Summary
We will shortly be wrapping up the UK coronavirus liveblog. As ever, thank you for joining us.
- The UK has recorded a further 89 coronavirus deaths, according to today’s update on the government’s coronavirus data dashboard. The official headline total for deaths is now 46,299. However, there are many caveats to this figure as explained here. Figures from the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, together with the official statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland, show that 56,651 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
- Ministers have one month to fix the broken test-and-trace system and halt a devastating second wave of coronavirus or Britain will face a “long and bleak winter”, Keir Starmer has said. The Labour leader warned there is “precious little evidence” of serious preparation for a resurgence in Covid-19 cases. Writing for the Guardian, Starmer calls for mass testing of asymptomatic people and a clear plan setting out what “hard decisions” Boris Johnson is prepared to take in order to keep schools open if cases rise over coming weeks.
- Black and minority ethnic workers are overrepresented in the sectors hit worst by the coronavirus-linked economic crisis, an analysis by the Guardian has found. As the UK plunges into what is forecast to be the deepest recession for 300 years, the sectors with the highest rates of furloughed jobs and redundancies have disproportionate numbers of BAME workers. The transport and storage sector has announced the most redundancies, with 34,000 reported as of 28 July, according to a Guardian database tracking job losses. Black and minority ethnic workers, who make up 12% of the UK workforce, account for 18% of jobs in this industry, according to analysis of the Labour Force Survey.
- The local authority with the highest infection rate in England has launched its own contact-tracing system to plug holes in the £10bn national scheme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”. In a move reflecting growing frustration among local health officials with the national test-and-trace system, Blackburn with Darwen council set up its own virus-hunting team after the national system failed to reach hundreds of its most vulnerable residents.
Updated
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has told Boris Johnson to get a grip on the coronavirus crisis or face a “long and bleak winter”.
Writing in the Guardian, Starmer says Labour has been a constructive opposition to government and accepted that no one could have handled the pandemic perfectly. However, he says the government has been repeatedly “too slow to act” – “too slow into lockdown, too slow on testing and too slow getting PPE to frontline workers.”
He writes:
Despite the potential for additional local lockdowns and a winter second wave, there is precious little evidence that ministers are preparing for what is coming. Enough. Now is the time to fix problems and drive down cases.
The priority must be reopening schools for the new term. Young people cannot afford another damaging U-turn like the one made by the education secretary in June. The government must set out a clear plan this time, not just hope for the best. If that means making hard decisions elsewhere, so be it: to govern is to choose.
Alongside rapid improvements to the test-and-trace system, we need a focus on ensuring testing reaches more of the estimated 70-80% of people who don’t have symptoms.
There should also be an acceptance that local lockdowns mean different parts of the country will at times have to live by different rules. That means getting a grip on communications is essential.
You can read the full piece here.
Infection rates were nearly 12 times higher in Oldham than in Wigan 30 miles away when both areas were hit by the new lockdown restrictions last week, according to data from Public Health England.
Figures compiled by the Manchester Evening News shows the difference in infection rates across Greater Manchester, where new laws enforcing lockdown restrictions come into force at midnight.
In Oldham, the coronavirus infection rate was 64.5 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending on July 30, while on the other side of Greater Manchester, the rate in Wigan was just 5.5.
UK records further 89 coronavirus deaths as seven-day average death toll continues to nudge up
The UK has recorded a further 89 coronavirus deaths, according to today’s update on the government’s coronavirus data dashboard. The official headline total for deaths is now 46,299.
This is a Public Health England figure for the UK as a whole. But, confusingly, the Department of Health and Social Care has given up publishing this figure as part of its only daily update, because it no longer views it as reliable.
The PHE figure is suspect because it includes people in England who tested positive for coronavirus and died - even if they died of something else.
But the main problem with the headline total is that it is an underestimate because it does not include people who died from coronavirus without testing positive. When these deaths are included, total UK coronavirus deaths are more than 55,000.
The latest data shows a further 670 people have tested positive for Covid-19 across the UK.
Updated
There is evidence that younger people are not taking the coronavirus pandemic as seriously as other age groups, a Welsh minister has said.
