Coronavirus news you may have missed overnight: Government adviser quits after breaking lockdown rules to see ‘lover’, as experts suggest exit plan allowing restrictions to be eased for 60% of population

UK has highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after overtaking Italy with 29,427 fatalities

More than 3.6 million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide and almost 256,000 deaths have been reported.

The UK now has the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after overtaking Italy with a total of 29,427 fatalities.

Here is your morning briefing of the coronavirus news you might have missed overnight.

Government coronavirus adviser quits after breaking lockdown rules

A key scientist advising the government on the coronavirus pandemic has resigned after flouting social distancing restrictions, admitting he made an “error of judgement”.

Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist whose modelling convinced Boris Johnson to press ahead with a UK-wide lockdown, stood down from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) after allegations emerged in The Daily Telegraph.

It was claimed that Prof Ferguson allowed a woman – described as his “lover” – to visit him at home in London on at least two occasions during the lockdown despite strict rules against mixing households. The woman reportedly lives with her husband and children.

Experts suggest lockdown exit plan allowing restrictions to be eased for 60% of population

Easing the coronavirus lockdown in the UK could begin by relaxing restrictions for around 60 per cent of the population while strengthening protection for the most vulnerable people, experts have suggested.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh believe the twin approach – known as “segmenting and shielding” – could help healthy young adults return to work while still protecting the NHS.

The group of independent academics say lockdown restrictions could gradually be eased for most people over a 12-week period, so as long as some measures were kept in place to keep transmission rates as low as possible.

New NHS contact-tracing app vulnerable to ‘malicious false alerts’

The new NHS contact-tracing app could be used to send malicious alerts causing people to isolate unnecessarily, it has been warned.

The app, which is being trialled in the Isle of Wight, tells users if someone they have been in proximity with may be suffering from coronavirus, meaning they could be exposed.

But because users can set off the warnings themselves by reporting symptoms – rather than positive Covid-19 test results – it could be used to send out false alerts.

Coronavirus whistleblower says Trump administration ignored warnings and drug dangers

A federal scientist who says he was removed from his post after disputing the efficacy of an unproven malaria drug to combat coronavirus has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that his warnings were dismissed by the administration.

Dr Rick Bright, who led the office overseeing the development of a vaccine, says officials launched a “baseless smear campaign” against him and levelled “demonstrably false allegations about his performance in an attempt to justify what was clearly a retaliatory demotion” following his opposition to the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

He argued to White House officials that the use of the drugs, which the federal Food and Drug Administration later warned against using, lacked “scientific merit” while the administration pushed to “flood” parts of the US with drugs “imported from factories in Pakistan and India that had not been inspected by the FDA”, the complaint says.