Britain’s 100,000 death toll – highest in Europe
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Britain’s Covid-19 death toll has passed 100,000, the Prime Minister confirmed today. It is the fifth country – following the US, India, Brazil and Mexico – to hit the grim total. The new variant that appeared last Autumn has caused terrible damage.
At a Downing Street press conference this evening, Boris Johnson offered his “deepest condolences” to the families of coronavirus victims. It was, he said, “hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic: the years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and for so many relatives the missed chance to even say goodbye.” The theme was sympathy rather than accountability, although Johnson said that he took full responsibility for everything the government has done. He cut a sombre, chastened figure.
Britain has the worst death toll in Europe, but on vaccination the UK is well ahead. The resulting fight with the EU continued today. Brussels is so angry at the sluggish pace of its vaccine rollout that some member states are threatening to sue Pfizer and AstraZeneca which claim that production problems mean they cannot supply the expected numbers.
AstraZeneca has said the EU’s order of 80 million doses by March may be cut to just 30 million. This week, EU Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, called AstraZeneca’s explanations “unclear” and “insufficient”.
Worse than that, the EU is still planning to make all drug companies notify the bloc before shipping vaccine doses to non-EU countries such as the UK. Germany’s Minister for Health, Jens Spahn, went further, telling reporters that he welcomed a situation in which any vaccine leaving the bloc would need a permit. However, this prospect was being played down in Brussels today.
While any plan to restrict vaccine exports from the continent is unlikely to affect the UK’s supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is mainly manufactured in Britain, it could limit the supply of the Pfizer jab, which in turn could impact the UK’s medium-term inoculation plan.
Nadhim Zahawi, the minister in charge of the vaccine rollout, has said that while supply is “tight” he is confident the UK will secure enough jabs to meet its 15 million mid-February target and to offer all adults their first dose by autumn. The 7-day rolling average of daily first jabs is currently 358,000. If delivery continues at this pace, 14.5 million people would have been vaccinated by 15 February.
The UK has now vaccinated 10 per cent of its population, five times as many people per head of population as the EU.
The big question is how could the EU have got it so wrong?
Rasmus Bech Hansen, Chief Executive of Airfinity, a London-based life-sciences company which has been collecting vaccine data, explains:
“There’s no way around it: the EU has invested significantly less on a per capita basis than both the UK and US on the vaccine front and the UK has spent more on production, clinical trials and in procurement of a broad range of vaccines. The EU’s challenge is really that the vaccine candidates that they made their early bets on have turned out not to be very successful – Sanofi and GSK’s vaccines didn’t prove viable.”
UK-EU relations were dealt a further blow after two German daily newspapers, Handelsblatt and Bild, reported unnamed German government officials as saying that the AstraZeneca vaccine was just 8 per cent effective for the over-65s. AstraZeneca has called the claim “completely incorrect” and Whitehall is seething. See The Hound below.
Biden presses Putin in first phone call
Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia is proving ever more of a headache for the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin had to deny owning a secret £1 billion palace following the release of a viral video by the jailed opposition leader. Today Putin’s spokesman said he has answered the charge unambiguously, which he hadn’t.
Joe Biden pressed the Russian leader on Navalny’s arrest, in the pair’s first conversation since the new US President took office.
Biden and Putin had a phone call, the Kremlin confirmed. The US said that Biden had stressed he supports the sovereignty of Ukraine.
Navalny is showing extraordinary bravery in taking on Putin, from behind bars. In the YouTube video, released by Navalny’s team after his arrest ten days ago, he claims that the opulent mansion on the Black Sea coast was gifted to Putin by oligarchs, and that state-owned companies financed its construction.
He described the mansion’s striking features – namely, its church, two helicopter pads, “aqua disco”, underground hockey rink and collection of wildly expensive toilet brushes.
Speaking yesterday on a video call with students, Putin said: “Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did.”
His comments came after a weekend of protests, which saw tens of thousands of Russians across the country calling for Mr Navalny’s release. More than 3,500 were arrested.
Trumpists set up MAGA Patriot Party outfit
Joe Biden may be firmly ensconced in the Oval Office but his predecessor’s legacy is a live issue. Last night the article of impeachment against Donald Trump was carried to the Senate, the first step of the trial process. It seems unlikely – at this stage – that 17 Republicans will join 50 Democrats to achieve the two thirds majority needed to convict, though a few may peel off. The priority of many Senate Republicans is to juggle being seen to condone Trump’s behaviour – which polls show a big majority of the electorate condemn – while keeping a still rabidly pro-Trump Republican base onside.
Rumours of Trump planning to set up a third party are still swirling. Although a “MAGA Patriot Party” has been founded in Texas, Trump’s campaign has distanced itself from the new organisation – for now. He can always be relied on to tell the truth… stay tuned.
Mattie Brignal,
News Editor