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The question of why UK arrivals aren’t tested for coronavirus has been asked repeatedly in recent months, by airlines, unions, MPs and passengers themselves. 
Despite being standard practice in many parts of the world, the government maintains that airport testing isn’t a suitable alternative to a 14-day isolation period for travellers from risky countries because it doesn’t pick up people who get ill after they’ve arrived.

And, in support of this argument, the prime minister, transport secretary and health secretary have all insisted that testing at points of entry will only identify 7% of coronavirus infections.
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Image: Government ministers have said testing at points of entry would only identify 7% of infections
Is that accurate? Well, it depends who you ask – and, more crucially, how you frame the question.

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The 7% figure comes from a piece of modelling commissioned by Public Health England early in the crisis.

Like a lot of modelling, it doesn’t rely on real world data. Instead, it simplifies the problem by making a set of assumptions, then calculating what would happen in those conditions.

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Within the limits set by those assumptions, the 7% number is correct but the trouble is that the assumptions themselves are questionable – or as one senior epidemiologist put it, “weird”.
There are five assumptions, let’s take them in turn.
Assumption 1: No one flying to the UK is ill with COVID-19
Yes, you read that correctly. In this model, no one gets on a plane with full-blown coronavirus – that is, coronavirus that has developed past the incubation period.
No one with a cough or a temperature, even a very mild one, flies to the UK. Nor does anyone who is asymptomatic.
Why not? Because in the world of the model, anyone with coronavirus that can be detected by a test is presumed to be too ill to fly or is stopped from getting on the flight by screening systems in foreign countries.
As you might imagine, this has a significant impact on the paper’s conclusions.
Just over 60% of infected passengers are counted as “non-fliers” who’ll never reach the UK border.
Of the rest, most are assumed to go undetected, leaving only 7% to be picked up by UK airport testing.

Image: One model assumes no one flying to the UK has coronavirus
Reintroduce these non-fliers – either because you believe selfishness will propel sick people onto planes or because you don’t think foreign screening systems are infallible – and you get a very different result.
“Assuming that filtering is not great in the country of origin (which is an assumption that I think we should indeed make), using a single test when landing in the UK would be a very efficient policy,” one researcher told Sky News.
Reverse the model’s assumptions and airport testing could, she said, capture “more than 60% of infected individuals”. Even if you’re more conservative, you still get a big jump.
Dr Luca Ferretti, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford advising the Italian government on its coronavirus strategy, did some calculations to work out what would happen if just half of the model’s asymptomatic passengers got on the plane.
With this change, he said, you would catch one in three infected travellers. That’s a big increase on 7% – and there are other assumptions still to unpick.
Assumption 2: Tests don’t pick up people who are pre-symptomatic
Rather than imagining a plane packed with sick people, this model pictures one full of people who are in the incubation phase after catching COVID-19.
It assumed most of these infections won’t be picked up by tests when landing in the UK as the viral load would be too low for detection.
The only people the model thinks will be caught by airport testing are those who come out of the five-day incubation period during the flight, and therefore become detectable while they are in the air.

Image: This assumption can be challenged by evidence that shows tests can pick up the virus in the incubation phase
They make up the 7%, which is based on medium-haul flights. For long-haul it comes in at 12% and for short-haul 3%, although for some reason politicians didn’t use these figures – perhaps 7% just felt right.
Once again, this assumption can be challenged.
Six months into the pandemic, evidence suggested PCR tests pick up people still in the incubation phase.
Even assuming no one on the plane comes out of incubation on the flight, it could still identify a fair proportion – with the extra benefit of catching them at their most infectious.
Dr Ferretti said that if incubating infections were detectable up to two days in advance, then even with 50% sensitivity, you would still pick up more than double the figure in the model.
Adding that to his earlier figure for asymptomatic passengers, and adjusting for some imperfections in testing, Dr Ferretti estimated that 40% of infectious travellers would be picked by airport testing.
“My intuition would be that unless you have a contact tracing system sucking all testing capacity, I would put some testing capacity on airports,” he said.
Assumption 3: Travellers are the same as everyone else
Coronavirus is a disease spread by a few chance events.
According to one recent study in India 70% of people with the virus gave it to no one, while 85% of infections came from just 5% of original cases.
When it comes to COVID-19 suppression, stopping superspreader events is absolutely key.
It’s not just possible, but likely, that travellers have more contacts than normal while they are away, making it more important to catch them as they come into the country. But this model doesn’t look at that.

