That’s all from the UK blog today, as always you can continue reading over on our global coronavirus blog after Italy records its biggest daily infection rise since May.
Thanks for reading along, and to all those who got in touch throughout the day.
Summary
Here’s a quick summary of the day’s events:
- Four-week reprieve for renters in England and Wales facing eviction in Covid pandemic. Renters in England and Wales facing eviction after falling behind on rent during the coronavirus pandemic are to be given a one-month reprieve.
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Oldham to face tougher restrictions but spared full Covid lockdown. Oldham, which had the highest infection rate in the UK last week, has avoided a full Leicester-style lockdown after arguing it would do little to reduce the spread of coronavirus and would cripple the economy and fuel racism.
Meanwhile, Wigan in Greater Manchester and Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire are to be released from lockdown before the rest of the region from Wednesday as the government takes a “much more targeted approach” to managing outbreaks, local MPs have claimed. - Travellers scramble to return before new quarantine deadline as Shapps rules out regional approach. Thousands of British holidaymakers in Croatia are trying to cut their trip short or change their plans to avoid having to quarantine for 14 days on their return home, after the Balkan country was removed from the UK government’s travel corridor list.
- M&S sandwich supplier to close factory and staff to self-isolate for 14 days. The Greencore factory in Northampton will close from Friday, after it was announced last week that more than 200 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in an outbreak linked to the sandwich factory.
- UK’s cheap food could fuel Covid-19 spread, says WHO envoy. Britain’s demand for cheap food could be fuelling the spread of coronavirus in factories, a leading health expert has said, as analysis shows nearly 1,500 cases across the UK.
- Make Covid-19 tests compulsory for students, say scientists. Covid-19 tests should be compulsory for all university students and staff to prevent outbreaks on campuses and protect communities, according to an independent group of scientists.
- Wales will prioritise reopening schools over everything else: first minister. Reopening schools in September will be given “top priority” over easing any further coronavirus regulations in Wales, the first minister has said.
- Outsourced firms miss 46% of Covid test contacts in England’s worst-hit areas. Outsourcing companies running the government’s flagship test-and-trace system have failed to reach nearly half of potentially exposed people in areas with the highest Covid infections rates in England, official figures show.
- Birmingham: 1m asked to restrict home visitors to prevent new lockdown. More than a million people in Birmingham will be advised to limit the number of people entering their homes to two as part of voluntary restrictions to stave off a local lockdown.
- R value for UK may have risen above 1.0 for first time since weekly reporting of data began. The figure reflects the average number of people a person infected with coronavirus passes the disease on to. When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially.
- Universities warn of pandemic risk if upgraded A-level students admitted. University vice-chancellors are warning that taking large numbers of extra undergraduates would put students, staff and local communities at risk from Covid-19.
The chair of Ofqual threatened to quit this week unless Gavin Williamson publicly backed the exams regulator and admitted it was behind the U-turn that salvaged millions of student grades, the Guardian has learned.
Roger Taylor’s ultimatum came after the education secretary tried to lay the blame for the exams fiasco at the door of Ofqual following a humiliating climbdown that scrapped A-levels and GCSEs awarded by algorithm.
Taylor went directly to Williamson to demand a public statement of support or he would resign. It came the day before hundreds of thousands of pupils in England received their GCSE results.
So serious was the threat of a void at the top of Ofqual that Amanda Spielman, Taylor’s predecessor and now chief inspector of the schools watchdog Ofsted, was being lined up to potentially step in and support the regulator, it is understood. She could still be called on if Taylor or Ofqual’s chief regulator, Sally Collier, resigns.
Williamson’s Department for Education (DfE) – after seeking approval from Downing Street – hurriedly issued a statement on Wednesday saying: “We have full confidence in Ofqual and its leadership in their role as independent regulator.”
To placate Taylor, the DfE also confirmed that it had been Ofqual’s decision to drop grades decided by algorithm in favour of grades recommended by teachers, and that it had been backed by the government in doing so.
Birmingham: 1m asked to restrict home visitors to prevent new lockdown
More than a million people in Birmingham will be advised to limit the number of people entering their homes to two as part of voluntary restrictions to stave off a local lockdown.
The UK’s second biggest city was placed on the government’s “watch list” on Friday as cases rose, prompting the council to suggest a series of voluntary measures which include limiting public gatherings to 30 people except for communal prayer and asking drivers and passengers in taxis to wear face coverings.
There will also be a pause on any areas of the Birmingham economy opening up which remain closed, such as nightclubs and conference centres.
Cases of Covid-19 are rising quickly in the city, with 30.2 cases per 100,000 and the percentage of people testing positive up to 4.3%. More than half of cases in the last week have been within the 18-34 age demographic.
Sushi chain Wasabi has launched a restructuring plan which could see up to 12 stores shut after sales were hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Sources told the PA news agency that a “handful of stores” could cease trading, with this potentially rising to “as many as twelve” depending on conversations with landlords.
It is the latest sushi retailer to pursue a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring process after rivals Itsu and Yo! announced similar proposals in recent weeks.
The company, which employs more than 1,500 and runs 51 sushi and bento shops across the UK, said it was “impacted profoundly” by lockdown measures introduced in March.
Henry Birts, chief executive officer of Wasabi, said:
Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, Wasabi had been performing strongly on the back of the investment and operational improvements we had made during 2019.
However, the extraordinary impact of Covid-19 on trading has meant that we now need to take additional steps to address our fixed cost-base if we are to secure the long-term future of our business.
In recent weeks, we have had constructive engagement with landlords regarding better alignment of the rents of certain sites in proportion with footfall and trading, and we will continue to work closely with them over the days ahead.
We strongly believe that this turnaround programme will provide us with a stable platform upon which we can emerge from this difficult period as a healthy and sustainable business, for our staff, suppliers and loyal customers.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said ministers had set out to protect the most vulnerable in society during the pandemic, concluding it was “important” to extend the eviction ban for a further four weeks.
He told BBC News:
At the start of the pandemic we said that we would set out to protect the most vulnerable people in society.
We did that by helping rough sleepers off the streets, we did it through the shielding programme and we did it importantly by ensuring that nobody could be evicted during the height of Covid.
This week, we have reviewed the evidence as we said we would and concluded that it is important to keep that stay on evictions going for another four weeks.
We have also put in place extra protections for renters, in particular a new six-month notice period before which proceedings could start.
We’ve worked with the judiciary and the courts service, so that when the courts do reopen, they will rigorously prioritise the cases that come forwards, so that the first cases are the most egregious ones, including anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse.
It’s time the government delivered on its pledge to end ‘no fault’ notices that allow landlords to throw people out on the street, writes Alicia Kennedy, director of the campaign group Generation Rent.
The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, pledged in March that no renter who had lost income due to coronavirus would be forced out of their home and introduced a ban on evictions in England and Wales. On Friday, after growing pressure from housing charities, MPs, legal experts and local authorities, the government extended the ban for four weeks.
Postponing eviction proceedings will keep renters in their homes for now, but it’s just a sticking plaster. The number of private renters in arrears in England is double what it was this time last year, and for some the rent debt will keep racking up. The furlough scheme is coming to an end, unemployment continues to rise and benefit payments are insufficient to cover average rents. Without extra protections thousands of renters are at serious risk of losing their homes when the ban ends.
New research from Generation Rent this week found that just 12% of those who applied for benefits after lockdown have been able to cover their rent – meaning hundreds of thousands of renters have been forced to rely solely on their landlord’s goodwill.
Learner drivers were left unable to book a driving test on Friday after the website crashed under “unprecedented demand”.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) started taking bookings for England and Wales once again from 8am, after several months of suspension due to lockdown.
But people complained about problems arranging a slot on social media.
When attempting to access the application page users were met with an error message.
The DVSA said in a statement:
Coronavirus has severely impacted our business as usual operations, including by stopping driving tests for many months as part of social distancing.
Following unprecedented demand for the driving test booking system after its reopening, we are aware that some users have not been able to complete their test bookings.
We are urgently working to fix this and apologise for any inconvenience caused to those who have been unable to book so far.
The agency added: “There are limited numbers of tests available today but more will be released on Monday.
“We’re not taking bookings for any further than 6 weeks in advance.”
Learners whose tests were cancelled during lockdown were invited to rebook first in July.
The DVSA said some 210,000 tests were cancelled and tens of thousands more were delayed because of the virus.
Driving tests in Scotland are set to restart from 14 September, but people are not yet able to book a slot.
All Btec students will receive their results by the end of next week following delays, the awarding organisation has said.
A spokeswoman for Pearson said: “We have now written to colleges to confirm that all eligible results will be available by August 28.”
It comes after hundreds of thousands of students were told last-minute that they would not receive their Btec results this week amid a U-turn.
The exam board made the decision to review the grading of their level one to three Btec qualifications following Ofqual’s announcement that A-level and GCSE students would receive grades based on their teachers’ estimates.
A statement from Pearson added:
We know this has caused frustration and additional uncertainty for students, and we are truly sorry.
