The UK has recorded its highest one-day rise in coronavirus infections since June, at 1,148.
The grim figure came after Covid-19 officially dragged the UK into recession, with the economy contracting by a record 20.4 per cent between April and June.
Meanwhile, Oldham is facing a return to full lockdown after the infection rate there doubled in a week.
UK officially in recession
Britain's economy is officially in recession after contracting by a staggering 20.4 per cent between April and June, the ONS has said.
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said: "The recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has led to the biggest fall in quarterly GDP on record.
"The economy began to bounce back in June with shops reopening, factories beginning to ramp up production and housebuilding continuing to recover.
"Despite this, GDP in June still remains one-sixth below its level in February, before the virus struck.
"Overall, productivity saw its largest-ever fall in the second quarter. Hospitality was worst hit, with productivity in that industry falling by three-quarters in recent months."
For more, you can read our breaking news story:
Germany sceptical of Russian vaccine claims
Jens Spahn, the German health minister, has said he is sceptical about Russia becoming the first country to grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine.
He added his voice to those of scientists who called yesterday for Moscow to be more transparent about the evidence supporting its new jab.
Russia's vaccine, which will be called "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has not yet completed its final trials. Its regulatory approval came after less than two months of human testing.
"It's not about being first somehow - it's about having an effective, tested and therefore safe vaccine," Mr Spahn told Deutschlandfunk radio.
"In order to have trust in such a vaccine, I think it is very, very important, even during a pandemic, to properly do studies, the relevant tests and especially to make them public.
"The problem is that we know very little about it as the Russian authorities are not being very transparent," he said.
Yesterday experts called Russia's move "reckless and foolish".
Read more here:
New Zealand considering freight shipment as source of new outbreak
A freight shipment may have been the source of New Zealand's first outbreak in more than three months, officials believe.
The discovery of four new Covid-19 cases has plunged the country's biggest city, Auckland, into lockdown once more.
Four family members were infected, prompting Jacinda Ardern to order travel restrictions for the whole country.
The discovery of four infected family members in Auckland led Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to swiftly reimpose tight restrictions on movement in New Zealand's biggest city and travel limitations across the entire country.
Officials said they were confident there had been no local transmission of the virus in New Zealand for 102 days and that the family had not travelled overseas.
"We are working hard to put together pieces of the puzzle on how this family got infected," said director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield.
Investigations were zeroing in on the potential the virus was imported by freight. Bloomfield said surface testing was underway at an Auckland cool store where a man from the infected family worked.
"We know the virus can survive within refrigerated environments for quite some time," Dr Bloomfield said.
Read more here:
Medical examiners to probe deaths of hundreds of NHS staff
The deaths of hundreds of NHS and social care workers infected with coronavirus are under investigation by medical examiners, The Independent has learnt, writes Shaun Lintern.
Ministers have asked medical examiners in England and Wales to review all deaths of frontline health and social care staff infected with the virus to determine whether the infection was caught as a result of their work.
The review, which started last month, is likely to cover more than 620 deaths including nurses, doctors and care home staff across England and Wales, since the beginning of March.
Australia records deadliest day of pandemic
Australia reported its most fatalities in a single day of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, and the biggest daily rise in infections in three days.
The figures have dented hopes that a second wave gripping the state of Victoria may be stabilising.
Victoria recorded 21 deaths and 410 new cases in the past 24 hours.
A cluster in Melbourne, the Victorian capital and Australia's second-largest city, forced authorities to institute a night curfew, tighten restrictions on movement and order large parts of the state's economy to close last week.
Daniel Andrews, the state premier, said that while the number of cases was on a downward trend, the impact of lockdown measures had not yet been reflected in the case numbers.
"We all know that a week is not the life cycle of this virus ... and our experts remain firm in the view that this will drive the numbers down," he told reporters.
Only Victoria and the country's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported fresh Covid -19 cases on Wednesday, with a total of 428 infections detected in the past 24 hours.
