Evening summary
Here’s a summary of today’s key UK coronavirus developments:
- Boris Johnson has said an announcement on whether face masks should be mandatory in shops will be made “in the next few days”. Speaking during a visit to the London Ambulance Service, the prime minister said he thought people “should” be wearing the coverings in shops. It comes after the government was criticised for its inconsistent stance on wearing face masks, which minister Michael Gove previously said was “basic good manners” but did not think should be made mandatory.
- Face coverings will be mandatory on public transport including taxis in Wales from July 27. First minister Mark Drakeford was also criticised following the announcement this afternoon, with Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price saying the guidance “doesn’t go far enough” and should be extended to other indoor settings.
- A further 11 people have died in UK hospitals, care homes and the wider community, after testing positive for Covid-19 – bringing the official death toll to 44,830. All of the fatalities occurred in England, while Scotland and Wales recorded no new deaths on Monday. The figures from the Department of Health and Social Care do not include all deaths involving coronavirus across the country, which are thought to have passed 55,500.
- Prof Jonathan Van-Tam has warned that the lifting of Leicester’s local lockdown “can’t be rushed”. The government’s deputy chief medical officer said public health professionals would need to judge that rates of the virus were “consistently and obviously” falling before measures could be eased, adding that the city’s current caseload made it “quite an outlier” still in comparison to the rest of the country.
- Passengers at Heathrow Airport were down 95% year-on-year in June. The airport’s chief executive said numbers fell “immediately” after the government’s quarantine policy came into force, with just 350,000 people travelling through the airport last month – down 95% on June 2019.
That’s it from me, Amy Walker. Thank you for joining me throughout today’s updates. Coronavirus coverage continues on our global live blog:
Updated
Businesses in Barnard Castle have seen a rise in visitors after Dominic Cummings’ infamous trip to the market town.
David Harper, a TV antiques expert who has a shop in the town, said local businesses had benefited from the exposure it received over the affair, while the mayor said the headlines had “put us on the map”.
Cummings visited the riverside at Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday after travelling from London to Durham to stay at a property on his parents’ farm when he and his wife fell ill with coronavirus.
The prime minister’s adviser said they drove to the area to check he could drive safely, as his “eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease”.
Harper told the PA news agency: “I don’t know how many emails I’ve received from people saying Barnard Castle looks so lovely.
“I’ve heard of people thinking of relocating and checking out property prices.
“When I reopened my shop earlier this month, if I had a pound for every time someone mentioned it, or cracked a joke about eyesight or calling me Dominic, I would be super-rich.
Mayor John Blissett, 73, also said he’d witnessed more visitors taking in Barnard Castle’s ruined medieval castle which sits above beautiful walks beside the River Tees.
“The crowds have been coming in and obviously the curiosity is there,” he said. “I don’t know whether the opticians have had any more trade though.”
Darren Millar, the Welsh Conservatives’ shadow Covid recovery minister, said: “The first minister and his cabinet must produce the scientific evidence - if it exists - to justify introducing them two weeks from now rather than with immediate effect and why only on public transport.
“Lockdown is being eased, life is returning to a ‘new normal’, but we must still take every precaution to avoid a second wave of cases, and making wearing face masks mandatory from today may go some way to achieving this - but only if brought in now.”
The Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, said: “I welcome the news that Welsh government has made a U-turn on mandating the use of face coverings on public transport. But in acknowledging that face coverings make a crucial difference on trains, buses and in taxis, the question must be begged of Welsh government - why not in shops also?
“The latest guidance, while a step in the right direction, still doesn’t go far enough. What we know about coronavirus is that it is more likely to be spread in an indoor setting, and that it is still in community transmission in Wales. To protect the public in only a handful of settings does not make sense.”
Public Health Wales said no new deaths had been recorded of people who tested positive for coronavirus for the second day in a row, with the number remaining at 1,541.
Updated
Capacity on London buses has increased by 50% in line with new social distancing guidelines, Transport for London (TfL) has said.
Double-deckers can now carry 30 passengers, up from a limit of 20 introduced on 29 May. Before the pandemic, the vehicles were allowed to hold just under 90 people.
On 23 June, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced that when two-metre social distancing cannot be applied, a “1-metre plus” measure was acceptable if mitigations such as face coverings and layout changes were put in place.
