Coronavirus latest news: GPs cannot meet demand of 'tsunami' of patients flooding surgeries after holding back during lockdown

• France toughens rules for Britons arriving 'from Monday'

• Downing Street not ruling out local lockdowns to tackle Indian variant

• EU demands €10 a day for each vaccine dose delayed by AstraZeneca

• Biden demands follow-up investigation as Wuhan lab leak theory gains traction

• Checking facts vs Cummings’s claims reveals major flaws in his evidence

GPs cannot cope with a 'tsunami' of patients returning to surgeries after staying away during the multiple Covid lockdowns.

An analysis of NHS data in England by the BBC found that between 2019-20 and 2020-21 the total number of appointments dropped by 10 percent, face-to-face consultation dropped from 70 percent to 54 percent and the number of patients referred by GPs for urgent cancer check-ups dropped by 15 percent, putting lives at risk.

Now, rising numbers are looking for medical help, with more than 28million appointments booked in March - one of the highest on record - which risks crippling the system.

Doncaster-based GP Dr Dean Eggitt told the corporation: "We have almost a tsunami of patients coming to us - it feels like the river has flooded the banks.

"It just keeps coming and coming and coming in this one massive, endless wave of patients who all are ill and need help and input. They're sick, they're complex and we've got very few places to send them. I wouldn't want to be my patient right now."

​​Follow the latest updates below.

07:18 AM

Millions of Australians ordered into lockdown as Indian variant spreads

Australia's second most populous state of Victoria will enter a one-week Covid-19 lockdown forcing its near seven million residents to remain home except for essential business as authorities struggle to contain a highly-infectious outbreak.

A fresh cluster of infections in Melbourne detected early this week has swelled to 26 on Thursday after the state reported 12 new cases overnight.

Officials have traced the latest cluster, the first in the state in more than three months, back to an overseas traveller infected with a variant first found in India, although the virus transmission path is still unclear.

From 11:59 pm local time (1359 GMT) on Thursday until June 3, people will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential work, healthcare, grocery shopping, exercise or to take their coronavirus vaccinations.

"We have seen more evidence we're dealing with a highly infectious strain of the virus, a variant of concern, which is running faster than we have ever recorded," Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne.

Mr Merlino said the federal government's sluggish vaccine rollout was partly to blame for the latest lockdown, saying it was "not where it should be".

07:05 AM

Matt Hancock emerges...but refuses to answer questions

Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined to answer questions about Dominic Cummings' criticism of his handling of the pandemic as he left for work on Thursday morning.

Speaking to reporters outside his home in north-west London, Mr Hancock said: "I'm just off to drive forward the vaccine programme and then I'll be going to the House of Commons and I'll answer questions there."

The Health Secretary will be before MPs in the House of Commons at 10.30am.

07:02 AM

How influential was Sage in changing herd immunity policy?

Asked how influential Sage was in changing the policy from one of herd immunity to one of lockdown, he said: "I think the key issue... it's multiple factors, partly the modelling, which had been around for a couple of weeks but became firmer, particularly as we saw data coming in from the UK, and unfortunately I think one of the biggest lessons to learn in such circumstances is we really need good surveillance within the country at a much earlier point than we actually had it back in March last year.

"As we saw the data build up, and it was matching the modelling, even worse than the modelling, let's say it focused minds".

He then said locking down a week earlier would have saved 20,000 to 30,000 lives "and I think that's unarguable. I mean the epidemic was doubling every three to four days in weeks 13th to 23rd of March, and so had we moved the interventions back a week we would have curtailed that and saved many lives".

06:57 AM

Up to 30,000 lives could have been saved with earlier action, says expert

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental in persuading the Government to bring in the first lockdown, said scientists had become increasingly concerned in the week leading up to March 13 2020 about the lack of a clear plan, and 20,000 to 30,000 lives could have been saved with earlier action.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme when the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), of which he was part, determined that a policy of pursuing herd immunity would lead to a vast number of deaths, he said a key meeting was held with the NHS on March 1 "which finalised estimates around health impacts, so the week after that really."

Prof Ferguson said he "wasn't privy to what officials were thinking within government", but added: "I would say from the scientific side there was increasing concern that week leading up to the 13 of March about the lack of clear, let's say, (a) resolved plan of what would happen in the next few days in terms of implementing social distancing."

06:56 AM

Why no public inquiry now?

Asked why the Government would not bring a public inquiry into coronavirus forward, as Labour has called for, Mr Jenrick said now was not the time.

He told Sky News that it would not be sensible to launch an investigation while the country was still in the grips of the pandemic.

"I think next spring seems like a logical time because hopefully the country will be in a vastly different and improved situation then," Mr Jenrick said.

"Public inquiries are lengthy processes, we've seen that with all the ones in the recent past, and they're better I think to occur when we're out of the immediate response phase, and then we can take a reflective view, look at the evidence carefully, not just listen to individuals making testimony as we heard yesterday, but look at the evidence in the round, and learn lessons obviously for the future."

06:48 AM

Hancock alleged lies 'not my experience', says Cabinet minister

Mr Jenrick told Sky News that a public inquiry would lay out the Government's response and "hear the evidence in a reasoned and reflective manner".

Asked whether he thought Matt Hancock had lied on multiple occasions, as Mr Cummings alleged, Mr Jenrick said: "That's not my experience."

But he admitted "there were things we, with the benefit of hindsight, could have done better to protect people in care homes" after Mr Cummings hit out at the moves to return residents who had not been tested for coronavirus.

"I don't think anybody is disputing the fact that care homes are one of the most difficult elements of the last 12 months or so," he said.

"But it's not correct to say that we didn't do everything we possibly could to protect both the residents and the people who work in care homes, with the imperfect information we had available to us at the time."

