New regional R-values 'suggest easing lockdown has not led to a second wave'

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12:24 AM

Figures show R value has increased

The R value, which is the number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect, has increased within England, according to new Government figures. 

Data released by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has revealed that the R value is now between 0.8 and 1 in England, up from between 0.8 and 0.9 last week.

Regional figures suggest that in areas such as the Midlands and London,  the R value has dropped slightly. Meanwhile in areas such as the East of England, there has been a slight increase. 

The figures also show that the overall growth rate - which reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day - is decreasing. 

Professor James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, said that the figures could suggest that the easing of lockdown has not resulted in a second spike of cases. 

He said:  "That the number of cases is falling slightly is to be welcomed. This suggests, that so far, relaxation of the lockdown has not precipitated a second wave."

"It has to be emphasised that no one knows what the safe level of relaxation is for the UK and there is a delay between action and consequence. The virus is here and we could easily see a surge in cases if a mistake is made."

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10:01 PM

Evening summary

That's it from the Telegraph's Global Health Security team this evening. Here’s a run-down of today’s main developments.

UK coronavirus news:

• The UK's death toll now stands at 44,650 – a rise of 48. A total of 288,133 people have now tested positive for the virus in Britain.

• Face masks will become mandatory in shops and enclosed spaces, Boris Johnson has indicated, as he said it was time for the country to “go back to work”. 

• Britain turned down the chance to join a 2.4 billion-euro EU plan to secure advance purchases of promising Covid-19 vaccines.
• An ONS survey of 2,500 people found just 20pc of adults are comfortable with eating at restaurants – either indoors or outdoors.
• Public health chiefs in Cumbria have issued a warning after a "small but concerning rise" in the number of infections in the Carlisle area.
• An increase in confirmed cases of young people in south Liverpool has led public health officials to warn the illness can infect anyone.
• Coronavirus spreads fastest at 4C government scientists have decided, amid mounting concern over the threat of a winter resurgence.

Global coronavirus news:

• Brazil registered 45,048 additional coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours and 1,214 new deaths, the health ministry said on Friday. The nation has now registered 1,800,827 total confirmed cases and 70,398 deaths attributable to the virus

• Covid-19 is likely spreading through the air to some degree, the United States' top infectious disease official said today.
• Lebanon recorded 71 new infections in 24 hours, the health minister said today, calling it a frightening number.
• France has become the sixth country to report a death toll of more than 30,000 from Covid-19.
• Italy will likely extend its state of emergency beyond the current deadline of July 31 due to the new coronavirus crisis.
• Health officials and suppliers are facing a run on oxygen cylinders in Pakistan, blaming hoarding during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Serbia has been removed from England's list of quarantine-free countries on the very day the policy has come into force. 

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09:48 PM

New 'war on plastic waste' needed as pandemic fuels surge in single-use items

A new war on single-use plastics has been declared by ministers amid mounting concern the coronavirus pandemic is undoing Britain's progress on recycling and pollution, Helena Horton reports.

The Telegraph can reveal that the Government is investigating reusable and biodegradable PPE in a bid to cut down on plastic waste.

The coronavirus pandemic has fueled an increase in single-use plastics, and campaigners have warned billions of disposable masks and gloves could end up in the ocean.

Read the full story here.

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09:37 PM

How do coronavirus home antibody tests work, and how do I get one?

Superdrug became the first high-street retailer to offer a Covid-19 antibody test and numerous websites offer similar tests, including Lloyds Pharmacy.

The testing kit costs £69 and users take a blood sample at home which is then sent off to an accredited laboratory for testing. 

However, Superdrug has suspended sales of its antibody finger prick tests following warnings from a health regulator about the reliability of such tests.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that people who have so far used a finger prick antibody test “should not consider the results to be reliable and should not take any action on it”.

Several websites are offering at-home antibody testing kits, but are they reliable? Read more here.

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09:25 PM

Baseless Portugal travel ban will cause lasting damage, warns ambassador

The Portuguese ambassador has accused Britain of causing “immense” and potentially “lasting” damage to his country with its travel ban, as he claimed its decision was based on unclear science.

Writing for The Telegraph, Manuel Lobo ­Antunes said he would “make no attempt” to hide his disappointment at the British government’s decision to exclude Portugal from a list of 74 places exempted from the UK’s 14-day quarantine.

Read the full story by Charles Hymas and Jorge Branco here. 

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09:09 PM

Florida set to reopen Disney World despite sharp rise in cases

Florida reported its second sharpest daily rise in cases today, while Walt Disney Co. prepared to reopen its flagship theme park in Orlando.

Florida recorded 11,433 new coronavirus cases, the state health department said.

The state experienced the surge after initially avoiding the worst of the outbreak that hit New York and other northeastern US states. Friday's total was just short of the state's record high for new cases, set last Saturday.

The Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando will open to a limited number of guests on Saturday. To lower the risks, visitors and employees will have to wear masks and undergo temperature checks, and the resort will not hold parades, fireworks displays and other activities that draw crowds.

The chart below shows cases rising after the reopening of the state in May.

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08:56 PM

Leicester jobs threatened by lack of Government help

Firms and jobs in locked-down Leicester are being threatened by a lack of Government help as the rest of the country opens up for businesses, the Leicester East MP has said.

Labour's Claudia Webbe wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging him to provide "desperately needed financial support" for the city, whose residents are "anxious and confused" as the rest of England enjoys a gradual loosening of restrictions.

The city became the first place in the country to have tight restrictions reimposed on June 30, after a spike in Covid-19 infections.

The chart below shows how Leicester's lockdown compares to the rest of the UK.

 

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08:47 PM

Expert reaction: Face masks could be 'pretense to ease the lockdown to help the economy'

The Prime Minister hinted today that face masks could become mandatory in shops during People's PMQs event.

Dr Antonio Lazzarino, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL, has answered some of your pressing questions around the use of masks.

• How strong is the evidence on the effectiveness of face coverings in reducing transmission of Covid-19?

“The evidence has not changed in the last few weeks; it’s still extremely weak.  The question is why politicians may be changing their minds now.  My worry is that masks are a pretense to ease the lockdown to help the economy.  But this may well happen at the expense of people’s health.  Lockdown is the only measure that is proven to work."

• Are face coverings as important as e.g. hand washing and social distancing?

"There is no research in this area.  What’s clear is that wearing a mask is not compatible with having uncontaminated hands, as it is practically impossible not to touch your mask.  So the question about which one is more important is extremely relevant and needs to be addressed."

• Is the Government correct to consider about making masks mandatory in shops?

“Close(d) places should be avoided. We don’t know if – for example – 1m distance with masks is safer than 2m without. If masks make people get closer, they may be dangerous.... Whatever the effect of masks is, this measure was taken too late, as the epidemic is falling down already. We cannot assess the effectiveness of measures taken at this stage of the outbreak.”

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08:32 PM

Staff could get legal right to work from home, says Matt Hancock

Ministers could legislate to give people a legal right to work from home, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said on Friday.

Mr Hancock said the coronavirus pandemic had made flexible working the "new norm" and was something all "good employers" should accommodate moving forward.

Asked in a webchat with members of women's club AllBright if he would consider enforcing this through Government legislation, Mr Hancock replied "yes".

Read the full story by Christopher Hope, here.

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08:26 PM

In pictures: Coronavirus pandemic around the world

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07:58 PM

Coronavirus thrives at 4C, scientists find, raising fears of winter resurgence

Coronavirus spreads fastest at 4C government scientists have decided, amid mounting concern over the threat of a winter resurgence, Henry Bodkin reports.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) is understood to be focusing on the precise temperature as Melbourne, which is currently in its coldest month, re-entered a six-week lockdown due to a steep spike in cases, as shown below.

On Friday, a senior member said Covid-19 “likes” four degrees best - “it survives well at four degrees [celsius]”.

The view, which helps explain how the virus exploded around the UK in February and March, was later supported by independent scientists.

Read the full story here.

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07:37 PM

China suspends imports from three shrimp producers over Covid-19 fears

China's customs authority has said it was suspending imports from three shrimp producers in Ecuador after detecting the new coronavirus in recent shipments.

