UK records 26,628 positive tests in 30% week-on-week drop

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Britain’s daily Covid cases fell again today, official data revealed — as Boris Johnson unveiled his winter plan to fight off another lockdown.

The Department of Health recorded another 26,628 positive tests in the last 24 hours, down almost a third on the same time last week.

It marked the sixth day in a row infections had dropped week-on-week, with the decline being particularly driven by falling cases in both England and Scotland.

England is yet to suffer a Scotland-style spike in infections, which experts feared would be sparked once children returned to classrooms after the summer holidays.

But its schools have been back for a fortnight and no suck up-tick has happened yet. The country was hit by a heatwave last week, which saw temperatures reach as high as 30C, meaning people spent more time outdoors where the virus finds it harder to spread.

Latest Covid hospitalisations showed another 1,009 people were admitted on September 9, a levelling off from the 988 admissions recorded the same time the previous week.

There were also 185 Covid deaths recorded today, which was 24 less than seven days ago.

But both figures lag several weeks behind daily cases because of the time taken for someone who has caught the virus to fall seriously ill. 

It came as Boris Johnson today unveiled his plans for winter warning face masks and Covid passports are being ‘kept in reserve’ in case vaccinations fail to keep the virus at bay.

But while fronting a Downing Street press conference alongside Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the Prime Minister insisted that the UK was ‘incomparably’ better placed to deal with the disease this year.

Booster doses were today recommended for over-50s by the Government’s vaccine advisers, to be administered from six months after the second dose. And yesterday the country’s chief medical officers said 12 to 15 years old should be offered the Covid vaccine. 

Department of Health Covid figures showed that in England cases had dropped by 28 per cent in a week, with 19,739 recorded today compared to 27,545 seven days ago.

Scotland saw the biggest dip in cases out of the four UK nations, after its infections fell by 40 per cent in a week with 3,375 were recorded today.

In Wales they dropped by 23 per cent after 1,924 were registered in the last 24 hours, and in Northern Ireland they dropped by nine per cent after 1,590 were recorded.

Mr Johnson said he hoped the situation could be kept stable with more jabs and the public behaving sensibly — although ministers have made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out.

Professor Whitty gave a more downbeat assessment saying that infections were ‘high’ relative to last year, and the NHS was under ‘extreme pressure’ even though vaccines were helping significantly.

And Sir Patrick seemed to send a thinly-veiled message to Mr Johnson by saying that when it comes to measures to stem cases the lesson was ‘you have to go earlier than you want to, you have to go harder than you want to’. 

Mr Johnson was addressing the nation just hours after it emerged his mother had died, and thanked people for their condolences.

Earlier, Health Secretary Sajid Javid was heckled by Tories admitting that ministers can only give Britons the ‘best possible chance’ of avoiding brutal curbs.

In a statement to MPs, he stressed that vaccines can help ‘build defences’ against the disease, with boosters for the over-50s and jabs for under-16s starting next week.

But Mr Javid was hit with howls of rage from Conservatives in the Commons as he said the blueprint includes the ‘Plan B’ of making masks compulsory ‘in certain settings’, more working from home and social distancing if the NHS is under threat.

Vaccine passports will be kept ‘in reserve’ and could be introduced in England with a week’s notice, even though they will not go ahead from next month as originally intended.

Despite the tough messaging on the need to be cautious, ministers packed into the Cabinet room this morning with no masks as they were briefed on the contents of the plan.

At his press conference in Downing Street later, Mr Johnson insisted less drastic changes could control the outbreaks this time.

‘When you’ve got a large proportion, as we have now, with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference and give us the confidence that we don’t have to go back to the lockdowns of the past,’ he said.

He added: ‘In the meantime, we are confident in the vaccines that have made such a difference to our lives.’

Professor Whitty said the data showed someone in their 30s and unvaccinated was running the same risk as someone in their 70s who is vaccinated.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is set to provide an update on international travel ahead of the formal review point on October 1 – with hopes he will scrap the traffic light system and announce PCR tests are being phased out. He is expected to say fully-jabbed holidaymakers will be able to rely on lateral flow versions instead.