No grades will go down as part of this review.
UK's R value may be above 1 for first time on record
The R value for the UK may have risen above 1.0 for the first time since weekly reporting of data began.
The figure reflects the average number of people a person infected with coronavirus passes the disease on to. When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially.
The latest figures for the UK reveal an R value of between 0.9 and 1.1, with the number of new infections somewhere between shrinking by 3% and growing by 1% every day. The figures for England are between 0.9 and 1.0, with the growth in new infections between -3% and 0.
This is the highest the R rate has been since the UK government started releasing the figures to reflect developments in the pandemic on 15 May.
The official figure has previously reached 0.8-1.0 for the UK as a whole, but it has never moved above 1, although previous modelling has suggested it may have edged above this threshold in some regions.
“We have been seeing indications that these values may be increasing, with estimated ranges increasing slightly from previous publications,” the team behind the data said.
It is an increasingly common modern annoyance: arriving at the front of the queue to pay in a shop, pulling out a smartphone for a hygienic contact-free payment, and staring down at an error message because your phone fails to recognise your masked face.
As more and more nations mandate masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, technology companies are scrambling to keep up with the changing world. But some experts warn the change may have to start with users themselves.
People across the UK are being urged to take up the call to be part of the ongoing and expanding study into coronavirus levels throughout the population.
The head of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has encouraged people who are contacted to be part of the survey to make the “small commitment” in order to help “contain this terrible virus and get on with our lives”.
Hundreds of thousands are likely to be asked to take part after officials this week announced plans to expand the programme to include 400,000 across the UK, up from the 28,000 people who are regularly being tested.
By October, 150,000 people will be involved, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond, who is also the UK’s national statistician, said the response to date had been “brilliant” but that researchers were now “setting our sights higher”. He said:
The more tests we do, the more accurate our figures will become. Without the best information we can’t expect the authorities to make the best decisions about imposing or lifting restrictions.
We want to recruit up to 400,000 people right across England, with more in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too. Their test results will give us a much more localised view of the presence of the virus down to city and county level.
Addresses are randomly chosen and householders invited to take part in the coronavirus infection survey.
The random selection, rather than volunteers coming forward, helps make estimates more scientifically reliable, Sir Ian said.
Those who take part are tested once a week for the first month and up to once a month after that, by a trained visitor to their home “to make sure the test is done properly and safely”.
The samples are then taken for analysis and results passed on to the volunteer’s doctor.
Sir Ian said: “So, if you get our letter do please take part. You will be helping us all to contain this terrible virus and get on with our lives.”
On Friday ONS figures showed that an estimated 24,600 people in private households in England had Covid-19 between August 7 and 13.
The organisation said that while recent figures had suggested the percentage of individuals testing positive for Covid-19 in households in England had risen slightly in July, this trend now appears to have levelled off.
A contact tracer in the north-west tells how she has not been given any cases since she started in May:
In 12 weeks I have not made a single call despite working 42 hours a week for £10.12 an hour. One of my friends started at the same time and they haven’t been assigned any cases either. We are not alone: we have a Whatsapp group comparing notes with other call handlers and quite a few haven’t had even one job the entire time.
My understanding was that we were going to be allocated local cases. Given that the north-west has seen some of the biggest spikes in infections you would think we would be especially busy but apparently not.
Outsourced firms miss 46% of Covid test contacts in England's worst-hit areas
Outsourcing companies running the government’s flagship test-and-trace system have failed to reach nearly half of potentially exposed people in areas with the highest Covid infections rates in England, official figures show.
In the country’s 20 worst-hit areas, Serco and Sitel – paid £200m between them – reached only 54% of people who had been in close proximity to an infected person, meaning more than 21,000 exposed people were not contacted.
In Bradford, 42% of exposed people were reached, with 3,691 of those potentially infected not traced. In Birmingham, which was on Friday placed on the national watch list after a sharp rise in cases, 52% of close contacts were reached and 1,462 missed.
The figures will prompt further scrutiny of Serco and Sitel roles in running a large chunk of the system. The two private firms, whose contracts are due for renewal on Sunday, were paid an initial £192m for the first three months of the programme, with the value of the contract reaching £730m over 12 months.
Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the system was not “world-beating”, as the prime minister has said.
The biggest mistake was making it a commercially run thing. That was never going to work.
I think it’s got better recently but that should never have been allowed to happen – that disconnect between the national and local level.
Teams will be withdrawn from the Tour de France if two riders or staff show symptoms or test positive for Covid-19 under strict protocols from race organisers.
However the race, which starts in Nice on 29 August, will continue even if there is a confirmed case of coronavirus in the peloton, according to an 18-page document shared with teams this week.
“If two persons or more from the same team present strongly suspect symptoms or have tested positive for Covid-19 the team in question will be expelled from the Tour de France,” states the document, which has been obtained by the cycling website VeloNews.
“Its riders will not be authorised to start the Tour de France (or the next stage) and the team’s personnel will have their accreditation withdrawn.”
All team members will have to enter a “bubble” three days before the race by passing two Covid-19 tests – and everyone in the Tour entourage will be tested again on both rest days, 7 and 14 September.
Updated
The government said 41,405 people had died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of 5pm on Thursday, an increase of two on the day before.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The government also said that as of 9am on Friday, there had been a further 1,033 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus. Overall, 323,313 cases have been confirmed.
The last time Boris Johnson went on a proper break, in January, he chose the Caribbean and stayed in a luxury villa on the island of Mustique that costs £15,000 a week.
His summer holiday, it emerged on Friday, had a studiedly different vibe: a remote three-bedroom cottage on the coast of Scotland – with a tent in the garden.
In some ways, the property fits the bill for the prime ministerial getaway: chintzy furniture, log-burner, a cot, pets allowed, will comfortably accommodate his family of three, appears ideally located to avoid passersby (or, at least, it must have done until a long-lens photographer of the Daily Mail showed up).
But the tent?
With Downing Street reluctant to be drawn on any aspect of the holiday, speculation about the canvas yurt abounded.
Updated
Pkj = (1-rj)Ckj + rj(Ckj + qkj - pkj)
For such a short string of algebraic symbols, there is a lot we can learn from Ofqual’s grading algorithm (though really it is an equation) – and a lot we can learn about what went wrong.
First and most obviously, the size of the algorithm is an issue. With just four unique terms – Ckj, qkj, pkj and rj – it shows the sparseness of the inputs. This is not a “big data” solution, gathering every possible piece of information about a student in an attempt to gain a full view of their capability. In fact, it is the opposite: using the smallest possible amount of information, so it can be rapidly gathered and easily standardised.
So what are those terms?
Wales will prioritise reopening schools over everything else: first minister
Reopening schools in September will be given “top priority” over easing any further coronavirus regulations in Wales, the first minister has said.
Mark Drakeford said that while there are “things we would like to be able to do”, including allowing more groups of people to meet indoors, making sure pupils can return to class is the government’s main focus.
Drakeford announced the latest forthcoming changes to regulations in Wales on Friday, which include trialling a number of small-scale outdoor performances and sporting events limited to 100 people.
But asked whether any “big changes” will be put on hold in order to avoid putting the reopening of schools at risk – with question marks remaining over the re-opening of arts venues and allowing large crowds at professional sport events – he said schools come first.
He said:
I remain acutely aware of the major events sector here in Wales which hasn’t been able to resume at all. But I do have to say to all of those sectors, and indeed to all the things we’ve been able to do already, that schools will be our top priority going into the autumn.
If coronavirus does not remain at the very suppressed level it currently is, then we will think about schools first as we still try and find some headroom to go on in the gradual step-by-step way we have restoring freedoms to people in Wales.
Drakeford said things the government will look at include allowing people to meet inside community centres towards the winter months as it becomes more difficult to meet outside.
The small-scale outdoor events and performances to be trialled as part of the latest easing include live outdoor performances from Theatr Clwyd and a car rally at Anglesey Circuit, both in north Wales, and the Welsh Triathlon’s Return to Racing competition at Pembrey country park in Carmarthenshire.
The Welsh government said that if carried out safely, and if transmission of the virus remains low, the trials could trigger the next stage of reopening events, and increased numbers of participants and spectators could be permitted.
Drakeford also confirmed indoor visits to care homes will be given the green light from 29 August, subject to strict controls and restricted to one person at a time.
From Saturday, extended households will be allowed to expand to include up to four other households in their bubble, while weddings and funerals will be allowed to cater for meals for up to 30 people as long as attendees socially distance.
Drakeford said Wales was the only part of the UK where the daily rate of new infections continued to fall last week, and he praised the country’s localised test-and-trace programme for being able to “get on top of” outbreaks quickly.
Meanwhile, Public Health Wales said there were no further reported deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, with the total number of fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic remaining at 1,589.
It also said the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country had increased by 34 to 17,673.
Updated
A further five people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,490, NHS England said on Friday.
The patients were aged between 41 and 96, and all had known underlying health conditions.
