Boris Johnson has said that he expects life to be “much more close to normal” by Easter and that by the summer people will be able to attend big events like weddings. He made the prediction in his latest “People’s PMQs”, when he was responding to questions from a woman with a wedding planning business who said she had lost all her bookings this year. Johnson said a combination of the vaccine, plus mass testing, would make a difference by Easter. He said there would come a point where “life [will be] much more close to normal, which we think will be by Easter”. And by the summer the wedding industry would be alright, he said. It’s my strong hope and belief that by the summer, one way or the other, whether by vaccination, which I hope and believe we will have delivered by Easter, or by lateral flow testing, we will be in a different world. My hope is that by summer it really will be a different world for the weddings and events industry. Johnson has said he wishes he had had a better understanding of asymptomatic Covid transmission at the start of the pandemic. Asked during the Q&A about his biggest regrets, he replied: The truth is in this country we didn’t have that experience that they have in some far eastern countries, of Sars. They had a history of knowing about these very difficult respiratory infections, which we didn’t have. There will be a lot of work to be done at looking at the lessons to be learned. I think the one thing that I wish I understood in the early days … I just wish we’d realised how much the disease could be transmitted without symptoms. If we’d known that single fact it would have made a big difference to our early response. We do know it now. And that’s why testing is so crucial. During the Q&A he also hinted that the government would be using tax cuts and deregulation to regenerate the economy next year.
The UK government’s official Covid death toll has exceeded 60,000 deaths, just three weeks after it reached 50,000. It is too early to know if a flu-like revaccination programme will be needed to combat Covid-19 in the future, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, has said. NHS staff will no longer be among the first people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after a rethink about who should be given priority. Politicians, health professionals and commentators in Europe and the US have questioned Britain’s decision to fast-track approval of a vaccine and criticised what some saw as the jingoistic tone of its announcement. Some Christmas rail engineering works will start later and hundreds of miles of roadworks will be paused to minimise possible disruption during the UK’s 23-27 December travel window, the government has announced. Sainsbury’s, Asda and Aldi have fallen into line behind rivals Tesco and Morrisons by promising to repay nearly £900m of emergency taxpayer support. The Welsh government is under fire over changes to its Covid travel and hospitality rules which critics say will lead to people from Wales crossing the border for nights out in England. That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.