Eluned Morgan, the international relations minister, told the Welsh government’s weekly press conference that social media would be used to ensure they “understand the message”.
Her comments followed a large number of people gathering in Cardiff Bay, with South Wales police issuing a 48-hour dispersal order in the area over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Public Health Wales said one further person had died with coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in the country to 1,566.
“It is a really concerning situation, it is something where I think we do have to get messages out particularly to younger people that this does affect them, it will affect them,” said Lady Morgan, adding:
Clearly the evidence suggests that younger people are really perhaps in some parts of the country not taking this as seriously as some of the other age groups.
So that is a message that we need to get out. The police are very aware of the situation in Cardiff Bay and will be enforcing measures to make sure that people comply with the rules.
There are of course many means of communication now.
We can use social media and will be doing that in the future to make sure that those younger people understand the message and that it applies to them as well.
Morgan stressed that pubs and restaurants, which are now able to open indoors, must follow rules to control coronavirus.
She said that new powers would come into force this week, allowing councils to issue enforcement notices to businesses if they did not adhere to the regulations.
Updated
BAME workers disproportionately hit by economic downturn
Black and ethnic minority workers are overrepresented in the sectors hit worst by the coronavirus-linked economic crisis, an analysis by the Guardian has found.
As the UK plunges into what is forecast to be the deepest recession for 300 years, the sectors with the highest rates of furloughed jobs and redundancies have disproportionate numbers of BAME workers.
The transport and storage sector has announced the most redundancies, with 34,000 reported as of 28 July, according to a Guardian database tracking job losses. Black and minority ethnic workers, who make up 12% of the UK workforce, account for 18% of jobs in this industry, according to analysis of the Labour Force Survey.
The accommodation and food services sector, where BAME people are also overrepresented, making up 15% of the staff, had the third-highest number of redundancies, with 16,000 announced as of 28 July.
This sector, which includes hotels and restaurants, also had the highest proportion of furloughed workers, with almost three-quarters of eligible jobs furloughed up to 30 June.
Wholesale and retail, which has a roughly proportionate number of BAME workers, had the second-highest number of redundancies, with almost 24,000 job losses.
Get the full story here:
Updated
Laws enforcing lockdown restrictions for parts of the north of England including Greater Manchester, parts of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire have been published.
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions on Gatherings) (North of England) Regulations 2020 come into force from midnight on Wednesday.
Ministers had said the rules – which bans people from different households meeting following a surge in coronavirus cases – would be effective from midnight on 31 July.
Anyone found flouting the restrictions could be fined 100 and up to a maximum of 3,200 for repeat offences.
The legislation imposes restrictions on all local authority areas covered by:
- Bolton metropolitan borough council;
- Bury metropolitan borough council;
- Manchester city council;
- Oldham metropolitan borough councill;
- Rochdale borough council;
- Salford city council;
- Stockport metropolitan borough council;
- Tameside metropolitan borough council;
- Trafford metropolitan borough council;
- Wigan metropolitan borough council;
- Burnley borough council;
- Hyndburn borough council;
- Pendle borough council;
- Rossendale borough council;
- Calderdale metropolitan borough council;
- Kirklees metropolitan council
But the restriction zone could change at any time as directed by the the health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, according to the legislation.
Updated
University students who have missed out on face-to-face graduation ceremonies due to Covid-19 could be more vulnerable to degree fraud, PA Media reports.
Graduates are being warned of the dangers of posting selfies with their degree certificates on social media as it can give counterfeiters access to the latest logos, signatories and wording.
Students have been denied their usual graduation ceremony picture opportunities amid the pandemic so more graduates are likely to want to share photos of their certificates online.
Prospects, which runs the Hedd Degree Fraud Service on behalf of the Office for Students (OfS), has issued the warning as it expects the number of graduates posting selfies to rise.
It comes as graduation officers have returned to campuses across the UK to post out degree certificates to students who spent their final months of university at home during lockdown.
Chris Rea, who manages Prospects Hedd, said:
We’re expecting to see a rise in pictures of degree certificates posted on social media as they will be the only tangible mark of achievement for many graduates this year.
This period marks the end of years of hard work so we understand the urge to share certificates will be strong, but the risks of fraud are high.