Another three deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Glasgow MPs have (virtually) walked out on a meeting with the Home Office, after learning that a promised investigation into the treatment of asylum seekers during the pandemic would not seek the views of their constituents, and might not even be made publicly available.
In late June, Badreddin Abedlla Adam stabbed six people including a police officer at a city centre hotel before being shot dead by police. The 28-year-old from Sudan had been moved to the Park Inn hotel along with hundreds of other asylum seekers at the start of lockdown, where many reported serious mental ill-health.
Refugee campaigners, the Scottish government and the city’s MPs have all called for a thorough inquiry into the circumstances that led up to the tragedy. But today Glasgow MPs reported that they had “paused” their engagement with the Home Office after learning that an internal evaluation would not include contributions from their constituents as part of a report. They also reported that the Home Office refused to confirm if MPs would see the report or be able to discuss it publicly.
In a joint statement, Chris Stephens, Alison Thewliss, Carol Monaghan, Anne McLaughlin, Stewart McDonald, Patrick Grady and David Linden, all Scottish National party MPs, reiterated their calls for a full, independent investigation, saying:
It is becoming increasingly difficult to engage with the Home Office in good faith.
To be blunt, we have no confidence in the UK government to take action for asylum seekers if they won’t even properly investigate what the problems are or publish their evaluation.
Updated
The lack of online learning provided to state school pupils during the pandemic will lead to a scandal greater than the A-levels fiasco without urgent action by the government, a leading scientist has warned.
Stephen Reicher, a behavioural science expert on the Independent Sage committee, said children in state schools in deprived areas had lost four months of their education while their peers in private schools had received extensive online classes.
Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews, said this has caused massive educational inequalities that risked impacting state school pupils’ exam performance and academic development next year.
Speaking in a Zoom conference for the launch of Independent Sage’s latest report on the risks of universities reopening during the pandemic, he said:
If this isn’t taken into account in the way in which we think about the [next] academic year and if it isn’t taken into account in the way we organise exams then there will be a scandal every bit as much as this year.
I think there are massive issues of inequalities that the government needs to be dealing with now. Because if we don’t then the problems we’ve had in the last few weeks will be nothing compared to the massive problems we’re going to have in a year’s time.
You’ll have heard that Boris Johnson is on vacation. The most nuanced rejoinder is: lol a vacation from what? writes Guardian columnist Marina Hyde.
Enormous thanks to the Daily Mail for tracking down Boris Johnson to a clifftop Scottish cottage, with some naff sort of yurt clinging on gamely in the garden. I thought it must be the chilliest place the prime minister had ever secluded himself, until I remembered he hid in a fridge during the general election.
He really is the Tamara Ecclestone of government. Like me, you probably thrive on keeping up with Bernie Ecclestone’s kajillionaire daughter, as she makes her stately and seemingly unceasing progress from not being at work here to not being at work there. I see Dubai got too much eventually, I find myself remarking to the latest set of pictures. She’s had to go to Croatia to recover. I suppose the difference between Tamara and the prime minister is that he is running a slightly larger concern. She once had a chain of blow-dry bars, but they’ve shut down now.
The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, has confirmed the evictions ban in England and Wales will be extended for four weeks and announced that a six-month notice period will be introduced until the end of March.
His department said the government plans to give tenants greater protection from eviction this winter by requiring landlords to provide tenants with six months’ notice.
An announcement said it would apply to all cases other than those involving serious issues, such as people perpetrating antisocial behaviour and domestic abuse, until at least 31 March.
Jenrick said:
I know this year has been challenging and all of us are still living with the effects of Covid-19.
That is why today I am announcing a further four-week ban on evictions, meaning no renters will have been evicted for six months.
I am also increasing protections for renters – six-month notice periods must be given to tenants, supporting renters over winter.
However, it is right that the most egregious cases, for example those involving antisocial behaviour or domestic abuse perpetrators, begin to be heard in court again; and so when courts reopen, landlords will once again be able to progress these priority cases.
Updated
UK's cheap food could fuel Covid-19 spread, says WHO envoy
Britain’s demand for cheap food could be fuelling the spread of coronavirus in factories, a leading health expert has said, as analysis shows nearly 1,500 cases across the UK.
Cramped conditions in some factories and in low-paid workers’ homes, spurred by the UK’s desire for cheaply produced food, may have driven infection rates in the sector, according to Dr David Nabarro, a World Health Organization special envoy on Covid-19.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the UK avoided the scale of Covid-19 outbreaks seen in meat factories and other food processing plants in countries such as the US. But a Guardian analysis suggests that reported UK outbreaks of the disease are now increasing in frequency, with examples of cases spreading into the wider community.
While there is no suggestion of social distancing rules being broken, factories bring together large numbers of workers under one roof.
Unions say most of those working in UK meat, poultry and other mass food production plants are foreign migrant workers who share accommodation and transport.
Nabarro, speaking in his capacity as a professor at University College London’s Institute for Global Health, raised the issue of low pay, which may mean employees exposed to the virus feel pressured to keep working. A culture of cheap food was based on driving production costs down, but this came at a price, he said.
It may well be that in keeping production costs down, we end up with a situation where the people who work in food processing are under very, very tough working conditions and are paid relatively small amounts of money compared with other roles.
So one could argue that this is not so much structural issues in society as a consequence of the perpetual pressure to get quality of food up and prices down. And so a part of this may require thinking carefully about how much to pay for particular kinds of food.
Updated
Local leaders to be asked to help recommend appropriate geography for lockdown restrictions in areas affected by coronavirus surges. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said local authorities in regions subject to national intervention would be asked to agree which areas should be included under any new measures.
It comes after restrictions were imposed on Leicester in June and across Greater Manchester last month.
On Friday, Oldham was exempted from a local lockdown after a review, but will be subject to additional restrictions.
The DHSC has said the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) will provide data to inform decision-making on where measures should be brought in.
A final decision on where local restrictions are imposed will be taken by the health secretary, Matt Hancock, and the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty.
Hancock has said he acknowledges the “personal sacrifices” many have made to help reduce rising infection rates.
In a statement, the DHSC said:
To ensure further targeting of the intervention, in future the government is updating its contain framework to ensure that each week local authorities in an area of national intervention bring a combined proposal on the geography which should be included that has been developed in conjunction with the local cross-party council leadership and MPs.
The JBC will provide the relevant data, including on the minimum local areas which must be included due to the prevalence of the virus.
Local leadership will then be expected to seek consensus between councils and local MPs and recommend the appropriate geography which fits local travel patterns, work and social behaviours for restrictions to be active in.
Areas within the local authority where Covid-19 is less prevalent are expected to be exempt from any restrictions.
Updated
The mayor of the West Midlands believes “some people have not been strict enough” with coronavirus measures, after Birmingham was added to a watch list as an “area of enhanced support”.
There have been reports that the UK’s second city could be placed into a local lockdown amid rising numbers of cases in the area.
In the seven days to 17 August, 332 positive Covid-19 cases were recorded in Birmingham, a rate of 29.1 per 100,000 people, up from 292 cases the week before.
The Conservative mayor of the region, Andy Street, said the city was in “an extremely challenging situation”. In a statement posted on Twitter he added:
People across the region have made an enormous sacrifice since the start of lockdown to keep the virus at bay, but the virus is now returning and recent efforts to counter that have been insufficient.
It is evident that some people have not been strict enough when it comes to keeping up the basics of social distancing, hand washing and wearing a face covering, nor following the guidelines on avoiding mass gatherings.
This has to change immediately and I would ask every single citizen, both across Birmingham and the West Midlands, to redouble their efforts.
Birmingham is in an extremely challenging COVID situation, and as expected the city has been added to the Government's watchlist this afternoon. From handwashing and social distancing to wearing face coverings and avoiding mass gatherings, every individual must play their part. pic.twitter.com/bWLUX9UVC3
— Andy Street (@andy4wm) August 21, 2020
His sentiments were echoed by the leader of Birmingham city council, Ian Ward, who thinks the watch list should be a “wake-up call for everyone”.
He said: “We will make announcements as soon as possible about what this means for the people of the city.”
Despite the fears of a local lockdown in the city, infection rates are considerably higher in other parts of the UK.
Oldham has the highest infection rate, with 78.9 cases per 100,000 people and 187 confirmed positive tests, in the seven days to August 17.
However, this is down on the previous week when the infection rate was 111.8 and 265 confirmed cases.
Northampton is almost level with Oldham on a rate of 78.4, up slightly from 74.4, with 176 new cases.
These figures are calculated by the PA news agency and based on Public Health England data published on 20 August on the government’s coronavirus online dashboard.
Updated
Our kids have lost a significant chunk of their childhood, and yet nobody in government will take responsibility for ministerial failures, writes Guardian columnist Zoe Williams.
I usually have a strong stomach and a sunny, cross-that-bridge attitude when it comes to rumours, but I have just read one that chilled me to the bone: there is a reason Gavin Williamson will not resign, and it is not because he, or anybody else, thinks he is doing a good job under difficult circumstances.