It said samples taken from shipments from Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila SA, Empacreci SA and Empacadora Del Pacifico Sociedad Anonima Edpacif had produced six positive results. However, tests on the frozen shrimp and inner packaging were negative.

The companies did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

The findings are the first positive results announced by Beijing since it began testing imported frozen foods for presence of the virus.

"After nucleic acid sequence analysis and expert judgement, the test results suggested that the container environment and the outer packaging of the goods of the three companies were at risk of contamination by the new coronavirus, and the companies' food safety management system was not in order," the General Administration of Customs said in a statement on its website.

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07:16 PM

Expert reaction: Young people should wear masks to protect others

The Prime Minister hinted today that face masks could become mandatory in shops during People's PMQs event.

But how effective would wearing a mask in a store be at preventing the spread of the virus?

Adam Finn, professor of Paediatrics, University of Bristol, said we can be "confident that wearing face coverings in crowded places will reduce the likelihood" of droplets generated by coughs or sneezes being breathed in by others.

He said: "The more efficient the face covering is at catching the droplets, the better it will work. So if you are in a shop and everyone else is wearing a mask, you should feel safer than if they aren’t.

“Most masks will do a much less efficient job of protecting the wearer from breathing in droplets and no mask will stop you infecting yourself with your hands – in fact if you spend a lot of time touching and adjusting your mask and your hands are contaminated, they could even increase your risk of self inoculation.

“So wearing masks is all about protecting others – especially if you are a young person, because young people are much more likely to have the infection without realising...

“If we all get used to wearing masks and keeping our hands clean then it will be easier to keep the virus under control while resuming a more normal life."

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06:58 PM

Coronavirus UK, in pictures

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06:34 PM

No fines issued by police for quarantine despite policy costing tourist industry £650 million a week

No fines have been issued by police for people breaching quarantine, new figures show, as forces have largely abandoned enforcing coronavirus rules.

In the four weeks since the 14 day self isolation policy was introduced on June 8, police have not exercised their power to fine people £1,000 and only three fines of £100 have been issued by Border Force.

Two British nationals were fined at Coquelles, near Calais, in northern France, on June 28, while a European was issued a penalty in Hull the following day.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated quarantine cost the tourist industry up to £650 million a week.

Charles Hymas has the latest here. 

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06:16 PM

France joins six other countries with more than 30,000 Covid-19 deaths

France has become the sixth country to report a death toll of more than 30,000 from Covid-19.

The health ministry said in a statement that 25 people had died from coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, boosting the cumulative total since early March to 30,004.

Friday's increase compares to an average increase of 15 in the previous seven days. In June, France counted on average 34 new deaths per day, in May 143 and in April 695.

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 fell by 115 to 7,062, continuing a weeks-long downtrend, and the number of people in intensive care units fell by 16 to 496, the first time the ICU count fell below 500 since mid-March.

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06:07 PM

PM sets face mask example during constituency visit

Boris Johnson has been pictured wearing a face covering while visiting businesses in his constituency on Friday.

The Prime Minister wrote on Twitter: "It was great to visit some local businesses in Uxbridge today, and see how they've been working hard to make their premises Covid-19 Secure.

"If you're out this weekend be sure to follow the guidelines on social distancing."

It came after he suggested rules on face coverings could be tightened during a People's Prime Minister's Questions event online, hinting the public may soon have to wear them in shops.

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06:02 PM

Serbia announces record Covid-19 daily death toll

Serbia announced a record coronavirus death toll for a single day on Friday, as the government hit back at protests over its handling of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the Balkan state recorded 18 fatalities and 386 new cases over 24 hours in what she described as a "dramatic increase."

At the same time, Ms Brnabic slammed as "irresponsible" protests held for a third straight day in Belgrade and other cities on Thursday, after demonstrations in the capital on the previous two days had spilled over into violence.

"With regard to the demonstrations, there is no more irresponsible behaviour right now," said Ms Brnabic.

"We shall see the results of the protests in three to four days," she said and called on people "to respect the measures in place" to restrict the spread of the virus.

Protesters have given vent to their frustration with President Aleksandar Vucic, who is seen by many as having facilitated a virus second wave by lifting an initial lockdown so that elections could be held on June 21.

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05:51 PM

Hampstead Heath's four outdoor ponds to reopen from Saturday

Pools in one of the country's favourite open spaces will welcome visitors on Saturday but others will stay closed, with the Government said to have made the announcement on reopening with no prior warning.

Hampstead Heath's four outdoor swimming facilities will reopen with a new online booking system following Government guidelines about outdoor pools announced on Thursday.

The Heath's Ladies', Men's and Mixed Bathing Ponds as well as the Parliament Hill Fields Lido will initially be limited to early morning sessions as the City of London Corporation tests new safety procedures.

Another pool reopening is Charlton Lido in south-east London, which will welcome a small number of guest swimmers on Saturday ahead of a general opening to the public from Monday.

But Everyone Active, which manages five outdoor pools on behalf of local authorities in Plymouth, Hemel Hempstead, Stroud and Ashby-de-la-Zouche, said its facilities will be among those remaining shut.

A spokeswoman for Everyone Active, said: "We had no prior warning of the announcement date, and therefore we are discussing with our respective local authority partners the arrangements for reopening at the moment."

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05:33 PM

Russia's Covid-19 deaths for May double original figures

Russia's state statistics agency has said at least 7,444 people died in May due to the coronavirus, a figure more than double that previously reported by the country's health officials.

Russia came in for criticism in May when it was reporting very few deaths in comparison to other European countries.

Officials attributed the low figures to Russia's rapid response to the pandemic.

The country's health authorities, which have been giving daily figures since March, earlier said that 3,633 people died from the coronavirus in May.

The state statistics agency, which gives demographic data with a delay, on Friday gave vastly different numbers for that month.

It said the coronavirus was either confirmed or assumed as the "main cause of death" for 7,444 people who died in May.

A further 5,008 people who had a coronavirus diagnosis died of other diseases, though the virus was the "catalyst" in the deaths of 1,530 in this group. The agency said the total number of deaths this May was 172,914 across Russia, which was more than 18,000 greater than the same month last year.

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05:12 PM

Bogota to initiate local lockdowns as virus cases rise

The Colombian capital Bogota will initiate strict, rolling two-week quarantines in certain neighborhoods starting Monday to curb the spread of coronavirus, as cases rise and intensive care units fill, the mayor said today.

The country has reported just under 134,000 cases of Covid-19 and 4,714 deaths. More than 32 per cent of cases have occurred in the capital, along with a fifth of deaths.

"Nobody in Colombia has the same challenge we do," Mayor Claudia Lopez said in a video broadcast.

Eight neighborhoods will enter quarantine on Monday, Mr Lopez said, with another four neighborhoods beginning lockdown on July 27 and a final three entering quarantine on August 10.

The measures are a return to those declared in late March by President Ivan Duque as part of an ongoing national quarantine. The lockdown is set to continue until Aug. 1, but many restrictions have already been lifted, especially in municipalities without any recorded coronavirus cases.

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04:54 PM

Health Secretary says vaccine procurement will be 'faster' outside of EU scheme

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has confirmed that the UK will not join an EU scheme to procure a coronavirus vaccine if one is successfully developed.

Mr Hancock said that signing up to the EU programme would have meant abandoning Britain's own procurement programmes, which were more developed.

"We have chosen not to join the EU scheme on vaccine purchase. The reason is that it wouldn't have allowed us to have a say in the vaccines that were procured, the price, the quantity of the delivery schedule," he told Times Radio.

"We are further ahead than the EU schemes are. We would have joined the EU scheme if they had allowed us also to continue with our own negotiations, but one of the conditions of the scheme was that we would have had to stop our own negotiations and only do them through the European Commission, and we weren't prepared to do that.

"We think we will go faster this way."

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04:48 PM

WHO: 'Unlikely we can eradicate the virus'

Dr Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization's emergencies programme, has said it was unlikely that Covid-19 would be eliminated.

"In the current situation it is unlikely we can eradicate this virus," he told an online briefing from Geneva.

He said that, by extinguishing clusters of infection, the world could "potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to move backwards in terms of lockdown".

He added that an outbreak of pneumonia in Kazakhstan, reported to be highly lethal, was "certainly on our radar".

