Summary
- 80% of Greater Manchester infections in the last week were in the white community. The declaration of a major incident in Greater Manchester should jolt a “complacent white middle class” into realising that Covid-19 is not just spreading in ethnic minority households, one of the region’s health chiefs has said
- Lockdown laws still not implemented four days after restrictions introduced. Ministers said the rules – placing bans on people from different households meeting following a spike in coronavirus cases – were effective from midnight on Friday. When the changes were announced, officials said new regulations were needed to make them legally enforceable, but these rules have yet to be implemented, the Government has admitted.
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Further nine deaths recorded, bringing UK death toll to 46,210. The UK government said 46,210 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Sunday, up by nine from the day before. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,400 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
- Schools will reopen for all pupils in England, but local lockdowns could force some closures. The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “You’ve heard from the prime minister on many occasions his absolute commitment to getting children back into school in September and that’s vital for their education and their development. We are planning for all pupils in all year groups to be in school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term.”
- Nicola Sturgeon warns pubs and restaurants could close again if cases in Scotland spike. The Scottish first minister has warned she could order the closure of pubs and restaurants if people allow Covid-19 cases to mushroom again by failing to uphold physical distancing rules. Sturgeon said the easing of restrictions on indoor hospitality was being kept under very close review after 11 new cases emerged overnight in Grampian, after cluster of 13 cases centred on the Hawthorn pub in Aberdeen was disclosed at the weekend.
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The number of Covid-19 deaths across the world has more than tripled to 680,000 since April, says - WHO. When the Emergency Committee on Covid-19 met six months ago in January, they agreed that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. “At the time, 30 January, there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside of China,” WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom said at Monday’s daily briefing. But when the Committee met three months ago, three million cases of Covid-19 had been reported to WHO, and more than 200,000 deaths. Since then, the number of cases has increased more than fivefold to 17.5 million, and the number of deaths has more than tripled, to 680,000, Dr Tedros Adhanom added.
Powers to ban movement in and out of coronavirus hotspots could be used to curb the spread of Covid-19, Downing Street said.
PA reports:
Officials confirmed the measures - which could include shutting down transport networks - would be considered if needed to prevent a spike in cases.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan hit out at “totally unacceptable” reports that the capital could be effectively cut off from the rest of England if there was a surge in cases there, but Downing Street insisted no specific plans for the UK’s biggest city had been drawn up.
However, Number 10 acknowledged that measures to effectively ban travel around hotspots in England were part of the armoury to combat the disease.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the “Contain” framework drawn up by officials in July sets out “the possibility of putting in place restrictions on travel if there is an area that is particularly badly affected.
They added:
One of the steps within that potentially includes closing down local transport networks.
It’s there, it’s contained in the document, it’s not a new thing - we have informed the public and politicians of that being a potential action that we could take.
But, to be clear, it’s not something that is specific to London or anywhere else.
A spike in coronavirus cases in Swindon is being driven by an outbreak at a large logistics firm, local leaders have said.
PA Media reports:
Swindon borough council health chiefs said that mobile testing teams had been called in after the outbreak at XPO Logistics and many of the new cases being picked up were asymptomatic people.
The latest data from Public Health England (PHE) on Monday showed in the seven days to 31 July the rate of new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in the town was 48.6, up from 19.8 the previous seven days.
It was the largest rise in new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in England during the seven days to 31 July.
The data showed that there were 108 new cases during the same period, up from 44 during the seven days to 24 July.
But Swindon borough council’s cabinet member for adults and health, Brian Ford, said that the majority of the new cases were due to an outbreak at XPO Logistics.
He told the PA Media news agency that it was being fuelled by asymptomatic cases picked up through mobile testing teams.
Updated
80% of Greater Manchester infections in the last week were in the white community
The declaration of a major incident in Greater Manchester should jolt a “complacent white middle class” into realising that Covid-19 is not just spreading in ethnic minority households, one of the region’s health chiefs has said, write Guardian reporters Helen Pidd, Josh Halliday and Amy Walker.
Eleanor Roaf, the director of public health in Trafford, said 80% of its infections in the last week were in the white community. Roaf urged the region’s 2.8 million residents to concentrate “much harder on what we can do to stop the wider spread”.