The education secretary needs to stay in post until September so that, when all the promises are broken and English schools don’t, in fact, fully reopen, there can be someone other than the prime minister who can take the blame.
It is so chillingly believable. You just have to look at the government’s record – the more it promises something, the less likely it is to happen. It has made this firm commitment to schoolchildren often enough as to reduce its probability to zero.
Covid-19 tests should be compulsory for all university students and staff to prevent outbreaks on campuses and protect communities, according to an independent group of scientists.
Testing should be carried out either before or as soon as people arrive on campus, with further tests conducted regularly, said the Independent Sage committee.
The recommendation comes in a report published on Friday that advises universities to provide online learning as the default rather than in-person teaching, noting the latter carried “the most risk of transmission” of coronavirus.
The scientists also advised that freshers’ week events, which usually revolve around parties and drinking, should be held online. Socialising should be restricted to students’ residential bubbles, they added.
Where in-person teaching is necessary, students and staff should wear face coverings and practise physical distancing in classrooms, the expert group advised. It said students should be asked to sign a social behaviour agreement, with breaches possibly leading to disciplinary action.
The recommendations ahead of universities returning in the autumn comes as Manchester, which has the fourth-largest student population in the UK, remains in local lockdown owing to a recent significant rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, and fears that Birmingham, which has the eighth largest, could soon have one imposed.
Updated
I’ve had a few readers getting in touch about how the new quarantine rules for travellers from Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago are affecting them.
This reader is travelling back from Slovenia, but due to a lack of direct flights to the UK was forced to fly from Croatia, and is now facing two weeks of self-isolation on arrival at Heathrow airport tomorrow.
The only reason I’m facing 14 days of quarantine is that I’m flying from Croatia, otherwise I’m Slovenian and have only been in Slovenia in the past 10 days.
As there are no direct flights between London and Ljubljana currently, I was forced to choose between connected flights or flying from neighbouring airports in four different countries (Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Croatia). Based on the information I had last Thursday, I chose Croatia because of the proximity.
I know a few people from Slovenia who are due to travel in the next week or two, and some of them are also facing quarantine, because the direct flights are not operating yet.
Another reader said her son has been left £1,000 out of pocket by the new rules – and is pretty angry about it.
My son has been on a course in Vienna since 1 August. He was due to return via BA to the UK on 24 August. Soon after he arrived in Vienna, BA cancelled his return flight. We spent £250 on a new return flight for him on Austrian Airlines as BA couldn’t offer any kind of replacement except via Helsinki the day before or the day after, completely unacceptable.
Then, last night, we heard about the quarantine restrictions coming in tomorrow for all travellers returning to the UK from Austria. My son is a freelance musician, and lost all his work back in March. Next week he has been offered some shift work so no way can he quarantine.
We spent an hour online, three of us on separate devices, trying to get him a flight home today via WizzAir. In that time the price went up by €50 and we ended up paying another £225.
Add to that the lost three days of his course, the lost three days of his accommodation, and we are almost £1,000 out of pocket. For one person. Thanks for nothing, Grant Shapps, you complete and utter waste of space.
Updated
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has welcomed the “11th-hour U-turn” on protection for renters but warned the evictions ban should be extended until a “credible plan” is in place to prevent anyone losing their home because of the pandemic. He said:
This 11th-hour U-turn was necessary, but such a brief extension means there is a real risk that this will simply give renters a few more weeks to pack their bags.
Boris Johnson has been warned for months about the looming evictions crisis, but stuck his head in the sand.
People living in rented accommodation should not be paying the price for this government’s incompetence.
Section 21 evictions must be scrapped and renters must be given proper support. The ban should not be lifted until the government has a credible plan to ensure that no-one loses their home as a result of coronavirus.
Updated
Cinema owners will be holding their breath next Wednesday when Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi film Tenet becomes the first Hollywood blockbuster to be released since March, as it is the first test of whether movie fans are ready to head back to big screens in their masses.
The UK cinema industry, destined for the worst year at the box office in almost three decades, has been struggling to get back on its feet since the government gave the green light to reopen last month. In the last week the top 10 films in cinemas in the UK & Ireland made just over £800,000 at the box office. Last year, an average week notched up £24m in ticket sales.
With a schedule devoid of new Hollywood blockbusters, cinema operators have had to fall back on low-grossing classics and old hits, from Inception and The Empire Strikes Back to franchises including Twilight and Harry Potter.
Earlier this month, cinema owners were dealt a huge blow when Disney pulled its new blockbuster Mulan from schedules, in favour of a release on the streaming service Disney+, leaving Warner Bros’ Robert Pattinson-led Tenet as the great hope to reignite their year.
Crispin Lilly, chief executive of the boutique chain Everyman, said:
There is no getting away from it, it’s the first big commercial release.
Tenet will be a very important step. This is the one that could get it all going. The uptake, the interest, the buzz is that it is going to do what we need it to do, which is re-kick cinema to the wider audience.
Updated
M&S sandwich supplier to close factory and staff to self-isolate for 14 days
The Greencore factory in Northampton will close from Friday, with staff and members of their households having to isolate for 14 days.
It was announced last week that more than 200 people had tested positive for Covid-19 after an outbreak linked to the sandwich factory, which supplies retailers including M&S.
The Department of Health said that local testing data and analysis from the Joint Biosecurity Centre had shown a spike in cases in the area to be almost solely down to the outbreak.
The department said:
The factory will close voluntarily from today and employees and their direct households will be required to isolate at home for two weeks.
The health secretary will introduce regulations to ensure that this self-isolation period is legally enforced. Anyone who leaves isolation prior to the two-week period ending without reasonable excuse will be subject to fines.
Updated
This time last week, Gavin Williamson was sticking to his guns. The algorithm had worked. There would be no U-turns.
Within 48 hours – hours that had been excruciatingly painful for tens of thousands of disappointed students, their parents, teachers and universities – Williamson had changed tack.
The algorithm hadn’t worked, he had ordered a U-turn – and was apologising to all the young people who had suffered as a result.
In politics, about-turns don’t come much bigger than this.
But if Williamson had thought his considerable embarrassment would end there, he was wrong – again.
His explanation he had only become aware of the scale of the problems “over the Saturday and Sunday” is under intense scrutiny – it now appears both he and his department were warned at least four times in July and August that the algorithm-based system for calculating A-level and GCSE grades in England was seriously flawed.
So how did this blow up in his face?
Four-week reprieve for renters in England and Wales facing eviction in Covid pandemic
Renters facing eviction after falling behind on rent during the coronavirus pandemic are to be given a one-month reprieve, the Guardian understands.
A rule change has been made that means courts will continue not to hear repossession claims by landlords until 20 September, according to a lawyer familiar with the arrangement.
The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, is poised to announce new details about modifications to the scheduled lifting of the ban on evictions this weekend after councils, charities and doctors warned it could spark a wave of homelessness.
Simon Mullings, co-chair of the Housing Law Practitioners Association and a member of the Master of the Rolls’ working group on the lifting of the eviction ban told the Guardian: “The ban on evictions has been extended to 20 September.”
He added that the relatively short extension would buy the government time to consider further arrangements. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government has been contacted for comment.
Renters have been protected during the Covid-19 crisis by a temporary government ban on landlords evicting tenants, announced in March and extended in June.
Updated
The reproduction number (R value) of coronavirus in the UK has risen to between 0.9-1.1, figures from the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) show.
The numbers suggest there is a risk that the overall coronavirus epidemic in the UK is growing, government scientists say.
The latest growth rate for the whole of the UK is between minus 3% to plus 1%, a slight change from between minus 4% to minus 1% last week.
The growth rate of coronavirus transmission reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day.
Claims that hospital admissions for Covid-19 in England were overreported at the peak of the outbreak may not be telling the whole story.
According to government figures, the daily hospital admissions for Covid-19 patients in hospital rose from 1,541 on 3 March to 17,172 on 12 April. On 20 August the figure was 516.
However a row has broken out after claims were made that an investigation by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) had revealed that hospital patients could have been counted as a Covid-19 case even if they had been admitted for a different reason, or if they had previously tested positive and since recovered.
The definition was revised in June, such that only patients with a positive test shortly after entering hospital are now counted as Covid-19 admissions.
The revelations prompted some to raise concerns, suggesting it could make it harder to see how the disease is playing out. Prof Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford, said: “If admissions are going up then that should drive the lockdown. But currently you have people with active infections, those who have tested positive but have been discharged, and those who have contracted it in hospital, so it isn’t helpful.”
But others say that misleading.
Prof Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is a member of Sage, told the Guardian there was no “investigation”, but rather Sage had simply been informed by the NHS that it had changed its definition of what counted as a hospital case of Covid.
Such changes, he added, were common practice as more was known about a disease, and would also have occurred in other countries. It did not mean the reported data was “inflated”, “wrong” or untrustworthy, he noted.
