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Summary
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A further 6,968 people tested positive for coronavirus in the UK. The figure was a slight increase from yesterday when 6,914 people tested positive for coronavirus. There are 2,376 people in hospital with coronavirus and 341 are in ventilator beds. The latest official update shows 66 people have died.
- DUP MP Jim Shannon self isolating after sitting at the same table as Margaret Ferrier. On Wednesday evening, the Speaker’s office alerted Shannon that he had been identified as a close contact of an individual who had tested positive for Covid-19. Shannon immediately self-isolated and on Thursday afternoon he received a negative Covid-19 test result
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UK R number estimated to be between 1.3-1.6. The R number in the UK is estimated to be between 1.3 and 1.6, which means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 13 and 16 other people. The number of new infections is growing by 5% to 9% every day. The R number is currently highest in London and North East and Yorkshire.
- Wales amends local lockdown rules to support people who live alone. Adults living by themselves, including single parents, in areas under local restrictions will be able to form a temporary bubble with another household in their local area under the new rules coming into force on Saturday (3 October)
- Nicola Sturgeon says she is very angry at Ferrier’s ‘reckless’ actions. Sturgeon said that there could be a variety of reasons why people find it hard to follow rules, they are complicated but “I am struggling to put what Margaret did into any of these categories”. The first minister called for Ferrier to resign as an MP because her actions were “dangerous and indefensible”.
- Speaker Lindsay Hoyle says Ferrier’s actions are a ‘serious breach’ of safety. Hoyle, who learned Ferrier had coronavirus while in the Speaker’s chair at around 4pm on Wednesday, said there would be a “review” of the rules. He said the reaction was immediate and “within 20 minutes we were in full swing on what we needed to do to ensure the safety and security of staff and members”.
- Coronavirus cases doubled under majority of local lockdowns in England. An exclusive Guardian analysis has found that in 11 out of 16 English cities and towns where restrictions were imposed nine weeks ago, the infection rate has at least doubled.
Boris Johnson has set out funding for new NHS hospitals, an issue which caused huge controversy during last year’s election campaign.
PA reports:
In September 2019, the Prime Minister told newspapers he planned to build “40 new hospitals across England over the next decade”.
He later clarified that initially 2.7 billion would be made available for six trusts to start building work immediately, and “seed funding” for a further 34 hospitals would be “forthcoming” to help them start developing projects.
In an announcement on Friday, Mr Johnson confirmed funding for “40 new hospitals across England”, with a further eight schemes invited to bid for future funding.
In some cases, new hospitals will be built on new sites, the Department of Health said, but in other cases, a new hospital will be built on an existing site to replace existing facilities.
One of the hospitals on the list - the Royal Liverpool - was actually supposed to have been completed in 2017 under the controversial Private Finance Initiative but the project has suffered a series of delays and other setbacks, including the collapse of the original developer Carillion.
The Government said the package is worth 3.7 billion, with trusts that received seed funding now all fully funded to deliver 25 hospitals.
More than 750 students at Northumbria University test positive for Covid-19
More than 750 students at Northumbria University have tested positive for Covid-19.
A spokesperson for the university said:
As of Friday October 2, we can confirm that we are aware of 770 Northumbria University students who have tested positive for Covid-19, of whom 78 are symptomatic.
These students are all now self-isolating. Their flatmates and any close contacts are also self-isolating for 14 days in line with government guidance and have been advised to contact NHS 119 to book a test as soon as possible should symptoms appear.
More than 50 universities in the UK have confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to an analysis by PA Media, with nearly 1,800 Covid-19 cases identified among students and staff.
Updated
In separate statements issued on Friday afternoon, both sides of the Brexit negotiations confirmed a lack of progress on the key issues, but said there had been progress on cooperation in law enforcement. This was something that had deeply concerned police forces in Great Britain and Northern Ireland who had warned of the loss of access to real-time passenger information and the European arrest warrant system.
On the main issues though, the outlook continued to be bleak.
David Frost, the UK negotiator, said there had been “limited progress” on state aid and governance, and that “the EU need to move further before an understanding can be reached”.
He also warned of a potentially unbridgeable gulf on fishing rights.
“On fisheries, the gap between us is unfortunately very large and, without further realism and flexibility from the EU, risks being impossible to bridge.”
Updated
A further 6,968 people tested positive for coronavirus in the UK
A further 6,968 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK on Friday, a slight increase from yesterday when 6,914 people tested positive for coronavirus.
There are 2,376 people in hospital with coronavirus and 341 are in ventilator beds. The latest official update shows 66 people have died.
