Evening summary
Here’s a round-up of the key events of the day.
• The government announced the biggest single-day increase in coronavirus cases since 12 June with 1,522 new cases, taking the total to more than 330,000. There have now been 41,477 deaths.
• Jamaica, Switzerland and the Czech Republic were removed from the travel corridor list by the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, while Cuba was added. The new rules mean people arriving into the UK from the first three countries after 4am Saturday will have to quarantine for two weeks, while those arriving from Cuba after that time will not.
• An outbreak at a poultry plant in Norfolk has led to its partial closure. At least 350 staff and their households will have to self-isolate as a result.
• Pret a Manger announced it had cut 2,800 jobs, significantly more than the 1,000 figure on redundancies that it warned of in July. The Royal Shakespeare Company also said it will begin redundancy consultations.
• The government missed its contact-tracing target for the ninth week in a row, with 75.5% of close contacts reached through the NHS system against the 80% target.
• Ed Davey became the leader of the Liberal Democrats, comfortably defeating his rival Layla Moran and immediately signalling that he would try to move beyond the party’s narrow appeal to remain-voting supporters at the last election.
• Health secretary Matt Hancock faced uncomfortable questions over the £13 a day on offer to those asked to self-isolate. LBC’s Nick Ferrari asked: ‘Is £13 a day enough to persuade someone not to leave the house? I’m not going to stay indoors for £13. Are you, secretary of state?”
We’re closing the UK blog shortly, but you can continue to follow our world coronavirus coverage by clicking below.
Updated
Number of asylum applications to UK almost halves
Even as the government seeks to take a hard line on refugees crossing the Channel and the Home Office tweets that “activist lawyers” are disrupting the removal of migrants with no right to be in the UK (before later agreeing not to use the phrase), new figures reveal that the number of asylum applications has almost halved as a result of coronavirus.
A total of 8,455 claims to be granted asylum in the UK were submitted in the first three months of the year, compared with 4,850 from April to June, figures from the Home Office showed.
The UK offered asylum or other forms of humanitarian protection to 16,952 people in the year to June - 8% fewer than in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, a resettlement programme had to be suspended because of coronavirus, prompting campaigners to call for it to be reinstated.
The Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) accounted for more than three-quarters (2,956) of those resettled in the UK in the year to June.
Since the project launched almost six years ago, 19,768 refugees, mainly Syrian nationals, have been resettled in the UK as part of a 20,000 target by the end of 2020.
Stephen Hale, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said the scheme had been frozen since 12 March and there had been no arrivals through the scheme since.
“Whilst pausing the programme earlier this year was understandable due to the pandemic, there is no earthly reason why it can’t be restarted now.”
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A senior official at the Czech Republic’s tourism board said they “deeply regret” the UK’s decision to remove the country from its quarantine exemption list.
Katarina Hobbs, director of CzechTourism UK and Ireland, said: “The Czech Republic remains a safe country to travel to. It will continue to monitor and manage the current situation whilst welcoming visitors to the country.
“This is a British government decision that we deeply regret and hope that the UK government will reconsider their decision very soon.”
She added: “We continue to provide important information to tourists who are visiting – which includes avoiding crowded areas and following the strict rules that have been implemented by the Czech Republic government.
“The Czech Republic can assure all visitors that strict rules and measures are in place for travellers and citizens – wherever the location.”
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In Wales, the health minister, Vaughan Gething, confirmed travellers from the Czech Republic, Jamaica and Switzerland would have to quarantine. But he said Cuba and Singapore would be added to the list of exempt countries.
As in England, the new regulations will come into force at 4am Saturday.
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As the prospect of sudden quarantines for people arriving in the UK becoms more familiar, it’s worth noting that insurers will have little sympathy. Patrick Ikhena, of comparethemarket, said a decision to cancel a trip to avoid the mandatory quarantine rules would be considered a “disinclination to travel” and many policies would be unlikely to pay out.
He also said that most travel insurance policies would no longer cover trips to the three countries included in Grant Shapps’ announcement, and advised holidaymakers that they may be able to get compensation or alternative dates and destinations if they contacted their airline or hotel.
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Further to Shapps’ announcement, the DfT issued a statement:
Infections from Covid-19 are on the rise across Europe.
“The government has made consistently clear it will take decisive action if necessary to contain the virus, which includes removing countries from the travel corridors list rapidly, if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.
“This means holidaymakers may find they need to self-isolate on return to the UK and are advised to consider the implications of self-isolation on them and their families before making travel plans.
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Shapps, who released the news via Twitter, also said that Cuba had been removed from the quarantine list.
Data also shows we can now add Cuba to those countries INCLUDED in Travel Corridors. As with all air bridge countries, please be aware that things can (and do sometimes) change quickly. Only travel if you are content to unexpectedly 14-day quarantine on return.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) August 27, 2020
Quarantine for travellers from Jamaica, Switzerland and Czech Republic
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has confirmed that travellers from the Czech Republic, Jamaica and Switzerland will have to quarantine for 14 days if they arrive in England after 4am on Saturday.
Officials had been waiting for the most up-to-date infection figures to be released in Prague before making a final call.
The Department for Transport said equivalent measures were being put in place in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Scotland took Switzerland off its list last week.