TfL reintroduced bus fares for all services and front door boarding in most instances on Saturday. The body said additional safety measures had been introduced across its bus fleet including poles and doors being wiped down with a strong disinfectant every day, and gaps in driver’s protective screens being sealed off.
The deputy mayor for transport, Heidi Alexander, said:
The coronavirus has had an unprecedented impact on London’s transport network and we have been working incredibly hard to ensure the safety of all our staff and passengers.
The extensive safety measures that we have taken, combined with the government’s change to social distancing rules, means that we can reintroduce front door boarding and accept more passengers on our buses.
But this does not mean a complete return to normal capacity on services.
I urge Londoners to continue to walk and cycle when they can to avoid travelling on public transport at peak times and remind them that they must wear a face covering for their entire journey.
Updated
Michael Gove is setting out the details of the Brexit transition period in the House of Commons.
The chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster said business needs to be ready for the UK becoming an independent trading nation for the first time in nearly half a century when the period finishes at the end of the year.
More than £700m is to be spent on building new infrastructure, hiring staff and developing technology to ensure that Britain’s border systems are fully operational when the UK leaves the EU, Gove said.
The government insists the border operating model it has announced gives “clarity” to businesses. Gove said:
The publication of the border operating model is an important step which gives business the certainty and direction they need to prepare for the end of the transition period when the UK becomes an independent trading nation for the first time in nearly 50 years.
We are committed to working closely with businesses and the border industry to help deliver not just a fully operational border at the end of the transition period, but also the world’s most effective and secure border by 2025.
The £705m package includes £235m for staffing and IT systems, and £470m for port and inland infrastructure to ensure compliance with new customs procedures and controls.
New border infrastructure will be built inland where there is no space at ports, while ports will get one-off financial support to ensure the right infrastructure is in place.
Updated
A total of 44,830 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community in the UK after testing positive for Covid-19 as of 5pm on Sunday, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said.
The number is up by 11 from the previous day and is the lowest reported by the DHSC since 12 March, but reporting is often lower on weekends and the government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the country, which are thought to have passed 55,500.
The DHSC also said that in the 24 hours up to 9am on Monday, a further 530 cases were confirmed. Overall, a total of 290,133 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed.
Updated
There has been a lot of reaction today to the report in the Guardian that people who have recovered from Covid-19 may lose their immunity to the disease within months.
This was based on the first longitudinal study of its kind, by King’s College London, which found that levels of antibodies that can destroy the virus peaked about three weeks after the onset of symptoms then swiftly declined.
Mala Maini, a professor of viral immunology and consultant physician at UCL, said:
What are the implications of the study? Even if you’re left with no detectable circulating antibodies, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have no protective immunity because you likely have memory immune cells (B and T cells) that can rapidly kick into action to start up a new immune response if you re-encounter the virus. So you might well get a milder infection.
Dr Jonathan Stoye, group leader, retrovirus-host interactions laboratory, at the Francis Crick Institute, said:
While this result is still very preliminary, with relatively low numbers of subjects followed for a limited period of time and without any information about responses following a second exposure to virus, confirmation could have very significant ramifications for our understanding of immunity to Sars-CoV-2 and vaccine development. In addition it would suggest that we need to redouble our efforts to identify and develop novel therapeutic strategies, either by repurposing existing drugs or by performing new drug screens.
Dr Stephen Griffin, an associate professor in the school of medicine, University of Leeds, said:
The implications of this study in terms of both managing the pandemic and the need for widespread education are broad-ranging. First, herd immunity approaches, still callously promoted by some, are clearly non-viable. Second, should a viable vaccine become available, it may require regular boosts or combination of different platforms to elicit the best possible protection. Third, development of additional lines of antiviral therapies and/or drugs that lessen the severe inflammation in advanced Covid-19 is essential to support future vaccination programmes.
Finally, the troubling media reports around Covid-19 parties, conspiracies, unfounded often dangerous therapies and politically motivated minimising of pandemic impact needs to be countered by widespread education and unified approaches to public health, such as that led by WHO. We cannot afford to simply wait for vaccines or drugs and should make every effort to eliminate the virus using non-pharmaceutical approaches; the cost to life is already too high.
