Mass testing is being introduced in England’s tier-three “high-risk” areas and is starting in one of the areas hardest-hit by Covid-19 in Wales.
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One source close to the negotiations on the UK side suggested there had been a more optimistic outlook earlier in the week but pointed to demands for EU fishing boats to have ten year access to UK waters as one issue that derailed progress – as had been reported in the Telegraph.
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An EU source told the BBC’s political editor that talks were “extremely sluggish” around the so-called level playing field for competition rules and standards while another EU insider suggested the UK is “posturing”.
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The tougher new system came into force on Wednesday after being approved by MPs in a Commons vote on Tuesday.
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The government announced last week that its tougher three tiers to tackle the virus would come into force when England’s current lockdown ends in the early hours of Wednesday.
UK regulators are also reviewing data on the Pfizer vaccine, as well as another type of Covid vaccine from AstraZenca and Oxford University for emergency approval.
Its researchers estimated the virus’s reproduction (R) rate had fallen to 0.88. That means on average every infection translated to less than one other new infection, so the epidemic is shrinking.
“We need to know first of all that these measures are tough enough to get control of the virus, otherwise what we are asking businesses to do is go through significant pain, people laid off, some businesses at risk of collapsing, without being able to show that this is worth it,” she said.
And writing separately in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson said he believed Easter would mark a “real chance to return to something like life as normal”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “delighted”, adding in a tweet there was “an enormous task ahead”.
But writing in the Times, Mr Gove said MPs – who will vote on the measures next week – need to “take responsibility for difficult decisions”.