh Government’s Tactical Advisory Group or TAG said it would “massively reduce” Covid-19 transmission in Wales and prevent a thousand deaths), itself a sharp contrast to Johnson’s own preference for giving more weight to economists’ advice.
There’s no question that the Welsh measures are strict: everyone advised to stay at home unless they do essential work, all pubs and non-essential shops to be closed, all tourism cancelled, no bonfire night or Halloween gatherings. The only major difference from the national lockdown in March was childcare for under-5s will stay open, though most secondary school pupils will be off for a fortnight and primaries for one week.
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What was perhaps most fascinating about Drakeford’s press conference was his insistence that this would not transmute into an indefinite lockdown. “It WILL end on November 9,” he said. Crucially, he said the effects of the new firebreak would not be known until weeks after it ended (ie late November), but he was prepared for the evidence to prove him right.
Scotland has already started its own three-week shock treatment. Although not as stringent as a firebreak or circuit break (shall we call it a “windbreak”?), it is aimed at providing a similar short pause in the spread of the virus to help the local NHS prepare better for winter. But on the question of whether some features would continue after the period ends, Nicola Sturgeon conceded today at her own press conference that key curbs would.
“It is not realistic to expect that we will go back to normality - for example, the household restrictions will continue to be in place I think for the foreseeable future, and it may be that we need to have some further restrictions over and above that,” she said. “Foreseeable future” could be just weeks but it could be months.
With Northern Ireland operating its own, milder but longer four-week “circuit break” (pubs and restaurants closed, two households to a total of 10 people allowed to mix), England certainly looks the odd-one-out in the UK’s Covid responses. Should cases plateau or fall faster in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland (and we will know by late November), the pressure on the PM to follow suit will be strong. Except he’ll have missed the half-term school break and would probably have to wait until just before Christmas to avoid greater disruption.
If, as expected, Greater Manchester joins Liverpool region and Lancashire in the “Very High” risk category in coming days, the government’s own short, sharp shock will look like it’s creeping across the country by stealth. Matt Hancock today said talks on the move to the highest tier were ongoing with south Yorkshire, west Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, the north-east and Teesside. If all enter Tier 3, that’s a huge chunk of the UK’s population in a kind of firebreak. Especially when Chris Whitty made plain Tier 3 won’t be enough.
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Of course, the question has always been just what should governments do during the firebreak? Drakeford said today he would use the two weeks “purposefully” to get more staff hired for Wales’ local test-and-trace service (which already has better contact rates than England’s) and to build more field hospitals. It felt like he was announcing a ceasefire in a war with the invisible enemy, to give his troops time to resupply with more infantry, more weapons and more medicines.
In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland it may well be that the new measures will help each nation “come together”, in Drakeford’s words. Unity of purpose and clarity of public health messaging are the key assets of a firebreak. The PM’s own English solution - a paradoxically centralised regionalism - often looks more like “divide and rule” than devolution.
Andy Burnham’s resistance movement could be overpowered by No.10 in coming days. But his main political argument could still cause Johnson a problem over the longer term. When London’s cases were rising rapidly in March and the north’s weren’t, the north didn’t say ‘keep us out of it, our rates are lower, our economy is more vulnerable, our jobs more precarious’. Instead it said: ‘we’re all in this together’. Now that the north is suffering, why isn’t the south saying the same?


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Covid-19 App Aplogises For Advertising Face Masks From Samantha Cameron's Fashion Label

The Covid Symptom Study app is run by health science company Zoe and shares the data it collects with King’s College London.
But it faced criticism over the weekend after users received “inappropriate” adverts from Cefinn, the label founded by the wife of the former prime minister David Cameron.
The firm has released a new capsule collection of face coverings in support of The Covid Symptom Study.
An email sent to those who have signed up to the study says the app is “proud” to work with Cefinn, and features a photograph of Cameron modelling the brand’s Rust Circle Geo Print mask, which is currently sold out. It’s priced at £25.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Black And Asian People Should Get Priority Status For Covid Tests, Report Urges

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Black and Asian people should be given priority status for Covid testing alongside NHS and care workers if the government’s test-and-trace service can’t cope with demand, a new report has urged.
The joint call by the Runnymede Trust and IPPR think tank came as they published research suggesting “structural and institutional racism” in health care, housing and employment are likely to be the main reasons for BAME communities suffering a higher risk of death from the virus than white people.
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The new study, based on data analysis by CF healthcare consultancy, found that the disadvantage gap was so large that nearly 60,000 more deaths from coronavirus would have occurred in England and Wales if white people had faced the same risks as black communities.
And 35,000 more white people could have died if the risk was the same as for the south Asian population, the study estimates.
Titled “Ethnic Inequalities in Covid-19 Are Playing Out Again - How We Can Stop Them”, the report found the risk of death from coronavirus is “one of the starkest health inequalities” that cannot be explained by underlying conditions such as deprivation and underlying genetic health conditions.
Among its main recommendations is a demand to include ethnicity as a risk factor in any “triaged” or rationed testing system.
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“If testing cannot be scaled up quickly, a triage system to allocate scarce resource should be devised,” the report says.
“The government has said they will prioritise tests based on occupation and
co-morbidities, with key workers such as NHS staff and care workers given priority.
“We argue that ethnicity should also be included as a parameter in this system,
particularly given the large unexplained excess risk of death for many ethnic
groups.”
Other recommendations include offering temporary accommodation to people who live in overcrowded homes and are asked to self-isolate and extending £500 isolation pay to migrants without settled status and better targeted messaging for minority populations.
Death rates from Covid are 3.3 times and 2.4 times higher respectively among black men and women than among their white peers between March and May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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The study analysed the data and found that the difference is not explained by variations in the prevalence of underlying conditions such as lung disease, obesity and diabetes across different ethnic communities.
Similarly, higher deprivation means black communities are 14 per cent and South Asian communities 9 per cent more likely to die from Covid-19 than white communities – but both are insufficient to explain the far higher risk they face.
“Genetics cannot explain why every minority ethnic population, given huge genetic diversity within and between these groups, has a higher risk of death from Covid-19 than the white ethnic population,” the report states.
“Instead, this inequality is likely to be driven by structural and institutional racism that results in differences in social conditions (such as occupation and housing) and differential access to healthcare.
“Covid-19 has brutally exposed the racial inequalities that sit at the heart of our society. Too little attention has been paid to the socially stratified structures and stigmatisation that makes race a determinant of health.”
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Parth Patel, an A&E doctor who was the lead author of the report, said little has been done to combat the unequal impacts of the pandemic, months after they became apparent.
“We cannot eliminate all the effects of structural and institutional racism overnight. But we can and should take practical steps now to better protect minority ethnic communities, to support people to self-isolate and to ensure healthcare access is less unequal in the dangerous winter months that lie ahead.”
A woman wearing a face mask waits in a queue to access a walk-in pop-up covid19 drive-through testing centre in, Hackney, east London
Dr Halima Begum, Runnymede Trust director, said of the 58,000 projection: “If that figure does not give the government cause to sit up, listen and take action, I don’t know what will.
“I am repeatedly asked if Covid-19 is a ‘racist disease’. It is not. But it prevails in a society that is riddled with structural inequalities whose roots are firmly entrenched in race and ethnicity.
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“As we head into what promises to be a long, challenging winter, we cannot ignore these inequalities any longer. For the government to do so would be to condemn thousands more black and ethnic minority people to a needless death.”
Shadow equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova said: “Inequality and structural racism continue to be contributory causes to the deeply unequal impact that coronavirus is having.
“Time and again I have asked ministers to tell us what actions they have taken to combat this, but still nothing. This is all the more worrying considering we are already in a second wave.”
A spokesperson for the government’s equalities office said: “Throughout the pandemic the measures introduced by this government have been designed to protect and support everyone, including our most vulnerable.
“The vital steps we have taken include ensuring that NHS frontline staff from ethnic minority backgrounds are best protected and making sure that public health information is easily accessible via translations and targeted messaging.
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“We have also spent £4.3m on ground-breaking research to understand the links between the virus and ethnicity. The minister for equalities will set out more detail on this in her update to the prime minister later this week.”
The government points out that 96% of frontline NHS staff from an ethnic minority background have had a risk assessment and agreed any necessary mitigating actions and that it has funded £4.3m for six projects that to improve understanding of the links between Covid-19 and ethnicity.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--What Will The US Election Mean For The UK? Listen To Running Mate, Our American Politics Podcast For