But he also said it was possible it might be Covid-19.

"The upward trajectory of Covid-19 in the country would suggest that many of these cases are in fact undiagnosed cases of Covid-19," he said.

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04:40 PM

White House coronavirus coordinator urges mask wearing

Deborah Birx, White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, has urged the use of masks among people living in counties and metro areas where more than 5 percent of Covid-19 tests are positive.

"We really believe (in) ...the uniform use of masks in all metros and in all areas with rising new infections, particularly counties and metros with over 5 per cent positivity," Birx said in a video panel session for a Covid-19 conference organised by the International AIDS Society.

There are 13 states where both case rates and the percent of positive tests are rising, she said.

President Donald Trump has refused to wear a mask publicly or ask Americans to do so, although he has said he would if he was in a crowd and could not distance himself. Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the task force, has urged greater mask wearing.

• Read more: US death toll starts to rise again, reversing three-month fall

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04:33 PM

UK turns down EU vaccine initiative

Britain has turned down the chance to join a 2.4 billion-euro European Union plan to secure advance purchases of promising Covid-19 vaccines, saying it would not have had a say over the programme.

"The UK government has decided on this occasion not to join this internal EU initiative, but given our shared interest in ensuring that vaccines are available to all, we are committed to strengthening our collaboration with the EU outside the framework," Britain's ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, said.

• How far away is a coronavirus vaccine? Latest news on UK and US trials

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04:28 PM

Increase in young people testing positive in Liverpool

An increase in confirmed cases of young people with coronavirus in south Liverpool has led public health officials to warn the illness can infect anyone.

There have been around 30 cases in the area over the last fortnight, with half of them in people aged 15-24.

Matt Ashton, Liverpool's director of public health, said: "Everyone is at risk of Covid-19 but we know that there is a perception among younger people that they are less at risk.

"The easing of the lockdown means this is a really dangerous moment for case numbers and we need people not to let their guard down and throw away all of the sacrifices we have made since March.

"We owe it to each other to take precautions and look after each other, regardless of their age."

Places affected include Belle Vale, Childwall, Woolton, Knotty Ash, Allerton and Hunts Cross, as well as Haleswood in Knowsley.

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04:21 PM

'We are ringing the alarm bell', say Lebanon health officials as infections rise

Lebanon recorded 71 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, the highest daily total yet, the health minister said today, calling it a frightening number and urging people to wear masks in crowded places.

Lebanon has recorded just over 2,000 cases of coronavirus and 36 deaths since February.

"We are ringing the alarm bell," Health Minister Hamad Hassan told Reuters, saying the tally of new infections over two days was 135.

Hassan attributed the spike partly to expatriates who have arrived since the airport was reopened on July 1. One of these had infected 12 people at a wedding and another had infected 12 at a funeral, he said.

A second cluster of infections had appeared among nurses and doctors at hospitals and a third among refuse collectors. 

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04:07 PM

Czech Republic cases rise after local outbreaks

The number of coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic has climbed to more than 13,000, according to Health Ministry data, after a recent uptick in infections in local outbreaks in the central European country.

The country of 10.7 million has reported a total of 13,001 cases, as of Friday at 1530 GMT, since the outbreak began in March. Of those, 8,208 have recovered and 352 have died.

The Czech Republic is on the UK's list of approved countries for travel and it does not currently have any restrictions on arriving travellers.

• Mapped: The 23 countries you can actually visit right now

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03:58 PM

Cumbria issues warning over rise in infections

Public health chiefs in Cumbria have issued a warning after a "small but concerning rise" in the number of Covid-19 infections in the Carlisle area.

Data released today shows there were 18 new cases per 100,000 residents in Carlisle in the week ending July 3, compared with eight new cases the week before.

More data shows that from July 1 to 7 there were 21 positive coronavirus cases in Carlisle district area, with just an additional 10 positive Covid-19 cases across the rest of Cumbria.

Claire King, consultant in public health at Cumbria County Council, said: "After a steady overall decline, the rate of infection in the Carlisle area has gone up over the past week. The increase is not large, but it is concerning and we cannot ignore this."

She added they were a "very long way" from imposing lockdown restrictions, but if infections continued to rise they may become necessary. 

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03:47 PM

'Go back to work if you can' says PM

During his People's PMQs this afternoon, Boris Johnson urged Britons to go back to work if they can, in a shift from the Government's policy of asking people to work from home.

The PM said: "I want people to go back to work as carefully as possible. It's very important that people should be going back to work if they can now.

"I think everybody has sort of taken the 'stay at home if you can' - I think we should now say, well, 'go back to work if you can'. Because I think it's very important that people should try to lead their lives more normally.

"I want to see more people feeling confident to use the shops, use the restaurants, and get back into work - but only if we all follow the guidance."

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03:41 PM

Fauci says Covid-19 airborne transmission 'likely to some degree'

Covid-19 is likely spreading through the air to some degree, the United States' top infectious disease official said today, one day after the World Health Organization changed its guidance on the ways the virus spreads.

"Still some question about aerosol but likely some degree of aerosol," Anthony Fauci, the head of the United States' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said by video during a panel session at a Covid-19 conference organised by the International AIDS Society.

But other experts have urged more caution. 

Prof Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine, UEA, said: “Despite the frenzied interest in the last couple of days on this issue the WHO position has not changed much at all on airborne transmission. 

"The WHO document published yesterday accepts that it is possible but points out that there is no good evidence that it occurs. 

"The WHO document gives a balanced view of the evidence for and against the hypothesis and I would paraphrase this as the balance of evidence is that airborne transmission is not important in the epidemiology of Covid-19.”

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03:34 PM

PM suggests stricter rules for enforcing face masks

The Prime Minister is currently answering live questions from the public as part of a 'People's PMQs'.

Boris Johnson has said the Government is looking at introducing stricter rules on wearing face coverings.

"As we get the numbers down in the way that we have and we really stamp out outbreaks in the way that we are, I do think we need to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they don't normally meet," he said.

"We are looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings in shops, for instance, where there is a risk of transmission."

Watch me answer your questions in the latest #PeoplesPMQs https://t.co/yVf6C6apxD

— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 10, 2020

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03:27 PM

UK records an additional 48 coronavirus deaths

The Department of Health and Social Care said 44,650 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Thursday - up by 48 from 44,602 the previous day.

The Government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which are thought to have passed 55,000.

The DHSC also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Friday, 160,970 tests were carried out or dispatched across all pillars, with 512 positive results. Overall, a total of 288,133 cases have been confirmed.

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03:23 PM

WATCH: Schools concerned over finances post-coronavirus despite government cash injection

The impact of coronavirus is being felt across schools in England just as they look to welcome back pupils in September. Many schools have recorded a severe drop in income due to lack of after-schools clubs and renting out spaces.

They have also had to pay for the government required health and safety supplies. While the government has said that schools can claim back some exceptional costs, many schools say this will not be enough.

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03:14 PM

German abbattoir to employ permanent staff after outbreaks

A German abattoir and meat packing group at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak has said it would hire 1,000 workers and stop using sub-contractors for animal slaughtering and meat processing.

The Toennies slaughterhouse and meat packing plant at Rheda-Wiedenbrueck in western Germany has been closed for three weeks after more than 1,500 workers tested positive for Covid-19. This caused a lockdown for 600,000 people in the surrounding Guetersloh region which was lifted this week.

German slaughterhouses have faced criticism for the widespread use of subcontracted migrant workers from eastern Europe, with cramped accommodation suspected of contributing to coronavirus outbreaks in abattoirs.

Toennies said it was starting a pilot project to directly employ 1,000 staff in slaughtering and meat packing by September 30 as part a plan to end all sub-contracting in slaughtering in meat processing by the end of this year.

• Revealed: why meat processing plants are the ideal incubator of the coronavirus

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03:05 PM

Despite claiming zero coronavirus cases, Pyongyang fires officials for ‘failures’

The North Korean government has fired a number of senior officials adjudged to have failed in their task of halting the spread of the coronavirus, despite the regime’s insistence that there are zero cases in the country, Julian Ryall reports from Tokyo .

