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Coronavirus: The 17 major developments that happened on Thursday

Here’s what you need to know on 16 July. This article was updated at 5.30pm.

Deaths: The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 45,119 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Wednesday – up by 66 from 45,053 the previous day. Read more here.

Wales: Shielding will be paused in Wales from 16 August, if the nation continues to see a decline in coronavirus. It means the weekly food box programme will end, but prescription services will continue. Read more here.

Crime: More than 100 people were wrongly prosecuted under coronavirus laws, a review has found. All 89 charges brought under the Coronavirus Act 2020 have been overturned, and another 26 charges under the separate Health Protection Regulations were found to be unlawful. Read more here.

Testing: Boris Johnson has missed the target of having most coronavirus tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June. The latest NHS Test and Trace statistics showed that at no point during last month was the “ambition” set by the prime minister reached. Read more here.

Coronavirus tests used by the NHS may be unsafe and have been halted, Matt Hancock has said. He told the House of Commons: “We’ve identified some test swabs that are not up to the usual high standard that we expect and we’ll be carrying out further testing of this batch.” Read more here.

Economy: Official figures show UK employers have shed almost 650,000 jobs since March, in the latest sign of the toll of the coronavirus on Britain’s labour market. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures on Thursday showed the number of employees on UK payrolls in June continuing to drop as the economy buckles under the weight of the pandemic. Read more here.

Pizza Express has become another casualty of the coronavirus lockdown, and could close 75 of its branches, according to reports. The closures would put hundreds of jobs at risk. Read more here.

Vaccine: Hackers backed by the Russian state are trying to steal the vaccine and treatment research for COVID-19 from scientists around the world, according to Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). A co-ordinated statement from Britain, the US and Canada condemned the attacks, which they said are using spear-phishing and custom malware. Read more here.

Leicester lockdown: An extension of the local lockdown in Leicester is likely to make residents “very angry indeed”, according to the city’s mayor. Speaking ahead of a government meeting involving health secretary Matt Hancock to decide whether the city's lockdown will continue, mayor Sir Peter Soulsby claimed the local coronavirus outbreak was being dramatically driven down. Read more here.

Leicester’s infection rate is in decline but is still above the national rate, Matt Hancock has told the Commons. Some lockdown restrictions will be eased as a result, with schools and early years care the first places to see the lifting. Read more here.

Science: The coronavirus is likely to keep returning “over a number of years”, the government’s chief scientific adviser has warned. Sir Patrick Vallance also said the outcome in the UK had not been good. Read more here.

Sport: Jofra Archer has been left out of the England cricket squad for the next test against the West Indies after breaking the team’s biosecure protocols. He stopped off at his flat in Hove as he travelled between Southampton and Manchester for the second test. Read more here.

Entertainment: The Notting Hill Carnival will be held online this year, for the first time in its 54-year history. There will be four channels online streaming the event from 29 to 31 August, having been filmed over a month-long period. Read more here.

Read more about COVID-19

How to get a coronavirus test if you have symptoms

What you can and can’t do under lockdown rules

In pictures: How UK school classrooms could look in new normal

How public transport could look after lockdown

How our public spaces will change in the future

Rest of the world

Pubs in Ireland may stay closed beyond 10 August, Leo Varadkar has warned. The country pushed back the latest stage of its lockdown easing and there are concerns that the R number is between 1.2 and 1.8. Read more here.

Drug cartels and rebel groups in Colombia have been killing people who don’t comply with stringent lockdown measures, according to a new report. Human Rights Watch said at least eight people have been killed by armed groups enforcing their own rules. Read more here.

Positive news

Hopes for a coronavirus vaccine as early as this year have been given a boost after human trials are reported to have shown promising results. Researchers at the University of Oxford believe they have made a breakthrough after discovering the jab could provide "double protection" against the virus, the Daily Telegraph reported. Read more here.

The takeaway industry could generate an extra £81,000 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, research suggests. A survey of UK restaurants by delivery service City Pantry found nearly a fifth (19%) have started offering takeaway services during the pandemic, and 98% of all businesses are planning to continue offering takeout food once lockdown is eased. Read more here.

Coronavirus: what happened today

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