What Will The US Election Mean For The UK? Listen To Running Mate, Our American Politics Podcast For Brits

Running Mate is a US election podcast – just for Brits. In our ninth episode, we look at what the result will mean for the UK, which has spent the last four years cosying up to Donald Trump
Host Graeme Demianyk speaks to Kiran Stacey of the Financial Times and HuffPost UK’s Rachel Wearmouth about the UK-US “special relationship” and whether Downing Street is starting to look to build bridges with Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate currently leading in the polls. What will a win for either candidate mean for the prized trade deal with the US?
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We also chatted to HuffPost’s climate, energy and environmental politics correspondent Alex Kaufman about America’s impact on the planet and whether another four years of Trump will be disastrous.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Coronavirus Vaccine 'Unlikely' Before Spring 2021, Says Patrick Vallance

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A coronavirus vaccine is “unlikely” to be available before spring 2021, Patrick Vallance has said, as he warned ministers not to be tempted to “over-promise”.
Speaking to MPs on Monday, the chief scientific adviser said the public, who face a winter of social distancing restrictions as the Covid-19 second wave gathers pace, need a “realistic picture” of how quickly the pandemic will end.
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It follows Boris Johnson and other ministers hinting there was a “chance” a vaccine could be ready by Christmas or New Year.
Hearts also leapt when director-general of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus claimed earlier this month “there is hope” and a vaccine “could be ready by the end of the year”.
But Vallance decisively poured cold water on the idea such a vaccine would be available for widespread use in the UK.
He told MPs: “I have been clear right from January I thought it unlikely a vaccine for any sort of widespread use in communities [would be available] before at least spring next year.”
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Vallance, one of the key figures advising government on the pandemic, also went further in his gloomy predictions.
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19). PA
He added: “If you think about the previous history of vaccines, the average time of making a vaccine from scratch is over ten years and it has never been done before in under five years at the very quickest.
“We are in an extraordinary situation where at least eight vaccines that are in quite large clinical studies around the world [...] so we will know I think we will know I think over the few months whether we have any vaccines that really protect and how long they protect for.”
A vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca, is among those in the final stages.
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Vallance also warned, however, that a vaccine may not stop the disease completely.
“I think it is unlikely that we will end up with a truly sterilising vaccine that completely stops infection,” he said.
“It is likely that this disease will circulate and be endemic. My assessment – and I think that’s the view of many people – is that’s the likely outcome.
“Clearly as management becomes better, as you get vaccination that will decrease the chance of infection and the severity of the disease – or whatever the profiles of the vaccines are – this then starts to look more like annual flu than anything else and that may be the direction we end up going in.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock has suggested that the military could be brought in to distribute a vaccine.
But Vallance said while “we will know that over the next few months” whether one of the projects had developed an effective vaccine a “big logistical challenge lies ahead” and ministers had to develop a “sensible vaccination strategy across the population”.
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He also suggested that ministers were overplaying how early a vaccine could be available, saying: “You might be able to tell from the way I have spoken very often that I do think we should not over-promise.
“I think is is very important that we give a realistic picture of where things are.”
It comes as Johnson faces a chorus of demands, from Labour, the government’s own scientific experts and in public polling, to impose a circuit breaker lockdown as infection and hospitalisations rise across the country.
Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford announced on Monday there would be a time-limited lockdown in Wales, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Sunday England was not likely to do the same.
Johnson has previously said that the most vulnerable would get priority in the UK when a vaccine was available.
He said in an interview earlier this month: “Obviously, if and when we get a vaccine then the crucial thing would be to ensure that we have sufficient supplies in this country, that we’re able to make it in this country, distribute it fast in this country, and clearly the priority for a vaccine will be those who are the most vulnerable groups.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Feel The Burnham? What People In Manchester Think Of Row Over 'Shambolic' Lockdown

