News review – Saturday 22 May 2021 

Fisheries 

Express
A SPANISH boat has sparked fury in Ireland after it was caught deceptively under-recording the amount of fish it caught, in a move set to fuel another debate about the EU’s unpopular Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
The Armaven Tres was temporarily detained by inspectors in Castletownbere, a fishing town in west Cork, and the master slapped with a fine of €9,000 (£7,739). Members of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), the sea fisheries regulator, said the discrepancy was noticed during a routine inspection when at the port. Catches of monkfish were found to have been woefully under-recorded, according to the Fishing Daily.
Dr Susan Steele, chair of the SFPA, said the authority is committed to sniffing out all cases of illegal fishing in Ireland’s waters.
In a statement, she said what the Spanish boat had done was a “serious offence” and failure to record catches “creates a clear risk to stock management”.
She added: “The vast majority of fishers operate within the requirements of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. Unfortunately, there are still some who fail to do so.
“We are committed to detecting all cases of illegal fishing in the interest of protecting our sea-fisheries resources and supporting their sustainable development.”
The boat was found to have breached the rules of the CFP on May 14.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson has expressed his excitement about the UK striking free trade deals with countries around the world insisting “we see these new openings not as threats, but as opportunities”.
The Prime Minister was speaking to Sky News and was asked about the possibility to Britain signing a trade agreement with Australia that would include zero tariffs and zero quotas within 15 years.
He remained tight-lipped on negotiations with Australian officials, but replied: “We are certainty looking at doing free trade deals with countries around the world. We see this as the global future for this country.
“I do think free trade deals do present a fantastic opportunity for our farmers, for businesses of all kinds, for manufacturers.
“It’s vital as a great and historic free trading nation that grew to prosperity thanks to free trade that we see these new openings not as threats, but as opportunities.” 

Covid variant 

Express
GERMANY has branded the UK a “virus variant region” amid growing fears over the Indian variant.
Germany’s public health institute issued new Covid rules requiring anyone travelling into the country from the UK to quarantine for two weeks on arrival. Cases of the Indian variant have been surging in localised hotspots including Bedford, Bolton and Blackburn, but the Prime Minister has pushed on, stating there is no reason to deviate from the current lockdown roadmap.
Speaking about the country’s latest quarantine rules, a German government source told Reuters news agency: “We want to play it safe.
“In this important phase of the vaccination campaign, the entry of problematic mutations must be avoided as far as possible.”
The new legislation takes effect from midnight on Sunday (11pm GMT Saturday) and even applies to those who have been fully vaccinated.
German officials are approaching lockdown easing with caution after breaking the back of a third wave earlier this month.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry said: “If we want to keep pushing down infection rates, we need to prevent contagious viral variants from jeopardising this positive trend.
“This step is hard for the UK, but it is necessary to prevent the rapid spread of the Indian variant in Germany.” 

Express
A NEW Covid variant is currently ‘under investigation’, Public Health England has said.
The “triple threat” variant with a “strange combination” of genes was identified in Yorkshire and the Humber. Health officials urged the public not to be “alarmed” by the new VUI-21MAY-01 or AV.1 variant as they believe it is not any more transmissible than other strains such as those from India.
Greg Fell, director of public health in Sheffield, said: “We have been monitoring VUI-21MAY-01 and we’re managing this carefully as we do with all outbreaks across the city.
There is no evidence to suggest this strain is any more transmissible than other strains identified in the UK and across the world, or to suggest the vaccine doesn’t work against this strain.”
News of the latest variant comes as the R rate, which monitors the spread of the virus, slowly begins to rise again.
The R rate in the UK is now estimated to be between 0.9 and 1.1, the highest it’s been since the peak of the second wave in January. 

Guardian
Covid infection levels are showing early signs of an increase in England, data has revealed, as experts continue to warn the variant of concern first detected in India could grow exponentially in the UK.
On Friday Boris Johnson told broadcasters in Portsmouth he has seen nothing to suggest it will be necessary to “deviate from the roadmap”, indicating that the planned lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England on 21 June may yet go ahead.
However speaking at an online meeting of the Independent Sage group of experts, Prof Ravi Gupta of the University of Cambridge, a co-opted member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said that despite the UK’s vaccination programme, community spread of the India variant, B.1.617.2, will continue to rise.
“We still have people under the age of 30 not vaccinated, we have many people with only one dose, so this virus has plenty of space to expand exponentially and reach very high levels of infection with quite high levels of morbidity overall,” he said.
His comments came as data from the Office for National Statistics infection survey revealed early signs of a potential rise in the percentage of people testing positive for Covid in England. 