Pyongyang has been adamant that the swift decision to close the border with China in January and the implementation of a campaign to educate its 25.6 million citizens has paid off, with officials repeatedly dismissing suggestions that it would have been virtually impossible to stop a single case from entering the country. 

Those claims have been undermined by numerous reports in dissident media, quoting residents of North Korea who are able to communicate across the border by mobile phone. 

The Daily NK news site in March reported that at least 23 people had died in the first two months of the year of what was being described as “acute pneumonia” after developing the telltale coronavirus symptoms of high fevers, severe coughs and breathing difficulties. 

Undeterred, Pak Myong-su, head of the Central Emergency Anti-Epidemic Headquarters, said in an interview with foreign media in April that “not a single person was infected” in the country. State media has since repeated similar claims. 

Zero infections in a nation with limited medical capabilities is apparently not enough for Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, however.

Radio Free Asia has reported that Kim Jong-un summoned his health experts in early July to assess their response to the crisis, and found their efforts wanting.

“Since then, some senior officials of the National Emergency Quarantine Command, who were in charge of the entire national quarantine project, have been removed from their posts”, a source in the North said. 

There appears to be particular concern about the illness spreading in areas bordering China. These regions are relatively more wealthy than other parts of North Korea thanks to cross-border trade, but residents are likely to have been exposed to Chinese with the virus in the early stages of the pandemic. The border is also porous and traversed regularly by smugglers. 

Officials heading the campaign against the virus in the city of Sinuiju and Ryongchon county, on the Yalu River and directly opposite Chinese territory, were dismissed and new officials appointed, the source said. 

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02:54 PM

Comment: 'The fitness world has changed since gyms last opened their doors. Closures are inevitable'

The announcement that gyms will soon be able to reopen was met with a sigh of relief, but has the appeal worn off, asks Joel Snape.

Don't call it a comeback: at least not yet. As gyms ready themselves to reopen across the country from Saturday July 25, nobody – not least the gym owners – knows exactly what kind of landscape they'll be facing when they roll up the shutters.

Will a nation that's been embracing Joe Wicks for months hit the gym reinvigorated and ready to go – or will everyone stick to Zoom yoga and home press-up plans? Will gymgoers – some of whom were traditionally reluctant to wipe their sweat off benches – be better at socially distancing than pub-lovers? And isn't it, if we're all honest, good that butterfly's been banned from swimming pools? 

One thing that seems very likely is that we'll see a tectonic shift in the gym landscape. Gyms exist in all styles and sizes, and it's possible that the larger, 24-hour chains will struggle the most – at least partly because their business models often depend on having a lot of members who don't turn up very often. 

With many people who typically work and train around inner city locations still working remotely, they're unlikely to return in the near future, even if those locations are able to provide adequate cleaning and spacing solutions to keep the risk of infection to a minimum.

Read the full analysis here. 

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02:49 PM

Greece to ask for negative Covid-19 test at its border

Visitors travelling through the Greek land border with Bulgaria, must prove that they have tested negative for coronavirus.

The Covid-19 test must be conducted within 72 hours prior the visit and the restriction will come into effect on July 14, at 0300 GMT, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said. 

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02:43 PM

Pakistan: Hoarding of oxygen tanks pushes prices up

Health officials and suppliers are facing a run on oxygen cylinders in Pakistan, blaming hoarding during the coronavirus pandemic.

Prices for tanks to supply oxygen to Covid-19 patients have risen several fold in recent weeks and at least one province has used public order laws to try to stop profiteering. Pakistan has dropped customs duty on the import of oxygen and cylinders to try to ensure availability.

One of the nation’s largest providers of medical oxygen has also increased its supply four times over to 10,000 cylinders since Covid-19 cases began to rise in April.

"The amount of oxygen being utilised in this problem is unprecedented – there is a shortfall even without anticipating the demand," Saad Khalid Niaz, a gastroenterologist at the private Patel Hospital in Karachi and a member of several medical associations in Pakistan, told Bloomberg.

Official figures show Pakistan's outbreak grew slowly at first, as the country locked down early. But cases began to spike from late May after restrictions were eased because the government said they were economically unsustainable.

Imran Khan's government switched to a new programme of targeted "smart lockdowns", shutting down individual locales where virus hotspots were detected.

Ben Farmer has the latest here. 

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02:37 PM

End of 'lane rage' as swimming pools use wider lanes and speed tests to stay Covid-secure

Early morning swimmers could see the end of “lane rage”, thanks to new coronavirus regulations at pools, the CEO of a major leisure group has said.

Indoor swimming pools must book visitors into designated time slots, widen lanes and limit the number of people in the pool at any one time, under Government guidance that will allow them to open on July 25. 

Mark Sesnan, CEO of GLL, a leisure group that operates pools including the London Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park, said it would stop conflict between swimmers who hog the fast lanes in the pool even though they swim slowly.

Swimmers will be "graded by their ability" to make sure they are in the right lane for their swimming speed.

“We’re hoping this is the end of lane rage,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

"Because now there will only be a certain number of people in the pool and people will be graded by their ability in much wider lanes with fewer people in them."

"So be patient with us, because it will be slightly harder to get your booking, but once you’ve got it, you’ve got much more space and time to yourself, and we think it will be a much better experience."

Tony Diver has the latest here. 

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02:14 PM

Afternoon summary

Good afternoon, if you are just joining us, here is a run down of today’s top stories: 

UK top stories:

• Serbia has been removed from England's list of quarantine-free countries on the very day the policy has come into force. 
• A further 22 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 29,013, NHS England have said.
• The ONS survey of 2,500 people, carried out before the £500m voucher scheme was announced, found just 20pc of adults were comfortable with eating at restaurants either indoors or outdoors, compared with 60pc of respondents put off by the idea.
• No new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland for the second day running, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
• Not a single person has been fined by police in England and Wales for breaching quarantine rules after arriving from abroad, new figures show.

News from around the world:

• An advance team from the World Health Organization has left for China to organise an investigation into the origins of coronavirus, a spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.
• Britons will be free to travel to Norway from July 15,  the government announced on Friday. Starting from next week, Norway will lift travel restrictions to more than 20 European countries, including France, Germany and Britain. 
• Indonesia recorded 52 new Covid-19 deaths on Friday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 3,469. 
• Italy will likely extend its state of emergency beyond the current deadline of July 31 due to the new coronavirus crisis, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday.
• 31 million workers in Vietnam have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, a government agency has said. 

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02:00 PM

Watch: How Covid-19 has changed the Royal family for ever

 The Royal family has had to adapt quickly to a new Covid-19 world. 

Every generation of the family has been affected by the pandemic - with the young Cambridges being kept away from school, their parents juggling work and childcare, Prince Charles contracting the disease and the Queen and Prince Philip being completely isolated.

For Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, their ‘new start’ in the United States was affected first by Covid-19 and then by the Black Lives Matter protests.

One of the main duties of the Royal family is to bring unity to the country, but how has the pandemic changed their role?  And how well have they adjusted?

 

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01:46 PM

Growth rate of Covid-19 transmission has decreased, according to figures from SAGE

The growth rate of Covid-19 transmission in the UK has dropped slightly in the last week, new figures published by the Government show.

Data released by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has revealed that the growth rate has dropped to between minus 5 per cent and minus 2 per cent per day, compared with a rate of minus 6 per cent to 0 per cent per day last week.

The growth rate reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day. If the growth rate is greater than zero, and therefore positive, then the disease will grow, and if the growth rate is less than zero, then the disease will shrink.

The R value, which is the number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect, has remained largely the same, sitting at between 0.7 and 0.9. The data reveals that there is however,  variation in the figures from region to region.

• The R rate for England is between 0.8 and 1, up from between 0.8 and 0.9 last week.
• In the East of England, the R rate is between 0.7 and 1, up from 0.7 and 0.9 previously.
• In the South West, the R rate rose to between 0.7 and 1.1, compared with 0.7 to 1 from last week.
• In London, the R rate dropped to between 0.7 and 1, down from 0.8 and 1.1 previously.
• In the Midlands, the R rate is  between 0.7 to 0.9,  compared with  0.8 to 1 last week.
• In the North East and Yorkshire, the R rate is now between 0.7 to 1, a slight decline compared to 0.8 to 1 last week

Related:  What happened to the use of the 'R rate'?