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Pret axes 2,800 jobs
Pret a Manger has said it has completed a restructuring of its UK business and axed 2,800 roles from its shops, significantly more than it warned of earlier in the summer.
In July, the sandwich chain said it would close 30 stores and cut more than 1,000 jobs. It said then that sales were 74% lower than the same time last year as people continued to work from home.
Before the redundancies the company employed 13,000 shop staff globally, including 8,000 in the UK.
Updated
The daily figure of 1,522 new lab-confirmed cases is up from 1,048 yesterday. And it is the highest single day figure since June 12.
You can explore the figures on the government’s coronavirus data page.
Updated
1,500 new cases of coronavirus
The government said that as of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 1,522 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus. Overall, 330,368 cases have been confirmed.
Figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,200 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Separate figures say that 41,477 people had died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, an increase of 12 on the day before.
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New research has found that coronavirus-related delays to IVF treatment will have a significant impact on successful births.
Analysis of UK and US data found that across all ages of women, the lockdown is likely lead to to a drop of 0.5% in the live birth rate after IVF treatment.
In the US this is the equivalent of 734 fewer live births a year, according to researchers from the University of the West of England and the University of Glasgow.
Andrew Smith, a senior lecturer in statistics at UWE Bristol, said: “As IVF success is very sensitive to age, older women are less likely to have a successful outcome and live birth rates will be lower as a result.
“For a three-month shutdown in treatment, for instance, we predicted a 0.8% reduction in live birth rate, which is significant.”
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At least 350 households will have to self-isolate after a coronavirus outbreak at a poultry plant in Norfolk, Kevin Rawlinson reports:
The Banham Poultry site, about 15 miles south-west of Norwich, had been partially closed and all staff who worked on its cutting floor had been sent home, local health officials said.
Norfolk officials declared the Banham outbreak on Tuesday, saying at that point that seven positive tests had been returned. That was increased to 46 the next day and 75 on Thursday as more test results were returned.
Sad news from the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has said that it will begin redundancy consultations with some employees, and that it does not expect its theatres to fully reopen until next year.
Artistic director Gregory Doran and executive director Catherine Mallyon issued a statement saying: “It is now clear that the ongoing pandemic and the continued need for social distancing mean that we will not be able to stage full RSC productions in our theatres before 2021.”
They added: “It is with great sadness that we have now reached the stage where a formal consultation process with employees must take place to safeguard the long-term future of the company.
“We had hoped that things would have become more positive by now, but this has not been the case.”
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One of the country’s most senior police officers has said he is “disgusted” at a rise in recorded assaults of emergency services workers in England and Wales.
Martin Hewitt, the chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said constabularies would “use the full force of the law” to prosecute those accused of striking police officers, ambulance workers and fire crews.
His comments came after the latest figures showed the number of incidents in a four-week period rose by almost one-third compared with the same period last year.
The figures, for the 28-day period in England and Wales to 2 August – and marking the first data since pubs in England were allowed to reopen from 4 July – show recorded assaults on emergency workers were up 31% on the corresponding period last year.
It contrasts starkly with the overall picture for England and Wales, which recorded a 7% reduction in notifiable crime during this time frame compared with last year.
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Josh Halliday reports on issues with England’s test-and-trace system, with one in seven home tests failing to produce a result:
The proportion of home tests kits failing to produce a result in the week ending 19 August rose sharply, from 4% to 15% of the total, equating to more than 18,000 tests …
The number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 fell in the week, for the first time since the start of July. This was despite a 2% increase in the number of tests carried out. It is too early to draw conclusions about whether this means community transmission of the virus is falling.
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Public Health Wales said another person has died having tested positive for coronavirus, bringing its total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,595.
The number of cases of Covid-19 in Wales increased by 35, bringing the revised confirmed total to 17,843.
Switzerland and Jamaica set to be removed from travel corridor list
My colleague Simon Murphy reports that Switzerland and Jamaica are set to be removed from England’s travel corridor list, meaning arrivals from the countries will have to quarantine for two weeks.
But Cuba, where the situation has improved, is likely to be added to the list. Ministers are waiting for the latest figures on the Czech Republic before they decide whether to add it as well.
You can read the full story here:
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Kevin Lygo, ITV’s director of television, has been speaking at the (virtual) Edinburgh TV festival about the impact of coronavirus on the channel.
“Production is back, generally speaking, a lot of issues are emerging as we start to film stuff, learning how to make big shows without audiences,” he said. “But for ITV it’s not been bad, to keep all the live shows on air through this, five days a week, six, seven hours a day, that was terribly important to us to inform people, to keep our schedule going.
“We were looking at so many repeats of quiz shows in the morning if those shows had gone, it was terrifying.
“The soaps were the next thing, because they did stop filming and I think now that they are back fully doing it, it has changed a bit but I still think it’s magnificent.
“We made an early decision to halve the amounts of soaps we had on air and that enabled us to keep the soaps alive.”
Addressing the process of getting dramas back up and running, Lygo said: “We have only started in the last week and quite a few more are gearing up. We had a couple of dramas interrupted and there is a logistical nightmare with actors’ time and directors’ time, but the industry is pulling together to understand there is a pecking order of when people can do shows.”
