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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Andrew Sparrow and Amelia Hill

No 10 fails to apologise for Boris Johnson's care home remarks; death toll rises by 155 – as it happened

Boris Johnson during a visit to a factory construction site in Goole, east Yorkshire.
Boris Johnson during a visit to a factory construction site in Goole, east Yorkshire. Photograph: Peter Byrne/AFP/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

Rishi Sunak preparing the for major economic update he will deliver in the Commons tomorrow covering coronavirus.
Rishi Sunak preparing the for major economic update he will deliver in the Commons tomorrow covering coronavirus. Photograph: Simon Walker Hm Treasury/PA

That’s all from me. But the coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.

Mel Stride, the Conservative chair of the Commons Treasury committee, has urged the government to abandon plans to treat coronavirus tests as a taxable benefit in kind. In a statement he said:

Many employees, especially healthcare and hospitality workers, are required to undergo regular coronavirus testing. This new guidance is unclear and will worry a large number of workers.

If these tests are to be treated as a taxable benefit in kind, the tax bill for workers could soon mount up.

Many of our key workers could be faced with the perverse incentive of avoiding employer-sponsored tests in order to reduce their tax bill.

This cannot be right. I’ve asked the chancellor to look into this as soon as possible.

Updated

Since the row about Boris Johnson’s comment about care homes is still rumbling on, here are two Twitter threads which are both worth reading.

From Tim Harford, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s More or Less

From Anushka Asthana, presenter of the Guardian’s Today in Focus

This is from Nicola Sturgeon, explaining why she did not answer a question about what would be in the SNP manifesto for next year’s Scottish parliamentary elections at her briefing today.

Updated

A village library in an old phone box in Piddinghoe, East Sussex, padlocked due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A village library in an old phone box in Piddinghoe, East Sussex, padlocked due to the coronavirus pandemic. Photograph: Jon Santa Cruz/REX/Shutterstock

Tories to hold most of annual party conference online

The Labour party announced in May that it would hold its party conference this autumn online. The Conservative party has now admitted that it will do more or less the same - although it is still hoping to hold “some aspects in the physical format”. This is from Amanda Milling, the party’s co-chairman.

Peter, a pensioner, waiting this morningt for Boots pharmacy to open in Newhaven Harbour, East Sussex, to get his prescription wearing a face mask and rubber gloves.
Peter, a pensioner, waiting this morning for Boots pharmacy to open in Newhaven Harbour, East Sussex, to get his prescription wearing a face mask and rubber gloves. Photograph: Jon Santa Cruz/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Independent Sage calls for travel restrictions between England and Scotland as part of Covid 'elimination strategy'

Independent Sage, the unofficial group set up by scientists who are shadowing Sage, the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, has published a report (pdf) saying the government should be pursuing an “elimination strategy”. It says the current policy, involving the lockdown being eased gradually, will lead to “many thousands of deaths over the next nine months” because it implies an acceptable level of infection.

The group, which is chaired by Sir David King, a former chief scientific adviser to the government, says Boris Johnson should instead aim for a “zero Covid UK”.

This is what the report says about how this might be achieved. It says the government should:

Fully develop community-based and locally-led find, test, trace, isolate, support (FTTIS) programmes with expanded local laboratory provision, involvement of local public sector organisations and provision of all the resources necessary to enable adherence to the regulations on notification of infectious disease.

Restrict loosening of lockdown measures in any part of the UK until control of the outbreak has been achieved in that country.

Put in place well designed and scientifically based plans to act swiftly to contain and suppress completely and localise flare-ups in Covid-19 infections. Such plans to be exercised in simulation and well understood by the public before they have cause to be put into effect and implemented with full engagement with the communities affected.

Restrict incoming or outgoing personal travel internationally and within Britain and Ireland to the extent necessary to maintain control of the epidemic and, in particular to ensure effective isolation of incoming passengers.

Combine all these measures with a systematic public information campaign stressing that things are not ‘back to normal’ yet, that premature removal of restrictions in the midst of a deadly pandemic threatens to squander all the sacrifices of lockdown and that strict compliance with restrictions now will make a full return to normality come sooner. The public messaging must be done in a culturally acceptable manner to reach all communities especially those that have been disproportionately affected such as the deprived and ethnic minority populations.

King said:

While many other countries have adopted an approach of eradication we appear to be stumbling into another disastrous policy that accepts many thousands of people could die from Covid when they need not. We consider this grossly unethical.

The report argues that Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as the Republic of Ireland, have coronavirus under control and are well placed to eliminate it. But England and Wales are not in the same position, it argues.