He added:
Coronavirus has created ripe pickings for counterfeiters waiting to take advantage of graduates whose desire to connect with family and friends online is higher than normal.
When students post pictures of their degree certificates, everything is visible to make a forgery and they are easily found through graduation hashtags.
Covid-19 has led to a challenging graduate jobs market. Graduates should have the best chance they can and not have to compete with people faking their qualifications.
It comes after the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for higher education warned that anxious students may be more vulnerable to exploitation by essay mills amid the pandemic.
In June, the higher education watchdog said it had seen essay writing services “target” students amid the outbreak to take advantage of the “uncertainty and anxiety” facing young people.
Public Health Wales has said one further person has died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in the country to 1,566. The number of cases in Wales increased by 22, bringing the total number confirmed to 17,361.
The latest number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Wales has been updated.
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) August 4, 2020
Data dashboard:
💻 https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
📱 https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh
Find out how we are responding to the spread of the virus in our daily statement here: https://t.co/u6SKHz0zsG pic.twitter.com/o6zxZVlJTW
Updated
Eight more positive cases of coronavirus were detected in Northern Ireland over the weekend, the Department of Health said. The total number of people who have been infected there is now 5,996.
No new deaths were recorded in Northern Ireland, leaving the total there at 556, according to official figures.
Nicola Sturgeon has “failed a generation of young Scots”, Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray has said.
Today’s exam results showed that the higher pass rate for pupils from the poorest areas of Scotland has been downgraded by 15.3 percentage points from teacher estimates, Murray said. He added that in contrast, analysis of the comparison between teacher estimates and the statistical moderation used to calculate results shows a reduction of just 6.9 percentage points in the most affluent areas.
He added that at her daily briefing, Sturgeon instead compared the results with previous years.
Murray said:
Nicola Sturgeon asked to be judged on her record in education, and she has failed a generation of young Scots.
How can we improve the life chances of young children from the poorest backgrounds when the system bakes in inequality like this?
The first minister had the opportunity at her briefing to apologise to parents and pupils and announce action against this injustice, but she failed to do so. She effectively said the moderation system should maintain the shameful attainment gap that already exists.
This demonstrates why it is so important that next year’s election is about improving Scotland’s public services and we must ensure we don’t return to the old politics of constitutional division.
Updated
For centuries, the tiny island of Lundy and its wonderful flora and fauna have – just about – survived the ravages of pirates, profiteers, rodents and rampaging rhododendron.
But the futures of rare birds and plants, plus the livelihoods of the hardy humans who live on this windswept hunk of granite off the Devon coast, are being put at risk by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Landmark Trust, which manages the island, has launched an urgent fundraising appeal, warning that Lundy’s way of life was at peril and vital conservation work was on hold because of a disastrous loss of income.
Lundy’s wellbeing depends to a large extent on the day trippers who travel over on the supply boat from spring to autumn. But lockdown forced Lundy to close at the end of March. Most of the staff were furloughed and the 3-mile (5km) long island remained shut for for 14 weeks.
The island is now open but social distancing rules mean that only 90 day trippers rather than 250 can visit daily.
Full story here:
Another bar in Aberdeen is closing.
Another bar in Aberdeen closing. pic.twitter.com/0ROsHM9gmd
— Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) August 4, 2020
This follows an announcement earlier this morning by the hospitality firm which owns Aberdeen bars Soul and College, which stated all of its premises will be shut “until we feel safe to reopen”.
A “cluster” of coronavirus cases has been linked to another venue, The Hawthorn Bar, in the city.
Sturgeon said three-quarters of all grades did not need to be changed.
She said 65.3% of young people from deprived backgrounds had passed Highers, but recommended grades from teachers put that figure at 85%. She said it would not have been credible for the passes in Scottish Highers among deprived communities to have jumped by 20% in a single year.
“What that suggests is that system of moderation was necessary,” she said.
Updated
When asked why the results of the results of the most deprived pupils were more likely to be lowered, than those from wealthier backgrounds, Sturgeon urged those students to appeal the results. “Today is not the end of the journey.”