Updated
Lockdown laws still not implemented four days after restrictions introduced
Laws underpinning new lockdown restrictions for Greater Manchester, parts of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire are yet to be implemented four days after the rules were introduced, the Government has admitted.
PA Media reports:
Ministers said the rules – placing bans on people from different households meeting following a spike in coronavirus cases – were effective from midnight on Friday.
When the changes were announced, officials said new regulations were needed to make them legally enforceable.
Guidance published on Friday stated that it would be against the law for people from different households to meet in a private home or garden - unless they are part of a support bubble - and warned of 100 fines for those who flout the rules.
Officials said the laws were due to be signed off and published later that night.
But on Monday afternoon the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed it was yet to implement laws bringing the rules into force.
It said it was trying to make the changes legally enforceable as soon as possible but insisted the rules still applied from 31 July.
When asked by the PA Media news agency why there was a delay and on what legal basis the rules were currently being enforced, the department refused to comment.
Updated
Further nine deaths recorded, bringing UK death toll to 46,210
The UK government said 46,210 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Sunday, up by nine from the day before.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,400 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The government also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Monday, there had been a further 938 lab-confirmed cases. Overall, a total of 305,623 cases have been confirmed.
One in 10 public transport users in Britain are breaking rules on mandatory face coverings, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said.
He wrote on Twitter that the compliance rate was 90% as he urged people to “help keep each other safe” during the pandemic.
Passengers caught not complying risk being fined £100 and removed from services. Face coverings on public transport became mandatory in England on 15 June in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
Scotland followed seven days later, while Northern Ireland and Wales introduced the rule on 16 and 27 July respectively.
Shapps said figures from the British Transport Police and Transport for London showed 285 passengers had been issued with penalty notices for non-compliance, 6,275 had been asked to leave the transport network and 80,294 had been reminded of the rules.
QUICK REMINDER: Unless you’re exempt, wearing a face covering on public transport is mandatory. Overall 90% compliance rates but @TfL + @BTP have:
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) August 3, 2020
* reminded 80,294 passengers
* asked 6,275 to leave the network
* issued 285 penalty notices
Let's help keep each other safe.
Face coverings can be a scarf, piece of cloth or mask.
The UK government says face coverings are “marginally beneficial as a precautionary measure”.
Those with certain health conditions, disabled people and children aged under 11 are exempt from having to wear them on public transport.
Updated
As we’ve been reporting, Britons have begun dining at a discount as part of the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme to try and boost the economy post-lockdown, making the most of deals offering 50% off eat-in meals at a range of pubs, restaurants and cafes.
PA Media reports that Hertford town councillor Jan Goodeve also thanked chancellor Rishi Sunak for the discount on her breakfast at Tewin Bury Farm while Dorset councillor Jane Somper said she kickstarted her day with a discounted coffee.
Blackburn with Darwen borough council reminded people that anyone who was planning on booking a meal out to enjoy the discount must only go with members of their household.
The scheme gives customers a 50% discount on food and non-alcoholic drinks up to a maximum of 10 per diner, from Mondays to Wednesdays during August. Vouchers are not required for those booking tables, with the participating eateries deducting 50% from the bill and charging the discount to the Treasury.
Independent stores and high street names such as Pizza Express, Costa Coffee and Nando’s are among more than 72,000 establishments who are taking part.
UK Hospitality said that its survey of business leaders suggests that 84% of restaurants are taking part in at least some of their locations.
The chief executive Kate Nicholls hoped that customers would be tempted back into the businesses which have “invested heavily” to make their venues Covid-secure.
Confidence is going to be key to securing the future of our sector and keeping jobs safe. We hope that as many people as possible take this one-off chance to have a fantastic experience at a significant discount and rediscover eating out throughout August.
Around 80% of hospitality firms stopped trading in April, with 1.4 million workers furloughed, the highest of any sector, according to the Treasury.
Russell Nathan, of the accountancy and business advisory firm HW Fisher, told PA that many companies fear that discounting will actively encourage customers to spend less. He also suggested that larger chains with a lower average spend may get the best benefit from the scheme.
Nathan, who said the scheme had initially been “warmly received” by the industry, added:
Restaurants fear that the discounting will actively encourage customers to spend less, to fit within the limits. Many are already down to as little as 50% capacity due to social distancing, so the last thing they can afford is significant reduction in the average customer spend. Then on top of that is the admin of processing it and the deferred reimbursement at a time when cashflow is critical to their weekly survival.
