and Real Estate Jun, let’s take a look at what big news in the UK today:
- vaccination progress in the UK is gratifying, more than 10 million, but on the issue of when to unblock, cabinet members have diverged again, and Boris is cautious about the premature unblocking...
- Pfizer vaccine also has "good news". After 21 days of the first shot, the effectiveness is still as high as 90%...
- In order to deal with the "increasing" new crown variant virus, the UK and Germany will jointly develop a new generation of vaccines...
- Although the UK The European vaccine war has ceased, but the dispute over the "hard border" of Northern Ireland is still continuing...
- Government minister confirmed that schools will reopen in the first week of March...
- There is a "rush to buy" in prime locations in London, and high-net-worth customers are still buying real estate...
[The UK will not lift the blockade too early]
Official report from the UK government shows that 374,756 people received the first dose of the vaccine yesterday, which has made the total number of people vaccinated in the UK exceed 10 million.
It is reported that the UK is expected to achieve the goal of 15 million susceptible groups in the UK by February 15. Given the gratifying progress of vaccination, many people can't help but look forward to when the day of unblocking will come.
However, UK Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said it was too early to talk about unblocking. He gave his own reasons: "Although vaccination will significantly reduce the number of deaths, the impact on the hospitalization rate is currently much smaller."
As of now, 35,000 patients are still hospitalized for COVID-19, which is far higher than the 20,000 at the peak of the epidemic last spring.
Professor Chris Whitty said that premature relaxation of the lockdown by will mean that the NHS will be in trouble very quickly. Only when all people over 50 years old have their first shot will the UK begin to consider unblocking .
However, regarding the unblocking, the Chancellor of the Finance Minister Rishi Sunak's view is completely opposite to the Chief Medical Officer.
Rishi Sunak is desperate to see the UK relax restrictions as soon as possible to revive the stagnant economy, but he is worried that government scientific advisers are raising the bar for lifting the lockdown.
The Chancellor said that scientists have shifted the initial goal of epidemic prevention from "protecting the NHS and saving lives" to "reducing the number of cases", which is likely to delay the date of unblocking.
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith also supported the view of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, saying:
"We must be careful not to hand over the government to scientists. Sometimes, when we say we are following science, we are actually just following scientists.
With the rapid launch of vaccines, the spread of the virus has been effectively curbed, and we need to return to normal life."
However, the good news is that after so many rounds of national lockdowns, Boris no longer seems to be swaying between "saving lives" or "protecting the economy" as before.
At yesterday's press conference, although Boris said he would announce plans to ease the lockdown next week, he was still cautious about the premature lifting of the lockdown and refused to promise to reopen all schools in the UK before March 8.
Boris said: "This is a cautious approach, and we'd better stick to it. The new variant virus spreads so quickly that we have to think about the issue from the perspective of the country."
Prime Minister also mentioned that England will be unblocked as a whole in the future and will no longer take cross-regional hierarchical restrictions like last year.
[Pfizer vaccine also has "good news"]
Yesterday, we reported in the article that the Oxford vaccine performed well in reducing the spread of the new coronavirus, and the effectiveness of vaccine protection is still as high as 76% within 12 weeks after the first shot, which is undoubtedly good news for the UK.
To protect more vulnerable people, the British government is considering postponing the second dose of vaccination until 12 weeks after the first dose.
Today, another study showed that the Pfizer vaccine is still effective 21 days after the first dose, and is as effective as 90%. This finding is believed to once again strongly support the UK's plan to postpone the second dose.
Researchers from East Anglia University (UEA) said that the Pfizer vaccine is still effective after 21 days and does not require a "replenishment" of a second shot within the recommended time.
It is reported that researchers at East Anglia University came to the above conclusion by studying data from 500,000 people who received Pfizer vaccine injections in Israel.
Although it is not clear how long the immunity brought by the Pfizer vaccine will last without a second shot after 21 days, researchers believe that it is unlikely that the immunity will drop significantly in the next nine weeks.
Like Oxford , this research at the University of East Anglia has not yet been reviewed by peers.
[English and Germany jointly developed a vaccine against mutant viruses]
As we all know, recently, the UK and even the whole world have been panicked by various "increasing" new coronavirus variant viruses. Many people are worried that some mutant viruses will greatly reduce the protective effect of existing vaccines.
In view of this, the UK's GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) decided to jointly develop a new generation of COVID-19 vaccines with Germany's CureVac to deal with the new coronavirus variant.
It is reported that the two companies of this have reached a 150 million euro agreement to jointly develop a vaccine product using mRNA technology. This product will be suitable for multiple variants of the Sars-Cov-2 virus. If everything goes well, it is expected to be put into use in 2022.
GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley said the new generation of vaccines will be crucial to the fight against the new coronavirus.
In July last year, GlaxoSmithKline acquired nearly 10% of CureVac. While the deal does not include the COVID-19 vaccine currently produced by CureVac, it undoubtedly contributes to in-depth cooperation between the two companies.
In addition, the new generation of vaccines can not only be used for groups that have never been vaccinated before, but also as a booster injection for groups that have been vaccinated.
[Northern Ireland's "hard border" contradiction reappears]
Last weekend, the "vaccine war" between the UK and the EU attracted a lot of attention.