Image: Other countries, including France, offer coronavirus tests at airports
Assumption 4: All countries are the same
Every country is assumed to have an equal prevalence of coronavirus, so there’s no way of knowing if testing would be more effective for some countries – because of the quality of their screening system, for instance.
The government has its travel corridors list, but even if visitors from some countries are asked to quarantine when they arrive in the UK, airport testing could still be useful, because it could help shorten the quarantine time.
The paper suggests that if passengers were tested once at the airport then once again eight days later, with a subsequent two days of isolation, the system would catch 96% of cases.
Such a system wouldn’t be easy to operate, but it might be possible in certain cases.
Assumption 5: Models can tell us what’s going to happen
Throughout the pandemic, the government has relied on models as a guide for decision-making.
But models are only as good as their assumptions, which, invariably, are far too simple to reflect the complexity of the real world.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use models, but it does mean we should treat them with caution.
There is now a body of evidence based on the experiences of different countries with airport testing. Why doesn’t the government use that instead? (It established a task force last week to create a new testing regime for international travel, so this may be happening as we speak.)
Talking about the use of models, Dr Ferretti said: “This has been a bit of a constant and not just in the UK.
“There’s a habit, especially for politicians, to cherry-pick numbers because they need to justify decisions.
“Sometimes even if the decision could make sense or could be informed by some information they give a number just as a statistic to silence opposition.”

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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This scientific evidence was reviewed and approved by SAGE, as well as modelling groups such as The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who have independently generated similar results.
“International arrivals from non-exempt countries must quarantine for the full 14 days as the incubation period for the virus means passengers who do not follow this advice may pose a risk to others.
“Work is ongoing with clinicians, the devolved administrations and the travel industry to consider if and how testing could be used to reduce the self-isolation period.”

Microsoft has released a new version of its Xbox app for the iPhone and iPad which will allow Xbox gamers to play their consoles remotely.
Unlike the xCloud games streaming service – which only works on Android devices – the Xbox app allows phone users to stream games which are playing on their own console.

Microsoft’s xCloud, which lets gamers stream games from Microsoft’s servers, has been prohibited from the App Store as Apple says the service does not follow its normal review guidelines.

Microsoft brings Xbox games to your mobile phone

The Xbox app is similar to the PS4 Remote Play app developed by Sony, enabling PlayStation users to stream their games to an Apple device over WiFi.
However the Xbox app doesn’t depend on both devices being on the same WiFi network, allowing users to stream their games even when they’re not at home – as long as the device is on and both have a decent connection.

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Apple currently does not allow users to use their devices to play games using cloud computing – having the games run on hardware the phones are connecting to remotely – which would give gamers the ability to play higher-quality games on their mobile devices.

Microsoft has criticised Apple for not allowing its users access to the xCloud games streaming platform, as well as Google’s cloud gaming service Stadia.

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Microsoft said Apple “stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass”.
“[Apple] consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content,” Microsoft added.
It comes ahead of Microsoft releasing two new Xbox consoles in November, and Apple releasing four 5G-compatible iPhone 12 models.

Image: Microsoft is releasing new Xbox models in November
Apple suggested that Microsoft and Google could comply with its rules to have xCloud and Stadia available in the App Store by submitting the games as separate apps.
Microsoft dismissed the offer however, telling The Verge: “This remains a bad experience for customers.
“Gamers want to jump directly into a game from their curated catalogue within one app, just like they do with movies or songs, and not be forced to download over 100 apps to play individual games from the cloud.”

The Falklands War would have been lost without the contribution of GCHQ, according to an authorised “warts and all” history of the spy agency.
It is one of many revelations in newly released Behind The Enigma, by Professor John Ferris.

The author says its contribution to the 1982 war with Argentina has been underestimated.
Prof Ferris says GCHQ helped guide British strategy and diplomacy ahead of and during the war, and demonstrated how the Argentine navy was attempting to ambush British forces, which led to the sinking of the General Belgrano.
Without GCHQ, he concludes, Britain probably would have lost the 1982 conflict.