Students and teachers protesting over the government’s A-level and Btec results fiasco in England have demanded the immediate sacking of Gavin Williamson.
Dozens of people attended a demonstration outside Downing Street on Friday afternoon where they called for the education secretary to go.
The event, supported by several London branches of the National Education Union (NEU), saw protesters chant slogans including “get Gav gone”.
One aspiring medical student broke down as she spoke of potentially missing out on university due to the grading system, which downgraded her from four A*s to four As.
Kaya Ilska, 18, who took A-levels at St Marks, Hounslow, west London, told the PA news agency:
I’m now stuck in limbo. I want to study at University College London, but my plans are up in the air.
Does this government not care about medical students?
It seems the system is weighted in favour of the privileged few who attend private school.
Glen Morgan-Shaw, 18, a Btec student from Bollingbrooke Academy, Wandsworth, south-west London, who co-organised the demonstration, said:
Gavin Williamson has to go, it’s quite simple. He hasn’t got anything right, so why is he still in the position?
We’re here for the long term, we’re here for the future generations who will have their dreams ruined if this regime stays in place.
And we’re here for the working class kids on council estates who will continually be deemed less important and unworthy of university.
It comes after an NEU petition calling for action to fix the exams system reached 25,000 signatures in 24 hours.
The petition urged the Prime Minister to consider changing the content assessed in GCSE and A-level exams for next summer.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said:
This government has no one but itself to blame. The weaknesses in a system of its own creation have been left horribly exposed.
What is needed is nothing short of an independent review into what went wrong, and a determination to ensure it never happens again.
That would be a big step towards regaining the trust of parents and the profession.
Manchester airport closes terminal a month after reopening
Manchester airport has announced it will close one of its three terminals, only a month after it reopened.
Karen Smart, the managing director, said the decision came after bosses had “continued to monitor the travel patterns of our airlines and passengers, in order to adapt our operations accordingly”.
She added: “With that in mind, we have taken the decision to close terminal two again from 2 September.”
Terminals two and three were reopened on 15 July at the airport, the third busiest in the UK ranked by passenger traffic.
Terminal two will remain closed until further notice. An airport spokesman said no jobs would be lost as a direct result of the closure.
Updated
Universities warn of pandemic risk if upgraded A-level students admitted
University vice-chancellors are warning that taking large numbers of extra undergraduates would put students, staff and local communities at risk from Covid-19.
The head of one leading university told the Guardian thatthe government’s U-turn on A-Levels results had led to a surge in demand for places that threatened their social distancing plans on campus. The vice chancellor said:
We were already full and already worried about managing social distancing before the U-turn. Right now we have no clue how many more students will want to come, but our worst-case scenario is having to accept thousands extra.
Simon Marginson, prof of higher education at Oxford University, said if universities have a “sudden surge in enrolments” as a result of the A-level fiasco the pandemic will be much more difficult to control.
The warning comes as lecturers at the University of Essex and the University of Warwick raised concerns about the health risks of in-person teaching on campus.
Levi Pay, a former director of student services who now advises universities on the student experience, added:
If a supermarket like Sainsburys has admitted it can’t enforce the wearing of a mask, expecting universities to enforce it with tens of thousands of students, many of whom are young and feel invincible, may be hugely unrealistic.
Updated
At her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon says that 31 out of 71 new coronavirus infections overnight are in Tayside, where health officials are dealing with an outbreak at the 2 Sisters poultry factory, Coupar Angus.
Sturgeon has told all workers at the food processing plant and their families to self-isolate until 31 August.
She told journalists at her daily briefing that, when agency staff are included, the factory has 1,200 employees, from three different local authorities.
There is currently a mobile army testing unit at the plant site and 600 employees have been tested. A second mobile testing unit has now been deployed. Of the 68 cases identified in Tayside, 59 are people who work in the plant and nine are their contacts, some of whom are linked to other food processing plants in the area.
In a significant change to guidance overnight, the Scottish government is asking all members of workers’ households to isolate until 31 August, including children.
“If you work at 2 Sisters plant you and your entire household should be self-isolating until Monday 31 August.”
Explaining why the guidance on entire households isolating is different to that given for the recent Aberdeen outbreak, she said there is minimal evidence of community transmission in Tayside and a “clear focal point” for this outbreak.
Updated
With 750,000 jobs at risk, some see the pandemic as a chance to reset the nightlife industry and dance music, reports the Guardian’s arts and culture correspondent, Lanre Bakare.
Michael Kill, the chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), estimates that up to 70% of clubs could close by the end of September, with many not having the option of outdoor, socially distanced events.
On Thursday, the NTIA warned of a “financial armageddon” for its members, with 754,000 jobs at risk due to ongoing uncertainty about when nightclubs and venues will be able to reopen.
According to an NTIA survey of 360 businesses, three quarters expect to make at least half of their workforce redundant by September and more than half will not survive more than two months without financial assistance.
Kill said:
There are more than 1,640 nightclubs in the UK. If you take 70% of those away that’s going to be devastating.
The heritage has been built over decades of work and effort and the government hasn’t taken the time to invest, reinvest, sustain and make sure it’s protected.
A government spokesperson acknowledged it was a difficult time for nightclubs, but said that throughout the pandemic, nightclubs had had access to state support, including business rates relief, tax deferrals, the job retention scheme and “billions paid in loans and grants”.
But the industry says it has had to fight for that support. The NTIA started the #LetUsDance campaign to pressure the Department of Media, Culture and Sport to include clubs in its £1.57bn arts support package.
“Dance music as a whole being considered a contemporary art form was very much not part of the narrative from DCMS initially,” Kill said. “At the moment, we’ve been left out in the cold and are almost being squeezed out of the marketplace by the government.”
The Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard, has said the increase in support for Scottish independence is at least partly connected to how poorly Boris Johnson compares to Nicola Sturgeon, who he adds has “an incredible amount of media exposure” during the pandemic.
The Scottish Tories have previously called on the BBC to stop airing the first minister’s coronavirus briefings, describing them as “party political broadcasts”.
Asked for his own thoughts on the boost in support for independence over the past six months, Leonard said:
Part of it is the conduct of Boris Johnson, and juxtaposing Nicola Sturgeon with Boris Johnson, people clearly hold Nicola Sturgeon in higher regard.
I think there has been an incredible amount of media exposure to the SNP in a way that hasn’t been available to other political parties, which I think has also fomented that level of support.
At a press conference on Friday morning, Leonard also revealed he had turned down an approach from George Galloway – who recently announced plans to stand for election to Holyrood next spring – saying: “I made it clear that the Labour party is not interested in entering into any electoral pacts.”
It was reported this morning that Michael Gove has held private talks with senior pro-union figures from across the political spectrum, including Galloway, as support for independence grows. Leonard said he had not spoken to Gove himself.
He added that he believed the terms of the next election would not be solely based on constitutional issues, saying that “the pressing needs that people are facing require all politicians of all parties to chart an economic recovery, and how we can bring about investment in public services which will be under increasing pressure”.
Updated
Searches for flights to Portugal soar after country removed from UK’s quarantine list
Passengers arriving in the UK from Portugal will no longer have to self-isolate from 4am on Saturday after an approved travel corridor was confirmed.
The news, announced on Thursday evening, has caused search traffic for flights to the coastal nation to peak as other popular holiday destinations, such as Croatia, were removed from the UK’s safe list.
Google search data shows a significant spike in searches for the term “flights to Portugal” by users in the UK at around 6pm on Thursday. There was a smaller peak at 7am on Friday.
People looking for “flights to UK from Croatia” peaked on Thursday at 6pm, shortly after Grant Shapps made the announcement, and high numbers of people searched the same terms early on Friday morning.
A number of easyJet flights from London airports to destinations across Portugal are already unavailable for Saturday and Sunday.
Jet2 is among the airlines aiming to capitalise on the rush, adding extra seats to Faro from Monday from across the UK.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said:
Customers are responding to the welcome change in Government advice by booking their much-needed holidays in the Portuguese sunshine, and we are responding to that by adding more flights and seats.
We want our customers to enjoy their well-deserved holidays, and our decision to act quickly and add even more capacity to Faro ensures they will have plenty of choice.
Updated
Oldham to face tougher restrictions but spared full Covid lockdown
Oldham – which last week had the highest infection rate in the UK – will be spared more draconian measures after officials successfully argued that a “Leicester-style lockdown” which would shut shops and businesses will do little to reduce the spread of Covid-19 but would not only cripple the economy but also fuel racism.
Meanwhile, Wigan in Greater Manchester and parts of east Lancashire are to be released from lockdown before the rest of the region as the government takes a “much more targeted approach” to managing outbreaks, their MPs have claimed.
Sean Fielding, Oldham council leader, said on Twitter: “We have reached agreement with the Government that Oldham will not go in to full local economic lockdown. Some additional restrictions will be introduced, however.”
Social mixing between households in any environment, including parks, will be prohibited in Oldham, said Fielding. Public transport use in the borough will be restricted to “absolutely essential use only” and there will be further limits on the number of people who can attend weddings and funerals, he said.
