UK Covid live: end to England’s plan B measures next week ‘a milestone, not a finish line’, says Sajid Javid

Q What is your response to people who feel the government has lost all credibility leading the country through the pandemic?

Javid says it’s right that the PM has accepted there were mistakes and asked for a proper investigation to establish the facts and then come back to parliament.

Q Will you be publishing an impact assessment of the lifting of restrictions e.g. on the NHS?

Javid says evidence has been shared throughout the pandemic and the government will continue to be as transparent as it can be.

Q When will the government be updating the definition of “fully vaccinated” to two jabs and a booster?

Javid says it is now known that two vaccines are not enough against Omicron but three can give 88% protection against hospitalisation, so it’s right to keep updating the definition of “fully vaccinated”.

Please get vaccinated if you’re eligible, he says to end.

Q Can you rule out a return to Plan B if another variant of concern emerges?

Javid says we have to remain vigilant as there will be many future variants, and learn from what has worked.

Q How can the PM claim to have strong leadership when he was stopped from bringing in tougher measures in England against Omicron before Christmas by his cabinet?

Javid did not appear to answer this question.

Q What is the scientific evidence and assessment for scrapping self-isolation in March or even earlier?

Hopkins says over time they have looked at the evidence to reduce the self-isolation period using daily lateral flow tests.

She adds that they will continue to monitor the impact of the virus in the population.

Q The latest daily deaths figure is 359 and you’re now lifting restrictions. Is this the kind of daily death toll the country has to be comfortable with in shifting to living with Covid?

Javid says the death rate has fallen dramatically thanks to the vaccine. That is how we can keep deaths low, he says.

Some 40% of people with Covid in hospital are there not because they have Covid, but they happen to have Covid – almost double the number we saw with Delta, he says.

So many people who have died within 28 days of a positive test did not die would not have necessarily died of Covid, he says.

Hopkins adds the daily death figure quoted doesn’t account for people who died with Covid rather than of Covid.

Q Is the PM living on borrowed time and will you be throwing your hat into the ring in the leadership contest again?

Javid says we have a leader in the prime minister.

Q Is the UKHSA completely comfortable with the decisions taken today and what will happen to cases?

Hopkins says case numbers have declined and people’s behaviour will determine whether it rises or declines.

Q Are you personally frustrated that you have to keep defending the PM’s actions whilst delivering important public health advice?

Javid says we’ve all been pained and angered by the photos and videos that have come out in recent weeks.

It’s right for the PM to come back to parliament when the investigation is complete, he says.

Q Are you saying that by the end of March we will effectively be living with no restrictions whatsoever?

Javid says we got the big decisions right throughout the pandemic and that’s why we can take these steps today.

He says he will come back in the spring to update on the remaining restrictions, including the self-isolation requirement and testing requirements related to travel.

Q What is the public health justification for ending the requirement to self-isolate if infected, and is the government prepared to bring that forward against the guidance of the World Health Organization in a global pandemic?

Javid says there is still a high rate of prevalence and it’s therefore important at the moment to keep the rules in place.

But we will eventually have to find a way to live with Covid as we do with flu, he says.

Q Do you as health secretary offer the PM your unqualified support or are you, like Rishi Sunak, reserving judgement ahead of the Gray report?

Javid says he fully supports the PM, who has apologised.

When the facts are established through the report, the PM will answer further questions, he says.

Q Can you hand on heart say that you’ve never bent the rules?

Javid says with full confidence he has absolutely observed the rules at all times.

It hasn’t been easy, he adds, but it was the right thing to do.

They are now taking questions from the media.

Q How can the PM continue to lead the country when one of his most senior MPs has called on him to resign?

Javid says there was a huge amount of support for the prime minister’s announcement today.

He says he understands people’s pain and anger.

The PM has apologised and asked for the time and space for the investigation to be completed so the facts can be established and he can be scrutinised in parliament, he adds.

Q Do you expect cases to continue falling quite quickly?

Hopkins says cases have been falling now for the last two weeks all across the country.

How people react to the removal of Plan B will determine how fast infection can spread in the population, she says.

We must take our personal behaviour seriously, she adds.

Michelle from Lincolnshire asks why the self-isolation period has changed to 5 days with a negative lateral flow test when since the pandemic began it’s been advised that tests can return a false result within 90 days of the infection.

Hopkins says PCR tests can return positive for quite some time, so aren’t advised repeatedly unless there are repeat symptoms.

However, the evidence for lateral flow has come hard and fast over the last 6-9 months, showing that once individuals have finished their infectious episode, those lateral flows become negative and remain negative for the vast majority of people, she says.

That is why individuals who have two negative lateral flows can be released from isolation early, she says.

The earliest that can be is day five or six, she says, allowing people to get back to work or school.

They are taking questions now.

Christina from Berkshire asks if there are plans to vaccinate children under 12, given high levels of hospitalisations of children with Covid.

Javid says vaccination programme is currently focused on over-12s.

He says the JCVI has said we should vaccinate under-12s who are at-risk and that will start this month, but this is being kept under review to see if this should be expanded.

More than half the people being admitted to ICU with Covid over the last 7-8 months are unvaccinated, she says.

In the general population, only 10% are unvaccinated, she says, but those individuals are disproportionately represented in ICU.

The greatest thing you can do to protect yourself against hospitalisation and ICU is to get vaccinated, she says.

More than 52 million people have had their first dose, over 48 million their second dose and over 36 million their booster/third dose, she says.

That is two-thirds of the eligible population, she says, adding we need individuals who haven’t been jabbed to come forward as soon as possible.

We have reached case numbers of less than 20,000 cases in hospital across the UK, less than half the peak we saw in December-January 2020/21, she says.

There are only 703 patients in mechanical ventilator beds, which is as low as last July, she says.

It is also much lower than the wave last January, she says, reflecting high levels of vaccination in the population and the reduced severity of Omicron.