Updated
Michel Barnier has just released a statement on the last round of Brexit talks between Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
He reiterated the lack of progress on the three stumbling blocks - state aid, fisheries and governance.
He said:
To reach an agreement, these divergences must necessarily be overcome over the next weeks.
We will continue to maintain a calm and respectful attitude, and we will remain united and determined until the end of these negotiations.
But he added good progress had been made in other areas, including the question of cooperation on justice and policing.
Lack of a deal on policing and justice had worried police forces in Great Britain in Northern Ireland, who had warned it would mean the loss of access to real-time data exchange and delays in extradition.
Barnier said:
[There were] positive new developments on some topics, such as aviation safety, social security coordination, and the respect of fundamental rights and individual freedoms, which are a pre-condition for our future police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
But there was a lack of progress on some important topics, like the protection of personal data, climate change commitments or carbon pricing; as well as persistent serious divergences on matters of major importance for the European Union.
Updated
Council leaders in England were given five minutes’ notice of local lockdown rules being confirmed in their areas, according to emails seen by the Guardian.
Amid growing calls for local authorities to have more control over restrictions, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is urging ministers to put councils “in the driver’s seat”.
Hartlepool and Middlesbrough councils were only informed of the confirmed detail of the proposed restrictions when they received a draft press release from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) at 10.25am on Thursday, five minutes before the measures were announced by Matt Hancock, the leaked emails suggest.
In Merseyside, where new rules were also announced on Thursday, it is understood that council bosses were briefed on the measures 30 minutes before the health secretary’s statement. One senior source said they were surprised and concerned that the rules had been “watered down” from what had been discussed with a minister only 12 hours earlier.
The restrictions are a significant extension to nationwide measures and make it illegal for households in the areas to mix in any indoor setting, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cinemas. The legislation will apply to nearly 5 million people across Merseyside, Warrington and most of north-east England from Saturday. The DHSC said discussions had taken place with local leaders over a number of days.
Updated
The mayor of the borough of Tower Hamlets in east London has advised residents to avoid mixing with other households “unless absolutely necessary”.
In an open letter, mayor John Biggs wrote:
Despite a fall over the summer, we are seeing cases of Covid-19 rise and we need to accept that the situation is once again worsening. Tower Hamlets now has one of the highest levels of Covid-19 in London.
As a second rise in infections hits us, we must take all steps necessary to limit the spread of the virus and protect those most at risk.
With this in mind, now is the time we must take further action. I am clear that the current national rules are a minimum and my advice to you all is to do everything in your power to protect each other. Our individual actions have consequences for us all.
The next few months will be very challenging. Without a vaccine or more effective treatment, our primary weapon against the virus is responsible behaviour. Measures to curb the spread of the virus will only work if people follow them.
Updated
DUP MP Jim Shannon self isolating after sitting at the same table as Margaret Ferrier
Jim Shannon, DUP MP for Strangford, is self-isolating as a precaution because he was seated at the same dining table as Margaret Ferrier on Monday evening.
On Wednesday evening, the Speaker’s office alerted Shannon that he had been identified as a close contact of an individual who had tested positive for Covid-19.
Shannon immediately self-isolated and on Thursday afternoon he received a negative Covid-19 test result. He is self-isolating at home as a precaution.
Updated
According to the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, the latest R value – the number of people each infected person passes the virus on to, on average – is 1.3-1.6 for the UK, with the number of cases growing by 5% to 9% per day.
The figures are a slight rise on last week, where R was between 1.2 and 1.5 and the growth rate between 4% and 8% for the UK. In England the R value has been estimated to be 1.2-1.6, and increase from 1.2-1.5 last week, with R at or above 1 in all regions of the country.
If R is above 1, cases have the potential to rise exponentially.
However it is important to remember that there is a time lag in some of the data used to calculate R, meaning the R figure released each week gives a picture of how the disease was spreading in the preceding two or three weeks. That is one potential reason why the latest R figures are less optimistic that more recent data from a team at Imperial College London that suggested that while cases are rising, the speed of this rise might have slowed.
Updated
Wales reports a further 462 cases of Covid-19
There have been a further 462 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 24,845, PA reports.
Public Health Wales said three further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic increasing to 1,625.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has continued to urge Boris Johnson to bring in laws stopping people from travelling from English Covid hotspots to areas of Wales with low levels of infection.
Residents of areas under local lockdown in Wales are unable to cross county boundaries without good reason but that does not stop people from Wales travelling across the border for leisure.