He said that one unanticipated consequence was the number of new viewers watching during the day. He added: “Trying to put a positive spin on all of this, if all these people tried for the first time, hopefully they will stick around a bit longer because the ratings have been up ... It’s a good sign and I think public service broadcasters have shown how trusted they are.”
He said the channel’s ad revenue “slightly fell off a cliff” but “we have seen it come back fast so far”.
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Pogba is not the only footballer to test positive for Covid-19. At least four Chelsea players have returned positive tests, Jacob Steinberg reported today, with others self-isolating after returning from holiday. And Aaron Wan-Bissaka, also of Manchester United, is facing a 14-day quarantine period after returning from Dubai (though he is not reported to have tested positive).
Manchester United footballer Paul Pogba tests positive for coronavirus
The manager of the France football team, Didier Deschamps, has said that the midfielder Paul Pogba has tested positive for coronavirus.
That means that the player will be unavailable for selection for France’s upcoming international fixtures.
Tanguy Ndombele, who plays for Tottenham, has also been diagnosed with the virus and stood down from the French squad.
Deschamps said of Pogba: “At the last minute, we had to make a change to the list because Paul Pogba had been on the list but, unfortunately for him, he took a test yesterday that came back positive this morning.” He has been replaced by Rennes teenager Eduardo Camavinga.
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That’s all from me, Caroline Davies. Handing back to Archie Bland now.
More than 19,000 animals are stepping on the scales for their annual weigh-in at ZSL London Zoo as it warned of the “catastrophic” impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Penguins, squirrel monkeys and camels were among the creatures to have their height and weight recorded on Thursday, which allows zookeepers to monitor their health and wellbeing.
Forced to close for an unprecedented three months due to the pandemic, the Regent’s Park zoo says a loss of income from ticket sales has put a “huge financial pressure” on its operation, PA Media reports.
Sir David Attenborough and comedians including Jonathan Ross and Catherine Tate have fronted videos aiming to raise funds for the Zoological Society of London, which runs London and Whipsnade zoos.
More than £1m per month is needed to care for the animals and, while zoos were allowed to reopen on 15 June, social distancing means visitor numbers have been limited.
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A rise in confirmed coronavirus cases across Liverpool has prompted public health officials to issue an urgent warning, the Liverpool Echo reports.
The last two weeks have seen a steady increase in the rolling weekly total, although it is lower than in other areas that have restrictions in place.
The cases are not confined to a specific area but are across the city, and the data shows that adults under 40 account for half of the confirmed cases.
Public Health England data shows the number of new Covid-19 cases in the city reached 84 in the seven days up to 19 August. The previous week had seen 61.
With schools set to reopen next week, people are being urged remain vigilant to help try and avoid cases in the community and in schools and colleges, the paper reports.
As a result, a renewed appeal is being made, particularly to under-40s, to respect social distancing, wearing of face coverings, and to abide by limits on household mixing and get tested if experiencing symptoms.
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Hi. Caroline Davies here, taking over the blog for a while. You can get in touch on caroline.davies@theguardian.com
Government falls short of contact-tracing target for ninth week in row
The test and trace figures released earlier – with 75.5% of close contacts reached through the NHS system – represented the ninth week in a row where the government has fallen short of its 80% target.
Dido Harding, the interim executive chair of the National Institute for Health Protection, said: “We will continue to build the service further to reach more and more people and to scale up our testing capacity by expanding our network of testing sites and investing in new technologies.”
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Sturgeon: only 0.3% of young people tested for coronavirus last week were positive
Nicola Sturgeon has provided a breakdown of testing figures for young people as she attempts to reassure parents about the risks to pupils returning to school.
She said that 17,500 young people aged 2-17 years were tested last week and of those only 49 had tested positive for the virus, which works out as a 0.3% positivity rate.
She said that this showed that parents should be vigilant “but not unduly concerned”, and reminded parents of the particular symptoms that merited booking a test.
She also confirmed that police would from today have additional powers to break up house parties, which have been identified as a source of transmission in a number of recent clusters.
She directed a message specifically to young people: “This is not about trying to stop people having fun. We are not trying to police your social lives … but for the overall health and wellbeing of the country it needs to be done safely and responsibly.”
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Local council leaders in north of England criticise ward-by-ward lockdown plan
Council leaders in Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees have joined Greater Manchester in attacking the government’s communications and strategy of ward-by-ward lockdowns in areas with higher coronavirus infection rates.
With a new announcement on restrictions in parts of Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and West Yorkshire due to be made on Friday, councillors Susan Hinchcliffe, Tim Swift and Shabir Pandor, the leaders of Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees respectively, said:
Adding and subtracting restrictions ward by ward makes the already confused local regulations almost impossible to understand for residents so it begs the question whether restrictions across partial geography can be of any use at all?
On top of this, people’s patience is wearing thin with the confusion. They need to know that the restrictions are fair otherwise they won’t keep to them.
They called on the government to lift restrictions in their three council areas in line with the rest of England so that messaging to the public would be “clearer”.
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The number of people arriving in the UK by air in July was 89% lower than during the same month last year, new figures show.
Some 1.3 million passengers flew into the UK last month compared with 11.1 million in July 2019, the Home Office said.
