England opens up, a bit

Lockdown restrictions in England have been eased today as the “stay of home” message is dropped.

Groups of up to six or two households are allowed to meet outside again, including in private gardens. Outdoor sports facilities have reopened and weddings can now go ahead, though the rule of six will still apply. The guidance on working from home (or lounging about, as the PM sees it) remains in place. “Hands, face, space and fresh air” is the new motto.

The easing comes as a mini spring heatwave hits the UK, with temperatures soaring as high as 24 °C until Wednesday. If London’s parks over the last few weeks are anything to go by, the rule change will have made legal what many were already doing anyway; ignoring laws that are becoming ever harder to justify.  

At the Covid press conference this afternoon, Boris Johnson announced that up to 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine would be “filled and finished” in Durham after a deal was struck with GlaxoSmithKline. The move would “help boost the rollout” which is expected to slow down in April due to shortfall of five million doses from India. 

From then on, cautious optimism was the flavour of the day. There had been, Professor Chris Whitty said, a “steady decrease in the rates of Covid over the last several weeks in most age groups”, though “a flattening or even possibly a slight uptick among children of school age” had also been observed. After a full three weeks back in the classroom, a negligible increase is good news.

The most interesting graphic, presented by Sir Patrick Vallance, showed that vaccination has led to an 80 per cent reduction in hospitalisations among all age groups four weeks after receiving a first dose. 

The latest Covid data bear this out. Over the weekend, London recorded the first day without a single Covid death for six months. The seven-day average of Covid deaths is 63, the same level as late June, a week before the removal of almost all restrictions.

More than 30 million people have had at least one vaccine dose, including 57 per cent of all UK adults and 95 per cent of over 60s in England. Almost all over 50s and vulnerable people below that age have been offered a vaccine, a group that has accounted for 99 per cent of Covid deaths.

The stats are hugely encouraging and it’s a relief to be allowed to do things again which now feel like privileges. But we shouldn’t forget that what we’re being given back, in dribs and drabs, are fundamental liberties. Regardless of how quickly the lockdown is eased, things won’t really be back to normal until these freedoms can’t simply be withdrawn again at a moment’s notice.

Daring escape from Mozambique 

A British-South African contractor is believed to have shot dead two Islamic militants after escaping a five-day massacre in the northern Mozambique town of Palma. 

Nick Alexander is one of hundreds of expats working on Africa’s biggest gas project, run by Total, a French energy giant, six miles from the town. 

Security analysts had long-predicted an attack in the area, and on Wednesday a group of insurgents aligned to the Islamic State laid waste to Palma, targeting everything from military barracks to shops and banks. 

Alexander said that on Friday evening he tried to escape his hotel compound with a group of other contractors but their convoy of vehicles came under heavy fire. When he saw the ambush ahead, he got out, broke into a nearby government vehicle containing an AK-47 and shot dead two jihadists in self-defence.

He and a colleague spent the next two days hiding in the bushes. But they were plucked to safety today by South African mercenaries, who have been sweeping the area and rescuing scores of survivors by helicopter. 

Others managed to reach Palma’s beaches and piled onto rescue boats yesterday but the fate of dozens of expats is still unknown.

Fighting is continuing between the Islamic State-linked militants and government forces who are trying to reclaim the town.

Suez unblocked

The quarter of a million-ton cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal since Tuesday has finally been dislodged.

The Ever Given was freed in a massive operation involving 15 tug boats as well as dredgers and a now-infamous puny digger, after the stern was dislodged early this morning.

The crisis has already cost global trade around $10 billion a day and clearing the 370 ships stuck in the jam could take another six. But the ripple effects from the backlog with play out over weeks and months. There may be congestion when ships arrive in ports and future sailing schedules have been thrown into disarray.

Still, the rescue workers have freed the ship much sooner than many had expected. The New Statesman’s Stephen Bush also deserves a slice of the credit for his strategic legwork on Twitter: “My solution to this Ever Given thing is they just need to move the boat.”

Mattie Brignal,
News Editor