Hays Travel is to cut up to 878 jobs out of a total workforce of 4,500 people,the firm announced, according to a report by PA Media.
Hays Travel owners John and Irene Hays said:
We are devastated that after all of our efforts and the huge investment we’ve made we now face losing some of our valued employees, through no fault of their own.
Following the decision to ban travel to Spain and the changes in furlough conditions coming at the same time, we have had no choice.
We are also devastated for everyone who may lose their job and we will do all we can in consultations to help them, as we focus on retaining as many people as possible and rebuilding consumer confidence through our renowned friendly and knowledgeable customer service.
Updated
The Pineapple in north London, Labour leader Keir Starmer’s local pub, has announced it has had a Covid-19 positive case.
The Pineapple pub wrote on Facebook:
It’s our duty of care to inform our followers that a customer visiting the Pineapple pub on 18th July has had a positive corona virus test. The customer did not enter the premises as they were shown to an outside seat out the front.
We are confident that government protocols were strictly observed and the opportunity for cross contamination minimised.
Please do not be alarmed but be vigilant for symptoms.
If there are any further developments we will inform you on social media platforms Thank you for your cooperation.
Be safe and well
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 29,352, NHS England said.
Patients were aged between 66 and 95 years old, and all had known underlying health conditions.
One other death was reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Prof Chris Toumazou, the chief executive and co-founder of DnaNudge and founder of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London, said the new portable 90-minute tests could be done “very, very rapidly ... at the point of need” and was a “very affordable” test. PA has the write-up.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme:
Well, it’s decentralising laboratory tests which is really, really important today.
It’s bringing the test to maternity wards, so a nurse effectively can take the test on an expecting mother and give a result within an hour or so, so the mother doesn’t have to wait 48 hours to see her baby after birth or elective surgery. Cancer wards where a cancer patient needs an urgent operation Covid-free.
And then out of the hospital, care homes, we’ve seen the dilemma now of not getting enough tests into care homes. Where we have a test here that can actually be taken to the care home itself and then you can spread it into things like GP surgeries, the tests go into dental surgeries, prisons, emergency care and schools.
By the end of the year we should be able to produce about a million a month of these cartridges and as we go into the new year we can expand that and scale that even more rapidly.
Updated
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has urged people to make the most of what remains of the summer as pubs, cafes and restaurants opened indoors in Wales for the first time since lockdown.
Speaking after visiting a fish and chip restaurant in south Wales, Drakeford said people were clearly relieved to be out doing something “ordinary”.
The Welsh government’s policy is to tackle outbreaks on a local level but the first minister said if there was a nationwide surge then the government would not hesitate to reimpose wider lockdown measures.
Asking people to enjoy things while they can, he said: “We have got the whole of August and hopefully we’ll have a good September when we can still be out of doors, enjoying the fresh air. Coronavirus liked the cold, the damp and the dark and you’re beginning to describe a Welsh winter there. Enjoy it while we can.”
Drakeford said his government was not seeing the signs of another spike in the next few weeks. “That isn’t to say it couldn’t come back very quickly.” He also said that schools reopening would have the first claim on any “headroom” the government has. “Schools will come first,” he said.
Updated
Testing of sewage for signs of coronavirus as part of efforts to get a “head start” on where new outbreaks will occur has been taking place at sites across England.
PA Media reports:
The Environment Department (Defra) said sampling waste water for fragments of the virus was being trialled at 44 sewage treatment works across England.
The World Health Organization has said there is currently no evidence that coronavirus has been transmitted through sewerage systems.
But tests are able to detect the genetic residues of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in wastewater and those infected are thought to shed the virus in their faeces.
These genetic residues could be used to detect the presence of the virus in the population, including among those who do not have symptoms or before they develop them.
Scientists believe nationwide monitoring of sewerage systems could be a good way to identify future disease hotspots.
Updated
Theatre job losses across the UK have jumped from 3,000 to 5,000 in less than a month, according to figures from the union Bectu.
The job losses include redundancies of people who are permanently employed and lay-offs of casual staff. Both types of worker are entitled to payments through the government’s job retention scheme.
