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Afternoon summary
Here’s a summary of the top UK coronavirus developments from this afternoon.
- A total of 3,539 new Covid-19 infections have been recorded in the government’s daily figures. A further six people have also died in the past 24 hours within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
- The health secretary’s suggestion that people taking unnecessary tests were responsible for a shortage has been described as “profoundly dangerous”. Independent Sage group member Prof Stephen Reicher said Matt Hancock’s comments could result in people delaying getting a test.
- Tougher coronavirus restrictions have been announced for Birmingham and parts of the West Midlands. From Tuesday, households will be banned from mixing in the city, as well as Sandwell and Solihull, the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, announced.
- The R-value across the UK has risen to between 1.0 and 1.2. Data released on Friday by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) shows the estimate for R across the UK is between 1.0 and 1.2.
- The Welsh first minister has warned of a “gathering storm” as cases in the country hit 20 per 100,000. Mark Drakeford said: “There is a serious risk of the virus spreading more widely once again.”
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The Covid-19 app will be launched across England and Wales on 24 September. Before its introduction businesses, including pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas, are being urged to ensure they have NHS QR code posters visible on entry so customers with the app can check in.
Updated
A further six people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, bringing the official death tally to 41,614.
As of Friday afternoon, 863 Covid-19 patients were in UK hospitals, while 78 patients required ventilator beds.
Updated
UK records 3,539 new cases in past 24 hours
A total of 3,539 new infections have been recorded in the government’s daily coronavirus figures.
The UK’s total caseload now stands at 361,677.
Updated
Hundreds of students who met the A-level requirements of their first-choice university after the government’s grading U-turn have still not secured a place at an institution, figures show.
Ucas said fewer than 1,500 students across the UK who were initially rejected by their preferred university on results day had still not secured degree places despite their grades rising.
The admissions service said some courses carried other conditions, such as professional tests, which these students might not have met, while some school leavers could still be looking through clearing.
Some of these students may also have opted to sit an exam in the autumn with an aim of starting a degree in January, while others may have decided against going to university altogether.
Ucas estimated that up to 15,000 A-level students across the UK who did not have their firm choice confirmed on results day may have subsequently achieved the academic requirements of their offer after Ofqual decided to abandon its algorithm and allow grades to be based on schools’ estimates.
Of these, the majority (87%) have been placed at one of their top choices or, after entering clearing, at an institution with similar entry requirements.
But 9% had yet to secure a degree place for this autumn or 2021, Ucas said.
Updated
Hancock blaming testing shortage on people who don't need them is 'profoundly dangerous', says Sage scientist
The health secretary, Matt Hancock’s suggestion there has been a surge in people seeking inappropriate coronavirus tests has been branded “profoundly dangerous” by a member of the Independent Sage group.
Hancock said earlier this week that there had been an increase in people seeking tests when they had no symptoms of Covid-19.
One school sent a whole year group for tests, which was “not appropriate”, he said. He also said some people who were going on holiday had sought a test, which is “not what the testing system is here for”.
But his comments were criticised on Friday by Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Sage group, who said: “The government seem more intent on managing blame than managing the pandemic.
“To tell people off for getting tests is profoundly dangerous, because the real problem is this, that when people are unsure ... if you tell them, ‘Oh you mustn’t get a test if you’re not unwell,’ they will delay.
“It will be longer before people get tests, they will be infectious for longer without doing anything about it, and the infection will spread more.
“So what Matt Hancock said is not only wrong, it’s profoundly dangerous and it will increase the pandemic.”
The current testing programme has faced considerable criticism for struggling to meet demand, with many people trying to access a test receiving an error message telling them to try again.
On Tuesday, NHS Test and Trace’s director of testing apologised to people who were unable to get a test.
Updated
The leader of Manchester city council has warned of a full lockdown if coronavirus cases do not begin to fall in the city.
Sir Richard Leese said: “Over the past few months guidance has been confusing and I appreciate the frustration that many people must have felt.
“But there can be no confusion about what the end result will be if the number of Covid-19 cases do not start to go down: a full lockdown in Manchester.