On that basis, it calls for travel between England and Scotland to be restricted.

It seems sensible that travel restrictions should either be instituted on public health grounds between England (and Wales) and Ireland and Scotland, or instituted if they are not already in operation. The Republic of Ireland has already instituted requirements arriving directly from Britain.

Updated

UK records a further 155 coronavirus deaths

The Department of Health and Social Care has recorded a further 155 deaths in the UK in its latest daily update on coronavirus. That takes the official UK death total to 44,391.

As we try to point out every day, this official headline total used by the government is not the actual total. That is because these figures only include people who tested positive for coronavirus and died. Taking into account the deaths of people who did not have a test, but where coronavirus was cited on the death certificate, the real total is more than 55,000.

The Welsh health minister has expressed concern that workers at a food factory where there has been an outbreak of Covid-19 might be spreading the virus because they take it turns to use the same bed.

Speaking at the Welsh government’s daily briefing, Vaughan Gething said there had been a suggestion that workers were coming off shift and jumping into a bed just vacated by a housemate who then went off to work.

Gething made the remarks when he was asked about a Covid-19 outbreak associated with Rowan Foods in Wrexham, north Wales, where there have been 289 cases – an increase of six on last week. The minister said:

I’m genuinely concerned about the conditions that people live within, not just in houses of multiple occupation where people may share bathroom and toilet facilities or kitchens, and the opportunity for contact indoors and surfaces is an obvious concern. You’ve heard that from our scientists, and others.

But in particular, if there is reality to the suggestion that people are sharing beds, there’s an obvious risk if people finish one shift, then return from that shift to get into a bed that someone has just got out of. So there are real issues here about accommodation and how it may be an unhelpful factor in driving transmission within that workforce.

Updated

The Commons is used to hearing complaints that British businesses are being held back by EU rules, but during the UQ on arts funding earlier a Conservative MP instead complained that British opera houses were at a disadvantage - because continental rules were more sensible. Sir Bob Neill, who chairs the all-party group on opera, said:

Opera houses in Europe, with whom we are in direct competition, are starting to plan to reopen at the end of this year with safe mitigation.

Our science appears to lag behind that. Will [the minister] make sure that the scientific reviews that are being taken address this particular issue as a matter of real urgency?

The Vienna State Opera in the Austrian capital and the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain, are among the European opera houses that have already reopened with social distancing.

The culture minister, Caroline Dinenage, said she was “very aware” of this issue, and looking at what evidence there was to justify opera houses opening.

As we reported on the blog yesterday, the government’s “travel corridor” announcement last week has been criticised because many of the countries on the list that are now exempt from UK controls are continuing to impose their own restrictions on people arriving from Britain.

My colleague Antonia Wilson has produced a detailed guide showing what rules are in place now and where, explaining where Britons can go without restrictions, and what conditions are still in place elsewhere.

The Downing Street attempt to draw a line under the row about Boris Johnson’s care homes criticism by trying to redefine what he actually said (see 12.23pm) does not seem to be working very well, at least on the basis of what one care home owner told BBC News earlier this afternoon. This is what David Crabtree from Crabtree Care Homes in Yorkshire said about the PM’s comment yesterday.

He’s wrong, and it’s an appalling statement to make. This is an intelligent, articulate man, the prime minister, who should not be throwing off-the-cuff remarks that are so hurtful and derogatory to our staff.

These staff, throughout the nation, have fought valiantly for these people ... These are residents who we’ve cared for for many years. And now we’re told ‘it was our fault’. This is absolutely ridiculous.

He may well have misinterpreted himself. But surely by now, as an adult, I beseech you, Boris Johnson, for the nation’s carers and home care workers, please apologise. That’s my message to you.

The number of unemployed people in Britain could soar to almost 15% of the working population if the country experiences a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said. My colleague Phillip Inman has the full story here.

Only about half (53%) of film and TV workers expect to regain normal levels of work by June next year, a survey from the Bectu union indicates.

As PA Media reports, the entertainment and media union surveyed 1,500 people working across the industry and asked them to rate each of the next 12 months from “I expect to have no work” to “I expect to be working normally/busier than normal”.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they were not working in June and 50% expected to return to work in July.

However, 7% expected not to be working by October.

On average the respondents expected to earn 42% of their usual income in 2020.

Updated

But in Northern Ireland there have been no further coronavirus deaths, according to the latest daily bulletin from the Department of Health in the region.

Public Health Wales has recorded a further three coronavirus deaths, taking the total in Wales to 1,534. The full details are here.