But as well as making their views obvious about the return of masks, Tory MPs demanded the government gives up more powers to impose restrictions on liberties.

There is also a widening split between the approach in England and Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon is bringing in Covid passports for nightclubs and large events. The SNP leader also says school pupils will need to wear face coverings indoors until at least the October holidays, and large in-person lectures will not be happening at universities.

Sir Patrick said the UK is at a ‘pivot point’ in the pandemic and if the situation worsens quickly then ministers must ‘go early’.

The chief scientific adviser said: ‘If you look across the Channel, countries where you’ve got similar levels of immunity and some higher degrees of restrictions, what you can see is cases are going down.

‘So, you can see we’re sort of at that pivot point where things are flattish at the moment.

‘If they go up quickly then, as I’ve said, you’ve got to go early in terms of getting on top of it – you can’t wait until it’s late because you’ve got to do more.’

Professor Whitty said: ‘We’re entering the autumn and winter period at a much higher level in terms of the number of cases, in terms of number of hospitalisations, in terms of number of deaths than we were this time last year.’

He said people do not need a medical degree to know that autumn and winter is a time when respiratory viruses, such as flu and others, are ‘hugely advantaged’. He added: ‘If you’ve not had your vaccination, now is a very good time to do so.’

It came as the Government’s vaccine advisory committee today gave the green light to a Covid booster campaign for tens of millions of Britons in a race to avoid a winter lockdown.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) finally signed off on the plans after weeks of deliberation, with third doses now being recommended for roughly 32million over-50s as well as frontline health and care workers.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, told a Downing Street press conference that the booster programme would provide ‘very good’ immunity and help ‘keep the lid on’ the epidemic this winter.

The NHS will start inviting eligible Britons from next week. People are only being invited to come forward if they had their second injection at least six months ago, which officials said was the ‘sweet spot’ for boosters.

Third doses will be rolled out to the top nine priority groups who were first in line during the initial vaccination programme, with the elderly and vulnerable first in line.

It took about four months to cover those groups with a first dose earlier this year, but officials expect the booster scheme to move quicker now because the infrastructure and expertise is already in place.

The JCVI approved the plans on the back of growing real-world data in Israel and elsewhere, as well as a major British study, which showed vaccine-induced immunity wanes slightly within months.

Eligible Britons will be given the Pfizer vaccine in the first instance, no matter which jab they were given originally. When there are supply constraints, the Moderna vaccine will be offered as a booster, but only as a half dose.

Officials said there was more evidence that the mRNA vaccines were safe and effective when given as a third dose, which is why they are not recommending AstraZeneca’s. Moderna’s is being given as a half dose because the lower dosage is associated with fewer side effects and still produces a strong immune response, the JCVI said.

However, in the rare case that a person is allergic to the ingredients in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, they will be offered the AstraZeneca jab, which still stimulates an immunity boost, just not as well as the other two.

The announcement comes ahead of what is widely accepted will be a challenging winter for the NHS with an unusually low amount of natural immunity to flu and other respiratory viruses due to more than a year of social restrictions.

Sajid Javid was heckled by Tories today as he made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out – admitting that ministers can only give Britons the ‘best possible chance’ of avoiding brutal curbs.

The Health Secretary said the country must be ‘vigilant’ with the disease expect to surge with colder, wetter weather over the coming months. In a statement to MPs, he stressed that vaccines can help ‘build defences’ against the disease, with boosters for the over-50s and jabs for under-16s starting next week.

But Mr Javid was hit with howls of rage from Conservatives in the Commons as he said the blueprint includes the ‘Plan B’ of making masks compulsory ‘in certain settings’, more working from home and social distancing if the NHS is under threat.

Vaccine passports will be kept ‘in reserve’ and could be introduced in England with a week’s notice, even though they will not go ahead from next month as originally intended.