Updated
11 new coronavirus deaths recorded in England
A further 11 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in hospitals in England, bringing the total number of confirmed hospital deaths to 29,077.
NHS England said the patients were aged between 72 and 95 and all had known underlying health conditions.
Updated
No new coronavirus deaths in Wales
No new deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus have been recorded in Wales, with the total remaining at 1,541, Public Health Wales said on Monday.
The number of cases in the country has increased by 25 to 17,045.
Updated
The Independent Sage group, led by the former chief scientific adviser for England Sir David King, has urged the wearing of face masks to be made mandatory indoors.
An interim report, published today, said coverings should be used “alongside, not instead of, other protective measures such as ventilation, hand-washing and social distancing”.
It added that most members of Independent Sage believed there was sufficient justification for making wearing of face masks compulsory in public indoor spaces including in shops and entertainment venues.
Commenting on the report, King said:
The evidence is increasingly clear that face coverings have an important role in tackling the ongoing epidemic.
Alongside any proposed legislation it is essential that the government undertakes a comprehensive education campaign to ensure the proper use of masks.
Crucially, it is essential that masks are not seen as a panacea and other measures such as rigorous hand-washing and social distancing are still stringently followed.
Updated
The government is preparing to roll out the “biggest flu vaccination programme in history”, according to Matt Hancock.
The health secretary said planning was under way for an expected surge in demand on the NHS due to seasonal pressures, such as flu cases, over winter.
Speaking at a National Pharmacy Association (NPA) virtual conference on Monday, Hancock said that following the coronavirus pandemic, he was expecting high demand for flu jabs over winter.
He added that although enough vaccine had been procured for the programme, it would be a “big task”.
“We all know that having had an incredibly hard six months the next big moment is as winter approaches,” he said. “We are currently planning in detail for winter. We are expecting high demand.
Earlier this month, Downing Street said ministers were trying to secure a “significant additional supply” of vaccines so the uptake in “at-risk” groups could be increased and more people could be made eligible for a free injection.
Hancock said the government was also working on a coronavirus vaccination programme, should a successful vaccine be found.
“We are working hard on a combination of the Covid vaccination programme, should a vaccination work, and of course the biggest flu vaccination programme in history,” he said.
“We are working now on how a Covid vaccine roll-out would work.”
Updated
Leicester’s mayor has said its city-wide lockdown was “not justified” after new data showed only some areas had higher than average Covid-19 cases.
Sir Peter Soulsby told BBC Breakfast that only 10% of Leicester’s neighbourhoods “have a higher transmission” rate, and that if data had been shared with local authorities earlier, they could have focussed on “preventing the transmission there”.
Soulsby added that it had taken “weeks” to get detailed data from the government.
“It’s very clear when you look at the data it’s a couple of areas of the city that have got a higher than average transmission of the virus,” he said.
“Certainly the way the city’s been locked down in its entirety, and even beyond its boundaries, is not justified.”
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has rejected the idea his government has been “dithering” over the wearing of face coverings.
Drakeford said making face coverings mandatory on public transport would not take place until the end of the month - 27 July – to give time for the details of how it will work and be enforced to be finalised.
He said the Welsh policy over face coverings had been “entirely consistent” and there had been “no dither, no delay”.
Drakeford said coronavirus was now “at its lowest ebb” since the pandemic began and the Welsh government’s response had to be “proportionate”.
The first minister was also asked about a debate on independence taking place in the Welsh parliament on Wednesday.
Drakeford said it was for the people of Wales to decide on their future. He said he would be making the case in the run-up to next year’s Welsh parliament elections for Wales to remain within the UK.
Updated
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has raised concerns about potential health and safety criminal offences in the run-up to the Manchester Arena bomb, a public inquiry has heard.
The force has written to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following a review of evidence contained in an expert report that was prepared for the judge-led inquiry into the terror attack on 22 May 2017.
No further detail on the nature of the newly-emerged health and safety concerns was given during a preliminary hearing of the Manchester Arena inquiry on Monday morning.
Paul Greaney QC, the counsel to the inquiry, told the hearing that GMP had written to the HSE on 19 June “indicating that the disclosure of the inquiry’s security expert report ‘causes some concern in relation to potential health and safety offences’.”