“I am determined that we will avoid this, but this can only be achieved through the actions of every resident, business and community. This is our Manchester, and as a city we will always pull together in times of crisis.”
A ban on two households mixing is currently in place in Manchester, where the weekly rate of infection has risen to 71.6 per 100,000 people.
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Birmingham city council leader, Ian Ward, said the spread had primarily occurred in private households and in places where social distancing was not being observed, with younger people disproportionately affected by infections.
“We know this is difficult. The virus has not gone away, it has not weakened, it is relentless and we must be relentless in dealing with it,” he said.
The leader went on to express some frustration at the government about lack of clarity surrounding its Covid marshall scheme announced earlier this week.
“We need extra clarity on how it will work on the ground,” he said. Ward added that he was pressing for “a route map” for what would happen next, particularly if infection rates came down.
“This will ensure residents have incentives to follow the rules for now,” he said.
Updated
Speaking to members of the press during a West Midlands weekly coronavirus update on Friday, Street said the restrictions did not apply to schools, workplaces or transport.
“This decision has been made in collaboration with local leaders who are considering additional local measures to tackle the increase in the number of cases,” he added.
A full government announcement on measures, which could potentially affect other parts of the country, was expected later, Street said.
Updated
Tougher restrictions announced for Birmingham and parts of West Midlands
The West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, has announced a ban on households mixing in Birmingham, as well as the neighbouring Solihull and Sandwell boroughs, after a rise in Covid-19 infections.
Street said he had been permitted to read out a statement headed “Ban on household mixing in Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull”, with the agreement of the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who had been due to make the announcement.
The mayor said:
The following areas will now be escalated to an area of national intervention, with a ban on people socialising with people outside their own household.
The ban will take effect from Tuesday 15th September, but residents are advised to avoid household mixing before then as it has been identified as one of the drivers of transmission.
You can read the full story from my colleague, Nazia Parveen, here:
Updated
Support for Scottish independence has sustained a majority despite a rise in coronavirus cases, according to a new survey.
The poll by Survation shows 53% in favour of breaking with the union, with 47% against.
It is the latest in a series of surveys since the beginning of the pandemic showing a majority of Scots are in favour of independence – including one by Panelbase which held support at 55% last month.
NEW @Survation Poll - Scottish Independence Referendum
— Survation. (@Survation) September 11, 2020
“Should Scotland be an independent country?”
Yes 53% (+3)
No 47% (-3)
1,018 respondents, residents of Scotland, aged 16+, fieldwork 2-7 Sept 2020. Changes w/ Jan 2020. pic.twitter.com/788G1VBzdU
The SNP deputy leader, Keith Brown, said:
This is yet another significant poll for the SNP and the independence movement – showing people want decisions about Scotland to be made by the people who live here, and not Boris Johnson.
Faced with the increasing threat of a hard or no-deal Brexit, and an unprecedented power grab on the hard-won powers of the Scottish parliament, it’s no wonder people in Scotland are demanding the right to choose a better future.
Updated
R-value across UK rises to between 1.0 and 1.2
The reproduction number, or R-value, of coronavirus transmission across the UK has risen above 1.
Data released on Friday by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) shows the estimate for R across the UK is between 1.0 and 1.2.
It comes as the number of newly diagnosed cases continues to rise, with higher incidence seen in young people aged 18 to 24 years.
According to Government advisers, the last time R was above 1 was in early March.
R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect. When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially. In England, R is between 1 and 1.2.
The figure is slightly higher in London and the north-west - between 1.1 and 1.3 in both regions. The estimates for R and growth rate are provided by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), a subgroup of Sage.
The growth rate of coronavirus transmission, which reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day, has also increased slightly. For the whole of the UK, the latest growth rate is between -1% and +3% per day.
This means the number of new infections is somewhere between shrinking by 1% and growing by 3% every day. The most likely value is towards the middle of the range, experts advising the government say.
But they also said R and growth rates are not the only important measures of the pandemic and should be considered alongside other metrics.
These include the number of new cases of the disease identified during a specified time period (incidence), and the proportion of the population with the disease at a given point in time (prevalence).
