COVID-19:

Coronavirus cases are rising in these 34 areas

5,000 attend Barcelona concert after same-day COVID test

5,000 people attended a rock concert in Barcelona on Saturday intended to examine the effectiveness of same-day COVID tests in preventing outbreaks at large gatherings.

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  • Quarter of Covid deaths not caused by virus, new figures show

    Almost a quarter of registered Covid deaths are people who are not dying from the disease, new official figures show, as the Government was urged to move faster with the roadmap in the light of increasingly positive data. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 23 per cent of coronavirus deaths registered are now people who have died "with" the virus rather than "from" an infection. This means that, while the person who died will have tested positive for Covid, that was not the primary cause of their death recorded on the death certificate. Other data also shows an increasingly positive picture of the state of the pandemic in the UK. Daily death figures by "date of death" reveal that Britain has had no more than 28 deaths a day since the beginning of April, even though the government-announced deaths have been as high as 60. This is because the Government gives a daily update on deaths based on the number reported that day, which can include deaths from days or weeks previously and therefore may not reflect the true decline in deaths. On Tuesday, the Government announced that there had been 23 further deaths.

  • Biden’s White House communications strategy is driving Republicans insane

    In the words of one House Republican campaign operative, ‘It’s a nightmare’

  • COVID-19: Mix and match vaccine study extended to include Moderna and Novavax jabs

    A study assessing the benefits of mixing and matching coronavirus vaccines has been extended to include the Moderna and Novavax jabs. The Com-Cov study, led by the University of Oxford, has been investigating the immune responses of volunteers given a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by the Pfizer jab - and vice versa. The volunteers, who will have received either an AstraZeneca or a Pfizer dose, will be randomly allocated to receive either the same vaccine for their second jab, or a dose of the Moderna or Novavax vaccines.

  • Prince Philip showed 'sense of humour' and was 'kind and firm' in school reports

    Prince Philip's love of sailing was also fostered during his time at Gordonstoun, in Scotland.

  • Snakes and lettuce: Australian couple find venomous snake in their Aldi fresh produce

    Snakes and lettuce: Australian couple find venomous snake in their Aldi fresh produce. After finding the baby pale-headed snake, Alexander White had a troubling thought: ‘What if the snake has come from something else?’

  • EU parliament again refuses to set date for ratifying Brexit trade deal amid concerns over UK conduct

    Senior MEP says ‘cool heads must prevail’ in holding UK to commitments

  • Homophobic couple jailed for torturing gay magistrate in his own home and forcing fire poker down his throat

    A couple who tortured late magistrate Vince McMahan in a violent homophobic attack have been jailed for a total of nearly six years.

  • Burkina Faso ex-president Compaoré to be tried for Thomas Sankara's 1987 murder

    In Burkina Faso, judges have ruled that exiled former president Blaise Compaoré must stand trial for his role in the assassination of Thomas Sankara, whom he overthrew in a coup d'état in 1987. Also, a Tuareg leader in Mali has been shot dead in the capital Bamako. Sidi Brahim Ould Sidati was a key figure in a 2015 peace accord. And in a major step forward for the protection of women and children in Gabon, customary marriages are finally recognised by the state.

  • ‘If we don’t support them we’ll never get them back’: Punters brave Covid and the cold in return to the pub

    After months of disruption, Vincent Wood reports, a minority of the nation’s pubs are getting back to business – weather permitting

  • Queen will have to sit alone at Prince Philip's funeral because of strict Covid rules

    The Queen faces the prospect of having to sit on her own during the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral because of strict Covid rules, it has emerged. The law states that anyone attending a funeral must stay at least two metres apart from anyone who is not part of their household, meaning all members of the Royal family will have to spread out in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Queen is not eligible to be in a support bubble because she does not live on her own, meaning the only person who could sit with her during the service would be a member of her Windsor Castle staff. The Duke’s private secretary, Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, is expected to be one of the 30 mourners allowed at the ceremony, and as a member of “HMS Bubble” at Windsor may be the only attendee eligible by law to sit with the Queen.