Greater Manchester has become the scene of one of the biggest political standoffs since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On one side is the weight and force of Boris Johnson and his government. Ministers insist that, amid a huge second wave of coronavirus cases they say could overwhelm the region’s intensive beds by November 12, the area must go into a tier 3 lockdown.
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On the other side is a handful of local leaders – led by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – who are refusing to agree to the new rules until the Treasury rolls out a stronger package of support for workers and businesses.
Accusing the government of treating Greater Manchester as a “sacrificial lamb”, they have demanded the government offer workers in tier 3 a furlough package covering 80% of their wages, and an improved compensation scheme for businesses.
On @MarrShow the Mayor mentioned that he had written to the Prime Minister and the other Party Leaders asking for their support to reach a fair level of support for people and businesses affected by covid restrictions.
You can read the letter here and at https://t.co/EMZWt0va9s pic.twitter.com/Dl9J5dNjsX — Mayor Andy Burnham (@MayorofGM) October 18, 2020
It’s a stalemate that has rolled on for days now. While the government could impose a tier 3 lockdown without the support of local leaders, it has yet to take the plunge.
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But what do people in Greater Manchester think of the current deadlock? Do they back the Labour mayor’s bid for a better deal for workers and businesses? Or do they fear what a delay to lockdown could mean for spiralling coronavirus cases in the area?
For 33-year-old Dan, who lives in Bury, it’s a no-brainer – Burnham is “absolutely” doing the right thing by standing up to the government.
“We were given extra restrictions months ago which were essentially tier 2,” he said. Despite this, coronavirus cases have rocketed to 385 cases per 100,000 of the population in the town, with 735 new infections recorded between October 9 and October 15.
“I just do not think there is much faith going around that shutting down restaurants and bars that have broken their backs to comply with every guideline is going to make an impact at this stage other than to destroy livelihoods,” Dan said.
These businesses have “pumped their savings” into making sure they meet the government’s Covid guidelines, he said. “If we absolutely must enter tier 3, then doing so without a suitable package will be the wall for many of them.
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“These places have done their part while the government asked us all to buy them time to get Test and Trace up and running. They have wasted every single minute they were given and produced a shambolic mess that is only world-beating in its inadequacy.”
A man wearing a face mask in Manchester city centre as the row over Greater Manchester's coronavirus status continues. PA
It feels like the UK is in a lockdown “merry-go-round”, the customer experience worker said.
“Yes, lockdown will reduce case numbers like last time – but then what? We reopen and case numbers rise.
“I don’t believe that tier 3 will have any more of a lasting impact than the first lockdown because the fundamental tools we need in order to build on a position of strength while infections are low are not fit for purpose.”
Tom Taylor, a 22-year-old graduate who lives in south Manchester, agrees that Greater Manchester must not be forced into a tier 3 lockdown without additional financial support.
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“I think Manchester has had enough of the government using northern cities as guinea pigs,” he said.
“Either the government should provide adequate support for workers [in tier 3 areas] or there should be a national lockdown.”
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham speaking to the media outside the Central Library in Manchester PA
In the case of an England-wide circuit breaker lockdown, the government must still put support for workers and businesses likely to be hit by a “stay at home” message at the forefront of its plans, Tom said.
He also rounded on the defence set out by the likes of Robert Jenrick and Michael Gove that a national lockdown would be unfair on areas with lower case numbers.
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“We are in a second wave with cases rising across the UK,” he said. “If you are somewhere with low cases, would it not be beneficial to stop people travelling to your area?
“Of course funding needs to be provided to help workers if this was to happen.”
But not everyone takes the same stance. A quick search of social media reveals there are many seriously worried about how a delay in stricter restrictions in Greater Manchester could impact the number of cases – and deaths – in the region.
In a tweet, one Manchester resident accused Burnham of “acting like a trade union rep for Manchester at the detriment of potentially people dying”.
“Save our NHS and get us into tier 3 urgently,” he wrote. “Would it not make sense to allow MCR to go onto tier 3, then work with other mayors and councils to get a better deal for people and businesses?”
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Responding to a video of Burnham setting out his argument, another woman wrote on Facebook: “What about people’s health, overwhelming the NHS etc? You are certainly not representing the views of many who reside in Greater Manchester.”
This is the stance the government has taken in trying to impose the strictest coronavirus rules in the region.
In a press conference on Friday, the prime minister threatened to go over Burnham’s head and put tier 3 rules in place “in order to protect Manchester’s hospitals and save the lives of Manchester’s residents”.
“On recent trends, in just over two weeks there will be more Covid patients in intensive care than at the peak of the first wave,” Johnson said, “so I urge the mayor to reconsider and engage constructively.
“I cannot stress enough: time is of the essence. Each day that passes before action is taken means more people will go to hospital, more people will end up in intensive care and, tragically, more people will die.”
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But Burnham has accused the prime minister of exaggerating the number of cases in the region during the press conference, telling the BBC on Sunday that cases across Greater Manchester were only “up slightly”, while infections had fallen in the city of Manchester in recent days.
Student Mollie Simpson says a tier 3 lockdown without additional support could have dire consequences Supplied: Mollie Simpson
For Mollie Simpson – a final year university student in Manchester – it’s not just the physical effects of the coronavirus pandemic that the government should be focusing on.
She told HuffPost UK that imposing a tier 3 lockdown without offering additional mental health support could leave tens of thousands of students in the region in difficult circumstances.
Many students are already dealing with the effects of being away from home in the middle of a global pandemic, the 22-year said.
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“I think students will feel isolated and trapped by a Manchester lockdown.
“Students’ first time away from home can be lonely and alienating as it is, without the additional stress factor of a forced lockdown meaning they can’t travel out of a high risk zone and go home.
“Coronavirus has spread like wildfire through university halls, morale feels low and students feel abandoned and unsure of the rules.”
Meanwhile, many students rely on part-time jobs that are likely to be slashed if the strictest lockdown restrictions are brought in, Mollie said. “A lot of my friends can’t afford to live here without working – if a full furlough package isn’t met, they could be left behind.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Matthew McConaughey Reveals Dad Died While Having Sex With His Mum

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Matthew McConaughey has shared details of his parents’ volatile relationship ― and how it came to an end.
The Oscar winner revealed in his new memoir Greenlights that his father, James McConaughey, died while having sex with his mother, Kay. It was just how his dad predicted, the actor recalled.
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“I got a call from my Mom. ‘Your dad died.’ My knees buckled,” Matthew wrote in an excerpt shared by People.
“I couldn’t believe it. He was my dad. Nobody or nothing could kill him. Except mom. He’d always told me and my brothers, ‘Boys, when I go, I’m gonna be makin’ love to your mother.’ And that’s what happened. He had a heart attack when he climaxed.”
Matthew McConaughey with his wife Camila Alves and mother Kay McConaughey in 2014. Gregg DeGuire via Getty Images
The Beach Bum actor, who was born after his parents married each other for the third time, characterised their bond as “the Pacific Ocean in a storm”.
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“They were, at times, violent,” he told People. “As I say in the book, that is how they communicated.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Theresa May Caught On Camera Ridiculing Michael Gove’s Brexit Claims

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Theresa May has ridiculed Michael Gove’s claim that Brexit could give intelligence and law enforcement services the power to “intensify” the security they provide for the UK.
The former prime minister was caught on camera looking at a colleague in astonishment and asking “what?!” as Gove made the comments during a Commons statement.
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He was answering May, who raised concerns that a failure to agree a deal with the EU before the end of the transition period on December 31 could hamstring the police and intelligence services’ ability to catch criminals and potential terrorists.
Gove said staying in EU crime databases would mean ongoing European Court of Justice jurisdiction in the UK, which he said would be unacceptable.
And the Cabinet Office minister even threw back one of May’s old maxims when she was PM by insisting “no deal is better than a bad deal”, even on security.
May enjoying listening to her former colleagues ... pic.twitter.com/BSyorbYTgP — Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 19, 2020
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The two have long been enemies, dating back to the so-called Trojan horse affair when a briefing war erupted between Gove’s Department for Education and May’s Home Office, which was accused of failing to “drain the swamp” of extremism.
When May became PM in 2016, she sacked Gove before reinstating him to the cabinet a year later as environment secretary.
But the pair’s clash in the Commons showed the old tensions have not completely eased.
During Gove’s statement, May asked: “The government appears resigned to the prospect of no deal yet one area in which they should not be resigned to the prospect of no deal is in security.
“I note that my right honourable friend made no mention of security in his statement this afternoon and the prime minister made no reference to security in his letter to parliamentarians on October 16.
“So will my right honourable friend confirm that if the UK walks away with no deal then our police and other law enforcement agencies will no longer have the necessary access to databases such as PNR in order to be able to continue to identify and catch criminals and potential terrorists in order to keep us safe?”
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Gove replied: “The first thing to say is that significant progress has been made in respect of security cooperation but it is the case that the EU are insisting that before we have access to systems like the Schengen Information System 2 (SIS 2), that we have to accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
“We cannot accept that.
“The second thing I would say is that there are many, many areas in which we can cooperate more effectively to safeguard our borders outside the European Union than we ever could inside, through a variety of methods and arrangements open to us, open to Border Force, and open to our security and intelligence and security services, we can intensify the security that we give to the British people.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Brian Wilson Wants 'Absolutely Nothing To Do' With Trump's Beach Boys Stunt

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Beach Boys co-founders Brian Wilson and Al Jardine want fans to know they’re not part of a fundraising effort for President Donald Trump featuring the current incarnation of the band.
“We have absolutely nothing to do with the Trump benefit today in Newport Beach. Zero,” a spokesperson for the duo told Variety. “We didn’t even know about it and were very surprised to read about it in the Los Angeles Times.”
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The Beach Boys performed on Sunday at a Trump fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, with tickets costing up to $150,000 per couple, the Times reported.
However, that’s the current touring version of the group led by Mike Love ― the band’s other surviving co-founder, who is often at loggerheads with his old bandmates and is a Trump supporter.
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson Scott Dudelson via Getty Images
Earlier this year, Wilson and Jardine slammed Love’s version of the band for performing at a trophy-hunting convention, and said they supported a petition opposed to the activity.
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The Beach Boys were founded in 1961 by Wilson, Jardine, Love and Wilson’s two brothers, Dennis and Carl (who died in 1983 and 1998, respectively).
The five co-founders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The touring band has had a range of lineup changes, but for much of the modern era, Love has fronted a licensed touring version of The Beach Boys.
Wilson ― the mastermind behind the group’s iconic sound and its biggest hits ― has toured under his own name, with Jardine in his band in recent years.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Trump Won't Go Quietly And It May Take Weak GOP To Boot Him, John Bolton Says