Addressing the inquiry chairman, Sir John Saunders, Greaney added: “Following receipt of a letter from the HSE in relation to its jurisdiction, GMP then requested permission from you, sir, to share the security expert report with the HSE.”
The report by security experts has not been made publicly available but has been disclosed to core participants of the inquiry, including GMP and families of the 22 people who died in the Arena attack.
Saunders is due to decide whether, and if so when, the expert report should be provided to the HSE. John Cooper QC, who represents several of the bereaved families, said the investigators “should be provided with this material virtually immediately or as soon as possible”.
GMP has conducted an extensive criminal investigation into the Arena bomb, resulting in the conviction of Hashem Abedi, the brother of bomber Salman Abedi, for the murder of 22 people.
HSE has the ability to conduct criminal investigations into potential health and safety offences which can result in the prosecution of company directors.
GMP and the HSE have been contacted for comment.
Normally tens of thousands of Orangemen, loyalist marching bands and their supporters would be thronging the centre of Belfast part of their annual commemoration of King William’s victory over the Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne.
Central Belfast today remains eerily quiet with no mass parade through the city due to the pandemic.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland cancelled its annual demonstrations across not only Northern Ireland but also the Irish Republic because of the danger of crowds generating a fresh wave of Covid-19 infections.
Instead 248 mini parades, each with a single band playing, are “bring the Twelfth home” to loyalist housing estates, towns and villages across Northern Ireland today.
The Orange Order said up to 8,000 people would come to their doorsteps and front gardens today to watch the various parades.
After laying a wreath at the war memorial in Belfast City Hall this morning, the Orange Order’s grand secretary, Mervyn Gibson, said the loyal orders “want people to stay in their homes and let the music come to them”.
Normally around 100,000 people would come onto the streets on the Twelfth. The Twelfth, by the way, is being on 13 July this year because the 12 of July fell on a Sunday and the loyal orders do not parade on the sabbath.
Updated
Social care workers will not be covered by the government’s new health and care visa under the UK’s post-Brexit immigration system.
The home secretary, Priti Patel, has unveiled details of the new points-based system which comes into effect on 1 January next year, after EU freedom of movement rules end.
The health and care visa will provide an easier route for health professionals to work in the UK, but won’t include social care workers.
“We want employers to invest more in training and development for care workers in this country,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said during a press briefing.
“On care workers specifically, our independent migration advisers have said that immigration is not the sole answer here, which is why we have provided councils with an additional £1.5bn of funding for social care in 2021-22, as well as launching a new recruitment campaign.”
Updated
No new coronavirus deaths in Scotland
No new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland for the fifth day in a row, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The first minister told the Scottish government’s daily briefing that 2,490 patients had died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, no change on Wednesday’s figure.
On Sunday, there were 19 new cases – 12 of which were in Glasgow. Seven of these cases were asymptomatic and centred around one care home, which Sturgeon said was being looked into with testing and precautions in place.
A total of 550 patients are in Scottish hospitals with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, while six were in intensive care, no change on the past 24 hours.
Updated
Face coverings to be mandatory on public transport in Wales
It will be mandatory for people to wear face coverings on public transport including taxis in Wales from 27 July, the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said.
Drakeford said it would not be made mandatory to wear face coverings in other public places though some people might choose to wear them.
He said: “Public transport moves across our porous border with England. There, the use of face coverings is mandatory on public transport.
“And for the sake of simplicity and consistency, as well as being part of our plan to help reduce the risk of transmissions while on public transport where it is not possible to maintain a two-metre physical distance, it will become mandatory in Wales.”
Drakeford said if places were crowded, it was advisory to wear face coverings. In uncrowded places, it is up to the individual citizen, he said.
Updated
Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge has criticised those who “no-show” after making restaurant reservations for putting hospitality workers jobs at risk.
Kerridge said on Instagram that 27 customers did not turn up to his restaurant, the Corinthia Hotel in central London on Saturday.
In a post addressed to the customers, he said: “This industry, like many others is on the verge of collapse. Your behaviour is disgraceful, short-sighted and downright unhelpful. YOU are putting people’s jobs more at risk.
“You are the worst kind of guest, and that is ‘selfish’. I hope you have [a] good look at yourselves.”