James Grundy, the MP for Leigh in Wigan, said he had received a call from Matt Hancock on Friday morning to confirm the borough would be freed from the “enhanced measures” imposed on Greater Manchester (GM) and large swathes of Lancashire and West Yorkshire on 31 July.
Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, said Hancock has also agreed to lift the restrictions in his east Lancashire constituency. But he said other nearby areas, including Accrington, Blackburn and Pendle, would be subject to the restrictions – which ban gatherings in homes and gardens – for another week.
Grundy said Hancock had also agreed to a “more nuanced, tailored approach to dealing with outbreaks. What this means is that basically new measures will be put in place where there is an outbreak on a town-by-town basis, rather than locking down the whole borough.”
The measures will be taken on a ward-by-ward basis, in consultation with the local authorities and the local MPs, he added.
On Thursday the director of public health in Birmingham said he expected the city would be added to the government’s “watch list” as an area requiring “advanced support”.
Coronavirus has been on the increase in the city in recent weeks, with 32 cases per 100,000 people from 9-15 August. The average area in England had 8.
There were 367 positive cases in Birmingham last week, up from 142 the previous week.
Updated
The online electrical goods retailer AO.com is hiring 650 staff as it anticipates “significant growth” after a surge in home shopping during the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said it was recruiting for a variety of roles from software developers and a TikTok specialist to gas engineers, delivery drivers and a fridge recycling shift coordinator. The jobs are based in various locations, including Manchester, Bolton, Telford, Thatcham and Crewe.
The hiring spree comes after UK sales for the online specialist soared by almost 60% in the four months to 31 July, while sales at its German arm jumped more than 90%. Earlier this month AO said that sales growth had been sustained even as more physical electrical stores opened after the easing of lockdown restrictions.
Wigan to come out of lockdown
Wigan is to be taken out of the Greater Manchester-wide lockdown, meaning it will not be subject to any enhanced restrictions, the local MP has said.
James Grundy, MP for Leigh in Wigan – which went Tory for the first time in its 113-year history in December – said Matt Hancock had confirmed the news in a phone call this morning.
Wiganers have been agitating to be released before the rest of Greater Manchester, arguing their case numbers have remained very low since the extra restrictions were imposed on the whole region on 31 July.
Updated
Travellers returning to face quarantine in England could be coming to towns or cities with higher coronavirus rates than the places they have left.
The government’s threshold for considering quarantine measures is when a country records a seven-day rate of more than 20 cases per 100,000 people.
But a number of local authority areas in England have much higher rates than that.
The latest figures on Thursday showed that Oldham, in Greater Manchester, which is already subject to restrictive measures on households being able to meet, had a rate of 78.9 per 100,000 people.
Northampton is almost level on 78.4, while Blackburn with Darwen is third, where the rate has fallen from 81.5 to 67.5.
In Leicester, which was subject to the UK’s first local lockdown, the rate continues to fall, but is still at 52.5.
Meanwhile, according to the Croatian government, the rate of confirmed cases in Dubrovnik was 16.5 per 100,000 – well below the country’s overall rate, as indicated by the UK’s Department for Transport this week, of 27.4 per 100,000.
In the seven days to 17 August, the rate of confirmed cases in Zagreb was 37.9 per 100,000.
Croatia’s ambassador to the UK said he regretted that the government here had not taken a regional approach, instead enforcing quarantine for people returning from any part of the country.
Igor Pokaz told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
In Croatia we have, as I said, witnessed these spikes in certain areas – for example in Zagreb in the capital, and maybe among the young population.
But in Dubrovnik, its surroundings and the islands there were very, very few cases. And I deliberately mention Dubrovnik and the islands as that is where most of the British tourists go.
The rates in Spain and France, which are subject to quarantine for returning travellers, are 60.6 per 100,000 and 30.8 respectively.
The UK’s latest rate for the seven days to 16 August is 11.5 cases per 100,000 people.
Updated
As Scottish schools end the first week of classes after five months of Covid-19 lockdown, what can the rest of the UK learn? Our Scotland correspondent, Libby Brooks, reports.
The “rushed reopening” of schools could lead to the next care home crisis, a trade union official in Northern Ireland has warned.
Justin McCamphill, of the teachers’ union NASUWT, was one of six trade union representatives who expressed concern to the Stormont education committee.
Schools across Northern Ireland are due to reopen on Monday for primary 7, year 12 and year 14 pupils, and for vulnerable children across all year groups.
All other pupils will return to school on a full-time basis from 31 August.
McCamphill told the committee:
It would have been more cautious and more sensible to open on a phased basis to see what the impact would be before moving to a full reopening.
Unfortunately in many schools risk assessments have yet to be shared with staff. It is a legal requirement that risk assessments are shared with trade union health and safety reps, and, in the absence of a trade union health and safety rep, with staff in general.
So we have schools putting out measures that they have not consulted with their staff on.
This is going to lead, in my view, to what I think is going to be the next care home crisis.
Graham Gault, of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), described the guidance to schools as “substantial in volume but vague and contradictory in areas”.
“It places substantial burden on principals in terms of interpretation and implementation,” he said.
Jacquie White, of the Ulster Teachers’ Union (UTU), said getting children back to school was the wish of all, but stressed it was “imperative that that’s done in as safe a way as possible”.
She also expressed concern about funding for schools to put safety measures in place, telling MLAs that, for example, one primary school with 289 pupils has costed the requirements for one school year at £100,000.
Updated
People with several long-term conditions at 48% greater risk of coronavirus
People with two or more long-term health conditions have an almost 50% higher risk of getting a positive coronavirus test, according to new research.
The study, led by the University of Glasgow, is the first to link both multimorbidity and polypharmacy with the likelihood of contracting the virus.
It found those with multiple long-term health conditions were linked to a 48% greater risk of a positive test result, while for those with two or more cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes, it was 77% higher.
Dr Barbara Nicholl, who led the study, said:
Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are global healthcare challenges in their own right.
Our study shows that having a positive Covid-19 test is more common in those living with these health conditions.
These results will be important for public health and clinical decisions in the future as we continue to manage the health of those at greatest risk of a severe Covid-19 infection during this pandemic.
People with two or more long-term health conditions who appeared to be most susceptible to infection included those from deprived areas, people of colour, people with severe obesity, and those with reduced renal function.
People of colour who also had multimorbidity had almost three times the risk of a positive Covid-19 test.
The researchers believe their findings will have implications for clinical and public health decision-making as the pandemic continues around the world.
The study is based on UK Biobank data, which is now linked to Covid-19 test results. It included 428,199 adults aged between 37 and 73 at the time of recruitment (2006-10) across England and Wales.
Updated
Two Lancashire areas to come out of local lockdown restrictions
Rossendale and Darwen have been removed from local lockdown restrictions in east Lancashire, with the local Conservative MP Jake Berry saying the government is taking “a much more targeted approach”.
In a video posted to his Facebook page, Berry said he had just come off the phone with health secretary Matt Hancock and could announce the area was reverting to national restrictions rather than enhanced local restrictions. He continued:
I’m really sorry that other areas in east Lancashire haven’t been able to take this important step today, it’s nothing to do with who we are or where we live, it’s just to do with how the disease is going through our society.
So for our friends in Accrington, Blackburn, Pendle, other areas of East Lancashire, I want all of us to stand with them in solidarity [...] because together, as one, we will beat this terrible disease.
There has been no update on the lockdown situation in other parts of east Lancashire, with the neighbouring constituency Blackburn with Darwen remaining under local lockdown.
The announcement means residents of Rossendale and Darwen can now visit other people’s homes and gardens.
Updated
The repercussions of the government’s exam results fiasco are still being felt across the higher education industry, and among students who saw their lives turned upside down by the controversial algorithm used to determine grades after exams were cancelled due to coronavirus.
Here, an anonymous university leader accuses ministers of incompetence and lack of compassion:
Travellers scramble to return before new quarantine deadline as Shapps rules out regional approach
British holidaymakers are once again scrambling to get home before new quarantine restrictions kick in at 4am on Saturday - this time, it’s those returning from Croatia, Austria and Trinidad and Tobago who are affected.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced the new restrictions on Thursday, leaving travellers in a similar situation to those returning from France last week, with just a couple of days notice to make alternative travel arrangements.
Some people have been forced to pay hundreds of pounds for alternative routes back from Croatia, after finding it almost impossible to find affordable flights home before tomorrow’s quarantine deadline.
Liam and Jodie, a couple from Keighley, West Yorkshire, paid about £800 to travel home from northern Croatia via Munich after finding it impossible to book a direct flight in time.
“There wasn’t an alternative. There are no flights from Pula to the UK on Fridays, only a flight from Zagreb to London runs, but obviously that was fully booked,” Liam told the PA Media news agency.
“The only (other) flights available were with stops in Spain through Ryanair, but then we would have to quarantine anyway,” he added.