Bectu, which represents workers in the entertainment industries, said about 2,700 of the job losses are taking place in London. On Friday the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), one of the biggest employers in British theatre, announced it would lay off 1,200 casual staff in September.
The additional job losses have come in the four weeks since the government announced a £1.57bn arts recovery package.
Philippa Childs, the head of Bectu, said: “The clock is still ticking to save the future of the theatre industry and these figures demonstrate the scale of the crisis it is facing. In July we warned that a storm would turn into a tsunami without further assistance. Despite details of the arts recovery package being announced we are still nowhere closer to the money being distributed.
“The tsunami we predicted is about to reach our shores as the timeline for action from the government has been too slow and there has been no flexibility for the industry and its access to the furlough scheme. Major industry businesses are releasing their lowest-paid staff from the furlough scheme and that trend is only set to continue up the ladder of the workforce.”
The figures come after protests at the weekend outside the Southbank Centre and the National Theatre. Both have announced 400 job losses.
The actor Vanessa Redgrave told protesters: “The National Theatre should be awarded the funding it needs to open again at the height of its powers … which means all of you. No redundancies anywhere – inside, outside, up or down. No redundancies.”
Updated
Schools will reopen for all pupils in England, but local lockdowns could force some closures
Schools will reopen “for all pupils in all year groups” in England at the start of the autumn term but local lockdowns could force some closures, Downing Street has said.
PA Media has a write-up of the briefing to journalists. The prime minister’s official spokesman said:
You’ve heard from the prime minister on many occasions his absolute commitment to getting children back into school in September and that’s vital for their education and their development.
We are planning for all pupils in all year groups to be in school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term.
He added that “hypothetically” some schools might not reopen straight away “if there was to be a very specific localised lockdown that requires a single school to close”.
When asked if the prime minister agreed with comments made by Prof Graham Medley, a member of Sage, that pubs may be forced to shut in order to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission and allow schools to open, his official spokesman said:
Our approach is a localised one where you would assess the situation on the ground and take whatever steps were required to slow the spread of the virus.
More broadly we are committed to supporting the hospitality industry which has had a very tough time.
Updated
Trade unions have criticised the government’s decision to press on with measures to get people back into the office, despite putting the brakes on other lockdown-easing plans.
PA Media reports:
Under the new guidance, which came into force on August 1, employers can now ask their staff to return to the office if they have implemented coronavirus-control measures.
Previously the government had been asking everyone to work from home where possible.
The guidance state that even those deemed “extremely clinically vulnerable” to the virus can be asked to return to work if they cannot work from home.
It advises vulnerable individuals be offered the “safest available on-site roles” or temporarily adjusted working patterns.
The new rules were first announced by the prime minister at a press conference on July 17.
Boris Johnson said at the time: “It is not for government to decide how employers should run their companies and whether they want their workforces in the office or not - that is for companies.”
Monday is the first working day the rules have been in place.
Other planned lockdown-easing measures, such as the opening of casinos, bowling alleys and skating rinks and wedding receptions of up to 30 people, have been put back by at least two weeks.
The PA write-up quotes a letter by the civil service head, Alex Chisholm, to all permanent secretaries that said it was time to “change the default that civil servants should work from home, and accelerate the return to the workplace from August 1”.
But the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) accused the government of “playing fast and loose” with workers’ safety.
The PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said:
No one should be returning to a workplace until it has been made safe to do so.
Current scientific advice is that people should work from home where they can.
Boris Johnson is risking industrial unrest by pursuing this policy and our union will support members who believe their workplace is unsafe to return to.
Updated
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said the two new coronavirus tests are “a big step forward” in terms of how quickly results can be turned around, PA Media reports.
Hancock told BBC News:
This is a big step forward in terms of how quickly we’re going to be able to get tests turned around and also how widespread we can make the tests.
We’re on track to deliver half a million tests a day by the end of October, but new technologies, like these two, will help us to accelerate that. What that means in real life is that more people are going to be able to get tested more quickly so we can find out where the virus is and tackle it and keep those rates of infection down.
These technologies which deliver these rapid turnaround tests will mean that we can expand testing capacity further and in into settings where, for instance ... in schools, currently we have survey testing, so we have some testing, that would be able to be expanded.