In the east of England, the R number is 0.9 to 1.2, while the growth rate is between -1% and +4%. The R number in the Midlands is 0.9 to 1.1, while the growth rate in the region is between -1% and +3%.
In the north-east and Yorkshire, the R-value is 1.0 to 1.2, while the growth rate is between +1% and +5%. In the south-east, the R-value is 1.0 to 1.2, while the growth rate is between 0 and +4%.
The south-west has an R-value of 0.9 to 1.2 and a growth rate of between -1% and +4%.
In London, the growth rate is between +2% and +4% while in the north-west, the figure is between +2% and +5%.
Updated
Downing Street defended the test-and-trace programme amid rising coronavirus cases.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “What test and trace is doing is testing hundreds of thousands of people a day and is helping to identify people who would otherwise inadvertently be spreading the virus and that is helping to control infection rates.”
Asked if the public should expect further restrictions, the spokesman said: “We keep all measures under review but it was on Wednesday that we set out the steps which we think are currently required in order to help us to bring the virus under control.”
Updated
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has criticised the UK government’s “Operation Moonshot” mass testing idea.
Drakeford said: “I’m a bit allergic to these ‘with one leap they were free’ solutions. We’ve heard a number of these over the months. I remember when the prime minister said that antibody testing was going to be a game-changer.
“I think we need to concentrate less on magic bullets. I think there is a risk it distracts people. All too often, these magic bullets turn out to be less magic than they were hoped for.”
Drakeford said Wales was looking at giving local authorities extra lockdown powers, such as the ability to impose curfews or limit the amount of alcohol an individual could buy at any one time.
Updated
Trade talks between the UK and the EU this week were “more constructive” than expected despite the near-catastrophic clash over Boris Johnson’s plans to renege on part of the Brexit deal, British officials have said.
Talks will continue in Brussels next week after there were some breakthroughs on process, but continued significant differences over major issues, including fisheries and state aid.
A senior UK negotiating official said:
Talks this week have been relatively more constructive than you might expect, but ultimately progress will be determined by whether we get more realism from them on the key areas of divergence.
Whilst we are beginning to get discussions of substance of some issues, big important areas remain unresolved. We will carry on talking in Brussels next week.
On subsidies we are asking that the EU agree with us what they have agreed with so many others in this area.
Despite their insistence to the contrary, on fisheries their position is still a long a way from the huge change we need to get an agreement.
It is understood progress has been made in some areas, including trading of goods, services and social security.
The UK is also concerned over what it perceives to be a veiled threat not to put Britain on the “third country list” for food exports. Progress was achieved after the EU dropped its policy of parallelism – the insistence that progress had to be made on all elements of the talks, ranging from the fundamental stumbling blocks of state aid and fisheries to smaller, easier issues to settle.
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A government department says it has taken “urgent action” after inspectors found social distancing was not being enforced in one of its offices.
Health and safety inspectors visited the Department for Work and Pensions’s (DWP) Quarry House building in Leeds and issued a notice of contravention.
Office staff were pictured gathered around a desk at the centre, which is also used by NHS staff. According to the BBC, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspected the offices on 27 August and its report said: “You are failing to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your employees/agency staff at work because you have not implemented necessary measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.”
It said the DWP’s risk-assessed Covid-safe capacity for the office of 50% full “may be ambitious and unrealistic”.
An HSE spokesman said: “We received a workplace concern and this has been processed in line with our concerns handling procedure. Following a site visit, a letter (notification of contravention) was sent to DWP.”
A DWP spokesman said: “We take the health and safety of staff extremely seriously, and have implemented Covid-secure measures across our sites to ensure they comply with government guidelines.
“We have taken urgent action to rectify all issues identified by the HSE.”
Updated
Downing Street suggested it would not review the decision to include children in the six-person limit on social gatherings despite Scotland and Wales exempting those under 12.
The prime minister’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: “We looked at all of the evidence in advance of the decision that was reached on Wednesday and it was decided to proceed with a rule of six that applies to all ages.
“What we have done is ensure that the rules have been simplified and strengthened so they are easier to understand. Social distancing measures can only be effective if the public understands them and abides by them.”
