Three of the government’s scientific advisers on coronavirus have warned Covid-19 “is spreading too fast to lift lockdown in England”, arguing the rate of infection and number of new cases remains too high, which the ONS places at 8,000 per day.
With the new NHS test and trace system still “untested”, Professor John Edmunds accused ministers of making a “risky” and political decision, saying “Westminster clearly made a decision that this is the sort of level of incidence that they’re willing to tolerate”, despite it being “significantly higher” than similar European nations.
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has urged chancellor Rishi Sunak not to end the government’s furlough scheme in October, warning of “huge redundancies in the hospitality sector”, which he said “almost undermines the point of having” the scheme in the first place.
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Chinese vaccine could be ready by end of the year, claims government body
A Chinese government body has said a vaccine for coronavirus could be ready for market as early as the end of this year or early 2021.
China’s state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said in a social media post that more than 2,000 people have received vaccines as part of trials, developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products.
The clinical trials have entered Phase II. Both groups are affiliated with state-owned pharmaceutical group Sinopharm, which is managed by SASAC.
The body said in the post on WeChat that the production line will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 100 million to 120 million doses.
Reporting by Reuters
The British Army’s information warfare unit has been drafted to combat a spike in propaganda and conspiracy theories on coronavirus being spread online, defence editor Kim Sengupta reports.
The 77th Brigade is part of the government operation against a coalition consisting of activists from anti-vaccine, anti-5G and hard-right movements who have been claiming the pandemic threat is bogus.
The brigade was previously used to combat misinformation spread by Isis and extremist political groups.
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) of Ireland has announced that field-testing of a Covid-19 contact-tracing app will begin in the country next week.
The app will operate on a voluntary and opt-in basis. It is aimed at tracking down anyone who has been in close contact with positive cases of the virus.
A HSE statement said: ""The app is being prepared for field testing which is due to commence next week. This will validate the use of Exposure Notification Service (ENS) to trace close contacts.
"The Exposure Notification Service (ENS) has been developed by Apple and Google."
The app will be launched once it is fully operational and the necessary approvals have been received from the Data Protection Commissioner, health experts from the National Public Health Emergency Team, HSE and the Government.
As the sunny weather increases pollen levels, hay fever symptoms are bound to flare up.
Read Sabrina Barr's guide on how to tell the difference between coronavirus and hay fever symptoms:
Pakistan resumes international flights as single highest overnight death toll recorded
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority has announced international flights can resume in and out of Pakistan - even as it recorded its single highest overnight death toll of 78 and the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases soared beyond 66,000.
As of Saturday, Pakistan had recorded 1,395 deaths from the virus since mid-March and daily counts of new cases showed a jump of nearly 2,500
Pakistan has eased most of its lockdown measures and earlier this month the Supreme Court even ordered shopping centres to reopen. That came despite pleas from the country's medical profession and dire warnings of more deaths.
"It will only work if there are effective, flexible and local systems in place that have the confidence of the public to ensure that we avoid a second peak of infections"
Greg Clark, chair of the Commons science and technology committee, called on the prime minister to consider reducing the two-metre limit to one and half metres in light of new evidence from the government's scientific advisers, Lizzy Buchan reports.
Mr Clark, a former cabinet minister, said documents recently published by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), indicate infection risk "falls sharply by 1.5m" and urged a review of the rules before non-essential shops begin to reopen in two weeks time.
In a letter to the prime minister, Mr Clark said: "At the liaison committee hearing, you expressed your hope that the 2 metre distance could be reduced, noting that Sage had updated its advice on other matters as the pandemic has developed and that you would ask Sage to consider again its advice in good time ahead of the planned return to business of shops on 15 June.
"I would therefore ask that you ensure that Sage urgently reviews the 2 metre guidance and publishes its updated analysis." He added: "Were Sage's updated analysis not to recommend reducing the advised distance, it would be important for it to clarify the rationale for 2 metres compared to 1.5 metres and why the guidance in the UK differs from so many international comparators."
David Davis, another former cabinet minister, tweeted: "Greg Clark's right, the government must look at easing the social distancing rules to help businesses, including shops, get back on their feet in the coming weeks. The WHO recommends only a 1m rule."
The city's Labour group is investigating after video emerged on social media of at least 12 people at the home of Lynnie Hinnigan, where a number of chairs were laid out.
Councillor Hinnigan said that no party took place because of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, and guests had just dropped off gifts in a surprise event for her 50th birthday, organised by her daughter.
She told the Liverpool Echo: "I really wasn't aware that it was happening, it was genuinely a surprise.
"Everyone is finding lockdown hard, not seeing family and friends, but everyone should still follow the rules, stay alert, stay safe and socially distance, which is exactly what I told my daughter and the reason I never left the house.
"I am sorry if this has hurt anyone as it was never mine or my daughter's intention. Many other families in our city have struggled throughout this period. We still need to follow the guidance until we can meet face to face again."
The Labour group said Councillor Hinnigan had "voluntarily and temporarily" stepped down from her duties.
"And, I would say, it almost undermines the point of having the furlough scheme in the first place."
