Boris Johnson appeared in front of the House of Commons Liaison Committee this afternoon.
He made a number of significant announcements on issues including a new Brazilian coronavirus variant, whether our intensive care units can cope and if restrictions might be relaxed in mid February.
Here is a rundown of what he had to say on the key issues.
Intensive Care Units
Boris Johnson warned there was a “very substantial” risk of intensive care units being overwhelmed.
He told MPs: “If you ask me when do we think that the ICU capacity is likely to be overtopped, I can’t give you a prediction for that.
“But all I can say is that the risk is very substantial and we have to keep the pressure off the NHS and the only way to do that is to follow the current lockdown.”
He told the Commons Liaison Committee that “the situation is very, very tough indeed in the NHS” and “the strain is colossal” on staff.
Brazilian variant
Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt asked if the UK should ban flights from Brazil due to a new Covid variant being discovered there.
Mr Johnson said: “We are concerned about the new Brazilian variant,” he told MPs.
“We already have tough measures… to protect this country from new infections coming in from abroad.
“We are taking steps to do that in respect of the Brazilian variant.
“There are lots of questions we still have about that variant, we don’t know for instance, any more than we know whether the South African variant is vaccine resistant.”
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Will schools reopen after February half-term?
Boris Johnson suggested schools may not reopen after the February half-term but said the priority was to reopen them “as soon as possible”.
The Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee: “The priority is if we can achieve what we want to achieve with the vaccination programme, the priority is obviously to get schools open as soon as possible.
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“Whether we can do that after the half-term break in the middle of February, whether we can begin to do that, depends on a number of things.”
He said it depended on the success of the vaccination programmes, or discovering any variants are resistant to the vaccine.
What is his reaction to the schools dinners scandal – where parents have posted pictures of inadequate weekly lunch packages.
Boris Johnson said the companies which supplied the much-criticised free school meal offerings to families had been “hauled over the coals”.
The Prime Minister, answering a question from Education Select Committee chairman Robert Halfon at the Liaison Committee, said: “You are right to be obviously outraged by the images that we have seen.
“And the companies in question – or certainly one of the most notorious pictures, the company responsible for that, and others – have been hauled over the coals and asked to explain how this has happened.
“They have apologised and they have reimbursed the schools concerned and pledged not to do it again.
“I should stress that the images did not reflect the actual Government guidance which is for about double the quantity of food for lunch packs for five days that you have seen, if not more.”
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Boris Johnson said some free school meal packages are “a scandal and a disgrace” but insisted they do not reflect the Government guidance.
The Prime Minister told the Commons Liaison Committee: “I think when you look at some of these images they don’t reflect the guidance but it is a scandal and a disgrace that some companies are trying to get away with the provision that they’re offering.
“Clearly the packages that were on offer were totally, woefully inadequate and that’s why we’ve taken the steps that we have.”
Mr Johnson said “it’s the decision of the schools to decide whether or not to have vouchers or lunch packs”, saying that about 75% opt for vouchers but that some schools wish to continue to support caterers.
Boris Johnson added that some free school meal packages are “a scandal and a disgrace” but insisted they do not reflect the Government guidance.
The Prime Minister told the Commons Liaison Committee: “I think when you look at some of these images they don’t reflect the guidance but it is a scandal and a disgrace that some companies are trying to get away with the provision that they’re offering.
“Clearly the packages that were on offer were totally, woefully inadequate and that’s why we’ve taken the steps that we have.”
Mr Johnson said “it’s the decision of the schools to decide whether or not to have vouchers or lunch packs”, saying that about 75% opt for vouchers but that some schools wish to continue to support caterers.
Test and Trace performance
Mr Johnson defended the NHS test and trace operation, stating: “They have conducted 56 million tests.
“And that is an astonishing number. I believe it is the highest in Europe.”
The Prime Minister said there would be greater sharing of information between the NHS and local authorities from this week.
“By the end of this week I want public health directors in local government to know who is being vaccinated in their communities.
“It is going to be essential as we go forward that local authorities know who has been vaccinated and can lead the fight in their areas.”
Vaccines for black and minority ethnic communities
Boris Johnson said there is a “big, big stream of vaccines coming down the track” and raised concerns that some in black and minority ethnic communities may “be hard to reach”.
The Prime Minister told the Commons Liaison Committee: “This Government has secured a bigger supply of vaccines, I think both absolutely and per head, than virtually any other country in the world.
“So we have a big, big stream of vaccines coming down the track but there is also a programme to accelerate the delivery of the Oxford vaccine, the remaining Pfizer vaccine is being brought forward, the Moderna vaccine as well, we’re doing everything we can to bring forward the manufacturing process as fast as we can.”
He said it is vital the NHS shares data about who has been vaccinated.
“Because, as I say, there will be groups who will be hard to reach, particularly from the black and minority ethnic community, possibly we’re seeing some evidence of that, and it is vital that we have strong local community engagement as we get towards the really high numbers that we find everybody who needs a vaccine and encourage them to take it,” Mr Johnson said.
On Donald Trump
Boris Johnson defended having a close relationship with Donald Trump, as the US president was on the verge of being impeached for a second time.
Petitions Committee chair Catherine McKinnell asked the Prime Minister: “Given recent events do you regret saying in 2018 that Donald Trump is worthy of a Nobel peace prize?”
Mr Johnson replied: “I’m in favour of the Prime Minister of the UK having the best possible relationship with the president of the United States and I had an excellent conversation very recently with president-elect Joe Biden.”
On numbers of vaccines
Some 2.8 million coronavirus vaccines have been administered, Boris Johnson said, as he pledged to be as “transparent as we possibly can” on vaccine data.
He told the Liaison Committee: “It is reasonable that as soon as we get good regional data, for instance, we should be sharing that as well.
“We’re going to be publishing later this week the regional breakdowns.”
Mr Johnson said in the North East and Yorkshire, more than 50% of over-80s had been vaccinated.
Social care plan
A plan for social care will be published later this year, Boris Johnson confirmed.
The Prime Minister said: “The pandemic has highlighted the difficulties that the social care sector is in – it clearly needs reform and it needs improvement.
“But there is also the issue of people being forced to sell their homes to pay for their care and that’s something that we want to address and we will be bringing forward plans later this year.”
He said the social care sector should have a “long-term plan”.
-- to www.walesonline.co.uk