Mail
A new ‘triple mutant’ Covid variant with a ‘strange combination’ of genes is being probed by virologists in Yorkshire – as England’s R rate creeps up to 0.9 amid the spread of the Indian strain.
So far, 49 cases of the new strain have been identified mainly in Yorkshire and the Humber but there is no evidence to show that it is more transmissible or resistant to vaccines, unlike the Indian variant which could be more transmissible.
Public Health England are now looking into the spread of the mutation, which has been dubbed a ‘variant under investigation’.  
It comes as No10’s top scientists estimated the R rate — which measures the spread of the virus — is now between 0.9 and 1.1, up from the lower estimate of 0.8 last week.  It is the closest the reproduction rate has been to one since the peak of the second wave in January. 
But residents have been urged not to be ‘alarmed’ at the spread of the latest strain, called VUI-21MAY-01 or AV.1.
Greg Fell, director of public health in Sheffield, said his team had been monitoring the ‘triple mutant’ variant and found no reason to think it is more transmissible or resistant to vaccines. 
And ministers have insisted they won’t ‘hesitate to put in measures that we think are necessary to try and tackle the transmission of any variants’ and reassured the public that scientists are monitoring the latest strain. 
The news came as  Britain’s daily Covid cases crept up by nearly a third in a week to 2,829, while deaths dipped again to just nine, official figures revealed today. 

Scotland 

Mail
Nicola Sturgeon today banned Scots from going to Indian variant ‘hotspots’ in England as she warned the R rate in Scotland might be above one.
The Scottish First minister voiced alarm at the threat posed by the strain as she announced that Glasgow will remain under tougher lockdown  measures for another week.
At a media briefing, Ms Sturgeon said cases had risen by a quarter north of the border in the last week, and the city had not ‘turned the corner’ despite intensive efforts to clamp down on infections with surge testing and vaccinations.
However, she said Moray – which had also been held back before when restrictions in the rest of Scotland were downgraded – will now move down from Level 3 to Level 2 from midnight.
East Renfrewshire will stay in Level 2 despite calls from some experts for tougher curbs, although Ms Sturgeon the situation would remain under ‘close review’.
Meanwhile, a temporary ban is being slapped on travel to parts of England that have been trying to contain the Indian variant – Bedford, Bolton and Blackburn and Darwin. It will come into force from Monday.
‘Despite all the efforts that have been made in the past 10 days, cases are still rising in Glasgow,’ Ms Sturgeon said. 
She added authorities are ‘fairly certain’ the increase is being driven by the Indian variant of the virus. 

Guardian
A temporary travel ban between Scotland and Covid hotspots in England will come into force from Monday, Nicola Sturgeon has announced, as she confirmed that level 3 lockdown restrictions would continue in Glasgow for at least another week and warned that new cases had risen across the whole of Scotland by more than 25% over the past week.
Telling Scots that the situation with the coronavirus variant first identified in India was likely to change quickly, the Scottish first minister announced travel restrictions to Bedford, Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen, which are currently subject to enhanced health protection measures. The travel ban is not a legal restriction.
She said: “We know that there are particularly serious outbreaks in three specific English local authority areas – Bedford, Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen.”
“So for that reason, for Monday onwards, we are putting hopefully temporary travel restrictions on travel between Scotland and those three local authority areas in England. So if you were planning to visit friends or relatives or to stay in those areas you must delay your visit.”
At the lunchtime briefing, Sturgeon also said that despite enhanced testing, contact tracing and accelerated vaccinations in the postcodes affected on the southside of Glasgow, “we don’t think we have turned the corner”. 

Sewage 

ITV News
Sewage testing to track the prevalence of different Covid-19 variants now covers two-thirds of England’s population, the government has said.
The scheme tests samples of wastewater for traces of the virus, and positive samples are genome sequenced to identify whether it is a variant of concern, such as the India strain.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the  programme had helped identify the need for surge testing in areas such as Bristol and Luton.
The programme then continues to monitor sewage after surge testing has ended, to ensure the variant is no longer circulating in the area.
The Environmental Monitoring for Health Protection (EMHP)  programme is led by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and is part of the newly-formed UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The DHSC hopes that post-pandemic, wastewater testing will help monitor other viruses such as flu, helping the NHS predict which areas are likely to be hit hardest by outbreaks.
A dedicated wastewater testing lab opened in Exeter last month, and is now receiving samples gathered by Environment Agency scientists from 500 locations across England.
It is estimated the programme now covers two-thirds of England’s population.
Monitoring in a specific catchment can even pinpoint localised outbreaks, without relying on residents to come forward for swab testing, the DHSC said.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Sequencing wastewater samples provides an additional detection system for variants of concern, enabling us to respond more effectively to outbreaks and better protect citizens.” 

