Here are the latest updates on the Covid crisis:

 

SIR Keir Starmer described the official UK death toll having passed 50,000 as a “grim milestone”.

The Labour leader told reporters in Parliament: “It is a grim milestone and we’re the first in Europe to hit it.

“Behind these numbers is a devastated family, one for every death, and they have to be uppermost in our mind. The Government was slow at phase one and they haven’t learned the lesson going into phase two.”

Sir Keir declined to commit to supporting the Government in extending the lockdown in England if necessary when it expires on December 2.

 

BORIS Johnson has urged everybody to get a coronavirus vaccine once one becomes available.

Speaking during a visit to a Tesco distribution centre in Erith, south-east London, he said: “The priority list will be decided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

“They will look at the groups that really need it first and they will typically be the elderly, the vulnerable, people in care homes and so on. That is how we will do it. Certainly I would say to everybody anti-vaxx is total nonsense – you should definitely get a vaccine.”

 

MAYOR of Liverpool Joe Anderson has said more than 44,000 people have taken part in the city’s mass coronavirus testing pilot, which began on Friday.

He wrote on Twitter: “Busy at all of our testing centres today, total tested as of 12.00pm today 44,233. 220 positive.

“Please get tested and if you have thank you. Please wait a week and get tested again let’s do it for our family our community and our city.”

 

PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has said that “hopefully” the four-week lockdown in England will allow restrictions to be eased enough for people to have a Christmas that is “as normal as possible”.

He said: “Times are difficult but what we have got to do is get through this current period of tough autumn measures through to December 2 then hopefully – hopefully – I think we’ll have done the job of getting the R down and people can have a Christmas that’s as normal as possible for as many people as possible, and get the shops open as well.”

 

THE Government has said 595 more people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 50,365.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths when Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 65,000 deaths involving coronavirus in the UK.

The Government said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 22,950 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,256,725.

 

HEALTH minister Lord Bethell said lateral flow tests may help life “return as close to normality as possible”.

He said in a statement: “It is right we’ve taken a dual-track approach to evaluating this technology – by piloting them in the field so we can understand how best to make these tests available, and by getting our world-leading academics and clinicians to undertake rigorous evaluation of their ability to detect the virus.

“I’m delighted that both are already demonstrating that lateral flow tests can be the reliable, highly sensitive technology we need to help get this virus under control, and return to as close to normality as possible.”

 

NIGHTINGALE hospitals in Harrogate and Sunderland are “ready to take patients if necessary” while the Manchester hospital is operational, Downing Street said.

The other four Nightingales are on standby, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said, while the NHS is considering using the hospitals as mass vaccination centres.

“The NHS is also considering using the sites as mass vaccination centres if and when a coronavirus vaccine becomes available,” the spokesman told a Westminster briefing.

 

DOWNING Street has said it is the Government’s “intention” to go back to a regionalised system of coronavirus restrictions when the current national lockdown in England ends next month.

It comes after senior Tory backbenchers formed a resistance group putting pressure on the Government not to extend the national lockdown.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: “When the current national measures come to an end on December 2 we will be returning to a regional tiered approach.

“And we’re committed to setting out our proposals for what that system will look like the week before the current regulations lapse on December 2, so MPs will have the time to consider them and to vote upon them.”

 

THE second wave of Covid-19 will be gruelling with increased pressure prolonged throughout the winter, UK doctors have been warned.

The chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the NHS, the General Medical Council and the medical royal colleges have written to doctors urging them to be flexible during the second wave, which may require them to work in clinical areas outside their usual practice.

The letter, tweeted by England’s CMO, Professor Chris Whitty, says the second Covid wave “may well be prolonged throughout the winter period, with wide local variation and fluctuation in cases, requiring a sustained response from the whole profession.

“This will be gruelling professionally and personally.”

 

Here is the break-down of cases reported to local authorities in the North-East and North Yorkshire in the last 24 hours.

County Durham: 14,814 was 14,485 – an increase of 329

Darlington: 2,510 was 2,449 - an increase of 61

Gateshead: 6,305 was 6,180 – an increase of 125

Hartlepool: 2,940 was 2,809 – an increase of 131

Middlesbrough: 4,443 was 4,335 – an increase of 108

Newcastle: 10,481 was 10,323 – an increase of 158

North Tyneside: 5,205 was 5,072 – an increase of 133

North Yorkshire: 10,686 was 10,424 – an increase of 262

Northumberland: 6,559 was 6,431 – an increase of 128

Redcar and Cleveland: 3,427 was 3,321 – an increase of 106

South Tyneside: 4,442 was 4,355 – an increase of 87

Stockton: 5,898 was 5,737 – an increase of 161

Sunderland: 8,881 was 8,737 – an increase of 144

York: 4,282 was 4,228 – an increase of 54

Total increase: 1,987