Drakeford said: “I’ve asked the prime minister to impose in England the same rules as we have here in Wales. I think that would be fair and I look forward to hearing from him.”
The first minister said Wales could bring in rules to stop people travelling from England but he thought it right for the prime minister to take responsibility.
Drakeford put the R number at around 1.3.
The Trump administration is sending the same message as the US Democrats in warning that a US-UK free trade deal could be blocked if the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement is undermined by Brexit, Mick Mulvaney, US special envoy for Northern Ireland said on Friday.
Speaking at an event hosted by Policy Exchange, he said:
(he was) “using different tones but probably at the end of the day the same message. We do not want to see things going back to the way they were before the Good Friday Agreement”.
He also urged the UK to recognise that the Democratic chair of Ways and Means in Congress Richard O’Neill has almost complete power to determine how any UK-US free trade agreement is handled, adding the whole of Congress will study Brexit to ensure it takes into account the preservation of the Good Friday Agreement.
He insisted the Trump administration was delivering essentially the same message as the Democrats, but in a different tone.
He said:
The administration believes just as much in the Good Friday Agreement as Richy O’Neill. There are only two things left in Washington that are truly bipartisan – one is mistrust of China and the other is seeing a peaceful island of Ireland.
On a much delayed visit to Belfast, London and Dublin, Mulvaney was treading a delicate line between his administration’s support for Brexit in principle and the strong Irish vote in America. He pointed out the Catholic vote, not just the Irish Catholic vote, could end up as the swing vote in the battleground states in US Presidential elections.
He repeatedly insisted he was not commenting on the Withdrawal Agreement, but only on how it impacted on the Good Friday Agreement. He said the US was confident that there would be an agreement between the UK and EU by the end of the year, but needed to protect the Good Friday Agreement.
UK R number estimated to be between 1.3-1.6
The R number in the UK is estimated to be between 1.3 and 1.6, which means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 13 and 16 other people.
The number of new infections is growing by 5% to 9% every day.
The R number is currently highest in London and North East and Yorkshire.
Updated
Reporters Lisa O’Carroll and Jennifer Rankin write:
Brexit talks are expected to be extended into next week after the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, warned that there were still serious hurdles in the way of a trade and future relationship deal.
She said she did not “like the word tunnel” to describe a new phase of talks but hinted strongly that talks would resume following her call with Boris Johnson tomorrow afternoon.
“We should intensify the negotiations because it is worth working hard on,” she said in a press conference.
Her remarks came as Angela Merkel described the UK’s decision to seek powers to override the withdrawal agreement as a “bitter moment”.
Angela Merkel on UK internal market bill: "This is a very bitter moment, as Ursula von der Leyen quite rightly pointed out. But the other tracks of the negotiations are heading for a crucial phase and we will wait."
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) October 2, 2020
VDL has just updated EU leaders on Brexit.
She said she could not tell if there will be a Brexit breakthrough. “A lot will be determined by what Britain wants and what Britain does not want. It is up to Britain to decide this really. But as long as the negotiations keep going I am optimistic.”
Von der Leyen warned there was no breakthrough on the two major stumbling blocks, level playing field and fisheries:
We want a deal. We think it is better to have a deal as neighbours, also in top of these Covid times with devastating impact on the economies, it is good to have a deal but not at any price.
She said progress had been made on a wide range of issues but the UK had to understand that access to the single market was a “question of fairness” and having to “abide” by “the rules that are in the single market”.
“There is still a lot of work to do, it is a matter of fairness,” she said.
Updated
Downing Street has said Boris Johnson believes everyone must follow the coronavirus rules, but refused to be drawn on whether Margaret Ferrier should step down as an MP, PA reports.
A No 10 spokesman said:
That is a matter for her and her party. We have been clear of the need for people to follow the rules. This is all about saving lives and protecting vulnerable people.
The Prime Minister has been clear that everybody needs to follow the rules in order to allow us to reduce the spread of the virus and protect lives.
Lisa O’Carroll, Brexit correspondent, is live-tweeting Ursula von der Leyen’s presser, who warned that time is running out for a deal.
VDL: "I don't like the word tunnel; intensifying [talks], We are running out of time. I think around 100 days to the end of they ear , so it's worth stepping up [intensify of talks] now.
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) October 2, 2020
She says she won't discuss what she expects from all with Boris Johnson ahead of call.
Nicola Sturgeon says she is very angry at Ferrier's 'reckless' actions
At her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said that Margaret Ferrier’s actions were “reckless, dangerous and completely indefensible and I feel very angry on behalf of all of you”.