Updated
When asked how confident she was people were handing over their details when going to bars and pubs and whether she would consider making it mandatory, Sturgeon said they would consider making it mandatory if they consider it to be necessary.
She said:
We will not shy away from doing the things we think is necessary to keep this virus under control.
She added:
My view on compliance is that the vast majority are doing it.
The Aberdeen cluster originated from one, but since then another pub and golf course have released statements to say a customer has tested positive for Covid-19.
When asked why the government has not released more detailed, local information in relation to Aberdeen, Sturgeon said:
There will be more information to come from the Aberdeen outbreak.
Addressing young people who received qualifications on Tuesday, Sturgeon said they deserve “enormous credit”.
She said at the briefing:
Whatever your results are, you should all be incredibly proud of the way you’ve coped with the challenges in the last few months.
At a moment’s notice you had to adapt to new forms of learning, your contact with friends and family was restricted, many of you missed out on a proper end to your final year, you didn’t get to sit exams.
Of course, you’re now having to think about your future in a time of real economic uncertainty.
All of that has been really tough and we don’t underestimate how tough that has been, and I know that for some of you there will be difficult decisions that lie ahead.”
23 additional positive coronavirus cases in Scotland
The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says there have been 23 additional positive coronavirus cases in Scotland. The new cases accounts for 0.9% of people newly tested.
Overall, that takes the overall number of positive cases to 18,717.
Provisional information suggests that 15 of the 23 new cases are in the Grampian health board area. Sturgeon has not yet been able to confirm whether the new cases are linked to the at outbreak at the Hawthorn Bar in Aberdeen.
The Scottish Conservatives have the SNP for “systemic failures” in a flagship Scottish Covid scheme after a high-profile spike in new cases.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said:
The unfortunate circumstances around the Aberdeen cluster may well be replicated in other parts of Scotland.
So the SNP absolutely need to get contact tracing right.
I am disturbed to find out that teams are just getting one meagre hour of training to deal with cases. I don’t find that sufficient.
And it appears that bars and individuals are having to ring round themselves if they feel ill or may have had contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid. These are systemic failures.
The Scottish public were told that contact tracing was central to the test and trace strategy.
But the SNP are barely doing any testing — and it appears they aren’t on top of tracing, either.
Nicola Sturgeon may be good at press conferences but on the ground the SNP have simply not put in place the tracing network needed to prevent a second wave of Coronavirus. We need to see action now.
Updated
Blackburn with Darwen council sets up test-and trace system to plug gaps in England scheme
The local authority with the highest infection rate in England has launched its own contact-tracing system to plug holes in the £10bn national scheme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”, my colleague Josh Halliday reports.
In a move reflecting growing frustration among local health officials with the national test-and-trace system, which was launched in May as a central plank of the strategy to ease England out of lockdown, Blackburn with Darwen council, in Lancashire, set up its own virus-hunting team after the national system failed to reach hundreds of its most vulnerable residents.
The council said under its new model, which was supported by Public Health England, local teams would track down people who could not be reached by the national system after 48 hours. If local officials still did not make contact after two days, council workers would visit their address to pass on advice and offer support.
Crucially, the Blackburn model will factor in potential language issues and any other vulnerabilities using the knowledge of community-based teams.
Get the full story here:
Updated
Hi everybody. Please feel free to get in touch to share news tips, comments, advice and suggestions as I continue to bring you live updates throughout the day. Your thoughts are always welcome!
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Labour has said the response by local authorities showed the top-down approach had failed and resources should now be given to local authorities nationwide to develop their own test-and-trace systems.
The shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, told the Guardian:
For months we have warned ministers that without a vaccine, an effective, locally delivered test, trace and isolate regime would be critical to safe easing from lockdown.
Instead Boris Johnson handed multimillion pound contacts to firms like Serco and the claimed his approach was ‘world beating’. Given infection rates are now rising and local areas are in lockdown it’s no wonder local authorities are now abandoning Johnson’s failed approach and setting up their own systems.
Local directors of public health, primary care and NHS labs were always better placed to do this vital work effectively and should be given resources and data to get on with it.
