Leicester could see Britain’s first local lockdown after a surge in cases in the city.
The mayor has said it has been “intensely frustrating” trying to get information out of the UK government, and said officials have suggested extending current anti-coronavirus measures for two weeks longer than the rest of the country, which will see some restrictions relaxed on 4 July.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, has called the pandemic a “disaster” for the UK and made it clear he wants to boost infrastructure spending to help the economy.
Globally, the death toll for Covid-19 has topped half a million, while more than 10 million people have tested positive for the virus.
President Donald Trump believes the decision to wear a mask to help prevent spreading the deadly coronavirus, currently infecting record numbers of people in many places in the United States, is personal, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Monday.
"Its his choice to wear a mask. It's the personal choice of any individual as to whether to wear a mask or not," Ms McEnany said, when asked about a new mandate to wear masks in Jacksonville, Florida, where part of the Republican nominating convention will be held.
"He encourages people to make whatever decision is best for their safety. But he did say to me he has no problem with masks and to do whatever your local jurisdiction requests."
The Covid-19 pandemic is not even close to being over, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing on Monday.
"We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up," Mr Tedros said.
The global body was planning to convene a meeting this week to assess progress in research towards fighting the disease.
Republican lawmakers are making a public push for face coverings, splitting with mask-averse US President Donald Trump on the issue as Covid-19 cases surge in some Republican-leaning states.
The top Republican in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, said on Monday every American has a responsibility to follow recommendations to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
"They should wear a mask," McCarthy told CNBC after his home state of California began to roll back efforts to reopen the economy. "If you cannot social distance, you need to be wearing a mask and you need to be respectful to one another."
Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, where cases are spiking, posted a similar message on Twitter.
"I am encouraging everyone to WEAR YOUR MASKS!" he said.
Putin says coronavirus is retreating and condemns anyone who disagrees
Russian president is not alone among leaders trying to portray pandemic as fading threatSchools in Wales have started to reopen for the first time since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wales is the first country in the United Kingdom to reopen its primary and secondary schools for all pupils since they closed in March.
Schools will remain open for between three or four weeks, with the Welsh Government saying it will provide pupils, staff and parents time to prepare for a "new normal" when the new academic year begins in September.
However, schools on Anglesey remain closed following a Covid-19 outbreak at the 2 Sisters chicken processing plant, while five schools in Blaenau Gwent were unable to reopen following issues with their water supply.
On Monday, education minister Kirsty Williams praised school leaders and staff for the "huge amount of work and planning" to welcome back students with social distancing measures and a restriction on class sizes in place.
She said: "For our head teachers, our classroom teachers and the support staff, a massive thank you to you.
"I know that a huge amount of work and planning has gone into making today and the weeks ahead successful."
The number of people permitted to meet outdoors in Northern Ireland will increase from 10 to 30 under the latest relaxation of lockdown rules.
First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill made the announcement following a meeting of the Stormont Executive.
Ms Foster said health minister Robin Swann would lay regulations on the issue on Monday.
The rules around indoor meetings will remain at a maximum of six people.
In the coming weeks, hotels, bars servings food, restaurants, coffee shops, attractions, hair salons and gyms are set to reopen.
However, Ms Foster warned that this is "not business as usual".
"While we have managed to suppress the spread of the virus here in Northern Ireland, it has not been beaten and while the hunt for a vaccine continues and while the rate of infection remains under control, we cannot assume that that will always be the case," she said.
The number of people who died from coronavirus infection in France rose by 35 to 29,813 over the last three days, health authorities announced on Monday and hospitalisations for the disease have followed their long-running downward trend.
For the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, no daily figures were given over the weekend by the authorities, who said that would now be the new procedure.
The World Health Organisation is sending a team to China next week to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus, its head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing on Monday.
The United States, the WHO's largest critic which has said it is leaving the UN agency, has called for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have said it may have originated in a laboratory, although they have presented no evidence for this and China strongly denies it.
The spike in coronavirus cases in the United States and elsewhere shows Canadians must remain vigilant as the economy gradually reopens, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.
Trudeau also told a daily briefing that fewer people were being admitted to hospital in Canada and the death toll was increasing at a smaller rate than before, although some hot spots remained.
By contrast, some southern U.S. states are reporting huge jumps in daily cases. Authorities in Mexico, Brazil and Russia are also struggling to control outbreaks.
"What the situation we're seeing in the United States and elsewhere highlights for us is that even as our economy is reopening, we need to make sure we are continuing to remain vigilant," Mr Trudeau said.
The United States and Canada have banned non-essential travel between the two nations. The measures are due to expire on July 21, and Trudeau said discussions about what to do next were taking place.
People in the UK are still travelling less than 50 per cent of their pre-pandemic distance despite lockdown restrictions easing, according to new figures.
Movement is only increasing by around 2-3 per cent each week, University of Oxford data shows.
After sinking to a 98 per cent reduction compared with pre-lockdown levels in mid-April, as of June 22 travelling had increased to around 45 per cent.
The government dropped its "stay home" slogan on 10 May.
