Raphael Stevens

Walmart is debuting the first spring collections from Brandon Maxwell, the fashion designer it hired as creative director for two of its elevated apparel brands, Free Assembly and Scoop.
The new clothing and accessories collections are part of an effort by Walmart to become a destination for affordable fashion — not just the purveyor of socks, T-shirts and other basics.
The big-box retailer called out apparel as one of its strong sales categories in the fiscal fourth quarter.

Walmart is debuting the spring collection of Free Assembly, created by fashion designer Brandon Maxwell.

As shoppers get ready for spring, Walmart is debuting new fashion-forward apparel to try to reel in consumers seeking style on a budget.
The retailer is unveiling the spring collections for Free Assembly and Scoop, two of Walmart’s exclusive apparel brands. The brands are the first from Brandon Maxwell, a fashion designer and judge on Bravo’s “Project Runway.” Maxwell has his own luxury brand and a history of dressing famous women from Michelle Obama to Lady Gaga. Walmart tapped him as the brands’ creative director last spring.

The new collections include clothing and accessories and are rolling out to its website and select stores in the coming weeks. It’s part of Walmart’s ambitious effort to become known as a destination for affordable fashion — not just the purveyor of socks, T-shirts and other basics. Nearly 60% of Walmart’s annual revenue comes from grocery, but apparel, home decor and other general merchandise drive higher profits and can boost the number of items in shoppers’ baskets.
Maxwell said customers will notice elevated details of tops, dresses and other items, such as metal studs, certified vegan leather and unique denim washes. Items in the spring collections range in price from $8 to $75.
“I hope people will feel the quality, which is something we’re really proud of,” he said. “Clothing is an intimate experience, and it’s about how it makes you feel.”
Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private brands for Walmart U.S., said Maxwell’s unique, colorful pieces will help Walmart take a larger share of customers’ closets.
Along with Free Assembly and Scoop, Walmart has two other exclusive, elevated brands: Sofia Jeans, a line developed with actress Sofia Vergara; and Eloquii Elements, a plus-sized women’s line inspired by acquired brand Eloquii. It has added more national brands to its website and stores, too, including athleticwear from Champion and girl’s apparel and accessories from Justice.

Walmart declined to share growth or revenue figures for apparel sales — but there are some signs its strategy is paying off. On last week’s earnings call, CEO Doug McMillon called out apparel as one of the strongest categories in the holiday quarter.

Playing up apparel in stores, online

As the spring collections roll out, Walmart is using its stores and website to promote the private brands.
Free Assembly’s spring collection has nearly 500 pieces across men’s, women’s and kids apparel. The collection will be carried by 1,000 stores — roughly 20% of the retailer’s more than 4,700 U.S. stores. That’s twice as many stores as last spring.
“That’s frankly one of the biggest ways to get exposure to the brands — by increasing the store count — because people see it in the stores and then they buy it online and in stores,” Incandela said.
Scoop’s collection for women will be carried by 500 stores and on Walmart’s website. It includes 56 pieces, ranging from denim and skirts to shoes.
The company’s push into fashion inspired Walmart to acquire Zeekit, a virtual fitting room start-up with technology that can be incorporated into the website.
Walmart is experimenting with how merchandise looks in stores, too. It revamped a store near its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters to showcase Walmart’s owned and national brands. It widened aisles, added lighting and mannequins and put branded shops toward the front.
That design will be used in more stores, according to Incandela.
“We wanted to make product the hero and take away the clutter so that the customer could see the quality and the style of the product — and it’s working,” Incandela said. “The customer is looking for an inspiring shopping experience where they can browse and discover.”

‘A basket enhancer’

