Boris Johnson has dropped advice against face coverings in English schools after coming under pressure from unions, opposition parties and schools.
It comes after a headteachers’ union in England said that while “evidence is clearly evolving on this issue”, the government should keep in step with the World Health Organisation and Scotland.
Holyrood’s education secretary John Swinney has said wearing face masks will be mandatory in Scottish secondary schools hours ahead of Westminster.
It comes amid fears that immunity from coronavirus may last only a few months, after the world’s first re-infected patient was discovered in Hong Kong. The man fought off one strain of Covid-19 only to catch a second four months later.
Downing Street forced to deny Boris Johnson could quit as prime minister over coronavirus-related health issues
Downing Street has been forced to deny claims that Boris Johnson could quit as prime minister within six months because of ongoing health problems due to coronavirus, political editor Andrew Woodcock reports.
The father-in-law of Mr Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings was reported to have told a holidaymaker that Mr Johnson was still struggling badly with the after-effects of the Covid-19 infection which saw him taken into intensive care in April. In a video message after his discharge, a visibly under-the-weather PM said there was “no question” the NHS had saved his life after a period when things “could have gone either way”.
According to The Times, Sir Humphry Wakefield compared the PM to a horse with a damaged fetlock, telling Anna Silverman, a visitor to his Chillingham Castle home in Northumberland: “If you put a horse back to work when it’s injured, it will never recover.”
But a Number 10 source dismissed as “total nonsense” his suggestion that the impact of the infection will force the PM to step down early.
The report came as Mr Johnson faced demands to step up support for those suffering from so-called “long Covid”, who are suffering long-term debilitating effects weeks or months after apparently beating their initial coronavirus infection.
Boris Johnson has dropped advice against the use of face coverings in English schools, in an 11th-hour U-turn after he came under pressure from unions, opposition parties and schools.
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Boris Johnson U-turns on advice against face masks in schools
Boris Johnson has dropped advice against the use of face coverings in English schools, in an 11th-hour U-turn after he came under pressure from unions, opposition parties and schools.Consider face masks in schools, says union
School pupils being made to wear face masks an option that should be kept under review, a union has said.
The Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton told The Daily Telegraph: "We would expect the government in Westminster to review its guidance on the use of face coverings in schools - which currently says they are not required - in light of the WHO guidance and the consultation taking place in Scotland.
"The evidence is clearly evolving on this issue and it is important that it is kept under review and that clear direction is provided to schools."
(On Tuesday, Scotland announced that secondary pupils would be obliged to wear masks while moving around their schools.)
But Professor Russell Viner, a member of Sage, said there was concern about younger children wearing face coverings.
He told BBC2's Newsnight: "The evidence on masks is very unclear. And, actually, I think that's in one sense, potentially going beyond the evidence we have.
"There are lots of concerns about mask wearing for children, particularly younger children. Because they touch their face, they are constantly worried about the mask, it actually could, potentially. spread the virus more.
"I think for young children it [would be] clear it is not a good idea. For teenagers, again, I think, we don't have the evidence this is useful."
On Monday, a Number 10 spokesman said there were "no plans" to review the guidance on face coverings in schools.
He added: "We are conscious of the fact that it would obstruct communication between teachers and pupils."
Gavin Williamson, the embattled education secretary, has said that measures being taken by schools to limit the spread of Covid-19 precluded the need for masks.
World Health Organisation advice suggests adults and children aged 12 and over should wear a mask, especially if they cannot maintain at least a one-metre distance from others and there is widespread transmission in their area.
Scotland's education secretary, John Swinney, is consulting with teachers and councils on whether to recommend the use of masks when moving around schools north of the border.
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First reinfected patient found in Hong Kong
Scientists have reported the world’s first case of a human being reinfected with the coronavirus in a discovery that could have significant implications for the development of vaccines, and hopes of natural immunity against the virus, writes Shaun Lintern.
Researchers at Hong Kong University’s department of microbiology said genetic sequencing of the virus showed that a Hong Kong man was infected twice by different versions of the coronavirus months apart.
Australia passes 25,000 infections
Some 151 new Covid-19 cases pushed Australia past the milestone 25,000-case mark on Tuesday.
It was an increase on the 121 recorded the previous day.
The daily numbers were well down from a peak during Australia's second wave of more than 700 in a single day earlier this month, but officials expressed fears about a drop-off in the number of people turning up for tests.