A human cannon ball outside Downing Street today as the Association of Circus Proprietors (ACP) delivered a petition calling for the right to reopen ahead of the busy summer season.
A human cannon ball outside Downing Street today as the Association of Circus Proprietors (ACP) delivered a petition calling for the right for circuses to reopen ahead of the busy summer season. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

NHS England has said that a further 36 people have died in hospitals in England after testing positive for coronavirus. The patients were between 53 and 98 years old and all but two of them (who were both in their 80s) had underlying health conditions. The full figures are here.

To provide a comparison, here are the equivalent daily figures from NHS England for the past fortnight.

Tuesday 23 June - 46

Wednesday 24 June - 51

Thursday 25 June - 55

Friday 26 June - 67

Saturday 27 June - 78

Sunday 28 June - 18

Monday 29 June - 19

Tuesday 30 June - 37

Wednesday 1 July - 50

Thursday 2 July - 35

Friday 3 July - 38

Saturday 4 July - 39

Sunday 5 July - 18

Monday 6 July - 15

In an article for the Guardian comment pages today Paul Harrison, who was Theresa May’s press secretary, makes an important and often-overlooked point about the difference between a televised No 10 briefing (which is what Boris Johnson wants to introduce in the autumn) and the sort of off-camera briefing that takes place every day now (which I often cover in some detail on this blog). With an off-camera briefing, the reporting is “only really about the answers”, Harrison says. That means that if the spokesman giving the briefing refuses to engage with the questions, and just ends up parroting the same line to take ad nauseam like a stuck record, there is no real downside for No 10. It may infuriate the journos, but the full extent of officialdom’s stonewalling remains invisible to the public.

Today HuffPost’s Paul Waugh has pulled aside the curtain for a moment and posted a transcript of the exchanges at today’s lobby about the PM’s comment about care homes. (See 12.23pm.) It does not reflect well on No 10, not least because it is obvious that when Boris Johnson said yesterday “we discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have”, he was not in fact saying (as No 10 now claims ) that no one knew at the time what the correct procedures should be (a different point - also contestable, but that’s another issue).

In his article Harrison argues that Johnson might want to think twice before putting briefings like this on TV.

The obvious solution, of course, would have been just to say that the PM expressed himself badly, that he meant to say something different and that he was sorry of any offence caused. But the spokesman was speaking from a script agreed with his bosses, and like all politicians (except more so) Johnson is hyper-allergic to admitting error, even when to most observers it would seem by far the more sensible option.

In the Commons MPs have now moved on to another urgent question from Labour, this time on the £1.5bn bailout for the arts announced by the Treasury yesterday. Ministers are supposed to make major announcements like this in parliament, but Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, made this public via a press release on Sunday night, followed by a round of interviews the following morning.

In his London Playbook briefing this morning Politico Europe’s Jack Blanchard suggested that Dowden might be facing a reprimand from the Speaker. But Dowden has not even turned up, and he has left it to his junior minister, Caroline Dinenage, to respond. So far she has just been summing up what was unveiled on Sunday night.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, will have a private dinner tonight in Downing Street with his UK counterpart, David Frost, No 10 has said. No ministers will be present. The dinner will be followed by informal talks tomorrow, No 10 said.

This is from the BBC’s Adam Fleming.

Updated

NHS Providers, a group that represents hospital and other NHS bodies, has joined the chorus of bodies criticising the PM for what he said about care homes yesterday. This is from its deputy chief executive, Saffron Cordery.

The staff working in care homes and across the social care sector have done an amazing job during the pandemic, managing incredible pressure in very difficult circumstances, often with inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and little if any testing.

Trusts have worked in close partnership with social care in confronting the unprecedented challenges posed by Covid-19.

The prime minister’s comments risk undermining the key role played during the pandemic by social care services, which in many places has been nothing short of heroic, and has doubtless saved many lives.

In the Commons, asked when the UK will be most at risk of a second wave, Hancock says the measures in place are designed to avoid this. But he says there is an element of “seasonality” in the illness, and the risk will be higher in the winter, he says.

In the Commons Labour’s Clive Betts asks Hancock to consider the case for allowing people who are exempt from the need to wear a face covering (for example, for a medical reason) to wear a special badge showing they are exempt (which might make it harder for others to avoid wearing a face covering). And he asks if Hancock will do more to promote the wearing of face coverings in shops.

Hancock says yes to both suggestions.

Updated

Local lockdown lifted in south-west Scotland

A local lockdown restricting movements around six towns and villages after an outbreak in south-west Scotland has been lifted, after no new cases emerged, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

The first ministers said residents living in the areas around Gretna, Dumfries, Canonbie, Lockerbie, Annan and Langholm were now allowed to travel more than five miles from home, visit care homes and enjoy beer gardens.