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The history professor was given unprecedented access to documents in GCHQ’s archive containing around 16 million artefacts, many of them previously classified, to write the book.

The Cheltenham-based spy agency – which works alongside MI5 and MI6 – commissioned its first-ever authorised history to mark its centenary year in 2019.

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The need for secrecy in everything GCHQ does is taken to extremes, says the author, telling of an employee who found out his son had been killed in action in 1945, but could not tell his wife.
Employees, Prof Ferris writes, “internalise this idea that they should not talk about what it is they do. And not even tell members of their family and they simply get used to it.
“You have mathematicians who make a discovery which is five or 10 years ahead of what any civilian mathematician does and yet they can’t publish it.
“Now for most mathematicians that would be very frightening, horrifying, but they are used to the idea.
“They see themselves really as being given the opportunity sometimes to use leading-edge kit to do fascinating work. They are willing to live without getting the personal credit.”
Prof Ferris says that while the UK’s biggest intelligence agency has helped shorten wars and save lives, its work cannot compensate for failures of policy or military strength.
In 1937, for example, two years before the Second World War began, it advised prime minister Neville Chamberlain that Hitler and Mussolini wished to cooperate.
But, instead of acting on the intelligence, Chamberlain responded by asking the Italian authorities whether the accounts were true – and took their word when they lied.
Set up in 1919, GCHQ moved to Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire during the Second World War.
However, the famous code-breaking efforts of Alan Turing and others in turning the course of the war are often over-rated by the public, Prof Ferris told the BBC.
He said their “amazing” work did indeed help bring forward the end of the conflict to some extent, but added: “Intelligence never wins a war on its own.”

The UK has become the first country to back studies that would see healthy volunteers deliberately infected with coronavirus after being given a potential vaccine.
Human challenge trials aim to speed up the development of vaccines and have previously been used in finding treatments for malaria, typhoid, cholera and flu.

The government has said it will initially invest £33.6m in the studies, although the research will need to be approved by regulators and the ethics committee before they can go ahead.
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If approved, healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 would be given a potential vaccine that has proven to be safe in initial trials.

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They would then be exposed to COVID-19 in a controlled environment and monitored 24 hours a day to see how the vaccine works and if there are any side effects.

The trials could begin in January and involve up to 90 volunteers.

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The studies would be conducted by Imperial College London in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and hVivo, a company that has experience conducting testing.
Supporters of the studies say the approach can produce results faster than standard research, as there is no waiting for volunteers to become exposed to the disease – which could potentially save thousands of lives.
Critics argue it is unethical to deliberately infect people with a disease, but supporters say the risk is low and volunteers are carefully selected.

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Dr Chris Chiu, from Imperial College London and lead researcher on the human challenge study, said: “Our number one priority is the safety of the volunteers. My team has been safely running human challenge studies with other respiratory viruses for over 10 years.
“No study is completely risk-free, but the Human Challenge Programme partners will be working hard to ensure we make the risks as low as we possibly can.”

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The initial aim will be to find out the smallest amount of virus it takes for someone to become infected.
Researchers would then study how vaccines work in the body to stop COVID-19.
Specially designed facilities at the Royal Free would be used to conduct the study, with volunteers monitored under strict conditions and medics on hand.

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There would be a controlled entrance to the facility, careful decontamination of waste and all the air leaving the unit would be cleaned so there is no risk to anyone outside.
Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the trials could be used to find an effective vaccine.
“First, for the many vaccines still in the mid-stages of development, human challenge studies may help pick out the most promising ones to take forward into larger Phase 3 trials,” he said.”Second, for vaccines which are in the late stages of development and already proven to be safe and effective through Phase 3 studies, human challenge studies could help us further understand if the vaccines prevent transmission as well as preventing illness.”

The US has charged six Russian hackers over a series of global cyber attacks, including trying to undermine UK efforts to hold Moscow accountable for the Salisbury spy poisoning.
The charging announcement came as Britain accused Russian cyber spies of attacking the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics before they were postponed, and of posing as Chinese and North Korean hackers to target the 2018 games.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, described the actions of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service as “cynical and reckless”.