Last year, industry-wide apparel sales in the U.S. topped pre-pandemic levels both in dollars and units. Sales in the category rose to a record $246.2 billion last year, a 9% increase from 2019 and a 33% increase from 2020, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm.
The comparisons this spring will be tough as apparel retailers go up against months when Americans spent freely to refresh their wardrobe after getting vaccines and looking forward to more social activity, said Kristen Classi-Zummo, a fashion apparel industry analyst for NPD.
She expects apparel sales to be softer in 2022, with some shoppers splurging on luxury pieces and others hunting for deals.
Incandela said shoppers want vibrant pieces as the weather warms and they crave some sense of normalcy. She said value is important, too, as prices of food and more rise.
“Both collections will position people to be happy and joyful and express themselves in a modern, new way and at exceptional price point as people are mindful of inflation,” she said.
Michael Baker, a retail analyst for D.A. Davidson, said Walmart’s stylish offerings can help “a more moderate income customer trade up a little bit.” While shopping for groceries or running to the store for a lightbulb, she may see a blouse to buy, too, he said.
“I don’t necessarily see it as a traffic driver,” he said. “I see it more as a basket enhancer.”
The fashion push is also a competitive move, after Amazon unseated Walmart to become the country’s top apparel retailer during the pandemic, according to research by Wells Fargo.
Customers may be more likely to turn to Walmart for outfits, as conflicting dynamics of inflation and a reopening economy tug at their wallets and the peak of omicron recedes, Baker said.
“Those headwinds and tailwinds can combine to be a positive for Walmart,” he said. “You have demand — perhaps, those people want to go out and refresh their wardrobe — and then you have the market share potential for Walmart because the consumer is going to feel a little pinched in other places.”
Baker said Walmart is turning to the playbook of Target, a big-box retailer that’s launched successful private fashion brands, made the brands a focal point of its stores and earned a reputation for cheap chic.
Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, is still developing its muscle for fashion and learning how to present apparel in stores, he said. Yet, he continued, selling groceries and trend-forward apparel have a commonality: A short lifespan.
“The big risk for fashion is markdowns,” he said. “Fashion is a perishable.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Bravo and CNBC.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk, via his attorney, accused the SEC of leaking information about a federal investigation in order to retaliate against him for public criticism of the federal financial regulators.
The attorney did not specify, or provide any evidence saying, which investigation or what type of information may have been leaked by the SEC.
The conflict between Musk and the SEC began in September 2018 when the SEC charged Musk with making “false and misleading” statements to investors.

Maja Hitij | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, via his attorney, accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of leaking information about a federal investigation in order to retaliate against him for public criticism of the federal financial regulators.
In a letter on Monday to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, Musk attorney Alex Spiro wrote: “It has become clearer and clearer that the Commission is out to retaliate against my clients for exercising their First Amendment rights—most recently by criticizing the Commission on the public docket and by petitioning this Court for relief.”

The letter comes four days after Musk initially alleged that the SEC was engaged in harassment by continually investigating him, that the agency was trying to chill his right to free speech, and had neglected their duties to remit $40 million to shareholders that Tesla and Musk previously paid in fines to settle securities fraud charges.
Spiro did not specify which investigation or what type of information may have been leaked by the SEC, and to whom. In the letter, he alleged that at least one member of the SEC had leaked “certain information regarding its investigation” without providing any supporting evidence.
Spiro could not be immediately reached for comment. The SEC did not immediately respond for comment.
The conflict between Musk and the SEC began in September 2018 when the SEC charged Musk with making “false and misleading” statements to investors after he wrote on Twitter that August that he had secured enough funding for a massive private buyout of Tesla at $420 a share. The stock seesawed all month and the deal Musk alluded to never materialized.
Musk and Tesla had to pay $20 million in fines each, and Musk was forced to step down as chairman for at least three years as part of a revised settlement agreement the agency reached with the automaker and CEO in 2019. Tesla also had to put in place a system for monitoring Musk’s statements to the public about the company — whether on Twitter, in a blog post or any other medium.

The SEC’s Steven Buchholz replied to the earlier allegations on Friday, saying the agency was actually making progress on the task of disbursing the $40 million to shareholders. He characterized the task as complex and noted that Tesla and Musk had never expressed any concern about remittance before. SEC staff expects to submit a “proposed plan of distribution” to the court for approval by the end of March 2022, he wrote.
Buchholz also wrote that ongoing communication with Tesla was what Nathan and the revised settlement agreement had called for, and that if Musk objected to any subpoena his attorneys should address that in a different motion. There’s a different federal statutory scheme for objecting to a subpoena.
Tesla disclosed in a 2021 fourth-quarter earnings report that the SEC issued a subpoena to the company in November 2021. According to Tesla’s quarterly filing, the agency is seeking information on its “governance processes around compliance with the SEC settlement, as amended.”
Spiro revealed in the letter on Monday some details about that subpoena. He wrote, “the Commission specifically demanded documents concerning my clients’ ‘compliance or non-compliance with Tesla’s disclosure controls and procedures, executive communications policy, external communications policy, other policies or procedures relating to public statements or communications by Tesla executives, or the final judgment or amended final judgment in SEC v. Musk, 1:18-cv-8865-AJN (S.D.N.Y.).’
He also said the SEC issued a separate, but similar subpoena to Musk.
The November subpoena came shortly after Musk polled his tens of millions of Twitter followers in asking if he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla. They voted yes. But a major portion of the sales that followed the Twitter poll were part of a plan that Musk adopted in September 2021.