Sturgeon also announced there had been one further death of a hospital patient with confirmed Covid-19, after four days with no reported deaths. There were 699 people in hospital, up by 17 on Monday, but only seven patients in intensive care, down by one on Monday.

Those lockdown restrictions were lifted across the rest of Scotland last Friday but maintained in the affected area after 10 new cases emerged, including one involving a healthcare worker based at the Cumberland hospital in Carlisle. Sturgeon said a total of 12 cases had come to light in that cluster.

She thanked local residents and the managers of two factories in Annan Young’s Seafood and Alpha Solway, which makes personal protection equipment for the Scottish and UK governments, where some of the affected people worked, for observing the lockdown.

Updated

Labour’s Angela Eagle asks Hancock if he agrees with the PM’s “despicable comments” blaming care workers.

Hancock says the government has been learning more about the virus throughout the crisis. He goes on:

My admiration for those that work in social care is second to none.

In the Commons Labour’s Debbie Abrahams says what Hancock said on Sunday about how public health officials in Manchester needed help understanding the testing figures was “nothing short of insulting”. She urges him to apologise.

Hancock claims that he will “not allow a divisive approach” to this crisis and that he wants everyone to work together.

Abrahams was referring to this comment from Hancock on The Andrew Marr Show, when Hancock was asked to respond to Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, saying that central government was not giving his officials enough data about local infections. Hancock told Marr:

Well, I saw the quote from Andy Burnham and I checked, and Manchester has had access to the data, and if Andy wants support and help in interpreting it, then we can give him more experts.

Updated

Hancock is responding to Ashworth.

On Leicester, he says the data is moving in the right direction.

As for the criteria for lifting the lockdown, he says the government does not have a precise figure, because the level of infection and the rate of increase both matter.

On regular testing of NHS staff, Hancock says a scheme for this is now in place. On care homes, he says they have done “amazing work”.

Echoing the line from No 10 (see 12.23pm), he says that what the PM was saying was that because asymptomatic infection was not fully understood, the correct procedures were not followed.

Updated

Government should apologise for PM's 'crass' care home remark, says Labour

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is responding to Hancock now.

On Leicester, he asks what is the exit strategy is for the city’s lockdown.

In Germany lockdowns are lifted when cases fall to 50 per 100,000. What is the criteria here?

He says cities like Leicester need up-to-date testing information.

And he asks the government to look again at sick pay entitlement. Low pay has been an issue in cities like Leicester, he says.

And he asks why NHS staff are not being routinely tested. Premier League footballers are, but not NHS staff.

Referring to care homes, he asks if Hancock can understand why they were “so insulted” by the PM’s comment yesterday. Which care homes did not follow procedures? And will Hancock apologise for the PM’s “crass remarks”?

Updated

Matt Hancock's Commons urgent question on coronavirus

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is responding to an urgent question in the Commons from Labour on coronavirus. Labour is asking for an update.

Hancock says the government is continuing to bring coronavirus under control.

Referring to Leicester, he says “difficult but vital” decisions were taken.

He says the seven-day infection rate has been reduced in the city from 135 to 117 per 100,000.

He praises three pubs for closing for a deep clean after a customer tested positive, following the reopening on Saturday.

They shut so other pubs could stay open, he says.

He says the UK has built the Nightingale hospitals and built a test and trace system from scratch. We are getting coronavirus cornered, he says.

Updated

Downing Street has issued a reminder to the public in England that face coverings should cover both the nose and the mouth, if they are to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Amid criticism over the more lax regime in England, where face coverings are mandatory on public transport but merely advised in other settings, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman stressed that they are only effective if they cover the wearer’s nose. He said:

Covid 19 is a respiratory disease. If someone has the virus, droplets can leave the nose and month and infect others when someone breathes, speaks, sneezes, laughs or coughs. Therefore, a face covering should cover both the nose and mouth to reduce the spread of coronavirus droplets, helping to protect others.

Asked whether the government would be carrying out a public information campaign to make that clear, he said: “It is a message which we will be keen to emphasise in coming days, yes.”

In Scotland, face coverings are becoming mandatory in shops from 10 July. Unlike Johnson, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has appeared in public wearing a mask.

Neither Johnson nor chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, wore masks when they visited retailers to mark their reopening.

The government guidance says:

If you can, you should wear a face covering in other enclosed public spaces where social distancing isn’t possible and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet. This is most relevant for short periods indoors in crowded areas.