"We are seeing some decrease in the amount of testing ... please, if you have symptoms, do go and get tested," national chief nursing and midwifery officer Alison McMillan said during a press conference.
Australia has seen 25,067 cases, including 525 deaths, from the pandemic.
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and the country's second largest city, is the epicentre of the renewed outbreak. The city is just over halfway through a six-week strict lockdown, which requires residents to remain at home unless on essential business. Businesses have been forced to close and a nightly curfew imposed.
Seoul closes schools
Most schools in Seoul and the surrounding areas were ordered to close on Tuesday and move classes online.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 280 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Monday, bringing the country's total to 17,945 with 310 deaths.
That represents a drop in daily new infections from 397 reported as of midnight on Saturday, the highest daily tally since early March.
Health authorities say the country is on the brink of a nationwide outbreak and have called on people to stay home.
"It would be too hasty to say that the curve has flattened," KCDC deputy director Kwon Jun-wook said. "There is still a high risk that cases could continue to rise."
There have been three times as many serious cases in the past week as in past spikes, he added.
All students, except for high school seniors, in the cities of Seoul and Incheon and the province of Geonggi will take classes online until 11 September, the education ministry said on Tuesday.
The beginning of the spring semester had been postponed several times since March, but as daily coronavirus cases dropped sharply following a February peak, most of South Korea's schools reopened in stages between 20 May and 1 June.
Over the past fortnight, at least 150 students and 43 school staff have tested positive in the greater Seoul area, education minister Yoo Eun-hae told a briefing.
Many cases in the Seoul outbreak have previously been linked to a church where congregants refused to be tested for the virus.
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Thousands of health workers infected
At least 6,500 health and care workers may have been infected with coronavirus through their work, including 100 who died, according to data from the Health and Safety Executive, writes Shaun Lintern.
The regulator told The Independent it was reviewing each case and could launch investigations under the Health and Safety at Work Act if hospitals or care homes are suspected of not taking adequate steps to protect staff from infection.
Hong Kong to ease lockdown restrictions
Hong Kong will relax some anti-coronavirus measures from 28 August, allowing venues like cinemas and beauty parlours to reopen and restaurants to extend dining hours, authorities said on Tuesday.
The city had seen a resurgence of locally transmitted cases since the start of July but the daily number has fallen from triple digits in recent weeks to low double digits. Monday's infection count of nine new cases was the lowest in nearly two months.
Sophia Chan, the health secretary, said that the government would allow outdoor sports centres to reopen and would lift mandatory mask wearing for outdoor sports and country parks.
Restaurants can extend dining to 9pm, having previously only been able to offer takeaways past 6pm.
Fury at plan to fine parents for children's non-attendance
Teaching unions and parents have hit back over the threat of fines if children do not return to the classroom next week, warning it could undermine trust between families and schools at a crucial point in the UK’s recovery from coronavirus, writes Andrew Woodcock.
And the head of the body representing parent teacher associations (PTAs) told The Independent that Boris Johnson’s assertion of a “moral duty” to get youngsters into school after the enforced break was “very unhelpful” for many mothers and fathers who have legitimate concerns over the health of their children.
Scotland to mandate face masks in school
Secondary schools will be given "obligatory guidance'' that pupils should wear face coverings when moving around the buildings from next Monday, Scotland's education secretary has confirmed.
John Swinney said that from the end of this month pupils should wear masks in areas where physical distancing is not possible.
Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, he said the Scottish government was going further than the World Health Organisation guidance by also recommending masks on school buses.
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Oxford scientist speaks out on Trump's 'vaccine fast-track plan'
An Oxford researcher has addressed suggestions that Donald Trump could fast-track emergency approval for an AstraZeneca vaccine that is currently undergoing trials.
On Tuesday the company announced it had given the first doses to patients in a phase one trial.
Responding to media reports of the president's wishes, Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Emergency use authorisations are well established by regulators both in the United States and in Europe.
"In fact, you may be aware just this week, the FDA has granted emergency use authorisation for plasma therapy.
"So the process of going through emergency use authorisation in an emergency is well established but it still involves having carefully conducted data, just as we are collecting information about the vaccines in clinical trials that are conducted rigorously and evidence that it actually works.
"And so, for our suite of trials that we're running from Oxford, we would expect to first of all have safety data and then evidence that the vaccine actually works.