Sturgeon said that there could be a variety of reasons why people find it hard to follow rules, they are complicated but “I am struggling to put what Margaret did into any of these categories”.
She is blunt: Ferrier’s was a “flagrant” breach and although “she accepts without reservation that she has made a very serious error of judgment ... Can she give me a cogent explanation why she did it? No.”
Travelling by train with a positive test result for Covid was “possibly the worst breach imaginable”, says Sturgeon. “I can’t excuse this, nor am I going to try.”
Sturgeon then goes on to offer a comprehensive timeline for what happened this week.
She says that on Monday, Ferrier told the party in Westminster that she was returning home because a family member was unwell. On Wednesday, she told them about her positive test, which they assumed had happened after her return to Scotland. The truth of the situation became clear through “information from the Commons test-and-trace system” on Thursday morning.
The first time Sturgeon herself knew was Thursday afternoon, shortly after first minister’s questions. The SNP was told the Commons wanted to put out a statement first. Sturgeon wanted Ferrier to issue a statement immediately afterwards, but Ian Blackford, the party’s Westminster leader, was on a plane to Inverness and needed to speak to Ferrier when he landed. Then the situation with the Commons statement changed, and Ferrier put out her statement, followed by the SNP suspending her.
She added:
I think the SNP has acted quickly and appropriately and we have not tried to protect a colleague.
People full of self-righteous criticism of the SNP are folk who completely lost their tongue over a certain special adviser.
Sturgeon insists that there is not “one rule for us politicians and one for everyone else”. She said:
The most important relationship I have right now is with the Scottish public and I can’t ask you to make sacrifices if I am standing here trying to explain away Margaret Ferrier.
Updated
Angela Merkel has described the UK internal market bill as a “very bitter moment”.
Jennifer Rankin, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, is live-tweeting her comments:
Angela Merkel says she cannot tell if there will be a Brexit breakthrough. "A lot will be determined by what Britain wants and what Britain does not want. It is up to Britain to decide this really. But as long as the negotiations keep going I am optimistic."
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) October 2, 2020
Updated
Ursula Van der Leyen is expected to host a press conference shortly with an update on the last round of Brexit talks.
UK negotiator David Frost is due to make a statement around 4pm on talks Downing Street has described as “constructive and wide-ranging” .
The European commission president will speak with Boris Johnson tomorrow afternoon “to take stock of negotiations and discuss next steps”, No 10 has said.
All expectations are that there is no breakthrough with talks now expected to intensify in a confidential “tunnel”.
One EU political source said the mood was downbeat:
The UK are making out that the EU needs to move, that there is a deal on the table and all it will take is for the EU to move. That is not the way it is and it feels like Britain is setting up a blame game, but the reality it is is not that close. There has been progress but there is no deal in sight.
In a reference to Boris Johnson’s breakthrough meeting with the Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Wirral last year, the source added: “Ursula von der Leyen will not be talking to Boris Johnson about a walk in the park, it will be ‘do we give this one more week’.
An estimated one in 500 people were infected with coronavirus in England between September 18 and 24, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS said in recent weeks, “there has been clear evidence of an increase in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19”. Current rates were highest in teenagers and young adults.
There is evidence of higher infection rates in the North West and North East, as well as Yorkshire and the Humber and London.
The ONS found there were around 8,400 new cases per day across England from September 18 to 24, down on the 9,600 in the previous week.
However, Katherine Kent, co-head of analysis for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said:
While the evidence suggests that the increase in new cases may be levelling off after a sharp rise in August and September, it is too early to be certain at this stage.
Libby Brooks is live-tweeting Nicola Sturgeons afternoon presser.
Sturgeon says she made it "crystal clear" to Ferrier when they spoke this morning that she thinks she should resign as an MP
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) October 2, 2020
Updated
Wales amends local lockdown rules to support people who live alone
Amendments to local lockdown rules in Wales are being made to help ease the emotional toll on people who live alone.
Adults living by themselves, including single parents, in areas under local restrictions will be able to form a temporary bubble with another household in their local area under the new rules coming into force on Saturday (3 October)
The change is designed to help protect people living alone from the risk of experiencing loneliness and isolation and will enable to them to meet other people indoors – something, which is ordinarily not allowed unless someone has a reasonable excuse anywhere across Wales. The rule of six will apply to these new single people household bubbles.
Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford, said:
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a huge toll on all of us – we’ve all been through so much this year already.
Many people will have the support of their family at this time but large numbers of people – young and old – live alone. None of us should have to face coronavirus on our own.
Creating temporary bubbles for single people and single parents in local lockdown areas will make sure they have the emotional support they need during this time.