Johnson has been criticised for delaying the decision to advise the wearing of face coverings, when they were already mandatory in several other countries.

The Royal Society on Tuesday urged the public to wear a face covering whenever they leave the house, after two studies were publishing that underlined the benefits of the policy in helping to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Updated

No 10 fails to apologise for PM's criticism of care homes, but claims he meant something different

Good afternoon. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Amelia Hill.

At its daily lobby briefing Downing Street has refused to apologise to care homes for what Boris Johnson said yesterday about who too many of them failing to follow the correct procedures during the coronavirus crisis.

Asked about Johnson’s comment, the prime minister’s spokesman said:

Throughout the pandemic care homes have done a brilliant job under very difficult circumstances. The prime minister was pointing out that nobody knew what the correct procedures were because the extent of asymptomatic transmission was not known at the time.

Asked Johnson would like to apologise or retract the comments, the spokesman said:

As I’ve just set out, the PM thinks that throughout the pandemic care homes have done a brilliant job under very difficult circumstances.

Updated

That’s me signing off now. Here’s wishing you all a good afternoon.

Emerging data shows that the coronavirus is leading to the increased popularity of Grief Clubs among millennials and Generation Z, who are breaking down the stigma attached to grief and looking for other young people who have also experienced the loss of a loved one.

While coronavirus is much more likely to seriously affect older people, young people have died with the illness in the UK and thousands are mourning loved ones who have passed away unexpectedly.

The clubs have grown considerably in lockdown, with people facing a tragic loss of life, often under difficult circumstances. In a time where people are feeling more isolated, bereaved young people are connecting more than ever before through virtual meet ups, sharing their experience on Podcasts and instalive chats.

One of the clubs, Let’s Talk About Loss was set up by Beth French after losing her mother to cancer when she was at university. Since January 2020, Let’s Talk About Loss has had 12,980 unique visitors to the website. There are nearly 900 young people in its’ closed Facebook groups, across its 22 meet up groups. It has launched four new meet ups during lockdown due to demand from young people, including Cardiff, Norwich, Sheffield and Liverpool.

There has been a huge increase in people looking for support online and finding it through podcasts.. Downloads of the Dead Parent Club @deadparentclubpodcast - a weekly podcast hosted by Kathryn Hooker - increased by 50% in June in comparison to March. On Instagram, over 70% of the Dead Parent Club’s audience is 18 to 34 year olds, and their Instagram audience has increased by about 20% again over the past month alone.

Other podcasts include the Grief Gang @thegriefgang - a podcast normalising grief, hosted by Amber Jeffery and The New Normal @tnncharity - set up by Jack Baxter and Ben May - both looking to normalise male grief.

UPDATE: A reader has recommended two more podcasts.

Updated

Interesting comments from Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, former lead advisor to Sir Simon Stevens, as well as the co-founder of the NHS Innovation Accelerator, and chief executive of Cera Care, the UK’s leading social care firm and the government’s technology partner for carer recruitment and training.

He told the Guardian:

The care sector needs to get real and opt for home care more. Covid-19 has shown us that discharging people into care homes doesn’t always work; the NHS needs to opt for home care as a preferred option when discharging people [because they] become far more vulnerable.

He said the social sector was reportedly 20 years behind NHS on technology uptake. “The social care sector hasn’t changed in terms of service delivery in probably a century and this is unnecessary; through use of innovation, tools are freely available online, which is what other sectors have already grasped and embraced.

Providers need to wake up to this and government need to make bigger investment into tech and embracing technology in the same way that we’ve seen a lot of announcements from Matt Hancock about NHS and technology. We must not forget that he is secretary for health and social care – we need to see this enthusiasm mirrored for social care too.

In the short term, to prepare for a second wave, Maruthappu said NHS hospitals should rethink where they sent people to support social care better. “The NHS has rightly received huge investment over the past few months, and social care needs this additional investment and attention so that providers who are struggling under these pressures, financially, can too be stabilised.

“Similar to NHS hospitals, PPE for the social care sector should be paid for by government and, where possible, statutory sick pay for when carers isolate should also be paid for by government to stabilise the more fragile care companies in the same way that NHS hospitals have been.”

Maruthappu adds that just like the NHS, care companies need to be encouraged to plan on a national level for a second wave of coronavirus.

The care sector has received very limited guidance about what model to take, the impact of a second wave and the onslaught that companies have to brace themselves for.

If the sector is told in advance, we can prepare adequately. We can change processes and begin business reorganisation so that the sector is ready and resilient for challenges ahead.