Updated
The number of deaths related to Covid-19 fell to levels not seen since mid-March, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
There were 217 coronavirus deaths in England and Wales reported in the week to 24 July, the figures show, the lowest level for more than four months, down from a peak of 8,758 deaths in a week in April.
Deaths from all causes were below average levels for the sixth consecutive week. There were a total of 8,891 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 24 July, according to the ONS, 161 fewer than the five-year average of 9,052.
This may be due to ‘displaced mortality’, where deaths which would have occurred later in the year among elderly and vulnerable groups were brought forward due to Covid-19.
The number of deaths involving Covid-19 decreased across all English regions, except for Yorkshire and the Humber and the east Midlands, where the figures were static or showed small increases. However, the overall death toll in these regions remained low, with just over 30 Covid-19 deaths in each.
Updated
The UK government must urgently consider additional support for those on parental leave during the coronavirus pandemic before it is too late, MPs have said.
Labour MP Catherine McKinnell, chairwoman of the petitions committee, has written to the business minister, Paul Scully, saying the government must understand the urgency of the issue and “act immediately” before more parents have to give up their jobs.
A report published by the committee last month recommended that the government should publish new guidance making it clear that pregnant women have a right to be suspended on full pay if they cannot work safely.
Other suggestions included changing the way statutory maternity pay is calculated to disregard periods of unpaid leave or statutory sick pay where pregnant women were put on these incorrectly.
The committee argued that, as the government was able to amend the statutory maternity pay calculations to disregard the lower income of periods on furlough, it should also do so for women whose incomes have fallen through no fault of their own because their employers have failed to follow the guidance on how pregnant women should be treated.
The report was prompted after more than 226,000 people signed a petition calling for the government to extend maternity leave by three months with pay in light of Covid-19, with thousands raising concerns about the dangerous impact the pandemic is having on their children’s development and their own mental health.
But the government said a response to the report would not be possible before the House rose for summer recess on 22 July due to the need for careful consideration of recommendations.
Chair @CatMcKinnell has written to Government minister @scullyp to urge the Government to respond to our report on the impact of Covid-19 on maternity and parental leave as soon as possible #maternitypetition
— Petitions Committee (@HoCpetitions) August 4, 2020
🔎Find out more: https://t.co/tyQZC4VnbH pic.twitter.com/XFr58mfvz7
In the letter on behalf of the committee, published on Tuesday, McKinnell said parents are being profoundly affected by coronavirus now and “many simple cannot wait until the autumn” for action from the government.
I am extremely disappointed the government hasn’t recognised the urgency of this issue and at least responded in part to our report on the impact of Covid-19 on maternity and parental leave before the summer recess. This is particularly so given the prime minister’s recent personal commitment to review our report.
Parents coming to the end of their leave are faced with a dreadful dilemma of having to prepare to return to work while they try to ensure that their child’s social and developmental needs are being met, at a time when finding suitable childcare is nearly impossible.
Our investigation found some parents have even had to give up their jobs because there has been no financially viable way to extend their leave. This is having a profound impact on the mental health and wellbeing of families.
New parents need clarity now on what support the government will provide for them in the midst of this pandemic – this can’t wait until the autumn.
I implore the government to act on as many of our recommendations as possible before it’s too late, and have asked the government to act immediately on several recommendations in particular that do not even require a change of policy.
Updated
Tui has extended the cancellation of its holidays to Portugal for UK customers until at least the end of next week.
PA Media reports:
The UK’s largest tour operator said it will “continue to review its holiday programme in line with UK government advice”.
The government has advised against non-essential travel to mainland Portugal since 17 March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tui has already announced that its holidays to mainland Spain for UK tourists are cancelled until 17 August, while its programmes in Spain’s Balearic Islands and Canary Islands are on hold until August 10.
This is due to the government’s decision to reintroduce the 14-day self-isolation requirement for people arriving from Spain and advise against non-essential travel to the country.
Updated
More than £50bn of loans to businesses hit by Covid-19 have been approved so far, the Treasury said. This includes, up to 2 August, £33.34bn in bounceback loans for 1,135,575 businesses.
PA Media reports:
The Government, which is guaranteeing the vast majority of the loans should they not be repaid, added that £13.08bn has been endorsed through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) and £3.27bn through the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS) to larger firms.