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01:30 PM

More than 29,000 Covid-19 hospital deaths recorded in England

A further 22 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 29,013, NHS England have said.

The patients were aged between 52 and 99 and all of them had known underlying health conditions.

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01:14 PM

Beards vs brows row: Leading Tory MP threatens to challenge 'serious gender divide' in lockdown easing

A senior Conservative MP plans to challenge ministers over the "serious gender divide" in the easing of lockdown, which means men can have their beards trimmed but women cannot have their eyebrows waxed.

Beauty salons have been given the green light to reopen from next week but face waxing, eyelash treatments, make-up application and facials are still not allowed.

The Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee Caroline Nokes said: "We've seen barbers trimming eyebrows, we've seen them trimming beards and we still have a range of facial practices that can't be done on women."

She said it was important that the UK's recovery from the coronavirus crisis is "designed to help women every bit as much as men".

Our Political Correspondent, Amy Jones has the latest here. 

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01:11 PM

WHO officials travel to China to investigate origins of Covid-19

An advance team from the World Health Organization has left for China to organise an investigation into the origins of coronavirus, a spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a UN briefing that two experts, specialists in animal science and epidemiology, will work with Chinese scientists to determine the scope and itinerary of the investigation. 

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12:58 PM

Sturgeon warns Scots not to let their guard down, as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted

Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the easing of lockdown restrictions must not lead to Scots letting down their guard.

Speaking at the Scottish Government's daily coronavirus briefing on Friday, Sturgeon said:  "This virus hasn't gone away so life should still not feel totally normal."

"The lifting of restrictions, important and welcome though it undoubtedly is, mustn't mean the dropping of our guard, and that's really important."

Several changes to lockdown measures came into force on Friday, including more people being able to meet up both indoors and out.

• The two-metre physical distancing rule can now be relaxed in shops and on public transport, if further mitigation measures are in place, and masks are now mandatory in these areas.
• From next Wednesday, the number of people who can attend a wedding or civil partnership ceremony or a funeral will rise to 20. The changes apply only to the ceremonies and not any linked events such as receptions or wakes.
• Up to 15 people from five households can meet up outdoors - while "limited indoor gatherings" of up to eight adults from three households can now also take place.
• Detailed guidance has also been released for hairdressers, which can open from Wednesday.

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12:45 PM

Norway to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions

Britons will be free to travel to Norway from July 15,  the government announced on Friday.

Starting from next week, Norway will lift travel restrictions to more than 20 European countries, including France, Germany and Britain. 

Spain, Greece and the Netherlands were also among those added to the list of approved nations on Friday, which will be reviewed at least every 14 days based on data such as infection rates and hospital admissions in each country.

• Related:  Mapped: The 23 countries you can actually visit right now

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12:35 PM

Covid-19 dries up hopes of ending global water poverty by 2030, campaigners warn

The United Nations’ sustainable development goal (SDG) of delivering safe water and sanitation for all by 2030 is worryingly off track, campaigners have warned.

Already more than 2.4 billion people do not have access to safe, readily available water at home, while a further 4.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation.

And the Covid-19 pandemic is only increasing water insecurity and stalling efforts to improve global hygiene standards just when access to safe water is needed most, they say.

"The 2020 Covid outbreak, along with recent cholera outbreaks in Yemen, Somalia, and the Ebola outbreaks that we witnessed in different countries in Africa are all painful reminders of the absolute importance of sanitation and hygiene," James Wicken, Head of Global Policy Advocacy and Innovation at the global Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, told a panel of experts and journalists this week.

Jordan Kelly-Linden has more here. 

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12:31 PM

In pictures: Countries adapt to the new normal

 

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12:16 PM

US death toll starts to rise again, reversing three-month fall

The coronavirus death toll in the United States is now climbing again as the recent surge in cases in the sunbelt states feeds through into fatalities, reports Paul Nuki. 

At least 867 people died of Covid-19 on Thursday in the US and, nationally, the crucial seven-day average has begun to climb after falling steadily since mid-April when deaths first peaked at over 2,000 a day.

For several weeks President Donald Trump has been blaming the country’s surging case numbers on the availability of more tests and has suggested that test capacity should be cut to reverse the trend.

However, intensive care wards have been filling up across the sunbelt states from Florida to California and now – as predicted by experts – deaths have started to climb again.

The trend bodes ill not just for those caught up in the outbreak, the bulk of whom are from impoverished and BAME communities, but for the President himself who is hoping to be elected for a second term in November.

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12:08 PM

Just one in five people feel safe dining out, ONS finds

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s "eat out to help" ambitions to aid a struggling hospitality sector suffered a setback on Friday as the Office for National Statistics suggested just one in five people are ready to return to restaurants.

The ONS survey of 2,500 people, carried out before the £500m voucher scheme was announced, found just 20pc of adults were comfortable with eating at restaurants either indoors or outdoors, compared with 60pc of respondents put off by the idea.

Among the over-70s at most risk of dying from Covid-19, two-thirds of all respondents rated themselves either “uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” with eating out. 

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11:47 AM

No new Covid-19 deaths reported in Scotland for the second day in a row

No new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland for the second day running, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

The First Minister told the Scottish Government's coronavirus briefing that 2,490 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19. No new deaths have been recorded since Wednesday. 

However, Sturgeon said that 18,333 people had tested positive for the virus, up by 18 from 18,315 on Thursday.

The latest figures represent the highest rise in positive cases in almost three weeks, she said, which the Scottish Government would be "looking very closely" at.

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11:31 AM

Package holiday firms told to refund customers whose trips were cancelled due to Covid-19

Package holiday firms have been told by the competition watchdog to offer refunds to customers whose trips could not go ahead due to coronavirus.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has received more than 17,500 complaints from consumers about the way businesses in the sector are responding to the pandemic.

It has written to more than 100 of the most commonly criticised companies, stating that full cash refunds should be provided "promptly and without undue delay".

Under consumer law, customers whose package holidays were cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions should have their money returned within 14 days.

The letter states: "The CMA recognises that the pandemic has created extraordinary pressures on package holiday businesses.”

"Although we were sympathetic to the challenges faced in the early days of the pandemic, it is nonetheless important that businesses comply with consumer law.

"Where businesses have breached consumer law, the CMA expects them to take immediate action to bring themselves into compliance and address any consumer harm arising from the breaches.

"We recommend that you check your practices and policies are in line with the requirements of consumer law and make any changes where necessary."

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11:19 AM

Drones delivering Covid test kits to Scottish islands get Space Agency funding

Drones that deliver Covid-19 test kits to remote Scottish islands and an app that uses space-derived data to support vulnerable people are among the projects that have been backed by new UK Space Agency funding, reports Georgina Hayes.

It comes as the Scottish space sector has seen significant growth in recent years, with Scotland now building more small satellites than anywhere else in the world except for America, and income growth for the sector has increased by 12 per cent per annum since 2012/13. 

The drones, working with NHS Highland, deliver medical supplies to islands off the West Coast of Scotland from a hospital in Argyll and Bute, and the developers say they will soon begin flying pathology samples as well in what has been described as a “gamechanger” for remote locations that struggle with logistics.

“There are rural practices and hospitals which struggle with logistics at the moment because they’re currently not served well because of geography,” said Alex Brown, head of operations at Skyports, the developers of the drones. 

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11:06 AM

Nine in 10 people have persistent symptoms months after recovering from severe Covid-19, says study

The vast majority of patients tracked after recovering from a severe Covid-19 infection in Italy had persistent symptoms two months later, researchers have found. 

According to a study monitoring 143 people who had been hospitalised after contracting the disease, 87 per cent of patients reported at least one adverse symptom 60 days after first falling ill – despite testing negative for Covid-19. 

Fatigue was the most common consequence, reported by 53 per cent of people, while 43 per cent had difficult breathing and more than 20 per cent still experienced joint or chest pain. Some 44 per cent said their quality of life had worsened.

Though the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is small and lacks a control group, it adds to mounting evidence that a significant proportion of people – often referred to as “long haulers” – experience persistent and long lasting health effects post Covid-19. 

Sarah Newey has more here.