Updated
Evidence suggests the rate of new infections in private households in England has increased in recent weeks, the ONS has said. An average of 3,200 people per day were estimated to be newly infected with Covid-19 between 30 August and 5 September, the ONS said. This was up from an average of 2,000 people per day between 19 and 25 August.
Updated
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said he has spoken only once to Boris Johnson since May.
Here’s a summary of the changes in Wales:
- From Monday, it will become compulsory for people over 11 to wear a face covering in public indoor spaces, such as shops. There will be exemptions for people who cannot wear face coverings for health or medical reasons.
- Face coverings will not be required in pubs or restaurants for the time being but the Welsh government is carrying out a rapid review of the evidence about whether they should be extended to the hospitality sector.
- From Monday, only a maximum of six people from an “extended household” will be able to meet indoors at any one time. This rule applies in pubs and restaurants as well as in people’s homes. Children under 11 will not be counted in the six. Up to four households are allowed to join together in an “extended household”.
- However, this will not apply in Caerphilly county borough council area where stricter local restrictions have been introduced to control a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
- Ministers will also be giving local authorities new powers to close premises on public health grounds to tackle the spread of the virus.
Drakeford said there had been a “significant increase” in the number of people wanting to be tested for Covid-19.
He said one drive-in centre had been testing about 350 people a week. Last week this rose to 2,200.
Updated
An estimated 39,700 people in private households in England had Covid-19 between 30 August and 5 September, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This was the equivalent of around 0.07% of the population or one in 1,400 individuals. The estimate is an increase from the previous figures for 19 to 25 August, which were 0.05% of the population, or one in 2,000 individuals. The figures do not include people staying in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings.
Updated
Hello everyone, I am taking over the UK coronavirus live feed while my colleague takes a break. Please do get in touch with me to share any thoughts, comments or news tips. Thanks so much.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
I am writing about people who have become new parents during the pandemic. Please do get in touch to contribute.
Welsh first minister warns of 'gathering storm' as cases hit 20 per 100,000
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has warned that his country faces a “gathering storm” as the Wales-wide Covid-19 rate hits 20 per 100,000 people.
“There is a serious risk of the virus spreading more widely once again,” he said, adding there was a short window to “get ahead of a gathering storm”.
Drakeford said that as well as limiting the number of people who could meet indoors, the Welsh government would reinforce its message that people should work from home where possible.
He told a press conference in Cardiff that it had never been his government’s policy to encourage people back to the office, unlike England.
Drakeford said from Monday most people would need to wear face coverings in public places such as shops. They would face fines if they knowingly and deliberately refused to do so.
Updated
Two people have been arrested in England over a suspected £70,000 coronavirus job retention scheme fraud, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has said.
Officers from the department arrested a 43-year-old accountant and a 51-year-old company director after attending two homes in Romford and Walthamstow on Thursday.
Updated
Whole of Merseyside added to government's coronavirus watch list
The whole of the Merseyside region has been included on Public Health England’s watch list of areas with rising coronavirus cases.
The move means that Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens are at risk of stricter measures because of surging infections rates.
Steve Rotheram, metro mayor of the Liverpool city region, said:
Over the past week we have seen a rapid increase in coronavirus cases across the Liverpool city region. We are not yet at the stage of having extra restrictions imposed on us – as other areas have – but, if we continue on our current trajectory, it will become a case of when, not if, this happens.
There is still time for us to stop that happening – but doing so depends on us and what we choose to do. I am working hard with our local councils and other partners to do everything in our power to keep the spread of the virus under control, but we cannot do that without your help.
Updated
The launch of the government’s flagship Covid-19 app on 24 September comes after a lengthy delay.
In June, it was forced to abandon a centralised coronavirus contact-tracing app that experts had repeatedly warned would not work.
Matt Hancock then announced in a U-turn that the NHS would switch to an alternative designed by US tech companies Apple and Google. At the time, officials conceded it was unlikely to be ready until winter.
Originally, Hancock said the app would be rolled out nationally in “mid-May”, with work starting on the abandoned app as the pandemic unfolded in March.
The idea behind the app is that it will trace anybody that a person with coronavirus symptoms came into close contact with by using the Bluetooth connectivity on a standard smartphone, and notify them to self-isolate.