  • Busted's Matt Willis claims Church of Scientology tried to break up his marriage to Emma Willis

    The Busted singer said he was vulnerable after leaving rehab for substance abuse and was 'hoodwinked' by Scientologists.

  • Public ready to accept vaccine passports – and keep them after pandemic is over

    Exclusive: Almost a third think Boris Johnson is ending lockdown too soon

  • Firm offers discounted PCR tests for holidaymakers

    The plan came after the travel industry expressed concern that testing requirements would make foreign holidays unaffordable for many people.

  • Latest weekly Covid-19 rates for local authority areas in England

    Some 40 out of 315 local areas have seen a week-on-week rise in rates.

  • Queen returns to royal duties following death of Prince Philip

    The Queen has returned to royal duties, just a few days after the death of the Duke of Edinburgh to mark the retirement of her household’s most senior official. The monarch was back working on Tuesday holding her first in-person event since Philip’s passing on Friday, and hosted a ceremony as the Earl Peel formally stood down as Lord Chamberlain. Returning to her official role so soon after her bereavement typifies the Queen’s deep sense of duty and service.

  • Trump caught on audio mocking Michelle Obama’s looks to giggling GOP hierarchy at Mar-a-Lago

    Leaked recording from RNC fundraiser reveals ‘uproarious’ laughter from sponsors for ridicule of former first lady

  • 'Rapping jihadi' who boasted about wanting to behead British soldiers sentenced to 19 years in prison

    A jihadist who plotted a lone-wolf knife attack has been jailed for life after a judge said he ought to have turned his back on extremism when two of his brothers were killed fighting for Islamic State in Syria. Sahayb Abu, an aspiring rapper, bought an 18-inch sword, a knife and combat clothing as he prepared to strike last summer. The 27-year-old, who is the fifth member of his family to be linked to extremism, also used a rap song to boast about wanting to behead British soldiers. Abu’s half-brothers, Wail and Suleyman Aweys, were killed in Syria after leaving the UK to fight for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS). His half-sister, Asma Aweys, 32, was jailed in January 2019, alongside her partner Abdulaziz Abu Munye, 29, and half brother Ahmed Aweys, 34, after she called Ariana Grande 'the devil' in the wake of the Manchester Arena attack in a family WhatsApp chat. Asma was imprisoned for 19 months for collecting terrorist information, while her partner received 15 months for dissemination. Ahmed was jailed for 25 months for also disseminating terrorist material. Last month an Old Bailey jury found Abu guilty of preparing to engage in terrorist acts and on Tuesday he was jailed for life and told he would have to spend a minimum of 19-years behind bars.

  • ‘A tsunami of cases’: desperation as Covid second wave batters India

    ‘A tsunami of cases’: desperation as Covid second wave batters India. Doctors speak of a new variant of the virus that appears to be spreading faster than ever before

  • English universities despair as in-person teaching ruled out before 17 May

    English universities despair as in-person teaching ruled out before 17 MayMove likely to fuel demands for compensation with students saying they have already missed outCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Students walk past Coventry University library. University leaders had hoped to persuade ministers to ease Covid restrictions in line with the lifting of other lockdown measures in England. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

  • Kate could act as peacemaker between William and Harry on day of Prince Philip's funeral

    The Duke of Cambridge will not be reunited with Prince Harry until the day of their grandfather's funeral, when the Duchess of Cambridge is expected to act as peacemaker between the royal brothers. The siblings are understood to have spoken on the telephone since Harry landed in the UK on Sunday, and hope to finally see each other in the flesh on Saturday morning, ahead of the 3pm ceremony at Windsor Castle. It will be their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year and comes after Harry and Meghan gave an interview to the US chat show host Oprah Winfrey suggesting an unnamed royal had queried Archie's skin tone and describing William as "trapped" in the monarchy. Sources close to both couples insist that they will be putting their differences aside for the sake of the Queen as the family gathers at St George’s Chapel to remember the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on Friday, aged 99.