But also looking across the community where we want to test people who don’t have symptoms to find out where the virus is.
Updated
Sturgeon warns pubs and restaurants could close again if cases in Scotland spike
Nicola Sturgeon has warned she could order the closure of pubs and restaurants if people allow Covid-19 cases to mushroom again by failing to uphold physical distancing rules.
The first minister said the easing of restrictions on indoor hospitality was being kept under very close review after 11 new cases emerged overnight in Grampian, after cluster of 13 cases centred on the Hawthorn pub in Aberdeen was disclosed at the weekend.
It is one of three localised outbreaks in Scotland over recent days, with crowds of youths photographed in large numbers on central Aberdeen, and Portobello beach and the Meadows park in Edinburgh over the weekend; the police were called to both incidents in Edinburgh.
She told the daily briefing the Scottish government’s over-riding priority was to ensure schools reopened next week; if any outbreaks threatened that policy then she would reimpose restrictions. “If it runs out of control [the] government will have to act because I’m not prepared for lives to be put at risk because we have allowed the virus to flare up,” she said.
Sturgeon announced 18 new cases across Scotland overnight, confirming a recent rise in infections, but no new deaths of confirmed Covid-19 cases. There were 265 people in hospital, with three in intensive care.
She described scenes of crowds massing at an outdoors bar on Union Street in Aberdeen as “dangerous”, adding “Covid remains a real and present threat to our health and wellbeing.”
Spot on from @StephenFlynnSNP - COVID remains a real and present threat to our health and wellbeing. Scenes like these are dangerous, and could easily result in pubs being closed again - which no one wants. We all have a responsibility here. Please, please everybody #keeptheheid https://t.co/vuDqN9ZJmo
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 3, 2020
The Record quoted the owner of the Soul Bar, Paul Clarkson, defending his business: “We have told customers to follow social distancing guidelines until we are blue in the face. We can’t go out and physically break up queues so what are we supposed to do? The police visited the venue on Saturday night and said nothing at all about the queues.”
Updated
Two staff members at a custody suite in the West Midlands have tested positive for Covid-19.
PA reports:
West Midlands Police confirmed the two cases at the Oldbury custody block in Sandwell on Monday.
The two affected staff members are self-isolating for 10 days and none of the detainees in the block were deemed to have had significant contact with the infected individuals.
The force said they are working with Sandwell Council and Public Health England (PHE) Midlands to identify anybody who had been in contact with those who had tested positive for the virus.
The government has announced a new deal to boost the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the 18-month agreement, the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Wockhardt will carry out the crucial “fill and finish” stage of the manufacturing process, which involves dispensing the manufactured vaccine substance into vials ready for it to be distributed.
Business secretary Alok Sharma said:
Ensuring the UK has the capability to research, develop and manufacture a safe and effective vaccine is critical in our fight against coronavirus. Today we have secured additional capacity to manufacture millions of doses of multiple Covid-19 candidates, guaranteeing the supply of vaccines we need to protect people across the UK rapidly and in large numbers.
Kate Bingham, Chair of the Vaccines Taskforce said:
Never before have we needed to find and manufacture a vaccine at this speed and scale in order to protect the UK population.
We have made significant progress in securing a diverse portfolio of potential vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, adding a fourth vaccine candidate from GSK and Sanofi earlier this week. However, discovering a successful vaccine is only part of the solution, we also need to be able to manufacture it.
Fill and finish is a critical step in the process to get the vaccine in a form to be given to patients. The agreement with Wockhardt will boost our capability to ensure that from the moment a successful vaccine is identified we will be able to produce the quantities of vaccine required, as quickly as possible, for the people who need it.
Updated
The number of Covid-19 deaths across the world has more than tripled to 680,000 since April, says - WHO
When the Emergency Committee on Covid-19 met six months ago in January, they agreed that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. “At the time, 30 January, there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside of China,” WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom said at Monday’s daily briefing.
But when the Committee met three months ago, three million cases of Covid-19 had been reported to WHO, and more than 200,000 deaths. Since then, the number of cases has increased more than fivefold to 17.5 million, and the number of deaths has more than tripled, to 680,000, Dr Tedros Adhanom added.
He warned there “might never be” a “silver bullet” treatment for the coronavirus pandemic.