Covid-19 app to be launched in England and Wales this month
The Covid-19 app will be launched across England and Wales on 24 September, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Before its introduction businesses including pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas are being urged to ensure they have NHS QR code posters visible on entry so customers who have downloaded the new app can use their smartphones to check in.
The department said ongoing trials in the London borough of Newham, on the Isle of Wight and with NHS volunteer responders showed the app was “highly effective when used alongside traditional contact tracing to identify contacts of those who have tested positive for coronavirus”.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said of the app’s launch:
QR codes provide an easy and simple way to collect contact details to support the NHS Test and Trace system.
Hospitality businesses can now download posters for their premises ahead of the launch of the NHS Covid-19 app. This will allow the public to seamlessly check in to venues using the app when it launches.
It is vital we are using the NHS Test and Trace system to reach as many people as possible to prevent outbreaks and stop this virus in its tracks. This function will make it simple and easy so we can keep this virus under control.
Updated
Grassroots campaigners for EU nationals in the UK and Britons in Europe have expressed fears that they too could be hit by a government U-turn on the Brexit deal.
They say that Boris Johnson’s willingness to backtrack on the Northern Ireland protocol he agreed in January undermines trust that he will stick with the other core parts of the deal in the future including the section on citizens’ rights.
“The statement in the House of Commons and the published bill send a clear message to the EU that if the UK does not intend to honour one critical part of the withdrawal agreement, it cannot be trusted to implement other parts of the agreement, including on citizens’ rights,” they said in a statement issued by British in Europe and The3million.
“We now ask Prime Minister Johnson to do the decent thing and make an urgent statement in the house confirming that the UK will honour its obligations towards EU nationals in the UK and its own citizens living in the EU in the full spirit and to the letter of the withdrawal agreement.”
Updated
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said Britain faces a “tsunami of unemployment” unless efforts to protect jobs are stepped up.
Brown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think that there should now be an operational target that interest rates will not rise and stimulus will continue until employment returns to pre-crisis levels.
It’s in line with what the Federal Reserve is doing. I think other banks around the world are going to do something similar. And I think the Bank of England, at this point, is, I’m afraid, behind the curve.
They have got to send a signal that employment really matters.
We are facing a tsunami of unemployment.
He added that the country currently faced a “cliff edge” when the government’s furlough scheme ends on 31 October.
Updated
Boris Johnson is facing revolt from some Tory backbenchers over new lockdown restrictions limiting social gatherings to groups of six people in England.
On Friday, the Telegraph reported that senior Tories want younger children to be exempt from the so-called “rule of six” in England, while the Daily Mail claimed the health secretary, Matt Hancock, was the only cabinet minister on Johnson’s coronavirus strategy committee to support the plan at a meeting on Tuesday, the day before the prime minister announced it.
Speaking on Friday, the Tory former minister Steve Baker told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think it is now time to say that this is not a fit legal environment for the British people.
It’s time to move to a voluntary system - unless the government can demonstrate otherwise.
And it is time for us to actually start living like a free people, not subjecting ourselves to constantly shifting legal requirements, which I think now no one can fully understand.
The changes come as coronavirus rates continue to rise across parts of England, with Leeds and Birmingham among areas at risk of further lockdown measures.
Updated
UK secures first major post-Brexit deal with Japan
The government has secured its first major post-Brexit trade deal after signing an agreement with Japan which will boost trade by an estimated £15bn.
The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was agreed in principle by Ms Truss and Japan’s foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi, in a video call on Friday morning.
International trade secretary Liz Truss said it was a “historic moment” for the two countries which will bring “new wins” for British businesses in the manufacturing, food and drink, and tech industries.
The Government said the deal brings benefits beyond the EU-Japan trade deal, giving UK companies exporting to Japan a competitive advantage.
Almost all exports to Japan (99%) will benefit from tariff-free trade.
Truss said:
The agreement we have negotiated - in record time and in challenging circumstances - goes far beyond the existing EU deal, as it secures new wins for British businesses in our great manufacturing, food and drink, and tech industries.