This is what the NHS are doing as they have the information provided for them. Social care needs to be treated in the same way and given the same amount of guidance. Social care isn’t asking for special treatment, but equality.

Updated

Caelainn Barr, the editor of data projects at the Guardian, has been looking at the ONS data. She has summed it up below.

Coronavirus deaths have declined to their lowest levels since late March, with 606 fatalities registered in England and Wales in the week ending 26 June, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Fewer deaths are being registered across the country for the second week in a row, with fatalities 3.4% below average. However, while deaths in hospitals and care homes remain lower than expected at this time of year, fatalities in private residences are higher than usual.

In the last week of June, excess deaths in private residences were 32% (745 deaths) above the five-year average, down from 37% the previous week. The figures indicate that people who might otherwise go into care or attend hospital to seek treatment are remaining at home to die.

Updated

More analysis from the ONS on coronavirus deaths. Every week the ONS has been charting the death toll of the coronavirus pandemic. As we pass the midway point in the year, Sarah Caul looks back on what has happened so far in 2020 and, using trends from previous years, gives her view on what could happen next.

Of the three scenarios she sketches out for the remainder of 2020, Caul says a second peak of Covid-19 could return death registrations above the five-year average.

In 1918-19, the ‘Spanish flu’ had three separate waves, of which the second wave peaked much higher than the first. Multiple waves of Covid-19 could cause the number of death registrations to rise back above the five-year average. It is too early to tell if there will be another wave of Covid-19, and if there is another wave, whether this would be relatively soon, or in the winter months of 2020-21 when we would usually start to see higher levels of influenza and pneumonia.

Another issue to be considered is the effect of the lockdown period on health for the rest of 2020, and into next year. We have already seen some signs of increased mortality that are potentially caused by delayed access to healthcare services. There could also be increases in mortality which have already occurred but the deaths have not yet been registered, as some causes of death take longer to confirm than others. Examples of these are deaths due to suicide, substance abuse and domestic violence, all of which may have been expected to increase during lockdown.

In the longer term, the economic downturn is also likely to have health effects. On the other hand, it has been suggested that there could be some beneficial health effects of the lockdown period, for example, from reduced air pollution and work accidents.

Updated

New research shows that half of British workers do not want to go back to pre-Covid working environments.

As workplaces reopen, a quarter of Britons say their employer hasn’t explored any flexible working options to help them return to work.

The nationally representative survey from Theta Financial Reporting suggests neither the government nor large businesses have done enough to consult the workforce on how safe they feel to return to work and whether the traditional environment works for them in a post-Covid world.

Key stats include:

• Two-thirds of working Britons – 65% – do not feel comfortable commuting to work via public transport any more and think it will be one of the most stressful parts of their day.

• 57% of people do not want to go back to the normal way of working in an office environment with normal office hours.

• 17% of UK workers say their business will no longer be in a permanent office when they return to full-time work.

• 24% of Britons say their employer hasn’t explored any flexible working options to help them or their colleagues return to work.

• More than a third – 35% – say going back to work in a traditional office environment will have a negative impact on their mental health, which in turn will negatively affect their productivity.

• More than a quarter of British workers – 26% – say their company’s finance teams will not be returning to the office with other employees in July and will now work at home for the majority of the time.

• More than a third of UK workers – 35% – say their company will return to the office with a smaller team and with people handling more varied responsibilities.

Updated

ONS releases latest data on Covid-19 related deaths in England and Wales

The ONS has released its figures for deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 26 June, including a comparison of different data sources for Covid-19-related deaths in England and Wales, with a date of death up to and including 26 June.

Main points

  • A total of 50,000 deaths involving Covid-19 were registered in England and Wales between 28 December 2019 and 26 June 2020.
  • In England, including deaths that occurred up to 26 June but were registered up to 4 July, of those we have processed so far, the number involving Covid-19 was 47,705; the comparative number of death notifications reported by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on gov.uk was 38,982.
  • In Wales, including deaths that occurred up to 26 June but were registered up to 4 July, of those we have processed so far, the number involving Covid-19 was 2,438; the comparative number of death notifications reported by the DHSC on gov.uk was 1,502 and Public Health Wales (PHW) numbers, which come from the same source as the DHSC figures but are continuously updated, showed 1,510 deaths.
  • In England, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes that were registered by 26 June 2020 was 14,163, while in Wales the number of deaths was 680.
  • The Care Quality Commission provides numbers of deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in England that were notified between 10 April and 3 July, which showed 12,327 deaths, of which 112 occurred in the week up to 3 July.
  • The Care Inspectorate Wales provides the number of deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in Wales that occurred between 17 March and 3 July, which showed 498 deaths, of which one occurred in the week up to 3 July.