But the figures do indicate a rise in demand for air travel since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The average number of monthly arrivals by air in April, May and June was below 200,000.
Data released by the National Police Chiefs Council shows that 18,683 fixed-penalty notices were issued under new coronavirus laws in England and Wales between 27 March and 17 August.
The weekly count for England and Wales shows there was a general upward trend in the first period of the restrictions which continued through early April and peaked in the week ending 16 April, which included the Easter bank holiday.
There was then generally a flatter trend through the rest of April and early May.
Penalties tailed off considerably since then, as lockdown restrictions were lifted. For example, in the last four-week period just 13 fines were issued by forces in England.
A total of 46 fixed-penalty notices were issued between 15 June and 17 August for breaches of face covering rules, the majority (38) for not wearing a covering on public transport. The remaining eight related to not wearing a covering in a shop.
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Here’s Kate Proctor’s analysis of the task ahead for Davey. It notes some concerns over maintaining the support of those members who backed Moran because they hoped she might mark a radical departure with the party’s past and take it to the left. One member says:
I could see some people going under Ed. For some members of the party it’s more of the same and not different enough. Of course the idea of a radical left party is naturally appealing to some but is it shoring up the soft Tory vote? We need to remember most of our target seats are those areas. Your Guildfords and Eastbournes, middle England.
To the public this has probably been a boring election but for the party it’s probably been one of the more fractious internally.
The full piece is here.
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Davey’s victory over Moran means the three biggest UK-wide parties are led by white men with seats in London, a fact which may not do much to realise the hopes all three have espoused to speak more effectively for the whole country.
Turning back to coronavirus, new figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show that 75.5% of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England were reached through the test-and-trace system in the week ending 19 August.
That figure is up from 71.6% in the previous week. For cases handled by local health protection teams, 95.6% of contacts were reached and asked to self-isolate in the week to 19 August. By contrast, for those cases handled either online or by call centres, 61.6% of close contacts have been reached and asked to self-isolate.
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Davey seeks to signal his hope of moving the party beyond the remain supporters who have backed it in recent years by saying: “Whether you’re from the north, south, or somewhere in between, whether you voted for Brexit or remain, or just wanted the whole thing settled, whether you voted Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, SNP or Plaid, my message for you is this: I will travel up and down our country to meet you ... I will face up to uncomfortable truths. And I will make your concerns my own.”
When he finishes speaking he gives some awkward commiserations to a masked Layla Moran and leaves.
Updated
Here’s political editor Heather Stewart’s full story on Davey’s victory.
Davey says he loves the party and stands for social justice, political reform, equality, and protecting the environment. “I stand for fairness and fighting to protect the rights of ordinary people,” he says. And he says that he backs international cooperation.
But he says the party must “wake up and smell the coffee” because it has lost touch with voters at the national level. “We have to face the facts of three disappointing general election results,” he says. “The truth is voters don’t believe the Liberal Democrats want to help ordinary people get on in life... nationally voters have been sending us a message, but we have not been listening. It is time for us to start listening. As leader I am telling you that I have got that message. I am listening now.”
Davey got 42,756 votes against 24,564 for Moran. He is speaking now and begins by thanking Moran, the party membership, and his family.
Ed Davey is new leader of the Liberal Democrats
The Lib Dems have announced the new leader of the party is Ed Davey.
Davey, who succeeds Jo Swinson, has been acting leader since the party’s disastrous 2019 general election results. He comfortably beat Layla Moran in a race that was postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ciaran Martin, the departing head of the National Cyber Security Centre, has said that a rise in online scams and cyberattacks linked to coronavirus have proven the worth of the NCSC.
During lockdown, the body launched a reporting service which allowed people to forward suspicious emails directly to the agency for further investigation - it has so far received more than 1.8 million reports, which has resulted in over 16,800 malicious sites being blocked or taken down.
Mr Martin told the BBC that as well as an increase in online scams looking to exploit fears around the virus and tricking people into giving up personal information on buying goods, foreign actors targeting vaccine development had presented a new challenge.
“For a lot of the things that we were seeing in the high end of vaccine protection, it was detected by us because it was the more sophisticated end, where the attacker is trying harder not to get caught,” he said.
This is Archie Bland taking over the UK live blog from Damien Gayle.
The Guardian’s community team is seeking readers’ views of the scheme to pay people on low incomes up to £182 if they are forced to self-isolate. They’re particularly interested in hearing from people living in areas with high rates of infection at the moment. Get in touch here:
The number of asylum applications received by the UK between April and June nearly halved quarter-on-quarter, fresh figures show, as the Covid-19 pandemic limited migration flows across the world, writes Jamie Grierson, the Guardian’s home affairs correspondent.
There were 4,850 asylum applications made in the second quarter of the year, compared to 8,455 in the first three months of the year, Home Office statistics reveal.
The figures come at a time of heightened anxiety over a significant increase in migrants arriving in the UK on small boats across the Channel, underlining that the rise in arrivals across the strait of Dover comes when overall asylum applications are down.
While high compared with historic averages, the number of migrants arriving in small boats between April and June – around 1,960 to 1,980, according to analysis by PA Media – is significantly lower than the near 4,000 plunge in asylum applications in the same period.
More than 5,000 people have arrived in the UK on small boats across the strait of Dover so far this year, more than double the total for the whole of 2019.