He said:
We learn every day about this virus and I’m pleased that the world has made progress in identifying treatments that can help people with the most serious forms of Covid-19 recover
A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection.
However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be.
For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control.
Testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts. Do it all.
Updated
The Eat Out to Help Out scheme will see bills slashed by 50% on all eat-in meals ordered between Monday and Wednesday this month at participating restaurants, cafes and bars. The discount per person will be capped at £10 and does not apply to alcohol.
Updated
Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO), report Niko Kommenda and Frank Hulley-Jones.
Here’s their latest update on their coronavirus vaccine tracker.
Morning, I’m Aamna and I’ll be taking over the liveblog for the rest of the day. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or tweet me (@aamnamohdin)
That’s all from me Caroline Davies for now. Thank you for your time.
A locally led plan to combat a rising number of coronavirus cases in an area of Liverpool is “much more likely” to succeed than nationally imposed measures, the city’s public health chief has said.
The “enhanced outbreak control action plan” was set up for Princes Park after almost half of the increase in confirmed cases across Liverpool last week were in the ward. Community volunteers are going door to door to raise awareness of testing availability and to promote key public health messages, while a pop-up walk-in test centre is also available.
Other measures include the suspension of forthcoming gatherings and events in the area, the continued closure of community buildings, and those shielding being advised to continue doing so for another fortnight.bMatt Ashton, director of public health for Liverpool, said he does not want to see a more draconian lockdown in the area after restrictions were imposed on large parts of northern England last week.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is a locally-led imposure of measures to try and control the virus at an earlier stage and therefore avoid the need for a national lockdown.
He said:
I think trust is a massive issue here. I just don’t think we have trust in the national system for people to tell us what we need to do. Therefore we are much more likely to have success if we lead this locally, if we use our community champions and leaders, our faith leaders and our volunteers, and use people who actually understand the area, live and work in the area and get the message across that way.”
Ashton said he believes the increase in cases at Princes Park - one of the most deprived wards in the city - is due to “multi-generational transmission”, where young people are going into small, multi-occupancy houses and spreading the virus.
He said the response from the community to the new measures has been “phenomenal”.
It’s because of the approach I think we are desperately trying to take which is with and through our communities, not doing stuff to our communities.
It’s not easy this, we know how difficult the pandemic has been to control for every city in the country for every country around the world.
I think numbers will go up before they come down the other side.”
The Princes Park measures will be reviewed in a fortnight and extended if necessary.
Updated
Khan writes to Johnson over reports of using M25 to seal off London
London mayor Sadiq Khan has written to the prime minister to express “great surprise” that the government reportedly plans to use the M25 to seal off the capital if there is a spike in Covid-19 infections. Khan also pointed out that it has been 12 weeks since he was invited to a Cobra meeting as he warned against “riding roughshod over democratically elected representatives”.
The Times reported that Boris Johnson held a “war game” session with chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday to run through possible options in the event of a second wave, and measures are said to include lockdown-like conditions for London, with the M25 acting as a barrier around the capital.
A letter sent to Johnson from Khan and chair of London Councils, Peter John, said:
It is with great surprise that we read in the Sunday papers that government held a critical exercise last week in which a major resurgence in Covid-19 infections in London was a central scenario.
According to media reports, the plans included using the M25 as a quarantine ring - effectively sealing off the city. Our surprise is that such far-reaching contingency plans have been discussed and tested without the involvement or awareness of London’s government.
This is clearly totally unacceptable and an affront to London and Londoners.”
The letter also said the government has been slow to take decisions or has taken the wrong decisions “time and again throughout this crisis”, adding: “This must stop.
Riding roughshod over democratically elected representatives who understand their communities better than central government will lead to worse outcomes for Londoners, and the country as a whole.”
Updated
“Inaccuracies” and “poor interpretation” of testing data could lead to mistakes about imposing coronavirus restrictions, a scientist has warned.
Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, also said that the potential for false-positives – people without the disease who test positive – to drive the increase in community cases was “substantial”, PA Media reports.
Writing on the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) website, Heneghan said it was “essential” to adjust the number of cases against the number of tests being carried out.
He said that the data from tests carried out in laboratories, known as pillar one, and those in the community, pillar two, in England from July showed a trend of increasing case numbers from about 500 a day to nearly 750.He said that on July 1 the seven-day moving average of testing was 41,109 for pillar one and 43,161 in pillar two.