The virus has been effectively eliminated outside of Victoria and NSW.
London and Stockholm have similar infection rates
The same proportion of people in London were infected with coronavirus in April as in Stockholm, where authorities opted for a herd immunity strategy, according to a new study, writes Andy Gregory.
Antibody testing regimes from both the UK and Swedish governments suggested that 17 per cent of the population in both cities had contracted Covid-19 in April, the paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine highlights.
Chinese woman catches coronavirus twice
A woman in China's Hubei province has tested positive for coronavirus a second time, six months after catching it the first time.
The woman in Jingzhou had tested positive for coronavirus on 8 February, but recovered a few months ago.
She tested positive again on 9 August, the government said.
The 68-year-old is now under quarantine and is being treated, while people who have contacted her have tested negative for the coronavirus, officials said.
There is no evidence of a risk of transmission from relapsed cases, they added.
Government under fire for last minute U-turn that will use A-level mock results
Ministers are under fire for a last-gasp U-turn that will allow A-level and GCSE students to use grades from mock exams, to prevent a repeat of the fiasco in Scotland, writes Rob Merrick.
Just 36 hours before A-level results are released, the education secretary ripped up his plan to rely on a computer algorithm to moderate results predicted by teachers – fearing the impact on pupils in poorer areas.
It means students will now choose between the marks they are awarded, their mock results, or – if they are not happy with either of those – they can resit the exam in the autumn.
Russia pushes back against vaccine criticism
Allegations that Russia's Covid-19 vaccine is unsafe are groundless and driven by competition, the Interfax news agency has reported health minister Mikhail Murashko as saying.
Moscow's decision to grant approval to the Sputnik vaccine - the world's first to be green-lit for use - has raised concerns among experts.
Some scientists fear Moscow may be putting national prestige before safety.
Earlier, Germany's health minister cast doubt on the vaccine, as scientists had done yesterday.
'Vaccine development provides an answer to our productivity puzzle'
Dreadful employment figures for the UK – down 220,000 – but apparently not as dreadful as expected? Unemployment still steady at only 3.9 per cent? writes Hamish McRae
Actually the latest labour market numbers have an easy explanation but raise a really puzzling – and important – question about the future.
The explanation is simply that this is rear-view mirror stuff. Labour market data have always been lagging indicators, telling us what was happening a few weeks ago rather than what is happening now.
Manchester Crown Court to remain closed
Manchester Crown Court will remain closed this week after six staff members tested positive for coronavirus.
An entire deep clean of the Crown Square building has taken place but the site will remain temporarily closed until staff return, said HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
All urgent work has been moved across the city to Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Details of the six employees have been passed to NHS Test and Trace, added HMCTS.
Earlier this week HMCTS came under fire for its contact-tracing policy, under which it does not take names of participants in court cases because its guidance states they should be restricting close contact in any case.
Oldham faces return to full lockdown
Oldham may be just days away from becoming the first place in England returned to full coronavirus lockdown after Covid-19 cases continued to spiral upwards, writes Colin Drury.
Health officials in the Greater Manchester town have warned they are considering closing bars, restaurants, libraries and leisure centres following a surge in the numbers of people being diagnosed with the deadly bug.
The dramatic revelation comes as new figures showed the borough’s infection rate – which was already the highest in England – had doubled again during the last week, from 137 identified cases to 255.
Germany records highest one-day increase for three months
Germany has logged its largest one-day increase in new coronavirus cases for more than three months, data showed on Wednesday.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections rose by 1,226 to 218,519, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) showed. That was the biggest daily increase since 9 May.
The number of coronavirus deaths remained relatively low, edging up by six to a total of 9,207.
"This is, no doubt, very worrying," Jens Spahn told Deutschlandfunk radio.
Citizens must to remain cautious to prevent further spread, the health minister said, "because we now have a lot of outbreaks all over the country."