Image: It could be linked to Russia’s ban from taking part
The UK named the specific group it said was behind the attacks as the GRU’s Main Centre for Special Technologies, also known as Unit 74455.
This is the same group of hackers that allegedly targeted the 2016 US presidential election.

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The US Justice Department said a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh returned an indictment charging six computer hackers, who are all allegedly members of Unit 74455.

It accused the hackers “and their co-conspirators” of cyber attacks, including against the UK’s defence laboratory at Porton Down and the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog in the Hague in April 2018, as both organisations investigated the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

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The UK accused Russia of the nerve agent attack with a novichok toxin.
One of the six men – Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev, 27 – was specifically accused of having developed “spearphishing techniques and messages used to target… employees of the DSTL,” referring to the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down.
The hackers were also accused of targeting the French presidential election in 2017. Then presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron’s campaign was hit by a hack and leak attack just ahead of polling day.

Image: The Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics was attacked
Other attacks linked to the group included against Ukraine, Georgia and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.
In its separate statement, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office accused Russia of conducting “reconnaissance” against organisers of the 2020 summer games in Tokyo before the event was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Targets also included companies involved in logistics for the games as well as sponsors.
The games had been scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August but were postponed in March until 2021.
Details of the reconnaissance were not revealed but it could involve things like setting up fake websites pretending to be a particular organisation, or creating accounts pretending to be a certain individual.
The aim could well have been to try and disrupt the global sporting bonanza at a time when Russia is banned from taking part for four years because of a doping scandal.

Russia banned from all global sport

“The GRU’s actions against the Olympic and Paralympic Games are cynical and reckless. We condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” Mr Raab said in a statement.
“The UK will continue to work with our allies to call out and counter future malicious cyber attacks.”
The timing of UK’s allegation being released is in part to raise awareness about the cyber threat as organisers prepare to hold the delayed Olympics next year in Japan.
The foreign office also for the first time confirmed details about a 2018 cyber attack on the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang.
“The GRU’s cyber unit attempted to disguise itself as North Korean and Chinese hackers when it targeted the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games,” it said.
“It went on to target broadcasters, a ski resort, Olympic officials and sponsors of the games in 2018. The GRU deployed data-deletion malware against the Winter Games IT systems and targeted devices across the Republic of Korea using VPNFilter.”
The Russian hackers’ alleged attempt to cover their tracks included using certain snippets of code and techniques to try to confuse investigators into think they were from China and North Korea.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of GCHQ, believe Russia’s aim was to sabotage the running of the games, the Foreign Office said.

Image: The same group was behind the alleged 2016 US election hack
It noted that the malware used by the hackers in the 2018 attack was designed to wipe data from, and disable, computers and networks.
“Administrators worked to isolate the malware and replace the affected computers, preventing potential disruption,” the Foreign Office said.
GRU Unit 74455 is also known as a number of other names including Sandworm, BlackEnergy Group and Voodoo Bear.
The UK has previously attributed other major cyber attacks to the group, including the June 2017 NotPetya attack against financial, energy and government sectors in Ukraine, but which spread across the world causing widespread damage.

NASA has chosen Nokia to build a 4G network on the moon as part of the space agency’s Artemis programme, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence there.
The Finnish company will build the technology which will be integrated into NASA’s lunar landers and used for remote control, as well as streaming high-definition videos.

The Artemis programme, named after the mythological sister of Apollo, the first moon mission’s namesake, aims to take the first woman and the next man taken to the lunar surface by 2024.

Image: The Finnish company has adapted designs from its work on Earth
SpaceX and Blue Origin have been given the nod to develop the new lunar landers which will take the astronauts to the surface of the moon from orbit.
The private spaceflight companies, owned by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, will develop competing systems in parallel, alongside a third company called Dynetics, but NASA will eventually choose one.

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NASA intends to establish a “Lunar Gateway” outpost which will be orbiting the moon by the mid 2020s, and then lunar landers to deliver cargo to the surface by the late 2020s.

Nokia said its technology would be used to provide connectivity for “any activity that astronauts need to carry out”, from “voice and video communications capabilities” through to the “deployment and control of robotic and sensor payloads”.

