Coronavirus news: Drinkers warned risk of catching Covid-19 in reopening pubs 'quite high', as Boris Johnson eases lockdown and reduces 2-metre rule
Boris Johnson has announced plans to allow pubs, restaurants, museums, cinemas and hotels to reopen from 4 July in the most significant easing of the coronavirus lockdown yet in England.
The prime minister also cut the two-metre social distancing rule to one metre following a review of the measure. People from two households will be allowed to meet indoors and stay overnight at each other's homes or other accommodation.
Prime minister to announce latest easing of lockdown measures
Boris Johnson is due to announce the biggest and riskiest step so far to take England out of lockdown later today, as he confirms pubs, restaurants and hotels can start reopening in 11 days’ time on 4 July.
The prime minister is also expected to confirm a review of social distancing has concluded that the two-metre rule in place since March can be reduced to one metre – something which is regarded as essential by the hospitality industry for venues to be financially viable.
The announcement comes amid continuing disagreement among scientists about the safety of lifting lockdown measures, with the Independent Sage group – led by former chief scientific adviser Sir David King –warning that the rate of infection is still “far too high” to go ahead.
Read more on this story from our political editor Andrew Woodcock below:
Covid-19 pandemic 'still accelerating' around the world, WHO warns
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the Covid-19 pandemic is “still accelerating” around the world as global cases top nine million.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's comments came after WHO reported the biggest daily rise in coronavirus cases since the start of the outbreak.
He said: "The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that, indeed, the world was not prepared. Globally, the pandemic is still accelerating."
The number of reported infections has soared in places like Brazil, Iraq, India and southern and western US states, straining local hospitals.
WHO expert Dr Margaret Harris said the outbreaks were "concerning", particularly in Brazil.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “We are seeing an acceleration rather than a spike [in Brazil] - it’s just going right up."
Dr Harris said the reason for significant outbreaks in large cities is because people are crowded close together.
"This virus loves a crowd," she added. "These are circumstances where the virus thrives.”
UK needs to be 'super careful' when easing lockdown, says WHO expert
World Health Organisation (WHO) expert Dr Margaret Harris has warned the UK needs to be "super careful" as it gets to grips with the coronavirus pandemic and further eases lockdown restrictions.
Asked whether there is a link between the reproductive rate of the virus and the fact lockdown measures are being relaxed, Dr Harris told the Today programme: "Certainly when you relax lockdown measures, when people come together, that’s again when the virus has an opportunity.
"One of the problems with easing a lockdown is that people get the message when they’re in lockdown - this is serious, this is a problem - and when the lockdown is released the message they may get is 'Oh it’s all over, it’s fine' which is not the case."
Dr Harris added the UK could learn lessons from other countries experiencing outbreaks after relaxing lockdown restrictions.
She said: "The lesson is for people to understand this is the year of living differently, not 'OK it’s over'.
"You haven’t just been let out of school," she added. "You’ve done well, you’ve really brought down your numbers, the UK has brought a very difficult outbreak right down...so now is the moment to celebrate that by being super careful."
One of president Donald Trump’s White House advisers has claimed that there will be no second wave of coronavirus in the US, writes Louise Hall.
Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council and chief economic advisor to Mr Trump told CNBC: “There is no second wave coming. It’s just hot spots."
He added: “They send in CDC teams, we’ve got the testing procedures, we’ve got the diagnostics, we’ve got the PPE. And so I really think it’s a pretty good situation."
Ban on different households meeting indoors expected eased
The ban on people from different households meeting together indoors is likely to be eased, as Boris Johnson also reopens cinemas, museums and art galleries, deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports.
Families and friends would be able to visit each other’s homes, provided they stick to social distancing rules – with no hugging – but it is unclear if they would be allowed to stay overnight.
The prime minister is expected to announce there will be no limit on the numbers who can gather indoors, in England, as long as they are members of just two households, although the details were still being agreed.
Triplets test positive for coronavirus on day of birth (iStock)Triplets tested positive for Covid-19 on the day they were born in Mexico.
Monica Rangel, the health secretary of the northern state of San Luis Potosi, said the triplets were born on 8 May to a mother who also tested positive but was asymptomatic.
Ms Rangel said the triplets are not believed to be in any danger.
She said the case was being studied to see whether the triplets were infected before or after birth, but said it appeared improbable they could have been infected outside the womb so quickly.
Nationwide, Mexico's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen by 4,577 to 185,122, and the confirmed death toll has increased by 759 to 22,584.
Both numbers are considered to be significantly lower than the true count, due to Mexico's very low levels of testing.
Officials said levels of infection appear to have stabilised, and expressed hopes - as they have many times before - that the numbers may start declining soon.
Men appear to produce more Covid-19 antibodies than women
New research suggests men appear to produce more Covid-19 antibodies than women, Samuel Lovett reports.
Those who have been infected with the virus are being asked to donate blood plasma as part of an ongoing trial conducted by NHS Blood and Transplant.
After more than a month of trials, the research has established that 43 per cent of male donors had plasma rich enough in antibodies to be used for transfusions, compared with 29 per cent of women.