He added: "We see that due to holidaymakers coming back, but also due to all sorts of parties and family gatherings, we now have smaller and larger outbreaks in many regions, in nearly all parts of the country."
Indonesia figures
Indonesia reported 1,942 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 130,718, data from the government's health ministry website showed.
The country also recorded 79 new deaths, taking the total number to 5,903, the highest Covid-19 death toll in southeast Asia.
'Reopening schools is right, even if we feel torn'
The countdown has begun. Parents are eagerly crossing off each day of summer holidays, preparing for the start of school in September. This year, we are sending our kids back into the classroom after, not just six weeks, but six months of being out of a school setting, writes Lauren Crosby Medlicott.
This weekend, Boris Johnson has announced that it is a “moral duty” to get children back into school. I wouldn’t go so far as that, but I do think it will massively benefit both parents and children, even if we feel torn about doing so.
As a mum of three young boys, I have spent lockdown constantly bombarded with their needs and cuddles. Their snacks and their play. Their boredom and their company. There have been aspects I loved and cherished, and things I found monotonous and tedious.
Philippines enters vaccine talks with Russia
Philippine scientists were due to meet Russian representatives on Wednesday to discuss possible participation in clinical trials and access to research data.
Rosario Vergeire, the health undersecretary, said Philippine experts would meet representatives of the Moscow state research facility Gamaleya to discuss trials and would request a "complete dossier" on Russia's supposed vaccine.
"We will see if the allegations are true," she told a news briefing, referring to concerns that its approval was hasty.
"That is why were talking with them to understand this vaccine," Ms Vergeire said, adding that local regulatory approval is required for trials to take place.
Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine president, has offered to be "injected in public" with the inoculation touted by Vladimir Putin yesterday.
China finds coronavirus on seafood shipment
A local government in China has reported finding the virus that causes Covid-19 on the outer packaging of imported frozen seafood that arrived from the port city of Dalian, which recently saw a surge in infections, writes Kate Ng.
The virus was discovered on the packaging of frozen seafood bought by three companies in Yantai, a port city in the eastern Shandong province.
The Yantai city government said in a statement the product was part of an imported shipment that landed at Dalian, but did not say where it originated.
Israel also examining Russian vaccine claims
Israel - as well as the Philippines, as reported below, will examine Russia's claimed Covid-19 vaccine and begin purchase negotiations if it is found to be a "serious product", the Middle Eastern country's health minister has said.
"We are following vigilantly every report, no matter what country," Yuli Edelstein told reporters.
"We have already discussed the reports from the research centre in Russia about the vaccine development.
"If we are convinced it is a serious product, we will also try to enter negotiations. But I don't want to delude anyone. The ministry's professional staff is working on this all the time. The vaccine will not come tomorrow."
Israel is developing its own vaccine candidate and intends to begin human trials as early as October.
It has also signed with Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics for the option to buy their potential vaccines.
'I felt safer from Covid-19 in Greece than in Manchester'
For millennia, the Greeks have aced hospitality. In fact the ancients had a word for it – Xenia – which rendered sacred the imperative to show a warm welcome to those visiting far from home. But flying into Crete the other week, it was clear transformative tweaks had been made to the historic Hellenic reception, writes Angela Epstein.
The habitually cheery “kalimera” had been supplanted by a crisp demand to see papers allowing us access to the country. Meanwhile random travellers were tersely pulled over (“you, please, to the right”) for a swab-and-go Covid test. Slightly bewildering for my husband and daughter since I was arbitrarily plucked from the line.
France gets strict on masks
France will gradually make police checks more stringent to ensure people wear face masks where mandated and respect social distancing, a governmens spokesperson has said.
It comes amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Wearing masks is mandatory in some of Paris' most popular spots including around Notre Dame cathedral.
"We're at a tipping point. We're going to mobilize polices forces to make checks," BFM TV showed Gabriel Attal telling journalists while visiting the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
"But it's not the police people should be afraid of. They should fear the virus, that lurks and contaminates."