Updated

ONS releases latest data on coronavirus infections in the community in England

The Office for National Statistics has released new data on infections in the community in England for July.

Main points

  • Infections refer to those identified from a positive test for coronavirus (Covid-19) from a swab taken from someone’s nose and throat. This means there was evidence that they had the coronavirus when the swab was taken.
  • Individuals working outside the home show higher rates of positive swab tests than those who work from home.
  • Over the study period, infection rates are higher for those working in patient-facing healthcare or resident-facing social care roles than for people not working in these roles.
  • There is some evidence to suggest that infection rates are lower in one- and two-person households than in larger households.
  • While those who have symptoms are more likely to test positive than those without symptoms, out of those within our study who have ever tested positive for Covid-19, only 33% reported any evidence of symptoms around the time of their positive swab test.
  • There is evidence to suggest that infection rates are higher among people who have reported coming into recent contact with a known case of the coronavirus than those who have had no reported contact with potential cases.
  • It is too early to say whether Covid-19 infection rates differ between ethnic groups because the number of people testing positive in groups other than the white ethnic group are very small in this survey. Although antibody test results provide an indication that individuals identifying as white are less likely to have had Covid-19 in the past than non-white ethnic groups.

Updated

Concerns raised over free school meals for children whose parents lose their jobs

Charities and politicians have raised concerns that children whose parents lose their jobs over the summer holidays won’t be able to access the free school meal voucher scheme.

Schools must order the vouchers at least one week before the school terms ends. In a written answer to a prime minister’s question from Labour, the government said that if a school receives a claim for an eligible child during the final week before the school’s summer holidays, it will be possible for the school to place an “exceptional order” for that child.

But, the response went on: “The completion of orders by the end of term reflects the fact that school staff will break for the summer. The government has made significant wider support available for children and families at this time.”

Tulip Siddiq, the shadow minister for children and early years, said:

Many more people could sadly lose their jobs over the summer holidays as the economic impact of Covid-19 starts to bite, and we are concerned that their children won’t be able to access free school meal support.

Most schools are under huge pressure to get applications in for the Covid summer food fund before the arbitrary deadline of 10 July. The fact that the guidance on eligibility was incorrect for nearly a full week has not helped, and there are fears that some children could miss out as a result of poor communication.

Ministers need to start thinking ahead about problems they will need to address in the future, rather than always scrambling to withdraw support and introduce limitations at the earliest possible opportunity.

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “We are very pleased the government has recognised the plight of desperate families during the coronavirus emergency by extending the free school meal vouchers scheme over the summer holidays.

“It is obviously a matter of great concern that more families are likely to lose jobs over the holiday period itself, and that they won’t be able to access this scheme because they will be beyond the effective cut-off point. We would welcome any suggestions about how this issue might be addressed.”

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The former chancellor Philip Hammond has said his successor must be prepared to let some businesses fail.

Rishi Sunak is due to announce fiscal measures designed to aid the UK’s economic recovery after the coronavirus crisis on Wednesday.

Hammond told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Sunak faced an extraordinarily complex challenge.

He’ll want to continue to support businesses and people who are affected by regulatory shutdown in what are otherwise viable businesses. But he will also sadly need to facilitate a transition for those businesses and people who are, what they are doing is no longer viable.

Some businesses will close, some viable businesses will close units – we have already heard the announcement of retailers closing stores – and that’s where a focus on retraining and reskilling, getting people turned around and ready to go back into the workforce as quickly as possible, will come into it.

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Ministers have defended the prime minister over his comments seeming to put the responsibility for coronavirus outbreaks in care homes on to the social care sector.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, the business secretary, Alok Sharma, said the prime minister was “certainly not blaming care homes” for social care coronavirus deaths in comments Johnson made on Monday.

Sharma said:

Specifically on the point the prime minister was making yesterday, I think what he was actually pointing out is that nobody knew what the correct procedures were at the time because, quite frankly, we didn’t know what the extent of asymptomatic transmission was. That wasn’t known at the time.

We then put in place very detailed action plans for care homes, we made sure there was a rigorous testing regime put in place, and we also ensured there was extra money – there was £600m that went in as part of an infection control fund. So we have supported the sector throughout.

When it was put to him that Boris Johnson had criticised care homes for not following the set procedures, Sharma said: “The prime minister is certainly not blaming care homes.”

He praised the “really brilliant job” done by carers during the pandemic and recognised that they had carried out their work in “difficult circumstances”.