• Related:  Revealed: the long-term severe effects of Covid-19 that could go on for months  

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10:55 AM

Italy expected to extend state of emergency

Italy will likely extend its state of emergency beyond the current deadline of July 31 due to the new coronavirus crisis, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday.

Italy declared a six-month state of emergency at the end of January, after two Chinese tourists tested positive for coronavirus.

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10:42 AM

Coronavirus news from around the world

Here is a round up of some of the latest Covid-19 stories from around the world:

• A Chinese man who allegedly stabbed to death two people at a coronavirus travel checkpoint was executed on Thursday, the Supreme People's Court said.
• More than 60,500 new infections were reported across the United States on Thursday, setting a one-day record as weary Americans were told to take new precautions and the pandemic becomes increasingly politicised.
• Areas of New York have recorded a nearly 70 per cent rate of immunity to Covid-19, in what scientists have described as “stunning” findings that suggest they could be protected from any second wave.
• Hundreds of Romanian coronavirus patients have discharged themselves from hospital after a court ruled against mandatory hospitalisation.
• Holidaymakers heading to the Balearic Islands this weekend will have to wear face masks whenever they leave their hotel rooms.

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10:27 AM

Comment: Sunak will have to accept that a rise in joblessness is unavoidable

It is inevitable that the transition to a new post-Covid economy will be painful in the short term, writes Jeremy Warner. 

Not so much out with the old, in with the new, as first bring back the old. On the face of it, that was the mindset instructing Rishi Sunak’s “economic update” this week, with measures intended to defibrillate the housing market, the high street, and the hospitality sectors.

This may, however, be something of a misreading of Sunak’s underlying message. Dig down, and you find reluctant recognition of an underlying truth – that large parts of the old, pre-Covid economy have very probably gone for good. Whatever Sunak does, they won’t be coming back. He must know that.

Now obviously, that’s not what he said in his speech. The Tories have spent much of the past three decades trying to bury their reputation as “the nasty party”, much of it derived from the steep rise in unemployment that followed the early years of the Thatcher revolution. Sunak is not about to revive the uncaring image, impervious to the social consequences of rapid economic change, the party acquired at that time.

So what he actually said was: “I want every person in this House and in the country to know that I will never accept unemployment as an unavoidable outcome”. The regrettable reality is that a big surge in unemployment is indeed almost certainly unavoidable, short of continuing to subsidise jobs that have no long term future.

Click here to read the full piece. 

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10:11 AM

Indonesia: 52 Covid-19 deaths recorded

Indonesia recorded 52 new Covid-19 deaths on Friday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 3,469. 

The country's caseload now stands at 72,347, with 1,611 new coronavirus infections reported on Friday. 

 

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09:57 AM

No fines issued for breaching quarantine rules after arriving from abroad, new police figures show

Not a single person has been fined by police in England and Wales for breaching quarantine rules after arriving from abroad, new figures show.

10 tickets were handed out to passengers for not wearing face coverings on public transport, according to the data released by the National Police Chiefs' Council.

The figures come as quarantine rules for people returning to or visiting the UK from a list of countries, including popular holiday destinations, were relaxed from Friday.

The 14-day self-isolation policy for UK arrivals, bar a handful of exemptions, was introduced on June 8, with breaches punishable of fines of between £100 and £1,000.

The NPCC said: "Up to June 22, no fines were issued by territorial forces in England and Wales for breaches of the requirement to quarantine following international travel."

The figures do not include fines given by Border Force, who have issued three penalties.

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09:47 AM

Exclusive: 'Holidays will be 90 per cent normal,' says Tui chief

In an exclusive interview with Telegraph Travel, the Managing Director of Tui, Andrew Flintham, discusses the company’s recovery from the pandemic and the future of the travel industry. 

"We were on for a record year," says Andrew Flintham, managing director of Tui UK and Ireland. "We were growing our business by 20 per cent, our bookings were more than 20 per cent ahead. Everything was going incredibly well."

And then the world went into lockdown.

It was in late January the British Foreign Office warned against travel to China, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated, but a month later when alarm bells began ringing in Europe. 

Flintham, who has worked at Tui for 13 years, said the operator’s pandemic began with the lockdown of the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in Tenerife, at the end of February. 

"We had 16,000 people in Spain, and Spain said we’d like you to get them out in 48 hours,".

The scale of the task for the travel industry has been no secret, rescuing holidaymakers from every corner of the world as the crisis shut borders and grounded airlines. 

For Tui, it was no different. Based in Germany, Europe’s largest tour operator carries more than 25 million customers a year, taken from across the Continent; around 20 per cent of those are Britons. All dotted about the globe. 

"Every day somewhere else would close," says Flintham. “We had a relentless ambition to bring customers home."

Read the full interview here. 

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09:36 AM

PM thanks school leavers for their sacrifices made during the pandemic

Boris Johnson has told students that their efforts and "sacrifice" have helped save hundreds of thousands of lives amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a virtual address to school leavers, the Prime Minister said their generation - which he acknowledged have had to "grow up" faster during the pandemic - will be "vital" to the national effort to rebuild the country.

He urged them to jump on every opportunity that comes their way and "rugby tackle" it to the floor, as he predicted that they would become one of the most "influential generations in the peacetime history of our nation".

Mr Johnson said: "It was your education that was disrupted, your lives that were disrupted. And now, as many of you are missing out once again on parties and festivals, presentations, perhaps even long-planned holidays, I want you to know that your efforts have been worth it."

Your final months of school have coincided with the greatest crisis our country has faced since the Second World War. Thanks to your sacrifice, we have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

And we can’t wait to see the new world that you’re going to help us to build. pic.twitter.com/qY9IXFN2ZX

— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 10, 2020

 

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09:32 AM

16 homeless people known to have died with Covid-19, ONS data reveals

Sixteen homeless people are known to have died with coronavirus in England during the first three months of the lockdown, analysis has found.

The deaths were registered between March 26 and June 26, the Office for National Statistics have said. 

However the ONS have warned that the figure may be an underestimate of the true number of homeless people who have died with the virus.

Of the homeless people identified, the majority were men, six lived in London and three in the North West. No deaths of homeless people in Wales were identified.

Commenting on the latest figures,  Jon Sparkes, Crisis chief executive, said: "Every one of these deaths is a tragedy - behind these figures are individuals, each with families, hopes and dreams.

"When the outbreak started, it was a stark reminder of the risk people who are homeless face from the virus - with no access to a place to self-isolate nor, in some cases, basic sanitation.

"The situation could have been much worse had the Government, local councils and charities not worked to quickly move many people sleeping rough and in night shelters into hotels, providing safe, emergency accommodation. This undoubtedly saved lives. We must now build on this."

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09:22 AM

Heathrow Airport CEO: 'We need a common international standard for health in aviation'

The CEO of Heathrow Airport has called for the UK Government to work alongside other countries to establish a common international standard for health in aviation. 

Speaking to Sky News this morning, John Holland-Kaye said: "We also need to think about how we are going to connect some of our really important trading partners, such as the United States which is high risk as a nation, but some parts of the country are lower risk."

"We need to look at testing before people fly to make sure that they don’t have the disease before they get on the plane and can therefore travel without any quarantine. This is something that we are calling on the government to bring in," he continued.

"We need to look at testing before people fly."

Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye is calling on the UK government to work with other countries and establish an international standard for health in aviation.#Breakfast

More : https://t.co/xRSuXfI20L pic.twitter.com/YwHgKATtku

— SkyNews (@SkyNews) July 10, 2020

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09:09 AM

Wearing a face covering should become 'as automatic' as wearing a seat belt, says Nicola Sturgeon

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that wearing face masks should "become as automatic as putting the seat belt on". 

Wearing a face covering within shops and public transport is now mandatory within Scotland, with exemptions for children under five and those with medical conditions. 

Speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning, Sturgeon said: "For the foreseeable future, what I am saying to people is that wearing a face covering in a shop or public transport should become as automatic as putting the seat belt on when we get into a car."

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08:56 AM

India records more than 26,000 coronavirus cases

In India, a record 26,506 new coronavirus cases were reported on Friday, as authorities re-imposed lockdowns in the country's most populous state. 

