Covid: Plan for pills to treat virus at home by autumn – BBC

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A search for simple treatments for Covid that can be taken at home has been launched by Boris Johnson.

The PM said he hoped pills or capsules could be available by the autumn to help fight an anticipated third wave.

The aim would be to give them to people who have tested positive or exposed to someone who has.

An antiviral taskforce is being set up to oversee the work and future trials – as yet there are no treatments identified that could be used.

For the first time since September the latest figures show fewer than 2,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital.

But as he launched the new taskforce at a televised press briefing, Mr Johnson acknowledged soaring cases overseas and warnings from scientists that there will be another wave this year.

He said: “As we look at what is happening in other countries, with cases now at record numbers around the world, we cannot delude ourselves that Covid has gone away.

“I see nothing in the data now that makes me think we are going to have to deviate in any way from the road map – cautious but irreversible – that we have set out.

“But the majority of scientific opinion in this country is still firmly of the view that there will be another wave of Covid at some stage this year.

“And so we must, as far as possible, learn to live with this disease as we live with other diseases.”

Scottish election 2021 – Matt Hancock demands answers from SNP on ‘missing millions’ in NHS spending pledge – Daily Record

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The UK Health Secretary made an intervention in the Scottish election campaign from the Commons despatch box when goaded on NHS spending by an SNP MP.

Matt Hancock has demanded to know what has happened to the “missing millions” meant for NHS spending in Scotland.

The UK Health Secretary went point scoring against the SNP in the Commons by asking why UK government funding for Scotland had not been translated into increased NHS spending.

During a Commons statement on coronavirus Hancock turned the tables on SNP MP Dave Doogan who asked the Health Secretary if he would match the SNP’s commitment to increase health spending by 20 per cent “to truly build back better”?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon committed the SNP to a four per cent increase in NHS spending for each of the next five years if returned to office.

But Hancock was having none of it and challenged the real terms rise in spending.

Hancock responded: “I recently saw the figures for the proposed increase in NHS spending in Scotland and the proposed increase is lower than in England, it’s lower than the money that has been passed over to the Scottish Government from UK taxpayers to the Scottish Government to spend on the NHS in Scotland.”

“My question is what’s happened to the money for the NHS in Scotland that was given to the SNP government in Holyrood? They have not spent it on the NHS.”

Hancock was careful to praise the Scottish Government for co-operation on the pandemic response and the vaccination effort which he described as a “true UK success story”.

SNP MP Patricia Gibson facing ‘sex pest’ claim from young Nats staffer as ex chief whip Patrick Grady also accused – The Sun

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A NATS MP who was recently promoted to a frontbench job is facing an allegation she sexually harassed an SNP staffer in a Commons bar.

North Ayrshire and Arran MP Patricia Gibson can today be named as the second politician accused by a young party worker of inappropriate behaviour, following similar revelations about ex chief whip Patrick Grady.

The Scottish Sun understands new evidence has come to light in recent days regarding those said to have witnessed the alleged Gibson incident, and this was today passed to Nats HQ.

We told on Monday how the man still works for the SNP Westminster group, but has said he has been sidelined since making accusations about Mr Grady and Ms Gibson.

But evidence seen by The Scottish Sun suggests the alleged Gibson incident at the Strangers’ Bar in the Commons on January 8 last year was witnessed by at least one other SNP MP.

The man who has accused her of harassment told SNP HQ and Commons authorities in separate complaints that two Nats MPs and a staffer from another party witnessed the alleged conduct in the Strangers’ Bar.

The new evidence appears to suggest that following the alleged incident, one of the MPs raised the prospect of the man making a formal complaint.

Tonight, the man said he hoped the SNP would “finally act” in light of the new information he provided.

And he said he was “shocked” to see Ms Gibson “still serving on the SNP frontbench”.

However, Ms Gibson said the allegations were “malicious” and “without any foundation”.

She said there was “no substance to allegations suggesting inappropriate sexual behaviour by me” and she said the new evidence “does not support the allegations being made by this complainant about me which appear to have changed over time”.

New nuclear submarine HMS Anson rolled out – UK Defence Journal

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The submarine is named after 18th Century Admiral George Anson who delivered an impressive victory over the French at Cape Finisterre in 1747 and went on to reform the Admiralty.

Anson will enter the water shortly – there’s a basin next to the Devonshire Hall not only large enough to accommodate her, but also to allow a practice dive which almost allows the boat to completely submerge.

Her punch, say the Royal Navy, will be delivered by Tomahawk cruise missiles and the newly-upgraded Spearfish torpedoes being introduced to the Fleet from 2021.

Anson is due to remain in Barrow for completion until 2022 before leaving for sea trials and joining her older sisters at HMNB Clyde, while BAE finish the final two Astute-class boats: Agamemnon and Agincourt, completing the programme in 2025 after a quarter-century of work on the entire programme, say the Royal Navy.