Updated
The local authority with the highest infection rate in England has launched its own contact-tracing system to plug holes in the £10bn national scheme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”.
Blackburn with Darwen council, in Lancashire, set up its own virus-hunting team after the national system failed to reach hundreds of its most vulnerable residents.
Dominic Harrison, the council’s director of public health, said the government programme was “simply not tracing enough cases and contacts fast enough”.
The move reflects growing frustration among local health officials with the national test-and-trace system, which was launched in May as a central plank of the strategy to ease England out of lockdown. The NHS system, which is run by the former TalkTalk executive Dido Harding, involves more than 20,000 contact tracers employed by private firms such as Serco and Sitel.
In Blackburn with Darwen, where the infection rate is more than 10 times England’s average, dozens of staff have been seconded from other departments to contact residents who could not be reached by the national system.
All but three regions of England had deaths below the five-year average in the week ending July 24, the ONS said.
PA Media reports:
The exceptions were the east Midlands, where the number of registered deaths was 5.8% above the five-year average, the West Midlands (5.2% above average) and north-east England (2.7% above average).
The other regions were north-west England (1.1% below), south-west England (2.4% below), south-east England (3.2% below), eastern England (3.5% below), London (6.1% below) and Yorkshire & the Humber (8.0% below).
In Wales, the number of deaths registered in the week to July 24 was 0.2% below the five-year average.
Updated
Deaths have been below the five-year average for six weeks in a row in England and Wales
There were a total of 8,891 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 24 July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 161 fewer than the five-year average of 9,052, PA reports.
This is the sixth week in a row that deaths have been below the five-year average.
Of the deaths registered in the week to July 24, 217 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate – the lowest number of deaths involving Covid-19 since the week ending 20 March, when there was 103 deaths.
Figures published on Tuesday by the ONS show that 51,596 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to 24 July, and had been registered by August 1.
Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,201 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to 26 July, while 854 deaths had occurred in Northern Ireland up to 24 July (and had been registered up to July 29) according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Together, these figures mean that so far 56,651 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
Updated
Dr Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths, senior research fellow and lecturer in mathematical modelling at the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, UCL warned if Test and Trace is “not done effectively or adequately, then there is a risk of an occurrence of a second wave later this year”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Using the information that we have to date and in the mathematical study that we are talking about, we have fitted the model to data between 21 January this year and 16 June inclusive.
We predict ... that under the scenarios, that under different Test and Trace scenarios, we ... are able to avoid a second wave if we test sufficiently, (a)
sufficient number of people with symptoms and trace their contacts sufficiently, but if this is not done effectively or adequately, then there is a risk of an occurrence of a second wave later this year and peaking in December for the scenario of full opening of schools (in) society.
Dr David Nabarro, the WHO’s special envoy on Covid-19, had echoed Panovska-Griffiths’ warning about Test and Trace.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
This virus is capable of surging back really quickly and is actually doing so in most countries where there’s been success at getting it under control and, as it surges back, the way you stop outbreaks developing is through having well-functioning contact tracing linked to testing, with isolation of people who’ve got symptoms or who’ve been in contact.
If we can do that, and do it well, then the surges are kept really small, they’re dealt with quickly and life can go on.
If, on the other hand, this testing and tracing and isolation just is not done properly, then you get very bad surges occurring and this will lead to economic challenges.
Updated
Pizza Express has confirmed plans to shut 15% of its UK restaurants as part of an overhaul of its finances that puts up to 1,100 jobs at risk.
The company is to launch a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) – an insolvency process which allows it to exit stores and cut rents – that could result in the closure of up to 70 of its 449 UK restaurants.
Pizza Express said the decision to close restaurants was a difficult one but “against the current unprecedented backdrop, Pizza Express believes reducing the size of its estate will help it to protect 9,000 jobs”.
The CVA is linked to a debt restructuring agreed with the company’s bondholders that will slash its debt burden from £735m to £319m.
The news comes after 2,600 staff were told on Monday that they faced losing their job after the fitness and gym firm DW Sports collapsed into administration and the tour operator Hays Travel announced job cuts, blaming the UK government’s policy on travel to Spain.
