Gillian Keegan, the social care minister, has been giving interviews this morning and she has come close to confirming reports that the Covid testing rules in England are going to be changed. Under the new system, people without symptoms who test positive on a lateral flow test will no longer be asked to get a confirmatory PCR test. I don’t have any official news but the teams will announce it once they have come to their conclusions. But Johnson may face a tougher reception in the Commons, where the timing of today’s session means he is taking PMQs at 3pm, and where is is expected to deliver a Covid statement later. I will largely be focusing on UK Covid developments in this blog today, but for wider coronavirus coverage, do read our global live blog.

Source: The Guardian January 05, 2022 13:19 UTC