The latest figures bring the country’s total caseload to nearly 800,000.

According to federal health ministry data, there have been more than 21,000 deaths in India since the first Covid-19 case was detected in January.

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08:45 AM

Report: How the pandemic is changing relationships

There are reports that coronavirus has killed romance and we're heading for a divorce 'tsunami'. The real story, however, is more complicated, writes Hattie Crisell.

 A photo arrives in my inbox of an amethyst ring so large that I stare at it for several seconds, brow furrowed, brain arrested. Eventually I scroll down to read a message from the writer and illustrator Emma Winterschladen, answering a request I’ve put on Twitter for lockdown relationship stories; she and her partner, Tom Palmer, have just got engaged.

At the moment, marriage proposals somehow feel like something quaint from another era, much like having your face thrust into someone’s armpit on a rush-hour train, or shaking the potentially unwashed hand of a stranger. Love in the time of coronavirus? Nice thought, but the past few months haven’t been enormously romantic. Perhaps you’re single and saw your love life vanish into thin air back in March, replaced by quantities of ‘quiet time’ that a Trappist monk would find oppressive.

Perhaps you’ve been locked down with someone you loathe and hadn’t got around to leaving earlier. Or perhaps you’ve simply endured a Groundhog Day type of domestic life that has at times brought you to frustrated tears. Whatever your circumstances, a not entirely welcome effect of the pandemic has been that relationships – and all that’s challenging about them – have come under a glaring spotlight.

Read the full report here. 

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08:34 AM

The beauty industry generates £7 billion and should not be ‘sniffed at’ says Culture Minister

Culture minister Caroline Dinenage has said that the beauty industry generates £7 billion towards the British economy and she hopes the sector will be able to reopen soon. 

Her comments came after guidance indicated that beauty parlours will not be able to provide face treatments when they reopen, such as eyelash tinting and doing make-up.

Ms Dinenage told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "These are often small independent businesses but they are the absolute lifeblood of our economy, and trying to get them to open up is a critical step to support the livelihoods of thousands of Britons.

"This is not to be sniffed at - 270,000 work in the hair and beauty industry and it generates £7 billion for the British economy.”

"This is not a decision that is ever taken lightly, but we need to take steps in the right direction and establish what is safe and work to open up the rest (of the services)."

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08:28 AM

More than 11,000 deaths recorded in Russia

Russia recorded 174 new Covid-19 deaths on Friday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 11,017. 

6,635 new coronavirus infections were reported by the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre. The number of cases within the country now stands at 713,936. 

Here's a quick look at the trajectory of the country's outbreak:

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08:18 AM

Vietnam: 31 million workers impacted by pandemic

31 million workers in Vietnam have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, a government agency has said. 

While Vietnam has reported just 369 coronavirus infections and zero deaths, the economy has suffered throughout the pandemic. 

According to the General Statistics Office, 900,000 people are out of work, with nearly 18 million people receiving less income than before. 

The agency has also warned that if immediate solutions are not found, there could be 5 million more people out of work by the end the year. 

In a statement, the GSO said: "Workers are being negatively impacted by being laid off or having had their working hours reduced. The number of affected workers will continue to climb in the upcoming quarters".

"Urban unemployment rate in the second quarter hit the highest in 10 years, at 4.46 per cent mostly because of the social distancing measure in April."

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08:12 AM

It is important to balance the safety of care home residents and the needs of their families, says CEO of Care England

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, has said that  a "balance" needs to be struck between allowing family visits and protecting care home residents from further coronavirus outbreaks following the decision to loosen visit restrictions.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "Families are a really important part of care delivery but at the same time you have to be really, really cautious because, as people know, care homes have been really badly affected during this pandemic.”

"People living in care homes are probably at the highest risk, so if there is an outbreak of Covid-19, it has serious and very tragic consequences so I think we have to balance the need for people to engage with their relatives and families but also we have a responsibility for the protection and safety of the people in care homes.

"I think treating people as key workers, making sure there is regular testing available - also with some new tests that might be available shortly which are going to be much quicker to get results, that may also help."

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08:05 AM

Australia restricts the number of citizens allowed to return to the country

Australia will halve the number of citizens allowed to return home from overseas each week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday. 

Mr Morrison said that from Monday, Australia will limit the number of people allowed to 4,000 per week. 

He told reporters: "The decision that we took... was to ensure that we could put our focus on the resources needed to do the testing and tracing and not have to have resources diverted to other tasks."

The latest announcement follows concerns surrounding a spike in cases within the state of Victoria. 288 coronavirus cases were reported on Friday, a record daily increase for any part of the country since the pandemic began. 

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07:44 AM

What's happening in Serbia?

The first demonstration was triggered on Tuesday after the country's president Aleksandar Vučić announced the return of a weekend curfew to combat a second wave of coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed hospitals in Belgrade.

Clouds of tear gas and smoke filled central Belgrade on Wednesday evening for a second night after a peaceful gathering descended into confrontations between protesters and police.

On Thursday the government formally dropped the curfew plan and announced restrictions on public gatherings of more than 10 people - effectively barring protests - as well as shorter hours for bars, shops and other businesses in Belgrade.

Read the full story here.

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07:08 AM

Why did Britain end up with the highest Covid-19 deaths in Europe?

A study published last week tried to explain the huge differences in how care homes in England were affected.

Residents looked after by agency workers were 58 per cent more likely to contract Covid. Those working in multiple care homes were more than twice as likely to carry the virus.

"It might be shocking. But it’s not really surprising – given that this is the same problem we saw during the spread of superbugs like MRSA," writes Fraser Nelson.

Read the full story here.

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06:57 AM

Hong Kong to shut all schools again as coronavirus cases surge

All schools will break for summer holiday starting on Monday, said Hong Kong secretary for education Kevin Yeung.

The city reported 34 locally transmitted cases on Thursday - the most in a single day since the pandemic began.

The resurgence in Hong Kong comes after weeks of normalised activity as people returned to work and restaurants filled up again.

Hong Kong started reopening schools in late May after four months of at-home classes.

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06:52 AM

Schoolboy's letter to Queen asking if she's 'sad or lonely' during lockdown

Seven-year-old Timothy Madders, of Billericay in Essex, wrote: "Dear Queen Elizabeth, You might be feeling sad or lonely during lockdown, so I thought I could make a word search for you to cheer you up. Love from Timothy Madders."

Timothy received a reply from Windsor Castle thanking him for his thoughtfulness.

The letter, from one of the Queen's ladies in waiting, Philippa de Pass, said: "The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your kind letter, and for the puzzle you have created especially for Her Majesty.

"Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated, and The Queen hopes that you too are keeping safe and well in the current situation.

"I am to thank you very much indeed for writing as you did at this time."

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06:15 AM

Serbia removed from quarantine list

The UK Government is removing Serbia from its list of countries from which people can return to or visit England without going into quarantine.

"The Joint Biosecurity Centre together with Public Health England have updated their coronavirus assessments of Serbia based on the latest data," a Government spokesman said.

"As a result, the Government has decided to remove Serbia from the list of countries from which passengers arriving in England are exempted from the need to self-isolate.

"We've always been clear that we would act immediately to remove a country where necessary.

"Both our list of exemptions and the FCO travel advice are being updated to reflect these latest risk assessments."

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04:38 AM

Beauty treatments set to return

Beauty salons and spas will be able to open on Monday, but will not be able to provide facial treatments under a series of new Government restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. 

They will be followed towards the end of the month by indoor gyms, leisure centres and pools, which will welcome back members on July 25 for the first time since they were ordered to close three months ago.

Gyms will be asked to limit capacity to allow 100 square feet per person, reduce class sizes and require members to book slots in advance.

READ MORE: Beauty salons, spas and nail bars to reopen - but no moustache shaping or eyebrow waxing

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03:33 AM

NFL bans post-game handshakes and top swaps

NFL players will not be allowed to shake hands of swap jerseys after games, according to safety protocols seen by Reuters on Thursday that are designed to stem the spread of coronavirus in the United States.