At that time, the EU's internal vaccine supply was delayed. In order to cut off vaccine output, the EU did not hesitate to issue a vaccine export ban, restricting vaccine flow into the UK through the Northern Ireland border.
Although this move of the EU seems to be "crazy", it actually has a "law" to follow.
According to Article 16 of the "HTM14 Northern Ireland protocol" signed by both parties, if the agreement causes "economic, social or environmental difficulties" to either party, the EU and the UK have the right to invoke this trigger overturn mechanism.
The EU's reason at the time was that if the 27 member states did not have enough supply of new crown vaccines, serious social problems would arise.
Although the EU quickly lifted the vaccine export restrictions imposed on Northern Ireland, the impact of this move is still fermenting, and the contradiction between the EU and the UK on the "hard border" of Northern Ireland has once again surfaced.
As we all know, the Northern Ireland Protocol is a key part of the Brexit agreement, and in order to avoid setting a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, it left Northern Ireland under EU customs rules and used it as part of the EU single market.
According to this agreement, there is no "hard border" between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but goods transported from other parts of the UK to Northern Ireland must be inspected.
However, the EU's actions caused by vaccines have allowed the British to see the possibility that the "hard border" of Northern Ireland will appear at any time. Moreover, due to the move, the ports of Belfast and Lahn have been suspended for two days due to concerns about employee safety.
In view of this, Boris warned the EU yesterday that he would pass legislation when necessary or use Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol as the EU to ensure that there are no more obstacles to the Irish Sea in any form.
Boris said: "We think it is very important that the protocol will not set unnecessary obstacles - or any kind of obstacles in the Irish Sea."
implies that since the EU can allow "hard borders" between Northern Ireland and Ireland at any time, the UK can naturally cancel border inspections between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK. Under pressure, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic held talks with British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove yesterday.
The former meeting Gove said he hopes the EU can extend the "grace period" of free trade for commodities such as frozen meat products and medicines across the Irish Sea to January 2023 to await the introduction of a permanent solution.
On Wednesday evening, the two issued a joint statement after talks saying that after constructive discussions from all parties, the UK and the EU will immediately step up their efforts to find solutions to the outstanding problems.
The two also said they will remain in close contact and will meet again in London next week.
Meanwhile, the Irish government said it was "flexible" in implementing the protocol and extending the grace period.
However, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney rejected the Democratic United Party (DUP) proposal to completely abolish the protocol. He said: "I think it is completely unrealistic for those who request the complete abolition of the protocol, and that will not happen."
In the future, the dispute between the EU and the UK over the Northern Ireland region will continue for some time, and Real Estate will continue to pay attention.
[School will reopen in the first week of March]
Recently, a sentence said by Piers, a student with autism, was reprinted in large quantities by the media - I don’t want to take a vacation, I just want to go to school, go to school, go to school.
It is reported that due to the nationwide lockdown, Piers was unable to complete his last year of GCSE courses with friends and teachers in the classroom.
Piers, who can only have one day of classes a week, said: "I really like schools, it's my favorite thing."
Piers' remarks have triggered more British people to call on the government to reopen schools as soon as possible. Today, finally, government minister confirmed that schools will start reopening in the first week of March as the UK announces plans to unblock.
Nadhim Zahawi from the UK vaccine expert team refuted the media's alleged government is extending the time for unblocking.
In an interview, Nadhim said: "When parliament resumes its meeting on February 22, the government will announce its unblocking plan - the first thing will be to start schools on March 8, and then gradually restore our economy."
However, Nadhim did not explain what form the government will take to reopen schools. Previously, ministers suggested that primary schools could be opened in advance before middle schools.
[London prime location housing market is booming]
According to the report of private bank Coutts, as of 2020, despite the government's introduction of a series of restrictions, the high net worth customer group is still keen on buying real estate, and the purchase of major housing, second housing and investment properties has increased compared with previous years. Data from the bank shows that as the suppressed demand from buyers is released in the later stage, the number of transactions in high-quality properties has increased significantly compared with the previous quarter.
It is reported that the average house price in prime locations in London rose by nearly 3.6% in the fourth quarter, and the transaction volume in prime locations in London increased by 24.5% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter.
In addition, the speed of real estate being snapped up has also become faster. Coutts said it only takes 129 days to sell a property now, compared to 150 days a year ago.
This level is the fastest record since Coutts Bank launched the index in 2013. It is worth noting that the most competitive area in London is the prime location where houses sell the fastest.
As we all know, London accounts for more than half of the UK's real estate inventory of more than 1 million pounds, and it is the largest high-end market in the UK. Mohammad KamalSyed, head of asset management at
Coutts, said: "London remains an ideal destination. The uncertainty of Brexit and the restrictions on the new crown epidemic will gradually weaken in 2021. You will see that the high-end property market in London will set sail again."
When talking about the future direction of the housing market, Coutts said that the next few months may be the most active months of the real estate market in 2021.
From April 1, the UK plans to introduce a 2% stamp duty surcharge for overseas buyers, which will provide additional impetus for overseas investors to trade in the first quarter.
In addition, the stamp duty holiday will end on March 31, and demand will be very strong in the first quarter as investors are eager to close transactions by the deadline.
or above is our daily content report today. Please continue to pay attention to Real Estate Jun. We will continue to bring you the latest and most informative UK reports.
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