Much of the hospitality sector has been badly hit by mounting costs during the coronavirus lockdown. Many of the pubs, bars and restaurants that have reopened since 4 July have warned they may not survive, with customers reduced by up to two-thirds as a result of social distancing measures.
Updated
A formal review into whether face masks should be made mandatory in public places in England is under way, the prime minister’s official spokesman has said.
At a briefing with reporters on Monday, the No 10 official said there was further evidence about the “benefits of face coverings in some environments outdoors”.
He added: “A formal review is taking place and we will be discussing it with scientific advisers this week and setting out a final position in the next few days.”
Updated
As well as saying that people “should” be wearing face coverings in shops, the prime minister has encouraged people to holiday in the UK.
“I think this is a great, great year for people to have a staycation. This country is uniquely blessed with fantastic places to holiday, whether coastal or otherwise,” Boris Johnson said during the visit to the London ambulance service.
“And I am certainly going to be doing that, but I won’t necessarily tell you where at this stage.
“Obviously if people feel the need for a foreign holiday then that’s completely a matter for them, I totally understand it, but there are fantastic, fantastic places, peerless, wonderful, superlative places in the UK to go on holiday and that’s certainly what I will be doing.”
Updated
Boris Johnson says announcement on face masks to be made 'in the next few days'
Following criticism that the UK government’s stance on face coverings is inconsistent and “confusing”, Boris Johnson has said an announcement will be made “in the next few days” on whether they should be mandatory in shops.
“They have a great deal of value in confined spaces where you’re coming into contact with people you don’t normally meet,” the prime minister told reporters during a visit to the London ambulance service.
“The scientific evaluation of face coverings and their importance on stopping aerosol droplets, that’s been growing, so I do think that in shops it is very important to wear a face covering if you’re going to be in a confined space and you want to protect other people and receive protection in turn.
“Yes, face coverings, I think people should be wearing in shops, and in terms of how we do that - whether we will be making that mandatory or not - we will be looking at the guidance, we will be saying a little bit more in the next few days.”
Johnson added: “We will be looking in the next few days about exactly how, with what tools of enforcement, we think we want to make progress [over coronavirus].
“As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again.
“To be absolutely clear I do think that face coverings do have a real value in confined spaces and I do think the public understand that.”
Updated
The home secretary, Priti Patel, has confirmed plans for a health and care visa under the UK’s new points-based immigration scheme.
Patel said the new fast-track visa would make it quicker and easier for “talented global health professionals to work in our brilliant NHS” and social care.
Those applying for the health and care visa will have reduced fees and can expect a decision on whether they can work in the UK within three weeks.
In a written ministerial statement to the House of Commons, she said:
At a time where an increased number of people across the UK are looking for work, the new points-based system will encourage employers to invest in the domestic UK workforce, rather than simply relying on labour from abroad.
“But we are also making necessary changes, so it is simpler for employers to attract the best and brightest from around the world to come to the UK to complement the skills we already have.
“It will be simpler for businesses to access the talent they need as we have removed the Resident Labour Market Test, lowered the skills and salary threshold, and removed the cap on skilled workers.
Lifting of Leicester’s local lockdown 'can’t be rushed'
The lifting of Leicester’s local lockdown “can’t be rushed”, according to one of the government’s deputy chief medical officers.
Prof Jonathan Van-Tam said the easing of measures in the city depended on judgments by public health professionals when Covid-19 rates are “consistently and obviously” falling.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, Van-Tam said data published on Saturday showed the city is “really quite an outlier” still compared with anywhere else in the country.
The figures, from NHS England, show a seven-day rate of 126 cases per 100,000 people, compared with figures of 17.8 for Leicestershire as a whole.
“The situation has improved but it needs to go further,” Van-Tam told the BBC. “The clear exit plan is when a number of things come together - that the disease rate is consistently and obviously falling ... that it is comparable and sensibly comparable with other areas of the country, when the swab positivity rate is dropping and holding its drop, and when there is a clear understanding that everything is in place to be able to keep it that way.
“All of these things are value judgments by professional public health specialists - this can’t be rushed.”
Updated
Susan Michie, the University College London professor and Independent Sage member, says the scientific evidence now supports wearing face-coverings in enclosed settings indoors.
She says: “We’re not a society that is used to wearing face masks or have done it in the past on a mass scale, and so we need to get every single lever that we can to make this happen.