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The U.K. will roll out an additional Covid vaccine shot for the elderly and its clinically vulnerable population.
From the spring, eligible individuals can get an additional shot provided 6 months have passed since their most recent dose.
The announcement came as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to announce an end to all remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England.

A member of the military vaccinates a woman at the COVID-19 mass vaccination centre at Pentwyn Leisure Centre on February 3, 2021 in Cardiff, Wales.
Matthew Horwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The U.K. will roll out an additional Covid vaccine shot for the elderly and its clinically vulnerable population, the country’s vaccines regulator announced on Monday.
Adults over the age of 75, nursing home residents and immunosuppressed over-12s will be given an extra dose of a Covid vaccine in the spring as a “precautionary strategy for 2022,” Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said in a press release.

Over-18s will be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna Covid vaccine for their spring dose, while 12 to 18-year-olds will be given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine only.
An extra booster shot will be given 6 months after an eligible individual’s most recent dose, the JCVI said.
For older people in the U.K., this will be the fourth vaccine dose they have been offered. For people with a severely weakened immune system, it will be the fifth vaccine shot they have been offered. The bulk of the population has been offered three shots, two vaccinations and one booster.
The regulatory body noted in the release on Monday that “there remains considerable uncertainty with regards to the likelihood, timing and severity of any potential future wave of Covid-19 in the U.K.”
“There may be a transition period of a few years before a stable pattern, such as a regular seasonal wave of infection, is established,” the JCVI said.

Many of the U.K.’s oldest, and most vulnerable, adults received their most recent Covid vaccine in September or October. The JCVI noted that the immunity this group gained through their booster shot may wane substantially before the fall, when it plans to roll out a wider booster program.
Details on the fall program have not yet been publicized.
Of the eligible population in the U.K. — those aged 12 and over — 85% have been fully immunized with two doses of a Covid vaccine, and two-thirds have received a booster shot.
The JCVI’s announcement came as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to announce an end to all remaining Covid restrictions in England, a move which has faced heavy criticism from medical professionals.

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Many of England’s restrictions had already been lifted, but some — such as the legal requirement to self-isolate after testing positive for the virus — currently remain in place.
Johnson is also expected to announce on Monday that access to free Covid tests will be scaled back.
The U.K. recorded 25,696 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, with around 508 people per 100,000 people currently infected with the virus. Provisional data shows that there were 74 deaths in the U.K. due to Covid.
“Thanks to our COVID-19 vaccination rollout, we are already the freest country in Europe,” U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement on Monday. “It has saved countless lives, reduced pressure on the [National Health Service] and is allowing us to learn to live with the virus.”

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Personal finance site NerdWallet ranked the top five most valuable airline and hotel rewards programs based on rate of return on dollars spent.
Alaska Airlines’ Alaska Miles came out on top among carriers, while Radisson Rewards is the best hotel program.
“Travelers who don’t sign up for these loyalty programs can leave significant money on the table,” said NerdWallet travel expert Sam Kemmis.

An Alaska Airlines jet lands at Los Angeles International Airport on Feb. 7, 2022. Alaska’s Alaska Miles topped NerdWallet’s ranking of airline programs for 2022.
George Rose | Getty Images

Ever wonder if you’ve been loyal to the right airline, hotel or other travel provider all this time? Are those rewards points you’ve been diligently racking up the best deal available, or do competitors offer better deals?
It turns out that if you’ve been flying Alaska Airlines to stay at Radisson Hotels, you’ve been reaping the most rewards, according to NerdWallet. The consumer finance site released its rankings for the most valuable airline and hotel rewards programs in 2022, and those two travel suppliers topped the lists.