He added: "If you are going to pull the rug on people in a sector like hospitality at that point, then we could see a huge number of businesses go bust and jobs lost."
Italy's foreign minister is warning that the European Union will "collapse" if governments treat Italians like lepers over the coronavirus and "black list" Europe's one-time virus epicentre during the summer tourism season.
Luigi Di Maio posted a blistering Facebook message on Saturday after Greece excluded Italians — as well as nationals from Spain, Britain and other countries with high infection rates — from the list of foreign tourists it will welcome this summer.
Mr Di Maio said competition for tourism is one thing, but he insisted that it be healthy and fair in demanding a European response to the reopening of EU borders after virus lockdowns. He warned: "If you act differently and dislocated, the EU spirit will be lost. And Europe will collapse."
Di Maio praised French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian for making his first post-lockdown visit to Italy on Wednesday. Mr Di Maio said he would be traveling to Germany, Slovenia and Greece in the upcoming week to make the case that Italy is ready to receive foreign tourists. Tourism and its related industries account for some 13 per cent of Italy's GDP.
AP
Professor Robert West, a health psychologist who sits on the Sage SPI-B subcommittee, has indicated he believes the government is risking tens of thousands of lives by allowing Dominic Cummings to keep his job.
The government and various police forces have urged people not to meet more than one person from another household until Monday, despite the warm weather.
Stephen Reicher, a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science, has warned the government's ongoing decision to keep the PM's chief aide risks undermining the new test and trace programme.
"The decision by key members of Sage to go public with their concerns shows that ministers are no longer following the science," said the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson.
"The test, trace, isolate system that we need to keep people safe is not yet fully functional. The NHSX app is delayed for an unknown period. For seven days straight the government has been unable to provide even basic data about the number of people tested.
"On top of these failings, public health messaging has been badly undermined as people see it's one rule for the Tory elite and another for everyone else. Given this chaos, measures to lift lockdown appear premature."
The popular holiday destination will open up to visitors from 29 nations in two weeks’ time as the Greek government looks to soften the financial blow of coronavirus, Zoe Tidman reports.
Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, South Korea, China are on the list of countries Greece will accept tourists from on 15 June. Others include Australia, Bulgaria, Israel, Norway, Finland, Japan and Czech Republic.
However, some of the world's worst-affected countries - including the UK, France, Italy and Spain - are not included on the list.
Holidaymakers will be randomly tested for coronavirus, the Greek Tourism Ministry said.
India has reported a record daily jump of 7,964 new Covid-19 infections on Saturday, the day before lockdown restrictions are due to be eased.
In an open letter marking one year into his second term, Modi appealed to the country's population of 1.3 billion to follow all lockdown rules, saying there is a "long battle" ahead.
"Our country (is) besieged with problems amidst a vast population and limited resources," Mr Modi said, adding that labourers and migrant workers had "undergone tremendous suffering" due to restrictions.
The government could extend the lockdown beyond 31 May, a home ministry official said on Saturday. The home ministry did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
India has recorded a total of 173,763 Covid-19 cases and 4,971 deaths, making it the ninth most-affected country globally, Reuters calculates.
Sir Chris Ham, a director of Royal Free Hospital and a chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire STP, has warned that the prime minister is taking a big risk to relax lockdown without a "fully fledged" test and trace system in place.
Sage adviser Susan Michie liked the comment.
Wall-to-wall sunshine has scored the UK its sunniest spring since records began in 1929, but as the country faces its hottest day of the year so far on Sunday, people are reminded that lockdown rules still apply when heading out to enjoy the warm weather, Kate Ng reports.
The Met Office said that by Wednesday, the UK had clocked up 573 hours of sunshine. Only nine other springs on record have topped 500 hours of sunshine. It is also on track to be the driest May on record for some parts of the UK, particularly in the south of England.
UV levels are also very high throughout this weekend, which will see temperatures reaching 28C in parts of northern Scotland and 25C in Cardiff and London - warmer than a host of Mediterranean holiday destinations including Ibiza, Monaco and Barcelona.
The government's daily figures for the number of people tested have been missing for a week, which the Department of Health says has been "temporarily paused to ensure consistent reporting across all pillars".
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told The Guardian: “Whether or not the Department of Health is trying to hide these figures ... not making them publicly available could be perceived as that.
“If the government is setting targets that it’s then going to judge itself by, the results should be publicly available so that people outside the small group of advisers to the government are able to judge them independently. It does feel that the openness is not there.”
Mobility data from Apple has revealed that the coronavirus outbreak was already having a significant impact on people's behaviour long before the government imposed lockdown restrictions, Anthony Cuthbertson reported on 15 May.
In the weeks before the UK entered lockdown on 23 March, companies began to introduce measures like working from home in order to help contain the spread of the virus.
This trend, combined with people's own changing attitudes toward social events and large gatherings, resulted in travel dropping by more than 50 per cent before the lockdown began, according to requests made on Apple Maps for car and public transport directions.
Many activities and behaviours that were considered normal before coronavirus also remain taboo regardless of the government's guidelines.