We’ve had it made compulsory on public transport. I’d like to see England follow Scotland’s example on buses. But that’s not enough. We need a good mass education, persuasion and training campaign because people do need to wear the right kind of masks in the right way to make them maximally effective.
"We're not a society that is used to wearing face masks or have done it in the past on a mass scale, and so we need to get every single lever that we can to make this happen."@SusanMichie @Sir_David_King #IndependentSAGE pic.twitter.com/EUv7aCccAr
— Independent SAGE (@IndependentSage) July 13, 2020
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Heathrow passengers down 95% year-on-year in June
Heathrow airport passenger numbers fell “immediately” after the government’s quarantine policy came into force, the airport’s chief executive has said.
PA Media reports that the proportion of seats filled on inbound flights to Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, dropped by seven percentage points when the 14-day self-isolation requirement was introduced on 8 June.
Just 350,000 people travelled through the airport last month, down 95% on June 2019. Routes to and from North America and Africa had the biggest declines. Across all destinations, the number of flights was down 82% as demand for travel remained low due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Total passenger numbers for the first half of the year were 60% down on the same period in 2019. The quarantine requirement was lifted for people returning to or visiting the UK from around 75 countries and territories on Friday.
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People who have recovered from Covid-19 may lose their immunity to the disease within months, according to research suggesting the virus could reinfect people year after year, like common colds.
My colleague Ian Sample reports on the first longitudinal study of its kind, by King’s College London, which found that levels of antibodies that can destroy the virus peaked about three weeks after the onset of symptoms then swiftly declined.
Blood tests revealed that while 60% of people had a “potent” antibody response at the height of their battle with the virus, only 17% retained the same potency three months later. Antibody levels fell as much as 23-fold over the period. In some cases, they became undetectable.
The study analysed the immune response of more than 90 patients and healthcare workers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust.
On BBC Breakfast this morning, virologist Prof Keith Neal said it was “not unexpected” that coronavirus antibody levels fall over time.
However, he said that scientists would not know how effective immunity was until they could examine possible cases of reinfections.
He said:
It’s not unexpected that antibody levels fall and then the people who had milder illness and therefore mounted a decent immune response were the ones who lost their antibodies most.
I think that time will tell, currently, as far as I’m aware, nobody has caught Covid-19 twice badly, lots of reports of positives tests, negative-positive and that’s a failure of testing.
Updated
A group of 83 of the world’s richest people have called on governments to permanently increase taxes on them and other members of the wealthy elite to help pay for the economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The super-rich members, including Ben and Jerry’s ice cream co-founder Jerry Greenfield and Disney heir Abigail Disney, called on “our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently”.
“As Covid-19 strikes the world, millionaires like us have a critical role to play in healing our world,” the millionaires said in a letter shared with the Guardian. They add:
No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door.
But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis.
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The National Trust has reopened a small number of its houses to visitors for the first time since they all closed due to lockdown. By the end of the week, a total of seven properties will be open in England and Northern Ireland.
All visitors - including members - must book their day out in advance to restrict numbers and ensure social distancing guidelines are followed, the charity said.
On Monday, Barrington Court in Somerset, Kingston Lacy in Dorset, Lyme in Cheshire, Oxburgh in Norfolk and Petworth in West Sussex all reopened. The Argory in County Armagh will welcome visitors from Wednesday and Packwood in Warwickshire will follow on Friday.
Limited tickets for the following week will go on sale every Friday, according to the charity’s website.
Leading experts have criticised the UK government’s stance on face coverings, describing it as inconsistent and “jolly confusing”.
Dr Venki Ramakrishnan, the president of the Royal Society who also sits on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on coronavirus, said the evidence on face coverings had “shifted” and was now “quite strongly in favour” of using face coverings in enclosed spaces where people are likely to come into contact with strangers.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think that the government should be very clear. It’s not consistent to make it mandatory in public transport and not make it mandatory in other enclosed and busy public spaces because the behaviour of the virus is the same in all of these spaces.”
He added: “Scotland made it mandatory and it’s not been a problem in Scotland. People have, since last week, been going about their business, going shopping, it gives people confidence.
Should face coverings be compulsory in shops?
