'Hands, face, space' slogan set to be replaced with 'keep life moving'

21 July 2021, 07:44 | Updated: 21 July 2021, 10:02

The Government's “hands, face, space” Coronavirus slogan will be dropped and people will instead be told to “keep life moving," it is reported today.

Brits will be told they need to “keep life moving” this summer according to the Times, despite concerns that the NHS Covid app 'pingdemic' is causing widespread disruption.

There was confusion yesterday with No10 forced to slap down a minister who said it was up to individuals to make an “informed decision”.

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Small business minister Paul Scully told LBC yesterday: “You legally have to isolate if you are contacted by the NHS in terms of contact tracing or if you’re claiming self-isolation payments.

“But the app is there to allow you to make informed decisions. It should be there for the employer and employee to have those sorts of conversations.”

But hours later a No10 spokesman said: “Isolation remains the most important action people can take to stop the spread of the virus. Given the risk of having and spreading the virus when people have been in contact with someone, it is crucial people isolate when they are told to do so, either by test and trace or by the NHS app.

"Businesses should be supporting employees to isolate, they should not be encouraging them to break isolation.”

Official figures released yesterday showed that as of 9am on Tuesday, there had been a further 46,558 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK.

A further 96 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday, the highest reported daily figure since March 24, bringing the UK total to 128,823.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 154,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Government data up to July 19 shows that of the 82,592,996 Covid jabs given in the UK, 46,349,709 were first doses, a rise of 35,670 on the previous day.

Some 36,243,287 were second doses, an increase of 143,560.