Donald Trump won’t leave the White House quietly if he loses in November — and it will depend on the faint-of-heart Republicans to force him out, warned former national security adviser John Bolton in a CNN interview that aired Sunday.
“I think it’s very troubling [Trump] has said, ‘I can’t lose unless there’s fraud,’” Bolton told Jake Tapper. “Of course he can lose in an honest election.”
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Bolton warned: “Let’s be clear: Trump will not leave graciously if he loses. He will not leave graciously. Whether he carries it to the extreme, I don’t think we know.”
Trump has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, despite repeated requests to do so.
Ultimately, Bolton said, what happens will be “on the leadership of the party, elected officials, private citizens. If it is clear what the outcome [of the election] is, it is up to Republicans, not Democrats, to say, ‘This is on us. He’s got to go.’”
Tapper pressed: “Do you have faith in Republican officials that they will step forward and do that? There’s not a lot of evidence” they will ... “there’s not a lot of profiles in courage,” he added.
Bolton said he believes Republicans are “ready” to deal with Trump based on conversations he has had with many of them. “I don’t think they will stand” for Trump refusing to step down if he loses, he added.
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Bolton said that he won’t be voting for Trump or the Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, in the election. In June, he released Trump tell-all book “The Room Where It Happened.”
Bolton said he also has faith in Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley. “I have no concerns — as long as they’re still in office,” he said.
Trump hasn’t yet done “irreparable damage” to the US but he is likely to do so in a second term, Bolton said. If Trump wins again, he will be “utterly unrestricted,” he said.
“The central problem with the Trump administration [is] in the Oval Office. It’s the president himself. Trump is not fit to be president,” Bolton said.
The danger is that Trump has the “attention span of a fruit fly” — except when it comes to getting reelected, he warned.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Trump Makes His Weirdest War On Christmas Attack Yet

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Halloween is nearly two weeks away, but Donald Trump just fired a salvo in the “war on Christmas” with a strange new line of attack on former Vice President Joe Biden.
While speaking in Carson City, Nevada, on Sunday, Trump seemed to blame the coronavirus lockdowns earlier this year on Biden.
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“Under the Biden lockdown, the lights of Reno and Las Vegas were extinguished,” he said.
Yet Trump was president during the lockdowns this year. Biden was a private citizen with no government role at all.
Trump then claimed Biden would cancel the upcoming Christmas season if elected.
"The Christmas season will be canceled" -- Trump says Biden will cancel Christmas pic.twitter.com/RexB4CCc3L — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 19, 2020
“If he comes in, Carson City will become a ghost town and the Christmas season will be canceled,” Trump said.
Biden would not take office until January 20 ― well after the Christmas season ― should he win the election. The former vice president is also a practicing Catholic who celebrates the holiday.
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There is, however, one person who might not mind cancelling Christmas: first lady Melania Trump, who was caught on audio trashing the holiday.
“I’m working my ass off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff and decoration?” Melania Trump said in recording released by former friend and aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. “But I need to do it, right?”
In the past, Trump has made random shout-outs to Christmas in just about every season, including summer, often claiming he brought the holiday back along with the phrase “Merry Christmas.” Neither the holiday nor the phrase had ever fallen out of favour.
Trump’s latest out-of-season Christmas reference drew quite the reaction on Twitter:
The people cheering Trump taking credit for people saying Merry Christmas will believe anything. https://t.co/E8dxwZs7Lj — Schooley (@Rschooley) October 19, 2020
Fun fact:
-I staffed @joebiden for nearly a decade. Every year, he threw a Christmas party for staff.
Bonus fact:
-He alternated the site between his home in Wilmington & his DC office. To show that staff based in the Capital were no more highly-valued than those in Delaware. https://t.co/UZLkjF41Ez — Jonah Blank (@JonahBlank) October 19, 2020
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As a reminder, we recently learned that Melania Trump also wanted to cancel the Christmas season. — Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 19, 2020
Christmas is basically canceled due to your awful covid response. https://t.co/1QlCXE9T4m — Aaron (@TheSarcasmShow) October 19, 2020
“Who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”
—Melania Trump https://t.co/xExiyfJd4h — Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) October 19, 2020
Trump says Biden is going to cancel Christmas which at least should get Biden a vote from Melania, since we all know how much she hates that "fucking Christmas stuff" — Abraham Lincoln (@SurrealALincoln) October 19, 2020
At least Melania won’t have to put up those fucking Christmas decorations https://t.co/j0jW1IS0Za — Ed Solomon (@ed_solomon) October 19, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--John Leslie Cleared Of Sexual Assault Following Trial

John Leslie has been cleared of sexual assault, following a week-long trial.
The former Blue Peter presenter was found not guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, after being accused of grabbing a woman’s breasts at a Christmas party in 2008.
John Leslie pictured arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Monday PA
A jury of nine men and three women returned the verdict after just 23 minutes of deliberations.
Leslie – real name John Stott – cried and nodded towards the jury it was announced.
Judge Deborah Taylor said: “Mr Stott, you for the second time leave this court without a stain on your character and I hope it will be the last time you have to attend.”
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The TV presenter’s father Les Stott, who has attended court every day with his son for the past week, hugged him after he left the dock.
Leslie had previously told the jury he could not remember being at the party, and described the single allegation of sexual assault from December 5 2008 as “crazy” and “ludicrous”.
A file photo of John Leslie PA Archive/PA Images
Giving evidence, he said: “I would not have touched her like some mannequin and walked off.”
He told the jury he had previously been made out to be an “aggressive, sexual monster” by the tabloid press, as he denied ever assaulting any woman, saying it is “not in my nature”.
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He said he had become reclusive, paranoid, depressed and suicidal amid the allegations, saying: “I lost everything.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Endometriosis Sufferers Are Fighting For So Much More Than A Diagnosis

