Covid: Pressure on PM after Starmer mobbed and pandemic ‘staycation’ boost continueson February 8, 2022 at 7:27 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.

What started out as a protest against anti-Covid measures has ended with the prime minister coming under renewed pressure from his own MPs. When demonstrators near Parliament surrounded Sir Keir Starmer, causing him to be shepherded away by police, there were shouts of “Jimmy Savile”. Yesterday’s incident happened days after Boris Johnson falsely claimed the Labour leader had failed to prosecute the serial sex offender when head of the Crown Prosecution Service and now some Conservatives say the PM must apologise.

Scottish Conservatives are calling for the country’s Covid-19 contact-tracing system to be wound up, saying Test and Protect was “incredibly useful” in the early stages of the pandemic but has become “increasingly redundant”. However, Nicola Sturgeon says testing is “one of the protections we are likely to ask people to follow for longest”, with Scottish Labour backing its continued use.

Sian Griffiths is just one of 1.3 million people in the UK – more than 2% of the population – said to have been living with symptoms more than four weeks after having Covid. She’s desperate to get back to work but the “fog of long Covid” affecting her brain has kept her off for 18 months. Here’s her story.

A total of 42 people aged 12 and over were given out-of-date Covid jabs in error at Stonehaven Vaccination Centre, NHS Grampian health board has admitted. The health board says it believes “the doses administered are safe and will still protect” but those affected are being offered another jab.

Holidaymakers still want “staycations” this year, despite many pandemic restrictions easing, according to Welsh tourism leaders. One major holiday park on the Llyn Peninsula says it’s already fully booked ahead of its opening week in March, while Snowdonia’s tourism bosses say bookings are expected to exceed last summer. However, many in the sector say recruiting enough staff to meet holidaymakers’ expectations remains challenging.

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You can find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.

If you’re wondering how exams for school leavers will differ from usual this year, here’s our explainer.

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