The drop in asylum applications and rise in Channel crossings can in part be explained by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which restricted movement across the world.
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Josh Halliday, the Guardian’s north of England correspondent, has written on the responses today to the government’s scheme to pay poorer workers to self-isolate. He writes:
The government trial to pay low-paid workers in England up to £13 a day to self-isolate if they test positive for the coronavirus has been described as a “slap in the face” that would leave people without enough money to live on.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, defended the level of payment as being based on statutory sick pay of £95.85 a week, but the amount was roundly criticised as going “nowhere near far enough”.
Mohammed Iqbal, the leader of Pendle borough council, one of the areas where the scheme is being trialled, said: “I welcome the fact that there is a financial package in place but the figures that the government has introduced are really a slap in the face for those people who sadly test positive.”
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Air arrivals leap sixfold after lockdown eased
The number of passengers arriving in the UK by air increased more than sixfold month-on-month in July as lockdown restrictions were eased and travel corridors were introduced between different countries, writes Jamie Grierson, the Guardian’s home affairs correspondent.
There were 1.2 million arrivals to the UK by air in July, compared with less than 200,000 in June, Home Office statistics reveal.
However, the total number of arrivals in July was still 89% down on the same month in 2019, when 11.1 million people arrived in the UK by air, the data shows.
From 8 June, all arrivals in the UK were required to self-isolate for 14 days but this was significantly relaxed on 10 July with the introduction of so-called travel corridors, which allowed quarantine-free travel between designated nations.
Since then, a number of popular holiday destinations, including Spain, France and Croatia, have seen mandatory quarantine reimposed.
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Half of Britons call for furlough scheme extension - poll
Half of Britons want the government to extend its job retention furlough scheme for an extra year, in a move that would mirror longer protections to be put in place in Germany, according to a poll commissioned by the trade union Unite.
The UK’s economy has taken the biggest hit of all the G7 major economies and is facing job losses at a level not seen in living memory. In a press release, Unite said it was particularly concerned that vital strategic sectors, such as manufacturing and aviation, would shed tens of thousands of jobs unless the UK adopted extended job support measures.
The survey of more than 1,000 working adults revealed that nearly half (49%) want the government to emulate the Germans by extending furlough for another year. Support for extending the JRS was greatest in the south (49%) and London (57%).
Just over a third (35%) said they felt it was time for the scheme to be scrapped.
The survey also found that nearly one in five (19%) were pessimistic about their job and income security in the coming year, compared with just over a third who were optimistic.
And two-thirds (66%) supported the extension of a ban on evictions for those who can’t afford to pay their rent until March 2021.
Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, said:
This poll is a clear indicator of the public’s fear for the near future.
Little wonder that Britons feel so uncertain about what is round the corner. More people in this country have fallen victim to Covid-19 and the UK’s economy has shrunk by more than twice as that of our major competitor, Germany.
Tens of thousands of jobs have gone over the summer, and as the end of the job retention scheme grows ever closer, we’re extremely worried that UK employers will shed even more.
The extension of the scheme would calm nerves and put a solid floor under an economy that is braced for a certain storm this autumn.
Despite Germany’s relatively optimistic economic outlook, Angela Merkel has extended her country’s version of the job retention scheme to further boost economic growth. Other European countries including France, Spain and Italy have or are going to do the same. We urge Boris Johnston to show support for Britain’s workers and follow suit.
Westminster is also lagging behind Scotland and Northern Ireland, where the eviction ban has sensibly been extended until March next year. As things stand, hard-up families in England and Wales face being turfed out of their homes next month in the midst of an economic contraction the like of which has not been seen for generations.
During this time of national crisis and severe economic disruption, people need leadership that will provide security for their homes and livelihoods and the economy.
We are only asking the government does for its citizens what nations across Europe are doing, which is to take action to prevent vital industries and jobs from going into a tailspin and to ensure communities are able to weather the worst impacts of the pandemic.
The workers of this country expect the UK government now to do the same.
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The level of financial support for offered by the government to people who have to self-isolate is “nowhere near enough to provide real support” and “a slap in the face for those people who sadly test positive” that offers no incentive to stay at home, council leaders in areas where the scheme is being piloted have said.
The Pendle borough council leader, Mohammed Iqbal, said the level of financial support is “not acceptable”. The Labour councillor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
The figures that the government have introduced are really a slap in the face for those people who sadly test positive and there is no incentive in my opinion for those people to self-isolate.
If you’re a manual worker who’s not able to do their job from home, normally getting paid the living wage or the minimum wage, the government are now going to say to you we’ll pay you £4.55 an hour. Not acceptable.
Oldham council’s leader, Sean Fielding, said:
I am pleased that the government have agreed to at least provide some financial help for those being asked to self-isolate in Oldham.
Sadly this offer is nowhere near enough to provide real support, and it shows how out of touch with ordinary people this government is.
I stand with the Time Out To Help Out campaign in asking government to support people across the country to self-isolate on full pay. People should not have to worry about loss of income whilst being asked to self-isolate.
Oldham residents have pulled together to face this crisis; we now need Government do to their bit. We need a real and meaningful offer of support for Oldham residents, who deserve better.