The detailed set of rules, which have been approved by the NFL Players Association, outline in detail how the league plans to keep players, coaching staff and others safe on game day. They include:

• Opposing teams will be prohibited from post-game interactions within six feet of one another
• Players on the bench will be prohibited from interacting with fans
• The home team will be required to stay at the team hotel the night before each game

Several players said some of the provisions were ridiculous given the full-contact nature of the sport.

Philadelphia Eagles' Darius Slay took to Twitter to wonder why players are allowed to "tackle each other for 60 minutes" but cannot exchange a top for two minutes.

So we can tackle each other for 60min but can’t exchange jersey that takes 2 mins😂😂😂 https://t.co/5RKq54T0mH

— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) July 9, 2020

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03:02 AM

National cabinet meets to tackle Australia's increased numbers

Australia's national cabinet met on Friday to discuss slowing the number of citizens allowed to return from overseas, as authorities grapple with a Covid-19 outbreak in the country's second-most populous state.

Victoria reimposed lockdowns in the country's second-largest city, Melbourne, on Thursday for six weeks after a surge in cases linked to social-distancing breaches in hotels where returned travellers were held in quarantine.

The flare-up has forced five million Australians to stay home for all but essential business, led the rest of Australia's states to ban Victorians from entering, and dealt a blow to Australia's economic recovery.

To ease the pain for businesses in Melbourne forced to shut again and holiday spots hit by cancellations, the Victorian government on Friday said it would provide A$534 million (£294 million), on top of A$6 billion already provided.

With heightened fears of a new national wave of infections, Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this week proposed restricting the return of Australians from overseas to ease the pressure on state authorities who oversee the mandatory 14-day quarantine of anyone who returns to Australia.

The national cabinet, which includes state and territory leaders, met in Canberra to consider the plan and the outbreak in Victoria.

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02:46 AM

Japan considers measures to control spread in clubs

Japan's economy minister said on Friday that new measures were needed to prevent a further spread of coronavirus infections in nightclubs and bars.

The venues have emerged as a hot-spot since the country lifted a state of emergency in late May.

Yasutoshi Nishimura said he would meet with experts later on Friday to decide on those measures, inviting the mayors of Shinjuku and Toshima wards of Tokyo, where many of the new infections have been concentrated.

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01:50 AM

Record-breaking rises in US cases

More than 60,500 new infections were reported across the United States on Thursday, setting a one-day record as weary Americans were told to take new precautions and the pandemic becomes increasingly politicised.

The total represents a slight rise from Wednesday - when there were 60,000 new cases - and marks the largest one-day increase by any country since the pandemic emerged last year.

Infections have risen in 41 of the 50 states over the past two weeks.

Florida announced nearly 9,000 new cases and 120 deaths on Thursday, a record daily increase in lives lost.

California and Texas, the two most populous states, announced record increases in deaths on Wednesday.

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01:21 AM

Many respiratory disease pandemics hit more than once

When the Spanish flu pandemic hit the world after the First World War it came in three waves, with the second being the most deadly.

And this is not an oddity. Of the last 10 big respiratory disease outbreaks, five have had significant subsequent waves, and four came after a summer trough.

Now in 2020, several countries around the world are seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases - some more severe than the first. 

But are they second waves, spikes or simply a continuation of the first wave? And what do they tell us about the likelihood of a second wave hitting the UK this winter?

• What a resurgence of Covid-19 around the world tells us about the risk of a second wave

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12:57 AM

Coronavirus patients in Romanian hospitals discharge themselves

Hundreds of Romanian coronavirus patients have discharged themselves from hospital after a court ruled against mandatory hospitalisation.

Parliament moved on Thursday to pass a new law to enforce isolation amid a surge in infections.

The law allows those quarantined to challenge the decision in court.

Parliament's move follows a court ruling that came into force last week.

The court decided that hospitalising and quarantining people without or with just mild Covid-19 symptoms violated fundamental rights and so could not be imposed by a government decree alone.

As a result of the ruling, 624 patients who tested positive asked to leave hospital and now risked transmitting the disease in their communities, according to Health Minister Nelu Tataru.

More than half of the 50,000 people in mandatory self-isolation after returning from abroad have now left their homes in defiance of doctors' recommendations.

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12:50 AM

Covid-19 'exceptionally contagious in crowded offices'

A new study has highlighted the importance of busy workplaces as an incubator of coronavirus as the World Health Organisation says there is “emerging evidence” that Covid-19 can be spread through the air.

The study looked at the spread of coronavirus in a South Korean call centre, where 43.5 per cent of people working on one floor of the building tested positive. 

After an employee fell ill with the virus, health officials tested 1,143 of their colleagues and found that 97 tested positive - 94 of whom worked on the same floor. The majority all worked on the same side of the building, many sitting next to or opposite each other. 

The authors wrote that the outbreak showed that Covid-19 “can be exceptionally contagious in crowded office settings such as a call centre”.

Read the full story here.

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12:41 AM

UK turns down EU vaccine scheme

The Government has turned down the opportunity to join a European Union coronavirus vaccine scheme after ministers expressed concern over “costly delays”, The Telegraph understands.

Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, is believed to have walked away from the plan after failing to secure “sufficient assurance” that the UK would receive the number of vaccines it needs on time. 

With trials underway across the world, there is expected to be fierce global competition to secure supplies when a successful vaccine is found. 

The decision not to participate in the scheme is likely to provoke a backlash among opposition MPs, who believe that the Government is reluctant to take part in EU projects after Brexit.

READ MORE: UK turns down EU coronavirus vaccine scheme

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12:03 AM

Two-thirds immune in New York testing

Areas of New York have recorded a nearly 70 per cent rate of immunity to Covid-19, in what scientists have described as “stunning” findings that suggest they could be protected from any second wave.

About 68 per cent of people who took antibody tests at a clinic in the Corona neighbourhood of Queens received positive results, while at another clinic in Jackson Heights, 56 per cent tested positive. 

READ MORE: Scientists hail 'stunning' results that show areas of New York may have reached 68 per cent immunity

Today's update on the numbers:

65,564 tests were performed yesterday. 584 tests came back positive (0.89% of total).

Total hospitalizations are at 851.

Sadly, there were 8 COVID fatalities yesterday. pic.twitter.com/sC1AiAz0vj

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 9, 2020

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12:01 AM

Shop workers and taxi drivers to be tested

Tens of thousands of taxi drivers, cleaners and shop workers are to be tested for coronavirus amid concern that they are spreading the disease.

Addison Lee, BT and Boots are among some of the firms whose staff will be given tests even though they appear healthy.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said it will help scientists understand the prevalence of the virus in asymptomatic people in higher-risk jobs.

Read the full story here.

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12:00 AM

Positive test result for Bolivian president

Bolivia's President, Jeanine Anez, has tested positive for coronavirus.

Ms Anez said in a tweet on Thursday that she was well and continuing to work while in isolation.

"Together, we will come out of this," she said.

He dado positivo a Covid19, estoy bien, trabajaré desde mi aislamiento. Juntos, vamos a salir adelante. pic.twitter.com/oA4YVYlZFa

— Jeanine Añez Chavez (@JeanineAnez) July 9, 2020

The confirmation came a week after Bolivia's Health Minister, María Eidy Roca, said she had tested positive.

The landlocked Andean nation of about 11.5 million people has registered more than 42,000 confirmed cases of the disease and 1,500 deaths and is one of the worst affected countries per capita in the world.

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11:56 PM

Today's top stories

• Coronavirus risks fuelling the spread of superbugs due to the “excessive use” of antibiotics to treat sick patients, England’s former chief medical officer has warned
• Coronavirus restrictions were significantly eased on Thursday night with a relaxation of curbs on sports and leisure. Gyms, swimming pools, leisure centres, beauty salons and outdoor arts venues in England will all reopen
• Nearly 7,000 jobs are under threat after John Lewis and Boots announced dozens of store closures on Thursday, while Burger King said it may not reopen more than 50 outlets
• Areas of New York have recorded a nearly 70 per cent rate of immunity to Covid-19, in what scientists have described as “stunning” findings that suggest they could be protected from any second wave
• Schools should update behaviour policies to include Covid-related offences such as "purposefully coughing on someone", new Government guidance says
• The Government has turned down the opportunity to join a European Union coronavirus vaccine scheme after ministers expressed concern over “costly delays”, The Telegraph understands