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Iran threatens Israel with ‘severe and painful’ response

Friday morning news briefing: UK may have reached herd immunity

Danny Boyle
·6-min read
Bob cartoon - Bob
Bob cartoon - Bob

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UK may have enough immunity to prevent new wave

Britain may have already achieved a sufficient level of herd immunity to prevent a second wave of Covid-19, an Oxford University study has suggested. Scientists believe the "threshold" may have been lowered because many people may already be immune to the disease without ever having caught it. According to a model produced by the Oxford team, as few as 20 per cent of the population may need to be resistant to the virus in order to prevent a new epidemic spreading. As Bill Gardner reports, experts suggest a sizeable number of people may have immunity because of Covid-19's similarity to the common cold. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson will announce an additional £3bn to keep Nightingale hospitals open until next March amid fears of a resurgence of Covid-19 this winter.

PM's road map: Mixed messages on home-working

Should you still be working from home if you can? The Prime Minister is today expected to unveil the latest government guidance to free up the economy further. The next steps in his Covid-19 recovery strategy "road map" are expected to encourage more people to go back to work and to use public transport. But Boris Johnson could stop short of changing the official guidance that says people should work from home if they can. It comes after the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser indicated that working from home should remain in place. Sir Patrick Vallance appeared to signal a growing divide between scientists and Downing Street on health issues. As Camilla Tominey writes, these mixed messages are not helping a nation already scared out of its wits. The announcements will be made at a Downing Street press conference expected at 11am. Follow live updates and analysis from Westminster.

As the economy reopens, the future of many businesses in high streets and city centres will depend on the office workers and daily commuters who have been absent for months. But with more money in their pockets and the lingering risk of infection if transport networks return to normal, many employees who have spent the pandemic working from home will not relish the thought of a return. Our data team uses charts to examine the future of the daily commute. Miranda Levy investigates the working from home winners - and losers. And Matt sees the funny side of the new white collar working patterns in today's cartoon.

Princess Anne reveals her battle against sexist protocol

When the Duchess of Sussex urged the world's women to speak up for themselves and "challenge the norms" this week, she was hailed for her groundbreaking fight for feminism. Now the Princess Royal has disclosed she has been quietly doing just that for more than half a century, fighting sexism from within the establishment since her teenage years. The Princess, interviewed ahead of her 70th birthday, described how she deployed her famously no-nonsense approach after noticing a sexist divide at official functions. Read on for more.

At a glance: More coronavirus headlines

Also in the news: Today's other headlines

Jihadi bride | Up to 150 terror suspects stripped of their British citizenship could attempt to return to challenge those rulings if Shamima Begum's case stands, the security services and politicians fear. The warning follows an unprecedented Court of Appeal judgement that the 20-year-old should be allowed to return to the UK to fight the Government's decision after she joined Isil in Syria.

Around the world: Virus cases surge in Middle East

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish young men walk through Jerusalem's Old City as Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, was preparing to chair a special government meeting to discuss further restrictions after a leap in coronavirus cases. Read James Rothwell's report on a surge in cases across the Middle East and view more of today's striking global pictures.

Young men wearing masks in Jerusalem’s Old City - ODED BALILTY/AP
Young men wearing masks in Jerusalem’s Old City - ODED BALILTY/AP

Comment and analysis

Editor's choice: Features and arts

  1. Lockdown hair | BBC weatherman: Did I get more abuse than women?

  2. 'I'm lucky I survived' | Salman Rushdie on his Covid-19 nightmare

  3. Telegraph news quiz | Test your knowledge of the week just gone

Business and money briefing

Privacy ruling | Thousands of companies including Facebook are examining the implications of a surprise decision by Europe's top court to throw out a US data-sharing deal that has underpinned transatlantic digital trade. The ruling by the European Court of Justice left the EU-US "privacy shield" invalidated due to concerns over European privacy.

Sport briefing

Cricket crisis | After Jofra Archer risked English cricket losing "tens of millions of pounds" and put the whole summer in jeopardy by breaching Covid protocols, he now faces the threat of being suspended for the next Test. Writing exclusively for us, Sir Geoffrey Boycott says Archer let himself down - England's players deserve to be treated like children.

And finally... for this morning's downtime

The 'other' Mrs America | The story of Shirley Chisholm is a lesson of courage, wit and a reminder that people still need to adapt to change. Yolanthe Fawehinmi looks at the life of the first black woman to run for US president.