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 13, 2020
President of the Royal Society Dr Venki Ramakrishnan says it doesn’t make sense to make masks mandatory on public transport but not other enclosed spaces, as the virus doesn’t know the difference. pic.twitter.com/M2eYUPCDix
Linda Bauld, a professor in public health at the University of Edinburgh, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the UK government needed to be “much clearer” and make the wearing of face coverings mandatory in shops.
“From a behavioural science perspective, it is jolly confusing the messaging we’ve seen over the last few days,” said Bauld, referring to the differing stances of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and, this morning, Robert Buckland.
Bauld said the evidence had “moved on” and that 120 countries now required or strongly recommended their citizens wear face coverings, compared with around 70 when the pandemic was first declared by the World Health Organization on 11 March.
Bauld said that requiring people to wear a face covering in shops, as is the case in Scotland from today, would make a difference “because it basically says to people: this is expected”.
The professor said it was “much better to be clear and consistent” about why face coverings were required and that political leaders should lead by example, including by wearing face coverings in public.
Updated
Justice secretary says face coverings could be made mandatory in England's shops
Should it be mandatory for people to wear face coverings in shops across the whole of the UK?
In Scotland, it is the law for shoppers to wear face coverings when they reopen today. But the governments in England and Wales have stopped short of making it mandatory and the messaging from Westminster has been unclear in recent days.
Boris Johnson said on Friday that ministers were “looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings, in shops, for example” and that “we need to be stricter about insisting people wear face coverings in confined places where they are meeting people they don’t normally meet”.
But on Sunday, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, said it would not be made mandatory in England and that the government would “trust people’s good sense”.
Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, said this morning they should be made “mandatory perhaps” if people are not wearing face coverings inside shops out of choice.
He added:
[Gove] took the view as he was answering the question that we should encourage good sense - I agree with that. If it becomes necessary to nudge people further by taking further action then of course we will consider that.
We’ve done it on public transport where people have to be together with each other perhaps for hours at a time. We follow the evidence and take considered decisions. I think the matter is under careful and daily review.
Asked on BBC Breakfast about his own mask-wearing habits, Buckland said he carries one with him all the time:
I think outside is one thing, with social distancing, but a small shop I think is a very sensible place to wear a covering, and it protects people working in the shop, and also anybody else who you might come into contact with.
I think a mask is just an additional helpful mitigation that isn’t just an act of courtesy. I think it’s an act of increasing safety and public confidence.
Asked if he would wear one in a supermarket, he said:
I think, carrying one with me and wearing one into a supermarket is a good idea and I think, frankly, the best thing to do is to carry on wearing it. I think if the supermarket is very busy then wearing it is absolutely sensible. I think people can be trusted to have the good sense to make the judgment call.
Updated
The continuing city-wide lockdown of Leicester is “not justified”, its mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, has said, after he was provided with government data that apparently shows the outbreak is only in a “couple of areas of the city”.
Soulsby told BBC Breakfast that, having “finally” been provided with “useful data”, they know that around 10% of the city has recorded a higher transmission of the virus.
He said:
If we had known that weeks ago we could’ve actually dealt with it at that time and prevented this lockdown.
It’s very clear when you look at the data that it’s a couple of areas of the city that have got a higher than the average transmission of the virus, and certainly the way in which the city has been locked down in its entirety, and indeed beyond our boundary, is not justified.
Soulsby criticised the government for not passing on this data “many, many weeks ago”, adding that even now the information being provided to his health officials was incomplete and out of date.
He added:
I mean even the data we’re getting now is the best part of two weeks out of date, and we need to be knowing, on a day-by-day basis street-by-street basis, what that data is telling us and then we can tell whether or not, in those particular neighbourhoods, we’re actually combating the virus effectively.
We need to know the ethnicity of the people who are being tested, we need to know where they are working. There’s been all this talk about perhaps it’s passed on in factories, but we have no way of knowing that.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is due to announce later this week whether Leicester’s extended lockdown will continue beyond this weekend, with many of the city’s restaurants and hair salons not expecting to reopen until August.
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Justice secretary cites 'appalling litany of abuse' in Leicester garment factories
The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has said he welcomes the National Crime Agency investigation into alleged worker exploitation in Leicester, where there are concerns that conditions inside some of the city’s sweatshops were factor in the local surge in coronavirus cases.