Liam, a mechanical assembly engineer, said he had started a new job recently so “didn’t want to miss another two weeks’ work”.
Many have opted to bite the bullet and pay hundreds to get the few remaining direct flights back to the UK, or accepted the prospect of two weeks without leaving the house.
Shapps was criticised this morning for admitting he doesn’t know how many people have been fined for breaching the quarantine rules, however he insisted checks were being made, adding that his wife had received a phone call from the border force.
“They absolutely were checking, I know other people who’ve had the same calls,” he said.
Naga - Nobody's checking if people are actually quarantining
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) August 21, 2020
Grant Shapps - My wife was checked
Naga - How many people have been fined for not going into quarantine?
Grant Shapps - I haven't a clue. 😲#BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/Fss0H2px6S
With another week of confusion and stress for the travel industry, there have been renewed calls for the government to implement more regionalised quarantine rules, so only those travelling from specific areas of a country with a high number of Covid-19 cases are affected.
However, Shapps ruled this approach out, saying:
It is still rather too difficult to do the kind of regionalisation that you’re talking about because we just don’t have the same control elsewhere.
This is a very unpredictable virus which unfortunately just doesn’t play ball as far as the way that it can just sometimes take off in a country and I think anyone travelling this year will know that there are risks involved.
Updated
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, I’ll be running the UK coronavirus blog for the rest of the day.
Please do get in touch with any story tips or personal experiences you would like to share.
Are you in Croatia, Austria or Trinidad and Tobago and trying to get home before the quarantine kicks in tomorrow? Let me know!
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_
Updated
Newham residents will receive personal codes to give them early access to the new test and trace app.
The app will work alongside traditional contact tracing services and testing, to help people to understand if they are at risk of infection.
New research suggested that the government’s contact tracing app is unlikely to be effective in reducing the spread of coronavirus unless it receives widespread support from the public.
A team of scientists, led by University College London, found such apps would need large-scale uptake by the population and support from other public health control measures to be successful.
A public trial of England’s revamped Covid-19 contact tracing app began last week in the Isle of Wight and Newham.
The mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, said: “We know that Newham has seen some of the most significant impacts of Covid-19 due to the health inequalities and vulnerabilities in our communities.
“With the threat of Covid-19 still with us, it’s vital we support our residents to keep safe and help others. The app is a welcomed addition to all the measures that our public health team have put in place working closely with our local health partners.
“With its easy to use features, the app will be available in different languages and comes with the assurance that personal data stays with the user so that people’s privacy is protected.”
From this morning Newham residents will begin to receive a unique code to allow you to easily install the new @NHSTestTraceapp
— Newham London (@NewhamLondon) August 21, 2020
For more info watch the message from Mayor @rokhsanafiaz and visit: https://t.co/L5v2BQQVrq
Let's get back to things we love, let's test the new app. pic.twitter.com/yCGrM03rm7
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Photographer Simon Bray’s project Loved and Lost deals with the loss of loved ones. He asked each participant to find a photograph of themselves with their lost loved one, and they returned to the location to replicate the image. The project aims to provide a platform, allowing others to acknowledge their loss, and to celebrate the person they love.
Updated
Following the Daily Mail’s picture exclusive of Boris Johnson’s camping arrangements while on holiday in Scotland, one observer noted the prime minister was wearing a special anti-midge hat to keep away the notorious Highland insects that are especially persistent at this time of year.
The good news is that it is pouring with rain this morning, one thing guaranteed to dampen midge activity, so he can perhaps relax listening to the patter of raindrops on canvas and contemplate the latest interview from the new Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, who tells the BBC that the UK government has had “presentational issues” over its pandemic response.
Ross said: “No one can deny that Nicola Sturgeon presents her case very well. But actually people who think Scotland has had a totally different approach to dealing with this pandemic - that is not the case.”
Ross, who quit as a Scotland Office minister in May over Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trip to County Durham, added: “I’ve shown people across Scotland that if I think the prime minister has got it wrong, I’ll tell him.
“The Scottish Conservatives are a distinct party from the UK party. We have different policies, we had different policies at the last election and we will have a range of policies going forward.”
Updated
Kate Garraway is taking a break from hosting Good Morning Britain to look after her family.
The presenter, 53, thanked viewers for their support on Friday as her husband, Derek Draper, also 53, remains ill from the effects of coronavirus. Closing the show, Garraway said she would not appear next week so she could help her son prepare for secondary school.
She said: “I’m actually not here next week, I’m taking a bit of time off to help Billy get sorted for secondary school, Darcey as well, get into school.
“And also Derek, look after things on that.
“I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for absolutely being brilliant since I’ve come back through challenging times.”
Speaking to co-presenter Alex Beresford, she added: “And everybody here - you and Ben and Adil and all the people on- and off-screen, you’ve been amazing.”
Draper, a former lobbyist and political adviser, was taken to hospital on 29 March after struggling to breathe, with doctors eventually putting him in an induced coma on 5 April.
Garraway returned to Good Morning Britain in July after taking time off while her husband remained critically ill.
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Ministers poised to make announcement on eviction ban as pressure grows
Ministers under pressure to act to prevent thousands of renters losing their homes when the eviction ban ends are poised to announce fresh measures, a Cabinet member has said.
Charities fear there will be mass evictions around Christmas if the government does not give judges powers to stop automatic evictions of tenants affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Renters have been protected during the crisis by a ban announced in March, and extended in June, but it is due to end in England and Wales on Monday.
If it is lifted without extra protection, charities say tens of thousands of evicted tenants could be unable to find or access affordable homes, prompting a “devastating homelessness crisis”.
But there are indications the government will propose measures aimed at preventing a wave of evictions.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, told LBC radio: “I know that getting that balance right between the renters and the landlords is something that my colleagues in the housing ministry are working closely on and I think they will make further announcements about it shortly, which I’m not privy to right now.”
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Grant Shapps has defended the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, over the exam results chaos.
Asked whether he had given Williamson any advice, Shapps said:
I haven’t given him any advice other than to say, if you’re in politics long enough then you’ll always have to go through difficult weeks.
When I resigned, as you mentioned, it was not from the job that I was even doing at the time, but just because I thought it was the decent, right thing to do.
Pushed on whether Williamson was therefore not doing the “decent, right thing”, he added:
No. Gavin Williamson has been, if you look not only at what he’s done but what has happened in all four parts of the United Kingdom, he’s trying to wrestle with something for which there’s not a straightforward answer.
Because the virus stopped people – including my twins by the way, who got their GCSE results – it stopped them from doing their exams. And in that situation, there just isn’t a solution. There isn’t a perfect solution, a perfect way out of it.
Shapps continued:
Let’s not pretend that the choices facing the education secretary were unique to England or straightforward, because they were not.
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A couple from West Yorkshire paid around £800 to travel home from northern Croatia via Munich to beat the quarantine deadline, after finding it impossible to book a direct flight in time.
“There wasn’t an alternative. There are no flights from Pula to the UK on Fridays, only a flight from Zagreb to London runs, but obviously that was fully booked,” Liam told the PA Media news agency.
“The only [other] flights available were with stops in Spain through Ryanair but then we would have to quarantine anyway.”
Liam, a mechanical assembly engineer, said he had started a new job recently so “didn’t want to miss another two weeks’ work”.
He added that the pair had tried to make the most of their trip despite “the distraction of not knowing what’s going to happen”, and were treating their visit to Munich as a “city break we got as an extra”.
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Hello, I am running the Guardian’s UK live feed on coronavirus today. Please do get in touch to share your thoughts, comments and news tips with me via any of the channels below. Thanks for following.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
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Irish minister resigns over lockdown breach
The Irish agriculture minister, Dara Calleary, has resigned after attending an indoor golf society event with 80 other people.
A number of other politicians also attended the event, including the Fine Gael senator Jerry Buttimer and independent TD Noel Grealish. Other guests included the EU commissioner Phil Hogan and former attorney general Seamus Woulfe. The Oireachtas Golf Society event was held at the Station House hotel.
Guidelines state that no more than 50 people should gather indoors. Calleary cancelled a number of media appearances he was due to make on Friday morning before his resignation was confirmed.
His resignation from the cabinet comes just five weeks after his appointment to the role following the sacking of Barry Cowen.
Cowen was sacked after he refused to provide further public statements on his 2016 drink-driving offence.
Calleary apologised in a statement issued on Thursday night. He said: “Last night I attended a function I committed to a number of weeks ago, to pay tribute to a person I respected and admired greatly.
“In light of the updated public health guidance this week I should not have attended the event. I wish to apologise unreservedly to everyone.
“We are asking quite a lot from everyone at this difficult time.
“I also offer this apology and my sincere regret to my government colleagues.”
Taoiseach Micheal Martin is expected to issue a statement soon.
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Whitehall departments have spent more than £56m on consultancy firms to help deal with the coronavirus pandemic, mostly without giving other companies the chance to compete for the work, the Guardian and openDemocracy can reveal.