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More from Matt Hancock, who has been put through the wringer of broadcast interviews this morning. The health secretary has denied claims in the Times this morning that the NHS has a “hidden waiting list” of 15.3 million patients who need follow-up appointments for health problems.
The paper had reported the figure was gleaned from what it described as “the first analysis of its kind”, adding:
The official waiting list, which stands at 3.9 million, shows how many patients are yet to have their first hospital appointment after a GP referral.
However, the total number who are on hospital books in England and need appointments is not collated centrally. A new calculation, based on freedom of information requests to NHS trusts and seen by The Times, puts the figure at 15.3 million.
Thursday's Times: "NHS data shows 15m on 'hidden waiting list'" #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/1zaUiPmjUo
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) August 26, 2020
Responding to the report, Hancock told LBC radio:
I’ve looked into this research since it arrived in the Times overnight, and it is total rubbish. It is actually a count of the total number of appointments that there are ... what they’ve done is counted all the appointments that there are in the NHS.
If you have an appointment, that is not because you’re on a waiting list, it is because you are going to go and see someone in the NHS.
We measure waiting lists very rigorously and obviously a really important part of the recovery of the country post-coronavirus is getting those treatments that had to be delayed, getting them dealt with.
But let’s deal with the facts rather than a spurious survey.
The FTSE 100 index of leading shares on the London Stock Exchange eased in early trading, dropping by 0.1%. Stock markets have also retreated across Europe.
That followed a trading session in Asia that saw MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reach its highest point since August 2018 before dropping back to a 0.1% gain.
Jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, after revealing a £5.4bn loss and a plan to sell assets to shore up its creaking balance sheet.
Shares fell by 6.6% in early trading to approach their lowest point since the financial crisis.
Rolls-Royce has been hit hard by the decline in air travel, which has caused a massive hit to the revenues it earns from servicing jet engines. Total revenues fell by a quarter to £5.8bn in the first half of 2020.
Meanwhile, WPP reported a £2.6bn loss in the first half after the impact of the pandemic prompted the company to wipe billions off the value of expensive advertising acquisitions made by its founder and former chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell.
However, the world’s largest advertising group, which has shed 5,000 jobs in the first six months, surprised investors by re-instating its dividend declaring that the worst is now behind it, assuming there is no second wave of the virus.
Read more of the latest business news and market moves on our business blog, anchored today by Jasper Jolly.
Self-isolation payments could extend beyond lockdown areas
Matt Hancock has suggested there was potential for the new self-isolation support payments to be rolled out beyond initial pilot areas of Oldham and Blackburn with Darwen and Pendle, which have local lockdowns.
Asked on BBC Breakfast why people outside these areas were not entitled to the money, the health secretary said:
This is where we’re doing it in the first instance, firstly to make sure that the systems work, that we can get the money fast to people, because obviously if you’re asking somebody to self-isolate for a fortnight we want to try to get the money to them at the start of that rather than afterwards.
He said the payments were being introduced in areas which have “the most acute need”, adding: “We’ll see how that goes and we’ll get the feedback, with the potential to roll it out further.”
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The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said providing increased financial support to those asked to self-isolate in areas of high Covid-19 prevalence would help the NHS test and trace programme meet its target.
He told LBC radio that local lockdowns were “working” but further support was required to help encourage those contacted by NHS tracers to stay at home.
One of the challenges is we want to get NHS test and trace up to over 80% of contacts, getting them to self-isolate - we’re at just over 75%, so we’re nearly there but not quite there.
We talk to all these people because NHS test and trace phones them up and has a conversation, and one of the things, especially in areas of low income, that is causing some people to say: ‘I can’t do that’ or ‘I can’t give you the contacts’ is because they need to go to work.
Bringing in extra support, in addition to the universal credit they get, if people self-isolate is one of the things that people have been asking for to get those rates up because it really matters that the people that need to self-isolate do because that’s how we stop the spread of the virus.
However, he faced a stiff challenge from LBC presenter Nick Ferrari on whether £13 a day would persuade people to stay at home, when they had families to feed.
Matt Hancock announces a new payment for people being told to self-isolate.
— LBC (@LBC) August 27, 2020
Nick Ferrari: "Is £13 a day enough to persuade someone not to leave the house? I'm not going to stay indoors for £13. Are you, Secretary of State?"@NickFerrariLBC | @MattHancock pic.twitter.com/JZw8br4ZTU
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Restaurants are extending their offer of discounted meals in the government’s eat out to help out scheme after it ends on 31 August because of its popularity with diners, although the businesses will have to cover the costs themselves, writes Joanna Partridge for the Guardian business desk.
In September, consumers will be able to take advantage of reduced prices at nationwide chains including Harvester, Toby Carvery, Tesco Café, Bill’s, Pizza Hut and Prezzo.
The scheme has drawn people back into restaurants, bars and cafes, providing a much-needed boost for hospitality businesses hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. More than 64m meals have been claimed in total since it began at the start of the month – the equivalent of one for almost every person in the country.
Matt Hancock said the extra financial support for people on low incomes in lockdown areas required to self-isolate was “set at the level of statutory sick pay”.
Asked during an appearance on BBC Breakfast if payments representing £13 a day were enough, Hancock said they were “in addition” to other benefits that people on low incomes receive.