06:42 AM

Public has only had one side of the story, says minister on Cummings

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick said the public had only heard "one side of the story" after Dominic Cummings' revelations about the Government's handling of the pandemic.

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary said he would not get into "specific allegations" made by Mr Cummings to MPs on Wednesday.

But when pushed on whether he would defend his Cabinet colleague, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who faced much of the PM's former aide's criticism, he told Sky News: "I think the Department for Health and the Health Secretary have worked exceptionally hard over the course of this pandemic. This was an unprecedented situation, it was a national effort involving all parts of Government in all parts of the country."

06:27 AM

Rayner: 'Hancock has to justify why we've ended up in these circumstances'

Here's what the deputy leader of the Labour party has said:

06:24 AM

Bank Holiday 'essential' for Scotland's hospitality

The upcoming Bank Holiday weekend is "essential" for Scotland's hospitality industry and the "wee jolt in the arm" the sector needs, according to one bar and restaurant owner.

Colin Clydesdale is the co-owner of establishments including Ubiquitous Chip, Stravaigin and Hanoi Bike Shop with those among the many in Glasgow he says have "effectively shut since October".

Late in the afternoon of Friday May 14 it was announced Glasgow would remain in Level 3 of Scotland's coronavirus restrictions while most of the country would drop to Level 2 the following Monday.

That move brought widespread relaxations over rules in hospitality and entertainment, including venues being able to serve alcohol indoors.

With a Bank Holiday Monday approaching this week, Mr Clydesdale is pleading for more notice this time around on what the decision would be - even if it means hearing the restrictions will continue.

06:17 AM

Today's front page

Here is your Daily Telegraph on Thursday, May 27.

05:47 AM

Deaths in Ukraine surpass 50,000

The total number of coronavirus related deaths has exceeded 50,000 in Ukraine, which remains among the most Covid-19 affected European countries, the health ministry data showed on Thursday.

The number of new daily coronavirus infections in Ukraine, which has a population of 41 million, has decreased over the past several weeks to the lowest levels since August 2020, though the deaths rate remains high.

Ukraine registered 3,509 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours with 183 deaths. It reported a total of 2.19 million cases and 50,076 deaths as of May 27.

04:50 AM

Cases and death toll in India continues to rise

India on Thursday posted 211,298 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, while deaths from Covid-19 rose by 3,847.

The South Asian country's overall caseload is now at 27.37 million, while total fatalities are at 315,235, according to health ministry data.

03:35 AM

Officials who don't enforce lockdown face jail, warns Philippines president

The president of the Philippines warns he will jail village leaders and police officers who don't enforce pandemic lockdown restrictions.

President Rodrigo Duterte's comments on Wednesday night were in response to swimming parties, drinking sprees and picnics held earlier this month in three resorts where dozens of merrymakers later tested positive for the virus.

Mr Duterte is known for a tough approach to crime and he says he wants law enforcers to carry wooden sticks as a "permanent fixture" so offenders who resist arrest can be hit in the hands and feet with "reasonable force".

02:21 AM

Disabled people more likely to lose jobs in pandemic, report finds

The coronavirus crisis has widened already large gaps in employment rates and pay between disabled and non-disabled people, according to a new report.

The Learning and Work Institute and the Black Stork Charity said its research suggested that a growing number of disabled people have been left out of work and were struggling to make ends meet since the start of the pandemic.

Employment opportunities for disabled people had been improving, but their job prospects, pay and finances have been more negatively affected over the past year than many other groups, it was indicated.

Disabled people were more likely to be temporarily away from paid work, partly due to the furlough scheme, and nearly twice as likely to be long term unemployed by the end of 2020, said the report.

01:25 AM

Chinese embassy in US says politicising virus origins hampers probes

China's embassy in the United States said on Thursday that politicising the origins of Covid-19 will hamper investigations, after US President Joe Biden said the US intelligence community is divided over where the virus emerged.

China supports "a comprehensive study of all early cases of Covid-19 found worldwide and a thorough investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories all over the world," the embassy said in remarks attributed to a spokesperson, posted on its website.

Read more: Biden demands follow-up investigation as Wuhan lab leak theory gains traction

12:49 AM

Hancock to respond to Cummings' claim of mismanagement

The Health Secretary will face MPs on Thursday over allegations made by former senior No 10 aide Dominic Cummings that he lied to colleagues and performed "disastrously" during the Covid pandemic.

Matt Hancock told the PA news agency on Wednesday night he had not seen Mr Cummings' seven-hour evidence to MPs as he was "saving lives" by dealing with the vaccination rollout.

He will answer a Commons urgent question and is due to lead a Government press conference, the day after a scathing attack by Mr Cummings who argued the Cabinet minister should have been sacked on 15 to 20 occasions.

Read more: Cummings and Hancock - animosity a long time in the making

12:38 AM

Today's top stories

• Dominic Cummings alleged that Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, should have been sacked on 15 to 20 occasions for his conduct during the pandemic.

• Dominic Cummings on Wednesday accused Boris Johnson of being "unfit" to lead Britain and claimed tens of thousands of lives had been unnecessarily lost to Covid amid the Government's mishandling of the pandemic.

• US president Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered US intelligence agencies to report to him in the next three months on whether the Covid-19 virus first emerged in China from an animal source or from a laboratory accident.

• Britons travelling to France face having to quarantine for at least seven days and present negative Covid tests under restrictions to combat the spread of the Indian variant.

• During his remarkable appearance before MPs, Dominic Cummings heaped praise on two little-known brothers who “pressed the panic button” as Covid-19 swept into the UK.

• Local lockdowns to tackle the spread of the Indian Covid variant have not been ruled out – but the Government is aiming to keep to the roadmap on lifting restrictions, Downing Street has said.