“The easiest way to think about the value of airline and hotel rewards programs is how much they pay you back per dollar spent,” said Sam Kemmis, travel expert at NerdWallet. “For example, if you earn one point per dollar spent and each point is worth 1 cent, you’re getting 1% back.”
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Alaska’s Mileage Plan, the most valuable airline program in NerdWallet’s analysis, offers 9.1% back, while Radisson Rewards offers 12%. Most airline and hotel programs offer somewhere between 5% and 10% back, Kemmis noted, adding that basically adds up to free cash.
“Travelers who don’t sign up for these loyalty programs can leave significant money on the table,” he said.
Programs from Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Air Lines round out the top five most valuable airline schemes in the NerdWallet rankings. Among hotel programs, World of Hyatt came in second and Wyndham Rewards third, followed by IHG Rewards and then, tied for fifth, Best Western Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. (See chart for details.)

Most Valuable Airline & Hotel Rewards Programs

Airlines
1. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan: 9.1% rate2. Frontier Airlines Frontier Miles: 7.3%3. Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards: 6.6%4. Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles: 6.3%5. Delta Air Lines SkyMiles: 5.4%
Hotels
1. Radisson Rewards Americas: 12%2. World of Hyatt: 9.5%3. Wyndham Rewards: 9%4. IHG Rewards: 8%5. (tie) Best Western Rewards: 7%5. (tie) Marriott Bonvoy: 7%
Source: NerdWallet

Not signing up at all is a mistake, but so is just sitting on rewards points forever, Kemmis cautioned.
“The biggest mistake you can make is to sit on a pile of points and wait for the ‘perfect’ redemption,” he said, noting that while some points and miles expire, all are subject to “devaluation,” which is similar to inflation.
“Travel rewards are a kind of currency that is controlled completely by the airlines, hotels and credit cards that issue them,” Kemmis added. “So if you wait too long to use your points, they could suddenly become much less valuable.”

As great as rewards rates of return are, other factors of course play into which brands and programs travelers choose. The airline offering the most nonstops from your home airport, for example, may have a less generous program but still the most convenient and/or affordable flights. Kemmis said these reasons can run the gamut from elite status perks to sheet thread counts.
In fact, NerdWallet’s overall rankings of airline and hotel rewards programs — as opposed to just “most valuable” — shuffles things up a bit. American Airlines’ AAdvantage program comes in at No. 2 overall, for instance, although Alaska Miles still comes out on top.
But what about credit card points? Why bother with supplier programs when card points can usually be used just about anywhere?

“Credit card and airline/hotel rewards programs are not a zero-sum game; in fact, they often complement each other,” Kemmis said. “If you pay for a flight with a credit card that earns lots of points on travel spending, you’ll earn both credit card points and airline miles for the same trip.”
However, the value of credit card points plummets if you’re paying high interest rates on card balances that never go down.
“You want to make sure you’re paying your cards off in full each month and maintaining a good credit score before you go signing up for new cards,” he noted.

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While India has a well-developed onshore wind sector, there are no operational offshore wind farms in its waters.
Authorities there have said they want 30 gigawatts of offshore wind installations by the year 2030.
In a speech last week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the energy requirements of the country’s population were “expected to nearly double in the next twenty years.”

This image shows onshore wind turbines in Gujarat, India.
Shiv Mer | Istock | Getty Images

German energy giant RWE and India’s Tata Power on Monday announced a collaboration that will focus on developing offshore wind projects in India.
The firms said a memorandum of understanding relating to the plans had been signed by RWE Renewables GmbH and Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited.

“India has excellent wind resources, which can help to meet the country’s increasing energy demands,” Sven Utermöhlen, RWE Renewables’ CEO for offshore wind, said in a statement.
“If clear regulations and an effective tender scheme are in place, we expect India’s offshore wind industry will gain a real momentum,” he said.
According to India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the country is home to roughly 7,600 kilometers of coastline. While India has a well-developed onshore wind sector, there are no operational offshore wind farms in its waters. Authorities there have said they want 30 gigawatts of offshore wind installations by the year 2030.
“The Indian Government is in the process of conducting detailed technical studies and devising the regulatory framework to establish the first auctions for offshore wind of the coast of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat,” RWE and Tata Power said.
The firms added they would undertake technical and commercial site assessments in order to “facilitate the establishment of an offshore wind market.”

They will also look to evaluate India’s supply chain for offshore wind and crucial infrastructure including ports and grid connections.

