Jeremy Vine Says the Vulnerable Should Stay Indoors Again and Shield

Hot on the heels of Frances Ryan in the Guardian calling for the return of masks, mass-testing and self-isolation, Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine has said vulnerable people should stay home and shield once more. MailOnline has the story.

Jeremy Vine has encouraged vulnerable people to start shielding again amid a fresh wave of Covid infections. The Channel 5 presenter, who is ill with the virus himself, criticised the Government for playing down concerns about rising numbers.

An outbreak on the set of his show has seen several crew forced off work with Covid in recent days, including his pregnant co-host Storm Huntley.

In a video posted on Twitter, Vine, 57, said: “100% of our presenters have got it. That means there must be a lot of it about. Why isn’t the Government mentioning it? Why isn’t it saying anyone vulnerable, you know, stay indoors?”

Nearly 4 million extremely vulnerable people were told they were no longer advised to shield from April 1st, as part of No. 10’s ‘living with Covid’ plan.

Showing his positive lateral flow test to the camera, Vine added: “That’s a big red line there, there is a lot of it around. Shouldn’t they [the Government] be saying… just stay in if you are vulnerable, but we’ve not heard a peep. I guess they are just too busy.”

Nationally, Covid infections have nearly doubled in a fortnight in England and more than 1,000 patients are now being admitted with the virus each day. The Government has said it will monitor the situation “very quickly” but insists it does not plan to reintroduce restrictions.

Ministers and their advisers have taken confidence from the fact only a fraction of Covid patients are primarily admitted because they are unwell due to the virus. Separate figures show just 20 Britons are dying from the virus each day now.

Worth reading in full.