It is too early to say whether the coronavirus lockdown in England could start to be lifted from mid-February as was initially hoped, Boris Johnson has said, with Downing Street refusing to rule out it lasting into the summer. Priti Patel, the home secretary, has announced new £800 fines for people who attend house parties in breach of lockdown rules. Speaking at the No 10 press conference, she said: Next week we will be introducing a new £800 fine for those attending house parties, which will double for each repeat offence to a maximum level of £6,400. These fines will apply to those who attend illegal gatherings of more than 15 people in homes. The science is clear: such irresponsible behaviour poses a significant threat to public - not only to those in attendance, but also to the wonderful police officers who attend to shut down these events. The power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland has decided to extend its lockdown until 5 March. At a news conference Arlene Foster, the first minister, said: The executive today has reviewed the current restrictions and agreed that they remain an appropriate and necessary response to the serious and imminent threat posed by Covid-19. Following a detailed outline from health highlighting continuing pressures on hospitals and intensive care units and the emergence of highly-transmissible variants the executive has agreed that the restrictions will be extended for four weeks until March 5 2021. Glastonbury 2021 is officially cancelled, the festival’s organisers have announced. The UK vaccination programme has recorded its best day so far, with 363,508 people vaccinate, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has said.
A year of the Covid-19 pandemic has wiped out a decade of progress in reducing unemployment in Britain’s industrial heartlands and left the jobless rate higher than after the financial meltdown of the late 2000s, a report has found. A mandatory requirement that electronic tags be worn by international arrivals for up to 10 days to ensure they abided by Covid-19 quarantine restrictions was an option explored by the Home Office under controversial plans, the Guardian has learned. Covid outbreaks are slowing delivery of the vaccine to some care homes in England as GPs postpone jabs in infected facilities, the Guardian has learnt. A lorry load of potato crisps destined for a Northern Ireland supermarket was held up for two days because of Brexit checks, MPs have been told. A near-yearlong row about the UK’s refusal to grant full diplomatic status of the EU mission to the UK has worsened, with the leak of letters revealing the EU foreign affairs chief has serious concerns about the status being given to EU officials in the UK. That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.