Endometriosis is having a moment. While 10 years ago, talk of the disease was met with “endo-what?”, it’s now a recognisable, if poorly understood, staple in our lexicon around women’s health.
This boom in public awareness is due, in part, to an outpouring of literature on the subject by authors desperate to name their pain. These are women who have been let down by the medical establishment and its historic dearth of understanding when it comes to gynaecological health conditions.
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Yet, even though we’re talking about endometriosis more than ever, diagnosis still takes an average of eight years, according to a new report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Endometriosis – a figure that, shockingly, hasn’t improved in more than a decade.
Now, MPs are calling on the government to commit to reducing diagnosis times to a target of four years or less by 2025, and one year or less by 2030.
Reducing delays to diagnosis is vital because endometriosis is a progressive disease, staged much like cancer, which causes fibrous tissue, similar to that found lining the uterus, to grow elsewhere in the pelvis. If I had been diagnosed when I first started displaying symptoms in my teens, perhaps my disease would have been caught at an earlier stage, and my prognosis more favourable.
But for me, improving diagnosis times is really just one part of the complicated unpicking of a patriarchal medical legacy.
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To improve outcomes for endometriosis patients, we urgently need to turn our attention to the too often barbaric treatment options that are offered to women. Currently, there is no cure for endometriosis, and treatment is limited to surgery, hormones, or pain management. We’re hardly spoilt for choice.
For a disease that affects at least one in 10 women, we need to question why we still know so little about it.
Grace Cary via Getty Images
I was relieved when I found out I had stage 4 endometriosis in 2014. Finally, I was able to put a name to the horrors I had been experiencing. Most importantly, I thought having a diagnosis would set me on a path of effective management.
Instead, it hurtled me on to an ever-turning carousel of medical interventions that lasted the rest of the decade, and brought with them much distress and little relief. I spent most of my twenties in a cycle of surgery, followed by chemical menopause treatment, followed by recurrence – rinse and repeat.
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These treatments, inevitably, had a substantial knock on effect on almost every part of my life, from my mental health to my career and relationships. They also carry risks of their own. One of my surgeries left me with irreparable nerve damage, while the menopause treatment caused half my hair to fall out.
You might think my experience sounds shocking, or unusual. But this latest report by the APPG into endometriosis shows how run of the mill my story is.
It found 58% of people visited the GP more than 10 times before diagnosis and 53% had attended A&E with symptoms before diagnosis. Around 90% said they would have liked access to psychological support but were never offered it, and 35% had a reduced income due to endometriosis. It also highlights the specific barriers faced by women of colour in accessing adequate care.
But more than affirming how common such negative interactions with the medical community are for women in pain, this latest report points to a much larger task – the need to dismantle the systemic bias that still pervades attitudes towards women’s health, from the doctor’s waiting room to the lab.
If we want to see better outcomes for women’s suffering, we must demand more research. And not just more research, but better research – on things that really matter to sufferers. Like, why this disease occurs, and how to fix it. Is that really so ambitious? This disease has robbed me and others like me of so much. Why shouldn’t we be demanding more radical solutions.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Phillip Schofield Reveals How Drag Race's Michelle Visage Was There For Him After Coming Out

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Phillip Schofield has revealed how RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage was a support to him after he came out publicly earlier this year.
The This Morning presenter announced he was gay live on the ITV daytime show back in February in an emotional interview with co-host Holly Willoughby.
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Prior to the country going into lockdown a month later, Phillip went out with Michelle after she messaged him to check how he was.
Phillip Schofield Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Speaking on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, Phillip praised the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant for being “one of those really compassionate, kind people”.
He said: “She was one of those people that messaged me. ‘Right,’ she said, ‘I’m going to take you out for coffee. We’ve got to talk. I want to make sure you’re okay.’
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“We went out, and I said, ‘I feel like I’ve joined a club, but I don’t know whether I’ve got the right credentials. I don’t know. Can I put a rainbow after stuff that I’ve said?’ And she said, ‘Of course you can.’”
Michelle Visage David Fisher/Shutterstock
Revealing the advice the proud LGBTQ+ ally gave him during their meeting, where he admitted feeling like he didn’t know “what I can and can’t do”, Phillip continued: “Michelle said, ‘You’re beating yourself up for no reason. Welcome to the club. And what’s more, you have made a massive difference to people who also didn’t realise that they perhaps could have membership to that club.’
Phillip and Michelle had previously shared their affection for one another on social media, after she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2015.
When she was in the house, Phillip tweeted: “I actually love #Michelle and I think she’d make a great friend. #CBB.”
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She later replied to him, saying: “hey @schofe THANK YOU for the support and kind words. you are truly MY silver fox. rawr.”
I actually love #Michelle and I think she'd make a great friend. #CBB — Phillip Schofield (@Schofe) January 11, 2015
hey @Schofe THANK YOU for the support and kind words. you are truly MY silver fox. rawr. — michelle visage (@michellevisage) February 8, 2015
The full interview with Phillip appears on this week’s episode of Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, available to stream now.
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Loose Women's Denise Welch Is Joining The Cast Of Hollyoaks

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Loose Women panellist Denise Welch has announced she is joining the cast of Hollyoaks.
The former Coronation Street star is set to appear as the on-screen mother of Nikki Sanderson’s character Maxine Minniver in the Channel 4 soap.
Denise, who previously starred alongside Nikki on Corrie, announced the news on Monday’s edition of the ITV panel show, revealing she will be with the cast for at least a year.
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Denise Welch on Loose Women ITV/Shutterstock
She told the show: “I’m going to be playing my lovely Nikki Sanderson’s mum, Trish, who is a dance teacher with a slightly dark side. I’ve got a hunky new lover.
“Because of Covid restrictions, he’s probably very glad he doesn’t have to kiss me, but they’ve also mentioned there may be times that Lincoln [Townley, her real-life husband] might have to be a body double if there’s any jiggy jigs.”
She added: “I’m still going to be able to do Loose Women. I’m excited because I miss my acting. I love the show.
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“It’s their 25th anniversary and I feel very honoured that this role has been created. It’s fabulous.”
Huge congratulations to our @RealDeniseWelch who is joining the cast of @Hollyoaks! 🎉
Hear all about her exciting new role in full on ITV Hub ➡ https://t.co/uhvdBHHe6b pic.twitter.com/VQvYFduCBP — Loose Women (@loosewomen) October 19, 2020
📣 ANNOUNCMENT!! There's some exciting news in the air... 📣 @RealDeniseWelch IS COMING TO THE #HOLLYOAKS VILLAGE!❤ She will be reunited with @NikkiSanderson and will play the role of Maxine's mum, as Trish Minniver!
Please give a very warm welcome! 😍🎉 #Hollyoaks25 pic.twitter.com/W7UiDpu284 — Hollyoaks (@Hollyoaks) October 19, 2020
Not only will Denise be starring alongside former Coronation Street colleague Nikki in her new role, but she will also share the screen with fellow Loose Woman Kéllé Bryan, who plays Martine Deveraux.
Denise also appeared alongside Chelsee Healey, who plays Goldie McQueen, in school drama Waterloo Road.
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She added in a statement: “I’m looking forward to working with some old friends and making new ones.”
As well as playing Natalie Barnes on Corrie and Steph Haydock on Waterloo Road, Denise’s other acting credits include Soldier Soldier, Boy Meets Girl and Benidorm. She also appeared in an episode of EastEnders as Alison Slater in 2016.
Denise will debut as Trish in Hollyoaks in January 2021.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--Julie Walters Hints She's Retired From Acting – But Reveals The One Role That Would Tempt Her Back

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Dame Julie Walters has admitted she may have retired from acting for good after beating cancer.
The British acting legend underwent treatment for stage-three bowel cancer in 2018, and has since had the all-clear, but it appears only another Mamma Mia! sequel would tempt her back onto a film set.
In an interview with The Times (£), Julie opened up about receiving her diagnosis, admitting it came as a “huge relief” as it meant she could have a break from her gruelling schedule.
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Julie Walters Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
“I had a weird reaction to it,” she said. “Part of me was going, ‘Oh my God! I’ve got cancer! Oh my God!’ And I’m dealing with the shock of that, and it’s all systems go to have it treated. But there was also an element of going, ‘I don’t have to do any more work. I can actually get off this treadmill.’
“Because I had been working really hard and it seemed like a big excuse not to do anything. Cancer trumps everything. So there was a huge relief in it, which is strange. But I needed something to stop me.”
Julie, who only went public with her cancer diagnosis in February, also explained she thought her workload might have caused her illness.
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She said: “The oncologist said to me, ‘What do you think has caused the cancer?’ And the first thing that came to my mind was acting. Acting caused it. Because of the way that I approach it. I have to be totally in it. Everything has to be just so.
“It’s very stressful. You’re immediately above the parapet. You’re being judged. It’s a stressful job and I don’t sleep when I’m working. It’s not good for me.”
Julie with Christine Baranski and Meryl Streep in 2008's Mamma Mia! Universal
Julie said “never say never” when asked if that meant she was retiring for good, but added: “After I had the operation and I was thinking about the future, I thought, ‘I don’t want to work again... unless it’s another Mamma Mia!’”
Julie appeared as Rosie Mulligan in the film based on the ABBA stage musical in 2008.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-19--How Your Google Search Data Is Used To Track Coronavirus