But by July 31, the pillar one seven-day average for testing had increased by 20% to 49,543 while the pillar two had risen by 82% to 78,522 tests, he said. When case numbers are adjusted for the number of tests done and standardised to per 100,000 tests, it showed that while pillar one was trending down, pillar two was flatlining, he said.
He added that the increase in the number of cases detected was likely due to the increase in testing in pillar two, with Leicester and Oldham, two areas which have been subject to further restrictions due to increased cases, seeing “significant” increases in testing over a short time.
He added:
It is essential to adjust for the number of tests being done. Leicester and Oldham have seen significant increases in testing in a short time. Leicester, for example, in the first two weeks of July, did more tests than anywhere else in England: 15,122 tests completed in the two weeks up to 13 July.
The potential for false-positives (those people without the disease who test positive) to drive the increase in community (pillar two) cases is substantial, particularly because the accuracy of the test and the detection of viable viruses within a community setting is unclear.
Standardising cases per tests done, and aligning the counts in different datasets to provide the same numbers, will allow a better understanding of whether cases are going up or down.
Inaccuracies in the data and poor interpretation will often lead to errors in decisions about imposing restrictions, particularly if these decisions are done in haste and the interpretation does not account for fluctuations in the rates of testing.”
Updated
Back on the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which comes into operation today, Nadhim Zahawi, business and industry minister, has been asked if the government is encouraging people in areas with high infection rates to use it.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme:
First of all, the way we are reacting to the virus is deliberately through local responses.
Why? Because through Test and Trace we can see how the virus is behaving, and we know that the greatest ability for the virus to infect people is when people visit other people indoors in people’s homes, hence why the action in Manchester, before that in Leicester, which as we took that action people quite rightly questioned it, but actually it’s worked and now we can ease the restrictions on Leicester.
I hope we’ll be able to do the same thing in Manchester if people quite rightly, I think, do the right thing and follow the guidelines,” he told the Today programme.
Pressed on whether people in Oldham or Kirklees should feel free to use the scheme, he said:
Well I would say check the local guidelines. But actually, if you’re going to sit outdoors and support your local restaurant within the rules, so no more than six people or two families, then you should be able to support those restaurants, rightly so.”
Zahawi said again that infection rates were spiking “because of people entering other people’s homes”.
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Minister suggests 90-minute tests could be used in schools
More on the new 90-minute test, which the Guardian reported here.
Business and industry minister Nadhim Zahawi has said the tests may be used in schools.
Asked if the tests could be part of the plan to get children back to school, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Yes, they can be rolled out to other settings, including schools, as I said, because one of the great innovation (sic) from these two brilliant gentlemen (Professor Chris Toumazou, founder of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London, and Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore) is that this can be administered without someone having technical abilities or technical know-how.”
Pressed on whether it is part of the plan for schools, he said:
There is a plan already for schools, and we’re going to have children back at school, 1 September. This is a further enhancement of our capabilities, and as we roll this out we will obviously be looking at other settings, including schools, to roll it out into.”
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Sir Paul Nurse, one of the country’s most senior scientists, has been speaking further on his criticism of the government for the “shroud of secrecy’ over major decisions in the coronavirus crisis , first reported in the Guardian today.
The director of the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC’s Today programme the government should “treat the public as adults” in its communications over Covid-19.
He said:
I think we need greater openness in the decision-making. It sometimes seems somewhat shrouded in secrecy.
And not only that, but better communication of what’s happening. Treat the public as adults.
I’ll give one example. At the height of the infection I was at a select committee in April and a public health person I think it was - they may have been from the Department for Health and Social Care - was saying all the testing needed for the NHS was in place.
Yet we showed at the Francis Crick, at that time, 45% of frontline healthcare were infected and they were not being tested because capacity was inadequate.
Now, that isn’t a way to earn trust from the public. We need openness, transparency, scrutiny, and a leadership of people taking responsibility for the decision-making, and we need it now.”
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'Eat out to help out' scheme gets under way
As the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme launches today, business and industry minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Breakfast:
People want to support great local restaurants, great independent restaurants, and of course their favourite restaurant chains as well.
I think it will make a huge difference.”