The Welsh government has carried out the latest 21-day review of the coronavirus regulations but will not be making any major changes to the national rules because of the overall rise in cases across Wales.
However, the government will strengthen enforcement powers for local authorities to fine people who organise house parties and to simplify the process to introduce restrictions on drinking alcohol in public.
Updated
Are UK coronavirus cases rising in your local area and nationally? Check out week-on-week changes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the latest figures from public health authorities
A hotel manager has been fined 10,000 for breaching coronavirus regulations after hosting a funeral party with over 200 guests, PA reports.
West Midlands Police said it was the first maximum fine they had issued since the new rules were implemented.
The force said the Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel in Solihull has also been banned from holding events until January next year following the large gathering on September 25.
Police received nine calls to report the funeral party and loud music coming from the hotel. The party attendees were dispersed at 9pm.
Some limited evidence Covid-19 incidence rate 'may be levelling off' - ONS
There were an average of 8,400 new Covid-19 infections a day in private households in England between 18 and 24 September, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The latest figures, which do not include people staying in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings, is a slight drop from the estimated 9,600 new infections a day for the period from 13-19 September.
The ONS said there was some “limited evidence” that the incidence rate “may be levelling off following steep increases during August and September”, but uncertainty around the figures means it is too early to say.
Updated
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle says Ferrier’s actions are a 'serious breach' of safety
The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said Margaret Ferrier’s actions were a “serious breach” of safety in parliament and that there will be a “review” of the rules.
He said he learned Ferrier had coronavirus while in the Speaker’s chair at around 4pm on Wednesday. He said the reaction was immediate and “within 20 minutes we were in full swing on what we needed to do to ensure the safety and security of staff and members”.
He told Sky News:
We believed there had been a breach of the law.
People make mistakes but there is something completely different when they act in a reckless manner.
"Not only is reckless, this is a dangerous dangerous thing to do"
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) October 2, 2020
Speaker of the House of Commons @LindsayHoyle_MP it was "totally unacceptable" for Margaret Ferrier to travel to Westminster when she had COVID-19 symptoms
Read more: https://t.co/I3XQe6UWiT pic.twitter.com/ZpEEgqjDG2
Updated
Boris Johnson is “reluctant to recognise the border” between England and Wales by refusing to prevent people in English local lockdown areas from holidaying in Welsh tourist hotspots, Wales’s first minister Mark Drakeford has said, according to PA Media.
Drakeford has previously asked the prime minister to impose travel restrictions in areas of England with high levels of coronavirus, following concerns people from those areas were able to travel to parts of Wales with much lower rates.
Asked why Johnson had refused to consider the travel restrictions, Drakeford told LBC:
I think he is reluctant to recognise the border. I think that’s part of his way of thinking about things.
But all I want is for people in England to be in the same position as the people in Wales. People in England living in low areas of coronavirus would still be able to come here.
It’s only places in local lockdown that we would like to see that restriction. And that’s the rule we have for ourselves.
Updated
This is from Jim McMahon, the MP for Oldham West and Royton, who has written to Matt Hancock questioning why Oldham remains under strict restrictions that have been lifted in other parts of Greater Manchester, some of which have a higher infection rate.
Dear @MattHancock
— Jim McMahon MP (@JimfromOldham) October 2, 2020
Why is Oldham still under restrictions not placed on any other part of Gtr Manchester?
- cannot socialise in any setting, incl. local parks
- cannot use public transport, only essential
- ten fewer mourners at funerals than our neighbours
Put it right today pic.twitter.com/AIJnsKz1bc
Here is the letter McMahon sent to the health secretary. In it he makes points including that despite the month-long local restrictions, the number of positive cases in Oldham - and other parts of the UK - has continued to rise.
He cites two examples - Bury and Manchester - which both have higher infection rates than Oldham, but people are allowed to meet family and friends in parks, while in Oldham they are not.
McMahon also raises the issue of confusion about the complexity of the rules and how they apply to different areas.
At the start of the week I wrote to Hancock to ask that the restrictions in Oldham be changed so that Oldhamers can meet people outside with appropriate measures in place.
— Jim McMahon MP (@JimfromOldham) October 1, 2020
We’ve been banned from meeting other households outside for 5 weeks. We cannot become a forgotten borough. https://t.co/KQ6rz8gjWP pic.twitter.com/vaboexmNBH
Prof Ian Young added that the executive would have little alternative but to opt for a full lockdown in the Derry City and Strabane area if soaring infection rates were not halted by new restrictions being introduced next week.