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The company’s chief technology officer, Marcus Weldon, said: “We are now building the first ever cellular communications network on the moon.
“Reliable, resilient and high-capacity communications networks will be key to supporting sustainable human presence on the lunar surface,” Mr Weldon added.
Nokia’s lunar network is a little different from what it uses on Earth, primarily because the kit itself needs to be able to “withstand the harsh conditions of the launch and lunar landing, and to operate in the extreme conditions of space”.
But, other than that, it will be normal 4G, including a base station, radio antennas, and user equipment – although it isn’t clear how different this equipment is going to be from normal smartphones.

The UK’s video games industry has grown to record levels over the past year, and at the fastest rate in more than a decade, according to its trade association.
The Independent Games Developers’ Association (TIGA) said that more than 1,740 jobs were added to the sector, which is now generating tax revenues of £907m annually.

TIGA added that the sector was now contributing £2.2bn to UK GDP.
It called for the government to “retain and enhance Video Games Tax Relief” to encourage investment, which has stalled during the coronavirus crisis.

Image: Physical sales have fallen during the pandemic, but digital sales are up
Speaking to Sky News, the chief executive of games studio Rebellion, Jason Kingsley, said that things were continuing to grow despite the pandemic.

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“The good is that everybody is up and working well, mostly from home, but some from the offices where it can be done safely.

“Game productivity is looking good for new titles like Zombie Army 4 and Evil Genius 2 which will be released early next year. Most people seem to be coping well, with video calls and family interruptions being the norm now on calls!”

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Mr Kingsley said there was some bad too, including “increased hassle for IT and systems to cope with people working remotely” as well as “equipment costs for those needing us to supply computers for them to use at home”.
Rebellion has just under 450 staff, with 50 new hires being brought on during the pandemic across all parts of the company, from programmers to animators, and games designers to testers.
But Mr Kingsley said there had been “increased difficulty bringing new hires up to speed on how Rebellion works and where they fit in with the team” due to social distancing requirements.
The impact of the pandemic has generally meant physical retail sales are down across the sector, but digital sales have grown substantially.
Mr Kingsley told Sky News: “On balance things are good for us, though managing so much change so fast takes a lot of energy from the senior members of our teams.
“I think people are looking forward to some time off over Christmas.”

Image: TIGA called for better links between the industry and universities
Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA’s chief executive, said: “The sector still faces significant challenges, particularly with respect in access to finance and in access to highly skilled people.”
He said that 73% of the UK’s games studios were extremely small, having four or fewer full-time staff, and 40% of studios have closed down over the last decade.
“We should introduce a Video Games Investment Fund and strengthen the UK Games Fund to improve access to finance,” Dr Wilson added.
He called for the government to “strengthen industry-university links, enhance skills and training and enable UK games companies to recruit highly skilled workers from the EU and beyond”.
He also warned that Brexit could deprive UK companies of access to talented European workers, who account for a significant minority of the sector’s employees.
Mr Kingsley added: “As our economy recovers, we need to play to our strengths and invest in those sectors of the economy where we have a comparative advantage like the video games industry.”

Instagram is being investigated regarding alleged illegal processing of children’s personal information, by the Irish privacy watchdog which is the EU’s lead authority on Facebook.
The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is investigating whether Instagram’s parent company Facebook was illegally processing the data of children who chose to switch from personal accounts to business accounts, thus publishing their contact details.

Until last year Instagram required business accounts to make their contact information public. Facebook says it made it clear to those accounts that this information would be public, although it is now optional for business accounts on Instagram whether they share any contact details.
“The DPC has been actively monitoring complaints received from individuals in this area and has identified potential concerns in relation to the processing of children’s personal data on Instagram which require further examination,” it said in a statement.
If the social media company is found to have violated European privacy regulations then it could face a fine of up to 4% of its global turnover, although a fine of that scale has never been issued.

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Back in 2019, data scientist David Stier found that millions of personal accounts on Instagram which had been switched to business accounts were publicising their contact details.

Mr Stier reported to Facebook his discovery that accounts apparently belonging to minors were showing the children’s phone numbers and their email addresses.