This is a huge support from Rushi Sunak, the chancellor, and this government. So, I’m looking forward to going out and using the Eat Out to Help Out scheme to make sure me and my family enjoy a nice meal over those few days.”
The scheme offers a 50% discount on food – up to a maximum of £10 per diner – at participating venues from Monday to Wednesday until 31 August.
Asked if you could choose to pay full price, he replied:
It’s worth all of us going out and if the government is supporting the sector, why not?
We should all absolutely make sure that we go out and enjoy that restaurant.”
Asked on Sky News about how the scheme sits alongside the government’s new obesity crackdown, Zahawi said: “I think the two things aren’t contradictory at all. Restaurants are still being asked to think about the food they serve, how healthy it is.”
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Up to 30 people can now meet outside in Wales while maintaining social distancing, with pubs and restaurants in the country able to open indoors.
Children under the age of 11 no longer need to keep 2 metres from each other or adults, following scientific evidence that the risk of transmission is lower among that age group.
Changes to coronavirus regulations in Wales on Monday also include pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes being able to reopen indoors as well as bowling alleys, auction houses and bingo halls.
Licensed wedding venues will be able to reopen to provide wedding ceremonies – though indoor receptions are still banned.
On Sunday, Public Health Wales said a further three deaths had been reported, taking its total for Wales to 1,565 deaths. A further 37 positive cases were recorded, bringing the total figure in Wales to 17,315.
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Nine out of 10 medium-sized businesses have made staff redundant due to the Covid-19 crisis, a study suggests.
Just under a third of 500 firms surveyed said they had already made around a fifth of their workforce redundant, despite the government’s job retention scheme running until the end of October.
More than four-fifths of those questioned by business advisers BDO said they will only be able to continue trading for up to nine months with current funding arrangements, PA Media reports.
Medium-sized businesses have taken an average of £21m in loans as a direct result of the virus, said the report. While most companies plan to repay the debt, 10% do not expect to be able to pay the full amount back.
Paul Eagland, managing partner at BDO, said:
This data shows us that, while challenges remain, businesses have acted decisively to protect themselves and weather the storm.
Some businesses have taken on large amounts of debt to survive the crisis, which prefaces a long road to recovery.
But at the same time, some companies will use this as a moment to rethink their operations and business models.”
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A quick look at some of today’s front pages.
GUARDIAN: Top scientist attacks ‘shroud of secrecy’ over UK virus decisions #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/VVQHqKcQGF
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 2, 2020
THE TIMES: COVID testing machines give result in 90 minutes #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/v3xfrcUKya
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 2, 2020
MAIL: 90 minute test to transform the war on Corona #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/laqnXSRAbz
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 2, 2020
I: Rapid tests roll out to fight second wave #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/eoQDRLsPov
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 2, 2020
FT: @realDonaldTrump threatens broad attack on China groups despite @tiktok_us plea #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YcxmYYgfb3
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 2, 2020
Morning summary
Good morning. I’m Caroline Davies and I will be helming the live blog this morning.
Here are some of the top stories this morning:
Two new tests for Covid-19 that are said to deliver results within 90 minutes are to be introduced across NHS hospitals and care homes, to speed up diagnosis ahead of winter and differentiate coronavirus infection from flu, the government says.
One of the country’s most senior scientists has criticised government for the “shroud of secrecy” drawn over major decisions in the coronavirus crisis and urged ministers to be more open about the reasons behind their policies.
People who have recovered from Covid-19 are being urged to donate their blood plasma as part of an urgent appeal to help the NHS treat those who fall ill during a potential second wave.
The government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme begins today. Allowing diners to enjoy half-price meals throughout August from Monday, it is aimed at boosting restaurants and pubs post-lockdown.
A major incident has been declared in Greater Manchester in response to increases in coronavirus infection rates across “multiple localities”.The decision to up the readiness of emergency and public services to react to the escalating Covid-19 transmission rate in the region comes after the government announced new lockdown restrictions for parts of north-west England on Thursday.
Nazir Afzal, a former regional chief prosecutor, has questioned the impartiality of Durham police, the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after they all rejected his requests for a thorough investigation into alleged lockdown breaches by Dominic Cummings during his trip to Durham and Barnard Castle after they were exposed by the Guardian and the Daily Mirror.
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