A second coronavirus wave is possible in Germany but officials are optimistic it can be prevented, according to the head of the country's health agency.
Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health, said the virus reproduction rate in Germany, currently estimated to be at 2.76, is probably down to local outbreaks.
An "R" rate of 2.76 means 100 people who contracted the virus infect, on average, 276 others.
Outbreaks of coronavirus have been reported at meat factories around the world, from Germany to the US, with a plant in West Yorkshire becoming the latest epicentre.
Last week, officials in a west German district said the number of new infections linked to a large meatpacking plant had risen to 657 – a higher figure than many recent daily increases for the entire country. More than 1,300 workers have contracted Covid-19 as of Monday.
Zoe Tidman explains why there are so many outbreaks at meat factories in this piece below:
The number of excess deaths in the UK since the coronavirus outbreak began has passed 65,000, PA news agency reports.
Today's figures from the Office for National Statistics, which show 59,252 excess deaths in England and Wales between March 21 and June 12, follow figures last week showing the equivalent numbers for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The National Records of Scotland found there were 4,877 excess deaths in Scotland between March 16 and June 14, while the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency put the figure for Northern Ireland at 972 excess deaths between March 28 and June 12.
Together, this means the total number of excess deaths in the UK across this period now stands at 65,101.
Beijing's mass testing for coronavirus will soon enter a "fast track" as the city's testing capacity expands, a senior municipal health official has said.
Beijing can now administer more than 300,000 nucleic acid tests per day compared with 40,000 in March, Zhang Hua, deputy director at the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, told reporters.
Beijing had taken samples from 2.95 million people between June 12 and June 22, Zhang said.
The Chinese capital city has been grappling with a new Covid-19 outbreak thought to have begun at its sprawling Xinfadi market. More on this below:
German region on lockdown after meat plant outbreak
The governor of Germany's most populous state has announced lockdown measures in a county that has seen a large increase in Covid-19 cases linked to a slaughterhouse, writes Vincent Wood.
Armin Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, said that people in Guetersloh county should only have contact with their own household or one person from outside.
It comes after more than 1,500 people tested positive for the coronavirus at the Toennies slaughterhouse in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck and thousands have been put under a quarantine to try to halt the outbreak.
UK coronavirus deaths top 54,000, latest ONS figures show
The number of deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK has passed 54,000, according to the latest available data.
The total includes new figures published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which show that 48,866 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to June 12 (and had been registered by June 20).
Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,070 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to June 14.
The latest figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, also published last week, showed 802 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in Northern Ireland up to June 12 (and had been registered up to June 17).
Together these figures mean that so far 53,738 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
Between June 13 and June 21, a further 317 hospital patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 died in England, according to NHS England; while a further 29 people in hospital and care homes who had tested positive for Covid-19 died in Wales, according to Public Health Wales.
And in Northern Ireland, a further five people who had tested positive for Covid-19 died between June 13 and June 21, according to the Northern Ireland Department of Health.
These add up to a further 351 deaths that have occurred since June 13, and together with the total figure of 53,738 registered deaths, means the overall Covid-19 death toll for the UK is now just over 54,000, at 54,089.
A leading fostering agency has reported a 44 per cent rise in referrals as social workers warn heightened financial and mental health pressures during lockdown are leading to higher levels of child abuse and neglect, social affairs correspondent May Bulmanreports in this piece.
Scientists to study great ‘human pause’ and impact on wildlife
Though some vital services continued, from mid-March to mid-May human activity and its impact on the planet was vastly reduced as lockdowns were imposed across the globe.
Scientists are now hoping to learn what this immense hiatus, or “anthropause”, as it has been dubbed, has meant for animals and plants.
A research team is aiming to build a body of work detailing the realities of how lockdown impacted the natural world - which they hope will provide invaluable insights into human-wildlife interactions.
Shielding measures in England to be lifted in August
Charities have warned that some medically vulnerable people could be forced to choose between financial security and their health, after Matt Hancock announced that “shielding” measures which have confined 2.2 million inside their homes for the past three months are to be lifted in England at the start of August.
In the latest in a series of significant relaxations of lockdown, the health secretary said that from 6 July people shielding from the coronavirus will be able to gather in groups of up to six people at a two-metre distance outdoors, while those living alone will be allowed to form a “support bubble” with another household, visiting one another as often as they like and staying overnight.
Political editor Andrew Woodcock has more on this below:
Antibody testing 'not widely available for homecare'
Jane Townson, chief executive at UK Homecare Association, has told MPs antibody testing has not been made widely available.
She told the Health and Social Care Committee: "Because testing capacity has been limited, home care has been at the bottom of the priority list so people receiving home care were never even on the list.
"At one stage care workers were told that they could all have tests but the practicalities of accessing them meant that it was very low levels.
"You mentioned about antibody testing, none of that has been available for home care.
"The pilots were all done directed at care homes, there's been nothing available for the large.
"Exactly the same number of people work in homecare as do in care homes, 685,000 people nationally, half the workforce, but it's been largely ignored."