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Here’s the background for Adams’ comments:

Johnson criticised as 'cowardly' over care home comments

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Mark Adams, the chief executive of charity Community Integrated Care, said he was “unbelievably disappointed” to hear the prime minister’s comments about the actions of care homes during the coronavirus crisis. He said:

I think this, at best, was clumsy and cowardly, but to be honest with you, if this is genuinely his view, I think we’re almost entering an ... alternative reality where the government set the rules, we follow them and they don’t like the results and they then deny setting the rules and blame the people that were trying to do their best. It is hugely frustrating.

When asked to explain why he called Boris Johnson’s words “cowardly”, Adams added:

Because you’ve got 1.6 million social care workers who, when most of us are locked away in our bunkers waiting out Covid, really trying to protect our family, we’ve got these brave people on minimum wage, often with no sickness cover at all, going into work to protect our parents, our grandparents, our children, putting their own health and potentially their own lives at risk.

And then to get the most senior man in the country turning round and blaming on them what has been an absolute travesty of leadership from the government, I just think it is appalling.

He said the care sector had been “crying out” for weekly testing for months.

I think what we’re getting is history rewritten in front of us, when you could list pages and pages of government failure which the system has had to cope with.

And to get a throwaway comment, almost glibly blaming the social care system and not holding your hand up for starting too late, doing the wrong things, making mistake after mistake, is just frankly unacceptable.

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UK’s uptake of protective masks is way behind that of other countries

New research suggests the UK’s uptake of protective masks is way behind that of other countries – and that face coverings can protect the wearer as well as people around them.

Kevin Rawlinson reports that refusing to wear a mask in public during the Covid-19 pandemic should become as socially unacceptable as drink-driving or not wearing a seatbelt, the president of the Royal Society has said.

Venki Ramakrishnan called for everyone to be required to wear a mask in all indoor public settings, rather than only on public transport, and criticised confused messaging from the government.

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Alex Hern is reporting that nearly one in six Britons will refuse a coronavirus vaccine if and when one becomes available, and a similar number are unsure whether they will get one, according to a survey.

The findings come amid a significant rise in anti-vaccination sentiment on social media, and represent a threat to efforts to contain the disease.

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit organisation that commissioned the research said:

Our hope for a return to normal life rests with scientists developing a successful vaccine for coronavirus. But social media companies’ irresponsible decision to continue to publish anti-vaccine propaganda means a vaccine may not be effective in containing the virus. The price for their greed is a cost paid in lives.

According to the polling carried out by YouGov for CCDH, 16% of British adults “probably” or “definitely” will avoid a Covid-19 vaccine. The poll of 1,663 people found differences between those who get the majority of their news from social media and those who rely more on traditional media: the latter were nine percentage points more likely to say they would definitely or probably get the vaccine.

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The arts world continues to celebrate after the chancellor’s £1.57bn bailout to save Britain’s arts and cultural institutions from collapse. The chancellor last night went further than expected with a massive package of financial support, including £880m in direct grant funding. The Treasury will also offer a further £270m in loans for arts organisations, £100m for national museums and English Heritage; £120m for stalled heritage projects; plus an extra £188m for the devolved administrations.

The BBC has more.

But as Politico reports, some divergent voices are beginning to make themselves heard: the shadow culture secretary, Jo Stevens, told the Westminster Hour on Radio 4 last night she feared the promise of grant funding will have come too late for many arts organisations which have been teetering on the brink since mid-March. “We welcome, obviously, this injection of much-needed cash,” she said, “but I do wonder what took the government so long. They have known the problems in the sector for weeks and weeks and weeks, and for some areas and some organisations and theatres across the country, from north to south, it’s already too late – jobs have gone.”

For example: the award-winning Nuffield Southampton Theatres shut down last week after collapsing into administration in May, ending more than 50 years of productions on the south coast. All 86 staff were made redundant last Thursday. The Indy’s Kate Devlin reports the organisations expected to be prioritised for grants are “the so-called ‘crown jewels’ of the British arts, culture and heritage industries, and those with special local or regional significance”.

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Morning summary

Good morning. This is Amelia Hill bringing you today’s UK coronavirus news.

Boris Johnson last night caused anger among care leaders, unions and MPs after he accused care homes of failing to follow proper procedures amid the coronavirus crisis.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is preparing a £3bn green package with grants for homeowners and public buildings to improve energy efficiency. Environmental groups have reacted with disappointment to details saying it does not go far enough. Sunak has Treasury questions in the Commons at 11.30am today.

Meanwhile two grandees of the Thatcher era have urged the government to learn lessons from the mass unemployment of the 1980s in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Updated

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