"And before anything were to progress from there and of course it'd be AstraZeneca who would then take that forward to regulators."
He added that the timing of when the vaccine could become available "depends very much on the number of cases that occur in the weeks and months ahead".
Singapore sees lowest case tally for five months
Singapore's health ministry reported 31 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the city-state's lowest daily count since 22 March.
20 staff at NI hospital isolating after positive tests
Twenty members of staff at Craigavon Hospital in Northern Ireland are self-isolating after colleagues tested positive for Covid-19.
The Southern Health Trust has confirmed that three workers in the hospital's respiratory emergency department have caught the virus.
On Tuesday morning 20 members of staff were self-isolating as a precaution, bosses said.
In a statement, the trust said any other members of staff who had been in close contact with the confirmed cases were being tested and were currently at home isolating as a precaution.
"At this stage it is understood that the infection may have transferred in a social setting, ie not within the emergency department (ED)," it said.
"Staff in the ED wear full personal protective equipment when treating patients, therefore we do not believe there is any risk to patients at this time.
"The ED in Craigavon remains open but is extremely busy and we would urge the public only to attend if there is no other alternative."
Academy group forks out for masks
One academy school group, Oasis, is already splashing the cash on face masks and protectors for its pupils, as debate rages over whether England should make the coverings mandatory.
Rise in cases slowing globally - except southeast Asia and eastern Mediterranean, WHO says
The coronavirus pandemic is still growing, but the rise in cases and deaths has slowed globally except for in southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
In its latest epidemiological update, issued on Monday night, it said that the Americas remained the hardest-hit region, accounting for half of newly reported cases and 62 per cent of the 39,240 deaths worldwide in the past week.
More people have died in the US than any other country, while the outbreak in Brazil has been gathering pace.
More than 23.65 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 811,895 have died, figures suggest.
Southeast Asia, the second most affected region, reported a jump accounting for 28 per cent of new cases and 15 per cent of deaths in the week to 23 August, the WHO said.
India continues to report the majority of cases, but the virus is also spreading rapidly in Nepal.
'After coronavirus most of us will experience post-traumatic growth, but that doesn’t mean we’ll all be instantly stronger'
Post-traumatic growth is a phenomenon that’s hailed as a wholly positive and enlightening experience, writes Ruth Cooper-Dickinson.
It’s about the light at the end of a traumatic tunnel. It’s a way of acknowledging the positives we’ve gained from negative experiences and using these to develop and grow as stronger, warmer, sunnier human beings.
However, if we set our expectations too high and over-simplify the meaning of post-traumatic growth it could do more harm than good.
England deaths rise above average - but not because of Covid-19
A total of 9,392 deaths were registered in England and Wales in the week ending 14 August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - 307 above the five-year average of 9,085.
The increase was not driven by Covid-19, the ONS said.
Instead the rise above the five-year average was "likely due to the heatwave" that affected England and Wales during this time.
Of the deaths registered, 139 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate - down from 152 in the previous week.
Trump jokes about hydroxychloroquine at RNC event
Donald Trump joked about a malaria drug his administration determined a poor treatment for coronavirus that he pushed for months as he made his prime time Republican National Convention debut – where his handling of the pandemic was nevertheless repeatedly praised, writes John T Bennett.
The president's team had promised an upbeat convention message, but they matched Democrats' dark and gloomy tone as both parties – for different reasons – described the country as something of a bleak hellscape that the other side wants to make even worse.
GOP speakers contended Democrats want to enact policies that would bring an end to America's suburbs, wipe out their finances and give other countries a major advantage on the global stage.
Coronavirus hits tourism for £245bn globally
The global tourism industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, with $320bn (£244.5bn) lost in exports in the first five months of the year and more than 120 million jobs at risk, the chief of the UN has said.
Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in a policy briefing and video address on Tuesday that tourism is the third-largest export sector of the global economy, behind fuels and chemicals, and in 2019 it accounted for 7 per cent of global trade.
Nearly 57,200 deaths involving Covid-19 registered in UK
Just under 57,200 deaths involving Covid-19 have now been registered in the UK.
Figures published on Tuesday by the ONS show that 52,091 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to 14 August, and had been registered by 22 August.
Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,216 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to 16 August, while 866 deaths had occurred in Northern Ireland up to 14 August (and had been registered up to 19 August) according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Together, these figures mean that so far 57,173 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