Read more about clean energy from CNBC Pro

India’s MNRE says it wants the installed capacity of “non-fossil fuels” to hit 500 GW by 2030. Despite this lofty target, the country remains reliant on fossil fuels. As of Dec. 31, fossil fuels’ share of India’s total installed generation capacity stood at 59.8%, according to the Ministry of Power.
At last year’s COP26 climate change summit, India and China, both among the world’s biggest burners of coal, insisted on a last-minute change of fossil fuel language in the Glasgow Climate Pact — from a “phase out” of coal to a “phase down.” After initial objections, opposing countries ultimately conceded.
In a speech delivered to The Energy and Resources Institute’s World Sustainable Development Summit last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he firmly believed that “environmental sustainability can only be achieved through climate justice.”
“Energy requirements of the people of India are expected to nearly double in the next twenty years,” Modi said. “Denying this energy would be denying life itself to millions. Successful climate actions also need adequate financing.”
He added: “For this, developed countries need to fulfil their commitments on finance and technology transfer.” More

Beam Suntory said its 2021 sales rose 11%, fueled by the company’s shift to high-end spirits.
CEO Albert Baladi said in an interview that consumers who buy premium liquor are less price sensitive, so the company won’t alienate them with price hikes to fight inflation.
In addition to pricier liquor, the company is also expanding its offering of ready-to-drink products.

Bottles of Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey stand on display during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, Jan. 30, 2020.
Noriko Hayashi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In the last three years, Knob Creek bourbon has restored the nine-year age statement on its bottles, updated its label design and started selling 12-year and 15-year versions of its whiskey. Prices used to range from $25 to $50 a bottle, but now a bottle can set customers back anywhere from $36 to nearly $200.
It’s all part of Beam Suntory’s strategy to shift to higher-end spirits. It’s paying off for the company, which saw sales rise 11% in 2021. And as customers pay more for their spirits, they’re less sensitive to price hikes to offset inflation.

In the United States, the company’s 2021 sales rose by high-single digits, fueled by demand for its premium spirits. The company also said sales from wholesalers to retailers, which indicates real-time consumer demand, climbed by double digits during the year.
One success story for the company’s high-end strategy is its Bowmore Scotch whisky, which saw its volume climb 16% and its sales soar about 50%. To raise its prestige, the brand has partnered with luxury automaker Aston Martin on several occasions, including launching one of the rarest single malt whiskies together in 2020. A bottle of Bowmore sold for a record $532,340 at the Distillers’ One of One charity auction in December, demonstrating the perceived value for a rare whisky from the brand.
Worldwide, Beam Suntory’s sales rose 11% in 2021 compared with the year-ago period and on a two-year basis. Because the company is privately owned, it isn’t required to disclose its financial results like many of its publicly traded competitors.
“Two years ago, in 2020, we weren’t as affected as a lot of companies, so the bounce back isn’t as strong as some of the other numbers that you’re still seeing, but still I think double-digits against 2019 is quite powerful,” Beam Suntory CEO Albert Baladi said in an interview.
For comparison, rival Diageo reported 20% organic sales growth for the first half of its fiscal 2022 compared with the year-ago period.

Despite its strong sales performance, Beam Suntory wasn’t immune to many of the challenges facing the broader spirits industry. Sales in Japan were up by midsingle digits, but government restrictions weighed on demand. Glass supply constraints hurt supplies of some Jim Beam bottle sizes. And inflation cut into profits.
Baladi said that some of its brands raised their prices twice in 2021 to offset higher costs, and its American whiskey portfolio led the industry with its price hikes.
“The fact that we’re premiumizing our business, and we’re increasingly playing at the premium end of the price tiers provides a bit of a shield,” Baladi said. “These price tiers are less sensitive about pricing than others.”
So far, the company hasn’t seen any changes to consumer demand for its pricier bottles, although Baladi pointed out that the spirits industry performs well in most economic conditions. Raising prices also serves as encouragement for the company to keep up its efforts to upgrade its spirits, according to Baladi.
Looking to 2022, Baladi said the company is looking at raising prices again. January’s consumer price index climbed 7.5% compared with the same time a year ago, surpassing the company’s prediction for inflation.
As Beam Suntory invests in upgrading its spirits, it’s also trying to keep with consumer demand for ready-to-drink products, which have an unexpected upside for its business.
“The premiumization of the business, particularly in spirits, is cash and capital intensive, and ready-to-drink generates cash,” Baladi said. “So ready-to-drink is not only smack in line with consumer trends, but at the same time, it generates cash that can be invested in the capacity, the warehouses, the aged liquid and everything else we have to do to fuel the premiumization strategy.”
Last year, across the industry, premixed cocktail sales saw the fastest growth of any spirit category, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.
As part of its efforts to expand its ready-to-drink offerings, Beam Suntory partnered with Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer to bring each company’s brands into new categories. Ready-to-drink cocktails under Beam Suntory’s Sauza brand will start shipping out in March, while Truly Vodka is expected to hit shelves in March and April.