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When the coronavirus pandemic began, governments around the world scrambled – with varying senses of urgency – to pull together the tools and resources needed to fight it.
While much attention has rightly been paid to vaccines, lockdowns and the merits of face masks, one powerful weapon hasn’t got much credit – your keyboard.
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That’s right, Public Health England (PHE) uses Google search data – particularly searches about Covid-19 symptoms – to “understand and monitor the pandemic in England”.
And the data, which contributes to the government’s weekly surveillance reports, was able to accurately give a 20-day warning about whether cases were going up or down during the height of the pandemic.
The assumption is pretty straightforward – people with symptoms of an illness will Google what is wrong with them before they go to or even book an appointment with a health professional.
Google also has the added bonus of being relatively anonymous so people tend to be far more honest than they are when talking to other people about illnesses (and practically everything else), a phenomenon documented in the book Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
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Using a survey from March that examined the “first few hundred” cases, a list of 19 symptoms associated with confirmed Covid-19 cases was created as well as their probability of occurrence.
A separate and more general search category was created for Covid-19-related keywords, for example “Covid-19” itself and of course “coronavirus”.
Researchers then used a specialist version of the publicly available Google Trends dashboard that focuses on health data called Google Health Trends.
And the results were startling.
“When we looked at this for a number of countries, around eight, we saw on average there was a 20-day early warning that Covid cases are going to go up or down,” one of the architects of the method, data scientist Bill Lampos of University College London, told HuffPost UK.
“We expected that at the time because health systems were very slow to test, so people were tested mainly when they presented themselves in a hospital with more severe symptoms, and it takes some time to get to that stage.
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“People will search for their symptoms and seek help later on. And if your symptoms were not severe, you didn’t get a test so you were not a case in the system but the search did not miss that out.”
A chart showing the increase in searches for coronavirus symptoms around the time lockdown was imposed in England. PHE
The data also raises some interesting historical insights. For instance, a report on the methodology published in July, highlights how effective non-lockdown measures were in the early days of the outbreaks.
It reads: “We also note that for Australia and the UK, search scores were already in decline after the application of physical distancing measures but before lockdowns.”
The report adds: “Our work provides evidence that online search data can be used to develop complementary public health surveillance methods to help inform the Covid-19 response in conjunction with more established approaches.”
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Testing is now more widespread in the UK – albeit not as widespread as it should be at this stage in the pandemic – but the data Lampos and his team provides is still useful and contributes to PHE’s weekly infection survey report.
“The model followed the death rate very closely after the big peak in April and since then it’s followed the expected rate,” said Lampos.
Six months into the pandemic the UK combines a number of indicators into its weekly assessment including swabbing, NHS Test and Trace and hospital admissions.
But the search data method still retains one major advantage over all of these – people will generally search symptoms before they come into contact with any official testing or tracing service.
The latest search data Lampos submitted to PHE has reflected the recent upward trend in cases and has been confirmed by data from patient swabbing – but it’s still uncharted territory.
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“Now there are second waves, we will have to do a second assessment of the models to see what we are doing correctly and what we’re getting wrong,” says Lampos.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--RuPaul's Drag Race UK Series 2 Is Finally Getting Back On Track, Says Alan Carr

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The second series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is finally getting back on track, as filming resumes in the coming weeks.
Judge Alan Carr has offered an update on the upcoming run of the BBC Three show, after it was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Production was shut down halfway through filming just before lockdown hit the UK in March, with Alan’s fellow judges Michelle Visage and RuPaul having to rush back to their homes in America.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK judges Graham Norton, Michelle Visage, RuPaul and Alan Carr BBC
But appearing on Tuesday’s Lorraine, Alan revealed: “I’m filming [Drag Race] in a fortnight’s time, so that will be nice to just get that finished.”
He then joked: “It’s also good for some of the drag queens who maybe their sewing wasn’t that good – because in the lockdown, if they’ve got any sense, they’d be on that sewing machine, with that pedal down! No excuse.”
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Great news for #DragRaceUK fans! @chattyman confirms the show resumes filming soon and he was a word of advice for the queens...
Watch in full ➡ https://t.co/vn8NeFi106 pic.twitter.com/X2TPOGqADe — Lorraine (@lorraine) October 20, 2020
Michelle arrived back in the UK a fortnight ago, and has just come out of her required two-week quarantine, which she has been documenting on Instagram.
The British version of Drag Race launched last year, with a second run originally scheduled for the autumn.
While no new air date has been set, it is thought it will air in early 2021.
In the meantime, bosses have announced a new spin-off series, which takes a look at what happened to the queens after the first series concluded.
The cameras followed them on their UK tour last year for the fly-on-the-wall docu-series, with viewers promised plenty of high jinks, sisterly camaraderie and good, old-fashioned shade.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--40 Hilarious Tweets About The Self-Checkout At Supermarkets

If you want to know how much of a maverick I am, when the CVS self checkout says, "Please remember to take your receipt," I just turn and walk away. I just leave the receipt in the machine like it's nothing.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--These Are The Best 10 Cities For Work-Life Balance

Jinna van Ringen Photography via Getty Images
What do Amsterdam, Marseille and Alice Springs have in common? Their work-life balance is pretty on point, it would seem.
A new report suggests these cities have some of the shortest weekly working hours. Amsterdam in the Netherlands tops the list, with an average of 30.41 hours put in each week – that works out at four, 7.6-hour working days.
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Marseille in France came in second place, with an average of 31.48 hours each week, followed by Alice Springs, in Australia, with 31.82 hours a week.
The report, by Holland & Barrett, looked at the average number of hours spent working in each city, using data sourced from the International Labour Organisation, to determine how much leisure time people are left with.
Other cities praised by the report for their shorter working hours included Vienna, Auckland, London, Brussels, Copenhagen, Oslo and Rome.
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Murat Taner via Getty Images
Holland & Barrett collected all this data so they could analyse which cities on the whole were best for upping your exposure to sunlight, and therefore getting a hearty dose of vitamin D.
Its ‘Sunshine Cities’ report looked at metrics such as how short the working day was (meaning more time to spend outside), how many hours of sunlight each city had, how many free outdoor attractions they had, and how many hours sleep people were getting on average.
In total, 210 cities around the world were analysed. Each of the metrics was awarded a weighted score and these were combined to give each city a score out of 100. Where data was not available for every metric, the city wasn’t counted.
Rome was crowned the vitamin D capital thanks to the Italian city seeing plenty of hours of sunshine each year, as well as being home to hundreds of free outdoor attractions and shorter working and sleeping hours (meaning more time to spend outdoors).