Buckland told Sky News:
A light has now been shone on an appalling litany of abuse and I’m glad to hear that the National Crime Agency (NCA) is now conducting an investigation, its got a lot of power to bring in various agencies to start the work of an investigation into this.
Some will dispute Buckland’s suggestion that only now has a light been shone on the scandal, as concerns have been raised publicly about Leicester for years including in parliamentary reports, by regulators and in media coverage.
Buckland said modern-day slavery was “all around us. It’s in every town and city in Britain and indeed in our rural areas as well,” and that authorities would “do everything we can to stamp it out”.
“This is not a job that’s going to take weeks, it’s going to take a long time but I welcome the investigation,” he added.
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Lockdown eases across UK
There is a further easing of the lockdown in parts of the UK today.
In Scotland, non-essential shops inside shopping malls will reopen this morning – with a new law making it compulsory to wear face-coverings inside them.
Children and young people in Scotland are allowed to play organised outdoor sport from today. Dentists and optometrists will be able to offer some services.
In Wales, pubs, bars and restaurants can start serving customers outdoors, while hairdressers can also reopen. People will be able to exercise in groups, with up to 30 people being allowed to play sport outside at once.
In England, beauty salons, spas, tattoo parlours and nail bars are welcoming back their first clients for almost four months – but some treatments, such as eyebrow threading, are still banned, leaving many salons unable to reopen.
Planning a trip to a beer garden in Wales? Or heading for an outdoor game of meticulously-organised squash after heading to a shopping mall in Scotland?
Let us know if you’re planning to enjoy your newfound freedoms. Comment below or contact me directly on Twitter – @JoshHalliday – or email: josh.halliday@theguardian.com. I also welcome news tips and suggestions of areas we should be investigating!
Today’s front pages lead on a range of stories, with the Guardian reporting that councils in England are poised to shed thousands of jobs and cut services to cope with losses from their multi-billion pound investments in office blocks, airports and shopping centres.
GUARDIAN: Councils lose millions after virus hits investments #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/tdUIxXSU0T
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 12, 2020
As the UK government prepares to announce whether Huawei will be allowed to provide technology for 5G networks – with a decision expected on Tuesday – the Daily Mail reports on a Chinese “fixer” being photographed with five UK prime ministers.
MAIL: Chinese fixer targets 5 Prime Ministers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mV71RnhnDY
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 12, 2020
The Telegraph, the Times and the Express all lead on the changes due to be unveiled to the UK’s immigration system later on Monday:
TELEGRAPH: Migration crackdown to bar EU criminals #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/8MoJFU9501
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 12, 2020
EXPRESS: Get Ready! #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/3DsudTcUtU
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 12, 2020
TIMES: Brexit era brings rise in holiday insurance costs #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/5P1UhtgVSh
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 12, 2020
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s UK liveblog.
Public health officials are taking action to suppress more than 100 coronavirus outbreaks across the UK each week, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said.
Writing in the Telegraph, Hancock said officials were finding more coronavirus cases due to the increased testing. He added:
“The result is we can lift more of the lockdown, and take targeted action. Each week there are over a hundred local actions taken across the country – some of these will make the news, but many more are swiftly and silently dealt with.
“This is thanks in large part of the incredible efforts of local authorities – all of whom have stepped up and published their local outbreak control plans in line with the end of June deadline.
His comments came after 73 workers at a farm in Herefordshire tested positive for Covid-19.
About 200 workers at the vegetable farm and packing business, which supplies Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S and Aldi, have been ordered to isolate on the property following the outbreak.
Later today, the home secretary, Priti Patel, will unveil further details on the future of immigration in the UK from 1 January 2021, when the UK leaves the European Union single market and customs union.
Under the system, UK borders will be closed to so-called non-skilled workers and applicants will be have to show a greater understanding of English.
Applicants must also have a job offer with a minimum salary of £25,600 a year, with a few exceptions. But the most significant change is the end of freedom of movement for EU nationals, who will be treated equally to arrivals from outside the bloc.
Citizens and companies will also be told to expect significant and costly changes to travel in Europe from 1 January, with warnings about passports, travel insurance, mobile data charges and travelling with pets.
It comes as company directors said only one in four businesses were prepared for Britain’s full departure from the European Union in five months’ time.
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