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Facebook does not dispute that some minors’ contact information was shown.
“Speaking as a parent, I want to be assured that the experience Instagram offers to teens is as ‘adult-overseen’ as possible,” he added.
The Irish DPC said its investigation “will also consider whether Facebook meets its obligations as a data controller with regard to transparency requirements in its provision of Instagram to children”.
A spokesperson for Instagram told Sky News: “We’ve always been clear that when people choose to set up a business account on Instagram, the contact information they shared would be publicly displayed.
“That’s very different to exposing people’s information,” they stressed.
“We’ve also made several updates to business accounts since the time of Mr Stier’s mischaracterisation in 2019, and people can now opt out of including their contact information entirely.
“We’re in close contact with the IDPC and we’re cooperating with their inquiries,” they added.
The complaint also follows Facebook admitting that the coronavirus pandemic meant images of child nudity and sexual exploitation have been spreading on its platforms.
The tech giant said moderation levels dropped when content moderators were sent to work from home in March during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A NASA spacecraft will this week attempt to descend on an asteroid and bring back a sample in a 10-second mission.
The Osiris-Rex has been circling the Bennu asteroid for nearly two years – hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth.

But on Tuesday it will try to collect a handful of dirt and gravel from its boulder-packed surface.
The mission, which will see the van-sized spacecraft on autopilot for the “touch-and-go” manoeuvre, will last just five to 10 seconds and hopes to bring back 60g worth of Bennu.
Once it drops out of its half-mile-high orbit around the asteroid, the spacecraft will take a deliberate four-hour detour to just above its surface.

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Then an 11ft arm will reach out and touch it in the hope it can grab the sample.

There is an 18-minute radio communication lag between the location of the asteroid and NASA’s base – so controllers will be unable to intervene.

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If the first attempt fails, Osiris-Rex can try again – but experts will still have to wait until 2023 before the samples touch back down to Earth.
Japan is the only country in the world to have completed such a mission.
It expects to get samples back from another asteroid called Ryugu in December, 10 years after another successful mission to bring back part of an asteroid named Itokawa.
NASA’s deputy project manager Mike Moreau said of the complexities of the Bennu mission: “So for some perspective, the next time you park your car in front of your house or in front of a coffee shop and walk inside, think about the challenge of navigating Osiris-Rex into one of these spots from 200 million miles away.”

More than one coronavirus vaccine will be available in the next three to six months, a government scientific adviser has told Sky News.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, who sits on the SAGE committee, said: “I think in the first quarter of next year we will have vaccines – will have more than one vaccine.”

It is unlikely the jabs will be administered before Christmas, which Sir Jeremy thinks “will be tough this year” and “not like a normal Christmas for almost everybody”.
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But he is expecting data on vaccines in November and December, pointing out that the UK has a “portfolio” of potential options.

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He is also hopeful that treatments will begin to make a big difference in the new year.

His optimism echoes that of Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, who has reportedly said a mass rollout of the jab being created at the University of Oxford and manufactured by AstraZeneca could happen around the turn of the year.

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Thousands of NHS staff will be trained to administer a vaccine, The Sunday Times added, with inoculations potentially beginning soon after Christmas.
In a briefing to MPs on Monday afternoon, Professor Van-Tam apparently said “we aren’t light years away” from a jab.
He continued: “It isn’t a totally unrealistic suggestion that we could deploy a vaccine soon after Christmas,” adding that such a development would have a “significant impact on hospital admissions and deaths”.
Professor Van-Tam is said to be expecting third stage results from the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine by the end of November.
Another multinational drug company, Pfizer, has already manufactured several hundred thousand doses of a jab at a plant in Belgium, the Mail on Sunday said.

Image: There is optimism that a vaccine could be available in the next six months
It is reportedly hoping to make 100m doses available this year – 40m of which are destined for the UK – and is planning to produce 1.3bn jabs in 2021.
Sir Jeremy, speaking on Sophy Ridge On Sunday, said the UK is in an “extraordinarily strong position” and the “vaccine taskforce has done an absolutely extraordinary job”.
He continued: “Britain has access to a number of different vaccines across a range of different approaches.
“Vaccines come in all different styles and approaches and Britain has got a portfolio of vaccines, through which more than one, I’m sure, will come through in the first quarter of next year.”
Sir Jeremy was also optimistic about better treatments being ready before a vaccine, saying: “I do believe that monoclonal antibodies to treat patients and save lives will be available in the coming months.”