One of the researchers involved in the study of movement, Dr Matthias Qian, said: "We explain the slow and steady increase in mobility with the lockdown fatigue of the population while destination choices are limited.
"The key driver of population movement is the daily commute to work, and these commutes remain muted as many offices have yet to reopen."
The highest levels of movement since the crisis began coincided with the hottest day of the year so far on 25 June.
In the US, Broadway theatres will remain closed until 3 January 2021, industry group the Broadway League said on Monday, extending their coronavirus shutdown for another four months.
The theatres, which went dark in mid-March, had previously set a tentative reopening date of 6 September 2020.
Greece will not allow direct flights from the UK until 15 July
The UK government’s 'double lock' to prevent overseas tourism is expected to be lifted for some countries, including Greece, from 6 JulyParents in England risk being fined if they do not send their children back to school when they reopen in September, the education secretary has warned.
Gavin Williamson said it will be “compulsory” for pupils to return to classes and unless parents have a “good reason” keeping children at home they may face financial penalties.
Speaking to Sky News, the minister said a detailed plan on how the government will ensure all children in England are back in classrooms in the autumn will be set out by the end of this week.
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The beginning of the academic year for university students may be pushed back from September to January with students applying for university after getting their A-level results rather than using projected grades.
A dramatic revamp of how students are admitted to university is being planned by the education secretary, according to a report in The Guardian.
The move would mark a substantial break from the present structure which sees sixth-form students rely grades predicted by their teachers when applying to university in January before taking their A-level exams at the end of spring.
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Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered his government on Monday to prepare a package of coronavirus restrictions similar to the hard lockdown that the Central Asian nation imposed in March-May after a recent sharp rise in infections.
Tokayev gave his cabinet two days to draft the new measures and scolded senior officials, formally reprimanding a few, for botching the reopening and allowing the outbreak to resurge in the country of 19 million.
“In foreign observers' opinion, the situation in Kazakhstan is critical, on the brink of spiralling out of control,” he said, adding that the government was considering several lockdown options and ways to support the economy.
Tokayev ordered officials to boost the number of available hospital beds by 50% within a month, deploy mobile laboratories to make tests more widely available and prepare for a long-term pandemic.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has skyrocketed to almost 38,000 from about 5,000 at the time the former Soviet republic started lifting the nationwide lockdown in mid-May. Deaths have surged to 183 from 32 over the same period.
Reuters
Puerto Rico's governor has extended a coronavirus curfew for three more weeks, marking the longest such curfew in any U.S. jurisdiction even as she authorised the re-openings of certain businesses and government agencies.
Everyone except nonessential workers has to stay indoors from 10pm to 5am until 22 July. In addition, face masks remain mandatory, and those who disobey will be fined.
The initial curfew began in mid-March, and Governor Wanda Vazquez warned Sunday that stricter measures could return if she sees a spike in cases, with several small outbreaks already reported in some towns that health officials blame on those visiting or returning from the US mainland.
“Our priority is to keep our island healthy,” Ms Vazquez said.
The island of 3.2 million people has reported at least 153 Covid-19 deaths, along with more than 1,630 confirmed cases and more than 5,600 probable cases.
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson’s government of being “asleep at the wheel” over the reopening of schools in England insisting there had been a “total lack” of planning.
The Labour leader’s remarks follow the U-turn by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, earlier this month – dropping government plans to return all primary pupils to school before the six-week summer holidays.
Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: “From the day the schools were shut down, it was obvious what needed to happen to get them back open again. You needed a risk assessment, and you needed to look at the space. I've talked to loads of headteachers, and the points they have made to me were obvious and practical and could have been overcome.“
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Nigella Lawson has expressed her anxiety over emerging from lockdown as restrictions continue to be lifted, explaining that she feels there is no room for the “psychological clutter of other people”.
On 23 June, the prime minister announced an update on the easing of lockdown measures in England.
As part of the new updates, which will come into force from 4 July, up to two households are allowed to socialise indoors together as long as social distancing guidelines are followed.
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Downing Street cannot say how many coronavirus test results are coming back within 24 hours – one day before Boris Johnson’s deadline for all to be returned that quickly.
The prime minister vowed that all tests in hospitals and drive-through centres would be processed within a day by the end of June, after criticism that delays are undermining the test-and-trace system.
But, asked if the target would be met, his spokesman said only: “That is what we are working to do” – suggesting no figures on the progress made so far were available.
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The Labour MP for Leicester East, Claudia Webbe, has said she believes a local lockdown is necessary for her constituency where 866 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the past two weeks.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said: “There are significant worries and significant problems in terms of inequalities and high levels of poverty that I'm concerned about.
“That is the context in which this Covid-19 is operating in. So I'm very concerned, and I really do believe that where the data allows we need to ensure that we engage in processes to protect lives, and I think we need to go into therefore more localised lockdown to protect lives and ensure that we can address this virus.
“The government hasn't reassured us. Thus far, the messages and the communication from the government have been unclear, and it has been difficult, and I really don't understand what communities are meant to follow.”
Press Asssociation
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