BBC News
The government has ramped up its programme to analyse wastewater for early signs of coronavirus.
The sewage-testing programme now covers two-thirds of England’s population.
Scientists discovered early in the pandemic that genetic fragments of the virus could be detected in sewage.
Samples are now being are taken at wastewater treatment plants and sent to a new lab in Exeter that is dedicated to analysing wastewater.
The programme has supported the detection of local outbreaks or the presence of variants of concern, which it can link to specific communities via the sewage treatment network.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, described it as “an additional detection system” for Covid-19. “It is enabling us to respond more effectively to outbreaks and better protect citizens.”
And since it can cause infections without any symptoms, Dr Harries added that it “helps us understand where it may be circulating undetected”. 

Heathrow 

ITV News
Arrivals from red list countries coming into Heathrow Airport will be processed through a dedicated terminal from next month.
Passengers permitted to fly from places with high levels of coronavirus infection will go through a specific arrivals facility at the west London airport.It comes amid concern about overcrowding at Britain’s largest airport, with possible health implications for staff and passengers.
A Heathrow spokesman said: “We’re adapting Heathrow to this longer-term reality by initially opening a dedicated arrivals facility in Terminal 3 from June 1 for red list passengers arriving on direct flights.
“We will move this facility to Terminal 4 as soon as operationally possible.
“While opening this facility will be very challenging logistically, our hope is that it will enable Border Force to carry out its duties more efficiently as passenger volumes increase in line with the green list.
“Until then, the current red list system will remain in place.
“This system has been designed by the Government and has several layers of protection to keep passengers and colleagues safe – including mandatory negative Covid tests for all international arrivals, mandatory use of face coverings, social distancing, segregation and enhanced cleaning regimes and ventilation in immigration halls.” 

Trade 

Times
New free trade deals will give farmers a “fantastic opportunity” to export around the world, Boris Johnson said yesterday after giving his consent to plans for a tariff and quota-free agreement with Australia.
The prime minister backed a request from the Australian government for Britain to offer the same access to its farmers as is provided to the European Union. Senior cabinet ministers had warned that this could undercut British producers.
Downing Street said that “negotiations are still ongoing” with Canberra but that both sides hoped to have a deal finalised before the G7 meeting in Cornwall next month.
Johnson suggested that the Australian deal would be the first of many and that British farmers had nothing to fear.  

Illegal migrants 

Breitbart
Cyprus said Friday it is in a “state of emergency” because of an inflow of Syrian migrants that has flooded its reception centres, appealing for help from the European Union.
Cyprus has this week faced a “daily wave of migrant arrivals” by sea from the Syrian port of Tartus, Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said.
“Due to this situation and overcrowding in reception centres, I was forced to make a written representation to the European Commission,” said Nouris.
He had notified the commission that Cyprus was “entering a state of emergency as far as migration is concerned, and there is no further capacity to host additional migrants”.
Since January, almost 4,000 asylum applications have been rejected, the minister said.
He called for EU help to repatriate those denied asylum in cases in which Nicosia has no bilateral accord with third countries, such as Turkey which does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus.
On Wednesday, Cypriot authorities intercepted a vessel off the island’s east coast carrying 97 migrants from Syria.
On Friday, authorities another 14 people from Syria, including three children, crossed into the Republic of Cyprus from the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island.
In the past four years, the number of asylum seekers in Cyprus has reached four per cent of its population, compared to one per cent in other EU states, the government says.
As the EU’s most southeasterly state, Cyprus has the highest per capita number of first-time asylum seekers in the 27-member bloc, according to Eurostat statistics agency.
But Cyprus, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the coast of war-torn Syria, has not seen the massive inflow of migrants once experienced by Turkey and Greece. 

UFOs 

Telegraph
Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich is, by her own admission, a highly rational person.
A US Navy fighter pilot who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, she has landed a supersonic F/A-18 jet on an aircraft carrier hundreds of times, and now teaches at the US Naval Academy.
She has also had one of the most famous close encounters with a UFO, or Unidentified Flying Object.
On November 14, 2004, Lt Cdr Dietrich was stationed off the coast of southern California on the USS Nimitz carrier, when numerous flying objects were picked up by ship radar – see the final silent clip in the video below.
The objects had descended impossibly fast, dropping a distance of 80,000ft in less than a second.
In separate planes, Lt Cdr Dietrich and Commander David Fravor were dispatched to investigate.
What they saw on that day has never been adequately explained – until now.
“Enter stage left, the Tic Tac– that’s what we affectionately refer to it as,” says Lt Cdr Dietrich, speaking publicly for the first time this week in an interview with 60 Minutes, the venerable US news programme.
“It jumped from spot to spot, and tumbled around in a way that was unpredictable. The whole time we’re on the radio with each other just losing our minds.”
Cmdr Fravor aggressively engaged one of the oblong objects, which he estimated to be 40ft in length, while Lt Cdr Dietrich adopted “high cover” above.