Sixteen private consultancy firms, including major companies such as Deloitte, PwC, Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey have been working at the heart of the government’s response to the virus.
They have been rapidly hired to work on the track-and-trace system, the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the search to produce working ventilators.
Among the contracts given to McKinsey was one where its consultants were paid £563,000 for six weeks’ work – £14,000 a day – to create a permanent replacement for Public Health England, helping define its “vision, purpose and narrative”.
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A look at a few of today’s front pages:
Surge In Covid Cases Fuels Local Lockdown Fears. Birmingham at risk as national rates spike by quarter in past week ~ https://t.co/L4opdShq0l @ShaunLintern #frontpagestoday #UK #TheIndependent #digital #buyapaper 📰 👍 pic.twitter.com/gQUx6EdQxh
— Front Pages Today (@ukpapers) August 21, 2020
Boris Carries On Camping. Exams fiasco, pupils let down and not a word of sympathy from the PM. So what's the Mail found him doing instead? ~ https://t.co/rMfHuXX5qU @marioledwith @anniethejourno @johnestevens#frontpagestoday #UK #DailyMail #buyapaper 🗞 👍 pic.twitter.com/f0Tw0Uzvd1
— Front Pages Today (@ukpapers) August 21, 2020
Grant Shapps said the ministry of housing, communities and local government will make “further announcements” regarding the temporary ban on evictions “shortly”.
Asked whether the government will extend the temporary ban on evictions, the Transport Secretary told LBC: “Well I used to be housing minister so it is an area I know something about and of course what we did during the pandemic is allowed a significant period of time to make sure that nobody could be evicted for not paying their rent, perhaps because of their job situation.
“I know that getting that balance right between the renters and the landlords is something that my colleagues in the housing ministry are working closely on and I think they will make further announcements about it shortly which I’m not privy to right now.”
Grant Shapps said there are about 11 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 of the population in the UK.
Speaking about quarantine on return from holidays, he told BBC Breakfast: “Regardless of where you’re going, having been caught out on this myself, everybody will be travelling with their eyes open this summer because this virus is incredibly unpredictable, and all the more so in the countries where we don’t have any control with the way that the response is being handled.
“So people should always, I think, be prepared, if they’re going away to think about what would happen if a country then did require quarantine on return.”
Online sales fell 7% in July compared with June, as more shoppers felt confident returning to the high street, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS added that overall retail sales volumes rose 3.6% in July compared with June and are now 3% above pre-pandemic levels in February. Fuel sales remain low - down 11.7% compared with February - but are recovering as more trips resume, it said.
A senior health body has warned the government about the risks associated with the sale of Covid-19 antibody testing devices directly to the public.
Professor Jo Martin from the Royal College of Pathologists said her organisation was “concerned” that such devices, intended for solely for professional use, were being offered for sale to consumers “without the required reassurance of appropriate laboratory or professional back up”.
The college has written to health secretary Matt Hancock, with Prof Martin adding in a statement: “The use of these for unsupervised self-use test falls outside current regulations, and can mislead the public and put individuals at risk.
“We want everyone to be assured about the tests they receive in healthcare, or that they purchase.
“We want to make sure that not only are they are of good quality but that they give the right result and that the result is properly readable - that they are appropriately ‘useable’.”
The college called for “urgent steps” to be taken to support enforcement and public safety where testing devices were being used unregulated.
BBC’s Newsnight reported an analysis of 41 antibodies tests sold to the public in Britain showed almost a third had inaccurate and incomplete information.
Last month an international team of researchers wrote in The BMJ that there was an “urgent need” for better quality studies assessing the effectiveness of Covid-19 antibody tests.
Public sector debt has breached 2 trillion for the first time, as Government borrowing hit 26.7 billion in July, according to new figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing for last month was 28.3 billion more than the same time last year, and the fourth-highest since records began in 1993, as the Government throws billions at the economy to try to help it through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Debt hit 2.004 trillion for the first time and is up around 227.6 billion from a year ago. Analysts had forecast borrowing would reach 28.6 billion in June, according to a consensus by Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Croatia’s ambassador to the UK has said it is “a regret” that the UK Government did not implement regional quarantine rules rather than removing the entire country from its quarantine exemption list.
Igor Pokaz told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we are trying to do in our constant dialogue with the British government on this particular measure of quarantine is to somehow see whether it would be possible, something that other countries do, to have a more nuanced approach.
“So we regret that it was not possible for the UK government to consider a regional approach, because in Croatia we have, as I said, witnessed these spikes in certain areas - for example in Zagreb in the capital and maybe among the young population.
“But in Dubrovnik, its surroundings and the islands there were very, very few cases. And I deliberately mention Dubrovnik and the islands as that is where most of the British tourists go.
“And Dubrovnik has its own international airport and is naturally secluded from the rest of the country.
“Germany, as I said, has introduced this model, and has introduced measures for only two of the Croatian counties and we have 20 counties in Croatia.”
Grant Shapps added that the government will continue to look into the option of testing at airports.
Asked about possible testing at Heathrow, he told Sky News: “I want to see systems in place to do that kind of thing. But you’ve also got to be sure that you’re testing the right person on that second time around because are you going to just send the kit to the house or are you going to require the person to perhaps drive to a test centre?
“So the point I’m making is this, it’s a bit more complicated than is sometimes suggested. People say why don’t you just test at the airport? Well, because it wouldn’t provide the results and you’ve then got to make sure the second test goes to the right person.
“So all of those things are matters under consideration, but as I say, the main thing to know if you’re travelling this summer, and we just put Portugal on the travel corridor list for the first time, but everyone travelling there or elsewhere will need to know that this virus may change things very quickly.
“With the best will in the world, you may end up having to quarantine.”
Pushed again on testing, Shapps said: “You’re right, I’d said we’d keep reviewing it, and we do. So we have a review point once a month on this and we are reviewing it and we are working with, for example, Heathrow.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said it would be too “difficult” to implement regional quarantine rules as opposed to removing an entire country from the Government’s quarantine exemption list.
Speaking to Sky News about changes to the exemption list, Shapps said: “I do sympathise, I’ve been there myself, I had to actually quarantine myself from Spain after I changed the rules.
“This is a very unpredictable virus which unfortunately just doesn’t play ball as far as the way that it can just sometimes take off in a country and I think anyone travelling this year will know that there are risks involved.
“Indeed, we’ve added Portugal back on to the list, but you need to go with your eyes open there or anywhere that you travel this year because coronavirus is just a fact of life, we’re having to live with it.”
He added: “So to answer your question, it is still rather too difficult to do the kind of regionalisation that you’re talking about because we just don’t have the same control elsewhere.”
Concerns raised over government's approach to data privacy
The UK’s information rights body must act to ensure the government stops “playing fast and loose” with people’s health, it has been claimed.
A cross-party group of MPs has written to the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, raising concerns over the government’s approach to data protection and privacy.
In a letter, the group accused ministers of paying “scant regard” to both privacy concerns and data protection duties during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It accused the government of engaging with private contractors that have “problematic reputations” to process personal data and said it had built a contact tracing proximity app that centralised and stored more data “than was necessary, without sufficient safeguards”.
On releasing the app for trial, the group noted, ministers failed to notify the Information Commissioner in advance of its data protection impact assessment.
The group also said the government admitted it had breached its data protection obligations by failing to conduct an impact assessment prior to the launch of their test and trace programme.
Calling for action to establish public confidence, the group said it is now “imperative” that action is taken.
They wrote: “The government not only appears unwilling to understand its legal duties, it also seems to lack any sense that it needs your advice, except as a shield against criticism.
“Regarding test and trace, it is imperative that you take action to establish public confidence - a trusted system is critical to protecting public health.”
The letter added: “ICO action is urgently required for Parliament and the public to have confidence that their data is being treated safely and legally, in the current Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.”
Green MP Caroline Lucas, one of the signatories to the letter, raised the issue of data protection directly with Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the Commons last month.
Warnings in Birmingham as cases rise
Police and officials in Birmingham have warned the public to act now to avert a city-wide lockdown as the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in England rose 27% in a week, hitting its highest level since mid-June.
The UK’s second city, which has a population of more than 1 million, has seen a rise to 30 cases per 100,000 up from 22.4 the week before and 12 at the start of the month, its director of public health said.
Birmingham city council said the increase was “extremely concerning” and its leader, Ian Ward, urged the city to pull together to prevent a return to the “dark days” of lockdown. While it is not the country’s worst-hit area, concern over the rate of increase prompted West Midlands police to openly discuss the prospect of a city-wide lockdown. It called on residents to adhere to social distancing and avoid gatherings.
It comes as other areas of the country raised the alarm over stricter measures to control Covid-19 outbreaks, including Oldham in Lancashire. Scotland announced 77 new cases of coronavirus, the highest number over a 24-hour period in nearly three months.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s coronavirus live feed, bringing you the latest developments on what’s happening with the outbreak in the UK. Please do share your thoughts and news tips with me via any of the channels below. Thanks in advance.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