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--Boris Johnson To Announce Manchester Lockdown Decision At 5pm Press Conference

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Boris Johnson will hold a press conference on Tuesday where he is expected announce whether Manchester will face more coronavirus restrictions.
The prime minister was locked in talks with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham at lunchtime on Tuesday following a midday deadline for fraught negotiations on whether the city should enter tier 3 restrictions, including pub closures.
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Johnson is expected to set out the outcome of the talks at a 5pm press conference alongside England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam and NHS medical director Stephen Powis.
The PM is likely to impose “very high” restrictions on the city, including the closure of pubs unless they serve substantial meals, even if negotiations on financial support for the city’s 2.8m people have not ended in agreement.
The PM’s official spokesperson told reporters: “The talks have been ongoing this morning. I am not in a position to confirm how that has been resolved.”
Any imposition of new lockdown measures is likely to be met with a chorus of disapproval from the city.
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Local leaders have argued that existing tier 2 restrictions have not brought cases down for months, and that financial support needs to be scaled up to help people and businesses hit by further lockdown measures.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick in a letter offered £22m to help the city enter tier 3, worth around £8 per person, with “additional support commensurate” with that offered in Lancashire and the Liverpool City Region.
But Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell said the government’s offer was an “insult”.
Where to start with government response to GM this am:
🤐not good faith discussion but only 2 ministerial meets
🤐been in Tier 2 since July when our rates lower than lowest regions today
🤐rates are falling in Mcr and stabilising across region
🤐£7.85/person offer is insult — Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) October 20, 2020
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Burnham said he would “try to be positive and respond, and see if we can find a way forward” despite the “slightly provocative move” by the government.
“The letter is odd in that it is both an ultimatum but it references potential additional support that could be given to us,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
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“The thing is, we’ve never been given a figure for that additional support.
“What I’ll be proposing to the Greater Manchester leaders when we meet this morning, quite early, is that we write to the government setting out what we think a fair figure is for that support, given we’ve been under restrictions for three months and that has taken a real toll on people and businesses here.
“The second thing we would need is full flexibility to support the people that we think are going to need to be supported in a tier 3 lockdown.”
But he said he would not break the law if the government imposed the measures on Greater Manchester without the consent of civic leaders.
In his letter, Jenrick had warned there were now “more Covid-19 patients in Greater Manchester hospitals than in the whole of the south-west and south-east combined”.
“Despite recognising the gravity of the situation, local leaders have been so far unwilling to take the action that is required to get this situation under control,” he wrote.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--Sarah Cooper Mocks Donald Trump Jr. In New Viral Impression Video

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Sarah Cooper has turned her biting impressions on another member of the Trump family.
The comedian’s Monday lip-syncing of Donald Trump Jr. alleging censorship on Instagram has gone as viral as her previous clips mimicking his father, President Donald Trump, and garnered millions of views on social media.
Check out her “How to Don jr” video here:
How to Don jr pic.twitter.com/NSYhO0DNYS — Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) October 19, 2020
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Sarah’s rise to fame in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic culminated with a virtual appearance in August at the Democratic National Convention:
In a dark world, thank goodness for Sarah Cooper.pic.twitter.com/Ke1CCi4YnA — Ted Corcoran (RedTRaccoon) (@RedTRaccoon) August 21, 2020
Trump Jr.’s video, meanwhile, also inspired this response from the comedian J-L Cauvin who in August was recruited by the anti-Trump Lincoln to spoof endorse Republicans on behalf of the president:
UNEDITED DON JUNIOR VIDEO!
(sub on YT in the thread below) pic.twitter.com/K2UHIy8UUK — J-L Cauvin (@JLCauvin) October 19, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--The Big Breakfast House Goes Up For Sale – And It's Yours For A Cool £5.7m

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Before the Big Brother house or the Love Island villa, the Big Breakfast mansion was the most famous TV property, and now it can be yours - if you have a spare £5.7 million, that is.
The east London home has recently been put on the market, giving fans of the 90s Channel 4 breakfast show a chance to own a piece of TV history.
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The six-bedroom property, which is a stone’s throw from the Olympic stadium in Stratford, looks unrecognisable from its garish breakfast TV days in pictures from agent Blake Stanley.
The old Big Breakfast house is up for sale Rightmove/Blake Stanley
Set over three floors, it features a large, open-plan kitchen-living-dining room, a workshop and a sprawling garden boasting a swimming pool.
At present the property is split into two, but with the inter-connecting doors still preserved.
Originally, it was built as three separate Lock Keepers Cottages before being converted into one property for use on the Channel 4 breakfast show.
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The house will set you back a cool £5.7 million Rightmove/Blake Stanley
Johnny Vaughn and Denise Van Outen on The Big Breakfast Channel 4
Shortly after The Big Breakfast was axed in 2002, a fire caused significant damage to the house, which is located on Fish Island in Bow.
After being restored, the house has subsequently featured in the BBC Two show Neneh and Andi Dish It Up, BBC Three’s Singing With the Enemy, and ITV’s Too Fat To Toddle.
The property was used on the Channel 4 breakfast show between 1992 and 2002 Rightmove/Blake Stanley
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The Big Breakfast ran for 10 years on Channel 4 after debuting in 1992.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Mo Gilligan is set to front a one-off revival of the show in 2021 as part of its Black Takeover Day.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--Sexting Has Nothing To Do With Consent

Sexting Has Nothing To Do With Consent

Tero Vesalainen via Getty Images
The new Crown Prosecution guidelines for prosecuting sexual offenses are a welcome and deeply needed attempt by the CPS to join the rest of us in 2020, where most of us are glued to the phones we use to conduct a large part of our social and romantic lives.
The guidelines focus in particular on the new landscape of online image sharing and dating apps, and they are sorely needed.
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The numbers are, frankly, catastrophic – only 3% of rape claims result in a conviction. Survivors are not responsible for the sexual violence meted out to them, the perpetrator is.
However, our current justice system seems not fully on board with this fundamental principle.
It remains, in other words, incredibly difficult to prosecute rape successfully in the UK. Perpetrators are aware that the criminal justice system seldom punishes them and victims are learning that it equally seldom protects them.
But CPS’s failure to effectively prosecute rape is not because they got the tech and how “kids these days use it” wrong in the eight years since the last guideline review. It’s because they’ve gotten the core concept of consent wrong for a long time.
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Ninety percent of rapes are committed by someone who knows the victim. Unsurprisingly, people who know each other tend to keep in touch, through text, email and phone. That can include sending intimate pictures and flirty text messages, an activity now so widespread it’s become the norm rather than the exception. Requiring victims of sexual assault to hand over their phones to the police, with their gigabytes of data, is not only a gross violation of victims’ privacy and that of their families and friends (quick, think of how much information on other people your phone holds), it doesn’t even yield much usable information for the prosecution. Having sent a naked selfie proves only that – that you’ve consented to sharing a naked selfie with one person, one time. That’s all anyone, including the CPS, could ever deduce from that piece of information.
Receiving an intimate picture doesn’t magically render someone incapable of rape, just like sending it doesn’t render someone unrapable. Not too long ago (until 2003) we similarly struggled with legally understanding that when a woman said “I do” it didn’t mean she said “I always will”. It used to be legal for men to rape their wives, too.
As someone who’s fought non-consensual image sharing right from the start, I couldn’t be happier to see that the new CPS guidelines state that sending an intimate picture isn’t a blanket consent to sex or anything else. The law does not see it necessary to make that explicit in other contexts. If I wire you five pounds I don’t give you permission to empty my bank account. If I invite you in for a cup of tea, I don’t invite you to raid my pantry or burn my house down. It’s time we applied the same simple principle of consent to sex.
While we’re at it, we could update our general assumptions about intimate pictures, consent and sharing. The Law Commission started its review of the so-called revenge porn legislation in June 2019, and we eagerly await its result. The current pandemic has only made it more needed, with the explosion of online based privacy violations. One change we are particular keen to see is that victims of non-consensual image-sharing are granted the same automatic anonymity as victims of sexual assault. As it stands, too often our clients often don’t experience much understanding from the police when they come to them with complaints of non-consensual picture sharing and online harassment. Too many are met with either ignorance about the current law and/or the technology involved or an attitude of “Well, why did you send it in the first place then?”. All are tremendously damaging to victims, and one reason why we see an increase in civil cases in this area.
What victims need and deserve is to be met with professionals who understand how harsh the impact can be of image-based sexual abuse and will focus on holding the perpetrator to account and mitigating the damage caused. Shifting the focus from irrelevant things the victims have done, worn or shared to whether or not consent was, or could have been, present is how we bridge the horrifying discrepancy between how many complaints the public brings to the police and how vanishingly few of those cases the CPS prosecutes. The CPS has made a start with these new guidelines and we welcome them, but the key word to remember is “consent”, not “tech”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--Inventor Who Murdered Journalist Kim Wall On Submarine 'Tries To Escape From Prison'