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U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday is expected to announce an end to all remaining Covid legal restrictions in England.
Physicians have expressed concern over the government’s “living with Covid” plan.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, Johnson said the rule change will mark a “moment of pride after one of the most difficult periods in our country’s history.”

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Tobias Hase | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday will laud the lifting of all remaining Covid restrictions in England as a “moment of pride” as he sets out the government’s long-term plan for living with the virus, prompting concern among public health specialists and opposition lawmakers.
The move will see the legal requirement to self-isolate for up to 10 days after testing positive dropped a month earlier than planned. The government is also controversially expected to scale back access to free Covid tests.

It comes just one day after Britain’s Queen Elizabeth tested positive for Covid. The 95-year-old monarch is experiencing mild symptoms, according to Buckingham Palace. The queen is widely believed to have had three shots of coronavirus vaccine, but only the first was formally acknowledged.
Physicians have expressed concern over the government’s “living with Covid” plan, with the opposition Labour Party questioning the decision to phase out free lateral flow tests.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, Johnson said the rule change will mark a “moment of pride after one of the most difficult periods in our country’s history.”
“The pandemic is not over but thanks to the incredible vaccine rollout we are now one step closer towards a return to normality and finally giving people back their freedoms while continuing to protect ourselves and others,” Johnson said.
The prime minister will meet with his Cabinet on Monday morning before updating lawmakers in the House of Commons. A press conference is expected to be held later in the day.

Considerable uncertainty

Downing Street says it is in a “strong position” to consider lifting remaining legal restrictions in England following its vaccination program. It added the pandemic “is not over” and the government would continue to take a cautious approach in learning to live with the virus.
More than 81% of adults have now received a booster vaccine dose in England, while cases continue to fall after the record highs caused by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The seven-day average of new Covid cases in the U.K. had fallen to below 43,000 cases on Feb. 20, down from a peak of around 183,000 on Jan. 5.
To date, the U.K. has recorded more than 18.7 million Covid cases and 161,148 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.K. ranks among the countries with the highest Covid death toll worldwide.
An open letter from around 300 scientists and medics published Sunday called into question the scientific basis for the government’s decision to end free testing, surveillance surveys and legal isolation of Covid cases.
The letter’s signatories have requested clarity from the government’s scientific advisors on the advice underpinning these decisions.
The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies has said there is considerable uncertainty about the path the pandemic will now take in the U.K.

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“Boris Johnson is declaring victory before the war is over, in an attempt to distract from the police knocking at his door,” Labour’s health spokesman Wes Streeting said via Twitter on Saturday.
Downing Street confirmed last week that Johnson had submitted a written response to police questions about parties held over the last two years. The prime minister has so far resisted repeated calls to resign from across the political spectrum, despite public anger over a long and growing list of alleged lockdown breaches.
Meanwhile, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said on Monday that any decision to end the free Covid testing program in England would be “premature and reckless.”
“Any decision to effectively turn off the tap on our National Testing Programme with no future plans in place to reactivate it would put people at risk. This is not acceptable,” Drakeford said.
Health and care policy is devolved across the U.K., with different provisions made in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

An all-or-nothing approach?

Public health specialists and infectious disease epidemiologists at the WHO have urged policymakers to resist an “all or nothing” approach to public health restrictions.
“We do recognize this desire to open up, this desire to go back to normal. But if that desire to go back to completely normal in that sense is going to sustain this pandemic going forward for much longer than it needs to be then we really need to think about that,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said last week.
“If we get hit with another variant and we’ve already abandoned all measures, it is going to be really hard to put anything back in place,” he added.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said on Thursday that some countries were in a better position to lift Covid measures because they have high levels of vaccination coverage and high levels of population immunity. “But, in many countries, it is ill-advised to lift everything all at once.”
She added: “We just need to have countries not do this all-or-nothing approach because it is confusing and I don’t blame anyone out there that is confused.”

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