Victoria Macdonald , Health and Social Care Editor

Our Health and Social Care Editor Victoria Macdonald explains the potential health implications of the government lifting all Covid restrictions in England – despite scepticism from many medics and scientists.

There is “overwhelming” evidence of  inequality for ethnic minorities in healthcare and within the health NHS workforce, according to a review of a decade’s worth of research published today by the NHS Race and Health Observatory. 

The latest government figures show 68, 214 people tested positive for Covid in the last 24 hours, 13,545 are in hospital, and a further 276 people have died within 28 days of a positive test. So what’s been the reaction to the government’s plan to end isolation in England within weeks?

Around 6 million people are on waiting lists for treatment in England and Sajid Javid admitted that would carry on going up for at least another two years.

Plans to clear England’s NHS waiting list backlog have been delayed.

A new drug approved for use in the NHS could see as many as a third of the 15,000 sickle cell patients in this country getting a treatment that reduces that pain.

Anyone looking at the Government’s Covid-19 dashboard will have seen a big jump in the numbers.  

Mandatory Covid vaccines will effectively be scrapped for NHS and social care staff in England – after warnings from some health professionals that it would lead to a “catastrophic impact” on staff numbers and services.

We visited a school in Hertfordshire, where they are keeping Covid rules in place until infections are down.

The body representing home care companies has warned that services are already “paralysed” by overwork.

The charity Hospice UK has collated figures for the number of people dying in private homes, which they say will reach 100,000 more deaths than you would expect, compared to the five-year average before the pandemic. 

More than £100 million has been paid out in damages by one hospital trust over 10 years after its maternity units were accused of being responsible for dozens of deaths and stillbirths, Channel 4 News can reveal. 

The government is reducing the time people in England will have to isolate if they get Covid from six to five full days, but only if they test negative from day five.

We take a look back at what was happening in the same month as an alleged party at Downing Street.

Boris Johnson has condemned anti-vax campaigners for spreading “mumbo jumbo” on social media, and promised hospitals would get extra help for the extra pressure they are facing during the Omicron surge.