“From our automotive workers in Wales to our shoemakers in the North of England, this deal will help build back better as we create new opportunities for people throughout the whole of the UK and help level up our country.
“Strategically, the deal is an important step towards joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership and placing Britain at the centre of a network of modern free trade agreements with like-minded friends and allies.”
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab congratulated Truss in a tweet.
Well done @trussliz - great to be forging an even stronger relationship with Japan, as we look to the enormous opportunities for the future in the Indo-Pacific region. https://t.co/f77nVYJbyL
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) September 11, 2020
Face masks will be mandatory in shops and indoor spaces in Wales from Monday, the first minister has said.
Mark Drakeford said the country had reached a threshold where 20 people in 100,000 were suffering from coronavirus.
But if the rate fell and Covid-19 was “effectively suppressed”, the Welsh government would revisit the issue, he said.
Wales will make indoor meetings of more than six people illegal from Monday, though children under the age of 12 will not count towards that total.
Updated
Challenged on why the London government had not followed the path of devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, which have exempted children under the age of 12 and 11 respectively from so-called rule of six limitations on gatherings, business minister Nadim Zahawi said that the move had been taken in England to ensure “simplicity.”
“It goes against the grain, the DNA of a Conservative government to curtail people’s liberties but the evidence suggests that the virus is at its most virulent in those social interactions, in the home, in the pub and outside, which is why we are reluctantly introducing the rule of six,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
Updated
New regulations limiting gatherings in England to no more than six from Monday and moves to have Covid-19 marshals have sparked alarm among some Tory MPs who want parliament to have the power to review measures.
Greater parliamentary scrutiny was needed, according to the Tory former minister Steve Baker, who said it was “now time to say that this is not a fit legal environment for the British people” and that there should be a “voluntary system”.
“And it is time for us to actually start living like a free people, not subjecting ourselves to constantly shifting legal requirements, which I think now no one can fully understand,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It seems to me the effect of having Covid marshals will be to turn every public space in Britain into the equivalent of going through airport security where we are badgered and directed … I’m not willing to live like this.”
Tougher Covid-19 restrictions expected across Birmingham
Strict new coronavirus restrictions look set to be imposed across Birmingham after infections rocketed.
The city of 1.14 million people is widely expected to have tighter rules imposed on Friday, following two days of discussions between the government and regional health and local authority leaders.
Earlier this week, West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who travelled to London to meet with officials, said additional restrictions were “very, very likely”.
Stressing no final decisions had yet been made, he added:
[The] simplest form of restriction would be city-wide”.
The city’s director of public health Dr Justin Varney said the uptick was “linked primarily to private household gatherings”, at the end of August and across the bank holiday weekend.
An increase in testing had also turned up more positive results, he added.
Licensed premises, like pubs and bars, and restaurants flouting contact-tracing rules and social distancing, are also believed to be part of the problem behind rising rates.
The mayor also said younger people “had got to take responsibility” with the biggest growth in the under-40s age groups.
According to NHS Digital data, the latest seven-day rate for the city to September 8 showed 78.2 cases per 100,000 with 892 cases over the period – among the highest in Birmingham since April’s peak.
Good morning. Both Scotland and Wales are bringing in stricter “rule of six” regulations amid warnings that coronavirus cases are surging again.
On Thursday, the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said she hoped the new limit of six people from two households would apply indoors – in houses, pubs and restaurants – and outdoors, including in private gardens.
The announcement from both countries came after Boris Johnson announced a ban on meetings of groups of more than six people from up to six households in England, applying indoors and outdoors from next Monday.
Mask-wearing and lockdown rules are also now causing deeper social divides than Brexit, according to a UK-wide study.
Polling of 10,000 people found that half of mask-wearers in Britain (58%) have severely negative attitudes towards those who do not wear a mask, and the majority (68%) of people who did not break lockdown rules have strong negative views about lockdown rule-breakers.
You can read more on this from our social affairs correspondent, Robert Booth:
Meanwhile, British holidaymakers face another race against time to get home before new quarantine rules on countries including Portugal and Hungary come into force.
I’m Amy Walker, here to keep you updated with the key UK coronavirus developments throughout the day.
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