"Firstly to make sure the systems work"
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 27, 2020
Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, tells #BBCBreakfast why the new payment for people on low-incomes who are required to self-isolate will be limited to certain areas. https://t.co/BktH33iHAT pic.twitter.com/vu41cVwP8g
When it was put to him that people self-isolating would be losing income from their jobs, Hancock said:
Only in some cases, but absolutely we acknowledge that.
It’s set at the level of statutory sick pay in order to make sure that people don’t lose out from doing the right thing.
"It's set at the level of statutory sick pay"
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 27, 2020
On #BBCBreakfast Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, defends the payment of £13 a day for people on low incomes who are required to self-isolate after Greater Manchester's Mayor claims it's not enough. https://t.co/BktH33iHAT pic.twitter.com/UGxr4dlhpP
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In March, Matt Hancock said Statutory Sick Pay in the UK wasn't enough to live on.
— Anneliese Dodds (@AnnelieseDodds) August 27, 2020
Now he's saying people who aren't eligible for it should get a similar amount to self-isolate.
If the Health Secretary couldn’t live on less than £100 a week, why does he think other people can? pic.twitter.com/FcRjvNilQR
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that the additional financial support for those living in lockdown areas on low incomes who are asked to self-isolate was about addressing some of the “challenges” with the NHS test and trace programme.
Hancock told Sky News:
The big picture is we have to make sure we get as many people as possible successfully going through that NHS Test and Trace system and one of the challenges that has come back on the ground is to get that figure even higher for people on low incomes to make sure they get extra support if they’re going into self-isolation.
He denied that the development was evidence that universal credit was not enough to live on, arguing that “in fact the levels of universal credit were increased from the previous rates that were in place under the old system”.
Addressing this week’s other big story, Hancock said schools would need to be certain distancing was in place between teachers and pupils to ensure coronavirus was not spread between schools by supply teachers.
When asked about whether extra guidance was being given to schools about supply teachers working in multiple establishments, Hancock said:
The principle is that we want to keep certain teachers socially distanced from the pupils because there are all sorts of circumstances where a teacher might need to teach classes that are in different bubbles within the school.
The pupils are put within bubbles and the bubbles shouldn’t meet.
The goal is to keep the teachers socially distanced.
This is just one example of how challenging it is for all sorts of parts of society to minimise the impact of Covid.
My answer to you is that it is the social distancing between the teacher and pupils which is the goal here, but our total focus is on getting the schools back.
He said the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and the chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, were consulted on the decision to make it mandatory for secondary-aged pupils to wear face coverings in communal areas in schools which are in so-called coronavirus hot spots.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer were included in the government's decision to do a U-turn on face masks in schools.
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) August 27, 2020
Read more: https://t.co/3EqLbshq0e pic.twitter.com/M4Z7Db7V4Q
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Also in the Guardian’s coverage this morning is the news that black, Asian and minority ethnic people were significantly less likely to trust public officials and government scientists at the height of the coronavirus outbreak.
Fifty-seven per cent of BAME people reported having either complete trust or a great deal of trust in information from health scientists, compared with 75% of white people.
Forty-five per cent of BAME people had either complete trust or a great deal of trust in information from government scientific advisers, compared with 65% of white people. And BAME people were more worried about Covid-19’s impact on their physical, mental and financial wellbeing and about the impact on children’s education.
Arooj Shah, the deputy leader of Oldham council in Greater Manchester, which this month recorded the highest infection rate in the country, highlighted a possible barrier created by the daily Downing Street press briefings that often involved “three white men behind a podium telling you what you are doing”. She said: “You need to start looking like the people you represent.”
Half of young people anxious about socialising
Following the coronavirus lockdown, more than half of young people have developed anxiety about social interaction and six in 10 are concerned about being able to maintain social distancing at school, according to a survey.
The research, carried out for YMCA England, found that while nine in 10 missed face-to-face engagement, 52% have anxiety about social interaction and 63% are worried about being able to maintain social distancing when they return to school.
Some 57% are worried about not having a safe space to socialise with friends, 44% feel anxious to be in social spaces and 36% feel scared of the outside world. They are also worried about falling behind at school, future exam results and their job prospects.
More than half (57%) said they were worried about their family experiencing job losses or money problems. And 58% said relationships with family members have become strained during the lockdown. Overall, 43% are worried about their wellbeing as society recovers from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Some 1,009 young people aged 11 to 16 in the UK were surveyed by the charity between July 24 and 27.
Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England & Wales, said that without significant reinvestment in youth services, including safe spaces, mentors, mediation and mental health support, young people risk becoming a “lonely, lost generation with nowhere to turn”. She said:
The introduction of lockdown has accelerated and exacerbated the situation, with young people forced to stay at home, isolate themselves from their peers and be without access to positive activities.
A generation which was already at a disadvantage have been dealt a further blow by Covid-19 and face deep uncertainty about what is next for them in its wake.
What is essential to support young people through the easing of lockdown and beyond are safe spaces like youth services.
They can be utilised to carefully and positively build young people’s confidence, provide much-needed support and guidance, and ultimately help them to get back on track.
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There is a mixed bag across today’s national newspaper front pages, with every one picking a different story to splash.