I think the executive have decided to make a strong intervention, which I believe has a realistic prospect of reversing that [infection rate]. However if evidence suggests that it’s not sufficient to be effective then the CMO [chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride] and myself won’t hesitate to recommend additional measures. And I don’t think there’s much more left to come other than something close to a complete circuit breaker.
Updated
Northern Ireland may require more than one “circuit break” lockdown during the winter, Stormont’s chief scientific adviser has said.
As reported by PA Media, Prof Ian Young said it would be sensible for people to plan for the prospect of multiple periods of lockdown over the coming months, though he stressed it was still not clear whether they would definitely be required.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show, Young said there are several options open to the Stormont executive in terms of added restrictions.
Probably one of the most effective is certainly this idea of a circuit breaker, or a relatively short-term lockdown. I don’t think that a single period of lockdown or circuit breaker would be sufficient to get us right through the winter.
He added:
I think it would be sensible to plan for the possibility of one or more periods of circuit break over the course of this winter. I don’t know, I can’t say, whether that’s something that will be required, but I think it would be sensible to plan for it.
Updated
Coronavirus cases doubled under majority of local lockdowns in England
Covid-19 cases have doubled in most places in England that are subject to long-term local lockdowns, exclusive Guardian analysis has found, amid growing concern that the patchwork of restrictions is confusing and done “on the cheap”.
My colleagues Niamh McIntyre and Josh Halliday report that in 11 out of 16 English cities and towns where restrictions were imposed nine weeks ago, the infection rate has at least doubled, with cases in five areas of Greater Manchester rising faster than the England average in that time.
In Wigan, cases have risen from seven per 100,000 residents to 102 in that period. Leicester is the only one of the 16 areas to record fewer cases than when the measures were implemented.
Read their full exclusive report here:
Updated
The proportion of people in Britain who are very or somewhat worried about the effect of Covid-19 on their life right now has risen to 74%, the highest percentage since restrictions started easing at the end of May, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey.
The polling was carried out between 24 and 27 September, after Boris Johnson announced new national restrictions (on 22 September). The survey also found that levels of socialising, eating out and travel in Britain have fallen as the number of people subject to local lockdowns has increased and Johnson has imposed new restrictions.
The percentage of adults who left their home to meet up with people in a personal space had the largest decrease, down from 30% in the previous week to 20%. People in a local lockdown area were more likely not to have socialised with anyone outside their household (37%) compared with those not in a local lockdown area (22%).
Updated
Mandatory in most indoor settings, face masks have become part of our daily lives. But despite being designed to completely cover the nose and mouth, it’s (frustratingly) all too common to see them dangling off an ear or resting under the chin. My colleague Linda Geddes has spoken to an expert about some of the most popular forms of face covering - and why they don’t work.
Updated
Pressure on the former Scottish National party MP Margaret Ferrier to resign is growing, with the Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, accusing Ian Blackford of “treating the public like fools”.
Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, told morning radio programmes that he had only found out the extent of Ferrier’s law-breaking on Thursday, although the party’s chief whip was told about her positive coronavirus test on Wednesday afternoon.
Ross said:
The SNP say they only found out about any wrongdoing on Thursday. That means we’re supposed to accept that the SNP found out Margaret Ferrier tested positive on Wednesday – and asked nothing.
The public is expected to believe SNP bosses didn’t think to ask a single question, not one, about when she tested positive, where she had been or who she had been around, despite her appearance in the Commons earlier that week. The SNP’s timeline is full of holes and any reasonable person can see that.
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon has told Margaret Ferrier to resign as an MP
The first minister tweeted that she asked Margaret Ferrier to step down because her actions were “dangerous and indefensible”.
I’ve spoken to Margaret Ferrier and made clear my view that she should step down as an MP. I did so with a heavy heart - she is a friend & colleague - but her actions were dangerous & indefensible. I have no power to force an MP to resign but I hope she will do the right thing.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 2, 2020
Updated
The number of coronavirus-linked deaths in Northern Ireland has passed 900, figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) indicate.
PA reports:
The latest analysis by the Nisra, which reports on a weekly basis with a seven-day lag, put the death toll at 901 at the end of last week.
The Department of Health has reported four further fatalities since then.
Nisra said five Covid-19 linked deaths occurred in the week of September 19 to September 25.
The comparative total number of deaths reported daily by the Department of Health stood at 578 on September 25.
The departmental toll primarily comprises deaths in hospital settings in cases where a positive Covid-19 test has been confirmed.