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A Danish submarine inventor jailed for murdering and dismembering a journalist has attempted to escape the prison where he is serving a life sentence.
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The newspaper says the 49-year-old was apprehended nearby by police snipers. Pictures from the scene appear to show a man surrounded by armed police in the area west of Copenhagen.
Peter Madsen has been caught after his escape Scanpix Denmark / Reuters
Kim Wall TT NEWS AGENCY / REUTERS
There are reports the escapee had claimed to have a bomb strapped to his person and a police bomb disposal robot was photographed at the scene.
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Police said a man had been arrested.
In Denmark, a life sentence equates to 16 years on average but can be extended.
Madsen was convicted of murder, sexual assault and the dismemberment of Wall, 30, after luring her onto his homemade submarine with the promise of an interview.
A police marksman and his dog observe the reported escapee NILS MEILVANG via Getty Images
Police are at the scene and have brought a bomb-defusing robot amid reports the escapee has explosives on his person NILS MEILVANG via Getty Images
Vi arbejder aktuelt på Nyvej i Albertslund, hvor en mand er anholdt efter forsøg på fangeflugt. Vi har undersøgelser på stedet, som er afspærret. Efterkom venligst vores anvisninger. Vi kan p.t. ikke give yderligere info – mere følger senere. #politidk — Vestegnens Politi (@VestegnsPoliti) October 20, 2020
Madsen denied murdering Wall, saying she died accidentally inside the submarine, but has confessed to throwing her body parts into the Baltic Sea.
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The trial heard Wall had “likely had begged for her life” while Madsen carried out “a sadistic, yes, inhuman, sexual fantasy”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--Tiger King's Carole Baskin Opens Up About Sexuality: 'I've Always Considered Myself To Be Bisexual'

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Tiger King star Carole Baskin has shared that she is bisexual.
The Big Cat Rescue CEO opened up about her sexuality in an interview with PinkNews, saying that she “could just as easily have a wife as a husband”.
Carole said she first felt a connection to the LGBTQ community when she was engaged to a psychologist in the 1980s during the Aids crisis.
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She said it was at this time she realised she “had just as equal feelings for women as I did for men”.
Carole Baskin Netflix
“I have always considered myself to be bisexual,” Carole said. “Even though I’ve never had a wife, I could just as easily have a wife as a husband.
“As far as the way I feel about us, I think we are all one and I just don’t see us as being different genders or different colours or anything.”
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Carole has been married to husband Howard since 2004 and was previously married to millionaire businessman Don Lewis from 1991 to 2002, when he was declared legally dead.
Don disappeared in 1997 and his fate was the source of speculation during Netflix’s hugely popular Tiger King documentary series. Carole vehemently denies being involved.
During the series, she was seen clashing with Joe Exotic, a gay big cat breeder who has been jailed for plotting to have her killed.
Carole was asked by PinkNews if she thought Joe Exotic was a good representative for the LGBTQ community, to which she replied: “I think he’s an embarrassment to the human community.
“It’s not a matter of what your sexuality is, this man is just a deviant in the way that he treats human life and animal life.
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“I think he’s a malignant narcissist, and that it’s all about him. It doesn’t have anything to do with any of the communities that he may associate himself with.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-20--4 Things To Know About The Rapid Covid-19 Tests At Heathrow Airport

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You can now access a rapid Covid-19 test that’ll give you results before your flight at Heathrow airport – but you’ll still have to abide by the quarantine rules.
The tests, available from Tuesday, aim to deliver results within an hour and will be available at two new pre-departure testing facilities in Terminals 2 and 5.
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Thinking of booking a holiday after hearing the news? Here’s what you need to know first.
Aaron Chown - PA Images via Getty Images
The tests won’t be widely available
The tests will initially only be offered to passengers travelling to Hong Kong and Italy – two countries that require UK travellers to show evidence of a negative test result taken within 72 hours of travel.
Cathay Pacific, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airlines all fly routes that now require pre-departure tests.
The test at Heathrow costs £80, and passengers interested in using the facility are required to book a test online before making their way to the airport. The testing facilities will initially be open for four weeks.
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Some countries that require a negative result upon arrival – for example, Italy – allow passengers to take a free test at the airport when they arrive as an alternative. However, if this comes back positive, beware you’ll be stuck quarantining in a hotel room or quarantine facility.
The tests are not the same as the NHS covid tests
To begin with, the facilities will offer LAMP testing – an abbreviation for loop-mediated isothermal amplification. These tests require a throat and nose swab. They are not the same as the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests used by the NHS.
Unlike the PCR tests, LAMP tests can be processed without being sent to a laboratory. The use of rapid testing for Covid-19 is currently being evaluated, Professor Lawrence S. Young, from Warwick Medical School, tells HuffPost UK.
“These tests need to be validated against the gold standard laboratory tests used in hospital and PHE laboratories,” he says. “Rapid tests tend to be less sensitive than the standard test, but could be useful in some settings where infected individuals need to be rapidly isolated (e.g. care homes, hospitals).”
The lower sensitivity of LAMP tests compared to PCR tests “means that the rate of false negatives will be higher”, explains Dr Joshua Moon, research fellow in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex Business School.
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A pilot for LAMP tests within some NHS hospitals has also been announced. The airport facilities are expected to expand to also use antigen testing in the next few weeks. Again, these tests are thought to be less sensitive than the PCR tests.
You’ll still have to quarantine
The tests may help you to enter another country, but you’ll still need to self-isolate when you return to the UK if that country is not listed as a travel corridor.
For example, Italy was recently removed from the exemptions list. If you return from Italy, you’ll still need to self-isolate for 14 days.
It begs the question: why do we still need quarantine rules if the technology is there to test at all airports? “We need to be sure that rapid testing is reliable before it can be used to make decisions about travel,” says Professor Young.
Dr Moon adds: “Importantly, neither this nor PCR would be all that effective if individuals had gotten infected on the plane so the quarantine is still necessary.”
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Unless accuracy is guaranteed, both Professor Young and Dr Moon say we’d need more than one test.
“What would be more effective in this case is multiple tests during the quarantine to ensure that negative results are true,” says Dr Moon. “Three negative results over, say, six days, would provide a reasonable justification for somebody leaving quarantine.”
It might not make much of a difference
Collinson and Swissport, the companies behind the new facilities, described the pre-departure testing regime as the “crucial next step toward keeping the travel industry moving while limiting the spread of the virus” – but not everyone is convinced.
Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive Shai Weiss believes: “As long as the 14-day quarantine remains in place, demand for travel will not return.”
Earlier this month, the government unveiled a task force to develop a universal coronavirus testing system as a potential way of easing quarantine restrictions for arriving passengers.
Weiss added: “Half a million UK jobs depend on open skies and a fully functioning UK aviation industry. The government’s global travel task force must act swiftly to replace quarantine with passenger testing in November.”
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