GUARDIAN: Germany scraps Brexit talks after ‘wasted’ summer of no progress #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/IwyWaidUFY
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
Germany has scrapped plans to discuss Brexit at a high-level diplomatic meeting next week because there has not been “any tangible progress” in talks, the Guardian has learned, as Brussels laments a “completely wasted” summer.
EU officials now believe the UK government is prepared to risk a no-deal exit when the transition period comes to an end on 31 December, and will try to pin the blame on Brussels if talks fail.
THE TIMES: NHS data shows 15m on ‘hidden waiting list’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/NTaELoyhZB
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
According to the Times, the NHS has a “hidden waiting list” of 15.3 million patients who need followup appointments for health problems, according to what the paper describes as “the first analysis of its kind”.
The official waiting list, which stands at 3.9 million, shows how many patients are yet to have their first hospital appointment after a GP referral.
However, the total number who are on hospital books in England and need appointments is not collated centrally. A new calculation, based on freedom of information requests to NHS trusts and seen by The Times, puts the figure at 15.3 million.
TELEGRAPH: Victims of virus will be paid to quarantine #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/BOAppQNwkz
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
Coronavirus sufferers and their contacts will be paid to quarantine themselves, says the Telegraph, “amid signs that increasing numbers are refusing to self-isolate because of financial worries”.
You can find out more about that story from the Guardian’s coverage.
DAILY MAIL: We MUST rescue ghost town Britain #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/NFeBEo9u7z
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
The Daily Mail splashes on a senior business leader telling the prime minister, Boris Johnson, that he “must do more to get office workers back at their desks”.
Carolyn Fairbairn warns commercial centres risk being permanent “ghost towns”.
Writing in the Mail, the director general of the CBI says getting staff back into offices and workplaces is as important as the return of pupils to school.
Well, she would say that.
EXPRESS: Insect spray can kill virus says minister #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/5MWcCbOO9v
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
Following in its long tradition of placing unusual health-related stories on its front page, the Express reports on a “natural ingredient in a £10 insect repellent” that scientists have found can kill coronavirus.
The discovery, made by experts at the government’s military research facility Porton Down, Wiltshire, could provide millions of people with another layer of protection against the deadly disease.
Defence minister Jeremy Quin said that Citriodiol killed the virus and acted as a barrier for four hours.
METRO: Turtle Chaos #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/QcbmRfXSrf
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
According to the Metro, “wags on Twitter” have dubbed Ofqual’s unfair marking process the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Algorithm”, after Boris Johnson blamed the A-level grading debacle on a “mutant algorithm” - hence the otherwise incomprehensible headline.
MORNING STAR: Training killer states how to be better at it #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/eH3BDCIadd
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
The Morning Star leads on the news that British armed forces have provided military training for 17 countries listed by the Foreign Office as having abused human rights.
Anti-arms campaigners called for the government to review its military collaboration and training with nations on the Foreign Office list of 30 “human-rights priority countries”, which has been ongoing since 2018.
I: PM swings axe again as Tory unrest grows over U turns #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/6so1PgllfM
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
According to the i, senior Tories have condemned the government’s handling of Covid-19 guidance after it was forced into another major U-turn on pupils wearing face masks.
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: PM ousts top education official over school chaos #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/eHo3bue3YY
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
Boris Johnson was last night accused of “throwing civil service leaders under a bus” to protect himself and his ministers, reports the Independent, after he sacked the Department for Education’s top mandarin in the wake of the A-level exam grading fiasco.
MIRROR: Girls Aloud Sarah’s secret Cancer hell #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/zhZiOQ3KsP
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
Sarah Harding, the Girls Aloud singer, kept her breast cancer battle a secret from her Girls Aloud bandmates for months, according to the Mirror.
The 38-year-old only told them this week and revealed it has spread.
She said: “I’m doing my best to stay positive.”
STAR: Goner Kebabs #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YkP4w3fn4S
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 26, 2020
Finally, from the dependable Daily Star comes this:
Kebab-lovers face bank holiday chaos after experts warned we could run out of doner meat. A surge in demand from boozy staycationers could leave millions of hungry holidaymakers with empty stomachs.
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Good morning - the day ahead
Good morning, this is Damien Gayle bringing you the latest updates and headlines from coronavirus-related UK news this morning.
So far today we have learned of a new government scheme to pay people on low incomes in areas with high coronavirus infection rates up to £182 if they have to self-isolate.
Under the scheme, being trialled from Tuesday in Blackburn with Darwen, Oldham and Pendle, low-paid people who test positive for Covid-19 will receive £130 for their 10-day isolation period. This rises to £182 – or £13 a day – for people they have been in close contact with, including members of their household, who have to isolate for 14 days.
The move follows weeks of campaigning by regional mayors, councils and trade unions who said millions of people across the country could not afford to isolate without pay for a fortnight.
Later on we will be expecting the latest weekly Covid-19 epidemiology statistics from Public Health England, and the latest weekly statistics from the government’s test and trace programme. The Office for National Statistics will also be publishing data and experimental indicators on the impact of the pandemic on the UK economy and society.
There may be a meeting between Boris Johnson and the families of people who have lost loved ones to Covid-19, although this is to be confirmed. The government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre is also due to hold a meeting.
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