Inspectors have said they found social distancing was “impossible” and “very little priority was given to wearing face coverings” on the first forced immigration removal flight since chartered flights were suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The flight from Stansted on 12 August took 14 immigration detainees to Frankfurt, in Germany, and Toulouse, in France, under the Dublin regulation, EU rules to which the UK is a party.
Six detainees were Iranian, three were Sudanese, one was from South Sudan, two were from Iraq and one each was from Guinea Bissau and Afghanistan. The youngest was 19 and the oldest 43.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) assessed that the operation – managed by the Home Office third country unit (TCU) with the private firm Mitie as the escort contractor – ran largely smoothly. But there were concerns raised by inspectors.
The report said the need for staff to exercise physical control made social distancing impossible and “very little priority was given to wearing face coverings or maintaining distance”.
Several of those scheduled to be on the flight had been very distressed, the report said.
Two of the detainees were at risk of self-harm and suicide, of whom one self-harmed on the aircraft and the other was found during the journey to be hiding a piece of sharp metal in his mouth.
The inspectors said there was a “very large” number of staff – 86 in total – accompanying the relatively small number of detainees.
Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons, said:
Although on the transport staff did not crowd round detainees in excessive numbers, there were times when the sheer number of people, many of whom were in effect little more than spectators, hindered the effectiveness of the operation.
The report comes at a time of increasing tension over the government’s asylum policy. The Guardian revealed this week that Number 10 had asked officials to assess the merits of offshoring asylum-processing centres in places as far flung as the south Atlantic and Papua Guinea.
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The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has become the latest high-profile figure to call for changes to the national curriculum in schools so it better reflects the diversity of pupils in the classroom as well as wider society.
Coinciding with the start of Black History Month, the mayor has written to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, urging the government to reform the curriculum so children learn about the diverse history of the UK, including colonialism and its enduring legacy.
He also announced a new partnership between London schools and the Black Curriculum social enterprise which works to address the lack of Black British history on the curriculum.
The mayor said:
Despite huge progress being made in my lifetime, Black Londoners continue to face significant barriers to success.
Our pupils come from diverse backgrounds yet are too often presented with a curriculum offering one-dimensional perspectives on Black history, meaning the historic and institutional reasons for these inequalities – and their enduring impact – are still not widely understood.
The coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have thrown structural injustice and persistent inequality into stark relief, and affirmed the need for meaningful action across all of our society.
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The Home Office moved dozens of asylum seekers involved in a Covid outbreak more than 120 miles despite an enforcement order saying they should remain in self-isolation for 14 days, the Guardian has learned.
Home Office contractors have been accused of being “beyond reckless” in their handling of the initial outbreak.
Among those who were moved despite the instruction to self-isolate, at least nine people were found to have Covid following testing, although the Home Office had initially said none had tested positive.
The initial outbreak was among asylum seekers in Home Office accommodation in Birmingham. Public health officials deemed it too overcrowded to be Covid-secure after at least 26 people tested positive. Enforcement action was taken ordering everyone in the accommodation to self-isolate for 14 days, but the Home Office moved 40 people to the west London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
The SNP Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, has asked the party MP Margaret Ferrier to “reflect on her situation” after she admitted travelling from London to Scotland despite knowing she had coronavirus.
Blackford told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
This is a very serious situation.
That we have been living with this Covid for a number of months. Now, people are making enormous sacrifices.
And MPs have to be judged to the highest standards.
And, we have a situation here that not only has the guidance been broken, but the law has been broken.
And, I would simply say to Margaret that people will expect her to reflect on the situation that she has put herself in.
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Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said Margaret Ferrier’s position within the SNP was “completely untenable” after it emerged she had travelled between London and Glasgow on public transport after testing positive for Covid-19.
Ross told Times Radio:
[Politicians] have an important role to play.
That is why her position as a member of parliament is now completely untenable because no one can take what she says with any credibility because she has flouted the rules at every opportunity when she first became aware of the symptoms back on Saturday.
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The shadow Scotland secretary, Ian Murray, has continued to tweet about the Ferrier controversy.
Speaker directly contradicted what SNP are saying. Who drafted Ms Ferrier’s apology & was it assisted by SNP press office? SNP run their group with an iron fist. I doubt they didn’t know until Thurs when speaker knew Wed & I doubt Margaret went home Tues w/o informing SNP whip! https://t.co/oPI87GzmVB
— Ian Murray MP (@IanMurrayMP) October 2, 2020
He previously accused the SNP of covering up a serious breach of public health laws.