To find out more, head to our business liveblog.
Former prime minister Tony Blair said a mass testing regime, which includes people who are not displaying coronavirus symptoms, is essential to avoid the need for another lockdown.
He told Times Radio:
On some estimates 70% of people with the disease are asymptomatic, so if you are only testing people with symptoms you are losing the majority of people from your testing strategy
From the very beginning, mass testing has been the only thing that gets you through this, avoids the severity of the very blunt instrument of lockdown and gets you to a place where you can more or less get your economy moving whilst containing the disease.
EasyJet has said it is operating more flights than previously planned due to demand exceeding expectations.
PA Media reports:
The airline is expanding its schedule to 40% of normal capacity between July and September, compared with the 30% it predicted in June.
In the three months to the end of June, the budget carrier made just 7 million in revenue after the company’s fleet was grounded from 30 March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It started flying again in the middle of June and carried 117,000 passengers in the 132,000 seats it had available in the last two weeks of the quarter, easyJet said.
Updated
Local government minister Simon Clarke has defended the government’s test and trace system after a group of researchers warned authorities would need to boost capacity or risk a second-wave of coronavirus after schools open.
Clarke told Sky News:
It’s obviously vital that we always continue to keep up the progress that we’re making with test and trace, which is a massive national undertaking and it is working.
184,000 people, so far, have been contacted by the programme who have tested positive or their contacts. And those people have all been allowed to self-isolate, be removed from the community at a time where they could be at risk of spreading the virus and that’s obviously a massive success.
We reach over 80% of positive test results and we contact over 75% of their close contacts. This is a programme, which is delivering and which is helping to keep us all safer. There’s always more to do, we continue to work very hard to boost our testing capacity and we heard from Joe about the fact we’re on track to deliver half a million by the end of October.
One thing is clear, schools are going to reopen in full in autumn, that is not up for debate.
“Schools are going to reopen in the autumn, that is not up for debate.”
— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) August 4, 2020
Local Government Minister @SimonClarkeMP tells @skynewsniall children will return to the classroom for the new school year despite concerns around the Government's Test and Trace system. RC#KayBurley pic.twitter.com/A3tIVi2Prg
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the research showed there many factors to preventing a worsening Covid-19 outbreak, most of which were entirely outside a school’s control.
He said:
The success of September’s return to school rests as much on what happens outside the school gates as within. The government needs to ensure that everyone knows what actions they should be taking to keep everyone safe – we’re all going to need to work together to be successful.
Updated
UK virologists criticise handling of Covid testing contracts, as government warned to boost test and trace
A group of Britain’s leading virus experts say mistakes are being made in the handling of the Covid pandemic, with testing contracts awarded on apparently ideological grounds to private sector companies rather than based on expertise.
Sarah Boseley reports:
In a letter to England’s chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser, nearly 70 clinical virologists say they have been sidelined by the government and excluded from discussions on how to respond to the pandemic.
New 90-minute tests announced with fanfare by ministers on Monday were the latest example of how virologists were being bypassed, they say. They have been using rapid tests such as these already – but say they have no knowledge of or information on the DnaNudge or LamPORE tests that the government is contracting to buy.
The letter comes amidst a warning by another group of researchers that the government has just one month to significantly boost its test-and-trace systems or risk a “second wave” of coronavirus after schools reopen.
Nicola Davis and Sally Weale report:
Against a backdrop of rising Covid infection rates in some areas and the introduction of local restrictions, the government has reiterated its determination to reopen schools in England to all pupils in all year groups in September.
But researchers who modelled a range of scenarios for the reopening of schools as part of a wider easing of lockdown said there would need to be a rapid improvement to the test-trace-isolate system to avoid a resurgence of the disease.
Labour and teaching unions, responding to the latest research, called for a more robust test-and-trace system. The shadow education secretary, Kate Green, said schools were making great efforts to welcome pupils back safely, but couldn’t do it on their own. “The government can’t walk away from its responsibilities,” she said. “Ministers must rapidly improve the test-and-trace system before pupils go back to class in September.”
I’ll be on the liveblog for most of this morning. If you need to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or Tweet me (@aamnamohdin)
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