Covid: Cummings claims PM was warned about lockdown drinks, and job vacancies hit new highon January 18, 2022 at 7:54 am

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning. We’ll have another update for you this evening.

The prime minister’s former top aide has made fresh claims relating to a drinks party held in Downing Street’s garden during lockdown. Dominic Cummings says Boris Johnson was warned about the gathering on 20 May 2020 but he “waved aside” concerns and that “the PM lied to Parliament about parties”. No 10 says it is “untrue” to say Mr Johnson was “warned about the event”, adding when he attended “he believed implicitly that this was a work event”. An investigation is under way.

Job vacancies hit a record high in the first figures that exclude the government’s furlough scheme, which protected jobs during the pandemic. Vacancies soared to 1.24 million between October and December and were 462,000 higher compared to the three months before the pandemic, the Office for National Statistics says. Here’s the story.

Unvaccinated staff at supermarket chain Morrisons who test negative but must isolate for 10 days if they’re a close contact of someone with Covid will see their sick pay cut. They will receive statutory sick pay of £96.35 a week instead of the company rate of at least £10 per hour. Sick pay is unaffected for unvaccinated staff who test positive. The move brings the supermarket in line with retailers such as Ikea, Next and Ocado. Read more here.

Anti-vax protesters have been making use of the “sovereign citizen” defence – a defunct ancient English law – to hand out fake legal documents. Others have cited non-existent “common law” to try to take Covid patients out of intensive care wards. Followers of these conspiracy theories wrongly believe they possess the legal power to bring leading politicians, civil servants and scientists before so-called “common law courts”. Find out more here.

There’s one role played by two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett that we’ll never see. The Hollywood actress home-schooled her seven-year-old daughter during lockdown. But there was a catch – Blanchett had to dress up as Edith’s teacher, and stuffed animals attended some lessons. Here’s her story.

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Take a look at how the UK Covid booster rollout is going.

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