SNP in chaos & appear to be covering up serious breach of public health laws. FM & Blackford must hold press conference tomorrow am to answer questions about what they did & didn’t know. Speaker contradicts SNP story. There can’t be 1 rule for the SNP, another for the rest of us.
— Ian Murray MP (@IanMurrayMP) October 1, 2020
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The communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Margaret Ferrier has accepted that she has broken the law.
That’s now a matter for the police, the authorities who are investigating the matter, and it is really for her to consider what her political future is, and for her party, the SNP.
Asked if he was calling on Ferrier to resign as an MP, Jenrick said:
I think it is a matter for her to decide what she wants to do.
Nobody is above the law. And Margaret Ferrier has accepted that she broke the law on multiple occasions.
That’s a serious situation. She needs to decide what she wants to do.
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The prime minister, Boris Johnson, who needed hospital treatment after falling ill with coronavirus, has wished Donald and Melania Trump well after the couple tested positive for Covid-19.
My best wishes to President Trump and the First Lady. Hope they both have a speedy recovery from coronavirus.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) October 2, 2020
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Studies of patients from around the world have given doctors a good sense of who is most likely to shrug off a coronavirus infection and who is more likely to need hospital care. As an older male, President Trump is immediately in a higher risk category.
Men are nearly twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than women, and data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that at 74 years old, Trump’s risk of being hospitalised is at least five times greater, and his risk of dying 90 times greater, than for an average 18- to 29-year-old. Given the very low death rates in younger people, a more meaningful figure is the infection fatality rate, or the risk of death on contracting the virus, which is 4.2% at age 75, and 14% at age 85.
At a medical in February, Trump weighed in at 110kg (243lb or 17st 4lb). At 1.9 metres (6ft 3in), that puts his BMI at 30.4, just enough to be considered obese. This adds further risk, tripling the odds of hospitalisation compared with people of a healthy weight, and raising the risk of dying by nearly 50%.
Trump’s infection appears to have been picked up before symptoms arose, so doctors will be able to monitor his condition closely and intervene early if his health falters. One drug that will be on hand is the antiviral remdesivir, which is thought to be more effective while the virus is still replicating, and before it has had the chance to progress to the lungs and cause more serious damage.
For more developments on Trump and international coronavirus rules, follow our global blog.
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Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will talk tomorrow afternoon by phone or video-conference call for the first time since June, it has been announced, as the two sides come to the end of the last round of scheduled Brexit negotiations.
A Downing Street spokesman said:
The prime minister will be speaking to President Von der Leyen tomorrow afternoon to take stock of negotiations and discuss next steps.
David Frost, the chief UK negotiator, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, are meeting in Brussels at the end of a week of talks between their teams.
All signs are that there has been some progress in the trade and security negotiations but that there remain significant gaps to bridge and that talks will continue in the first weeks of October, with an EU summit on 15 October looming as a key moment.
Sources suggested the timetable for a deal was slipping. The much discussed “tunnel” of intensive negotiations, where the two sides get creative away from the glare of media scrutiny, may have to wait until the end of this month.
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Morning, I’m Aamna Mohdin and I’ll be helming the UK’s politics blog today.
The scandal surrounding the major breaches of Covid regulations by the Scottish National party’s Margaret Ferrier are likely to intensify today, with calls for the MP to resign after travelling from London to Scotland knowing she had coronavirus.
Ferrier was suspended from the SNP yesterday after it emerged she did not tell the party whip about her positive test until two days after receiving the result.
Here’s a write up from the Guardian reporters Matthew Weaver and Libby Brooks on Ferrier’s breaches:
On Saturday she began suffering symptoms of the virus and took a test. Despite this, she travelled 400 miles to London by train on Monday – a journey of five hours and 40 minutes – to attend parliament, where she made a brief speech in the evening during a debate on coronavirus.
That evening she was also told she had tested positive for the virus. It is unclear whether she was told that before or after she spoke in parliament, about the replacement of the furlough scheme.
The following morning, Tuesday, she travelled by train to Scotland without seeking advice but knowing she had the virus. The Guardian understands that Ferrier told the SNP’s chief whip, Patrick Grady, that a family member was unwell and she was given the requisite permission to leave parliament. She has been self-isolating at home since then.
On Wednesday afternoon, she told Grady she had tested positive for coronavirus herself, but it was assumed that the test had been done when she returned to Scotland. It was only on Thursday that it emerged she had been tested on Saturday. It is also understood that the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was told about Ferrier’s actions following FMQs on Thursday afternoon.
I’ll be liveblogging Nicola Sturgeon’s daily press conference at 12.30pm. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or message me on Twitter (@aamnamohdin)
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