Coronavirus news: Fresh nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out, says Hancock, as report warns of 85,000 UK winter deaths
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Your support makes all the difference.Nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out should England see a spike in coronavirus cases this winter, the health secretary has warned. Matt Hancock also hinted that restrictions may not be eased over Christmas to avoid an “uptick” in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Speaking on Saturday, Mr Hancock said countries in others parts of the world were already experiencing a second wave, adding it was “a very serious threat”. He continued: “Cases go up again, and we have to use very extensive local lockdowns or take further national action. We don’t rule that out, but we don’t want to see it.”
It came after a leaked scientific paper prepared for the government suggested that as many as 85,000 people could die in the UK in a second wave of coronavirus this winter. The report, by the prime minister’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage), seen by BBC2’s Newsnight, said that some lockdown restrictions may have to be reintroduced and kept in place until March 2021.
Meanwhile the government was criticised by school leaders after issuing new coronavirus guidance for schools on Friday evening - just days before the start of the autumn term. Labour also described the timing of the announcement as “insulting” to teachers and staff.
Gavin Williamson said the measures – which include a four-tier system for schools in local lockdown areas – were a “last resort” and insisted that it was safe for all pupils to return to the classrooms.
Follow the updates as they happened below:
Kosovo deadliest country for Covid-19
Figures show that Kosovo has become the world’s most deadly country for Covid-19, despite the fact it has one of the youngest populations in Europe.
The death rate in Kosovo has risen to 54.2 fatalities per million people, according to Johns Hopkins University, placing it top for most deaths per capita.
Colombia is in second place, with 50 fatalities per million people.
Avdullah Hoti, Kosovo's prime minister, who tested positive for the virus in early August, has warned that the hospitals across the country were running out of beds due to an influx of new Covid cases.
To date, Kosovo has recorded 13,100 cases and 499 deaths from coronavirus.
Almost 70 per cent of head teachers do not have confidence in the UK government's test, trace and isolate system ahead of the return of millions of school children next week, a new survey of over 4,000 school leaders has shown.
England's nearly 25,000 schools are set to return full time next week after many saw only a fraction of pupils return for the end of the last academic year.
They face challenges trying to manage the issue of the coronavirus in busy buildings and what will happen if there is an outbreak in a school, as some other countries have seen.
The survey by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) of predominantly English schools showed that only 7 per cent of school leaders said they were confident in the government's test, trace and isolate scheme while 68 per cent were not.
Read more below:
WHO sweetens terms to join struggling global COVAX vaccine facility
Wealthier countries that join the World Health Organisation's Covid-19 vaccine plan are being offered a new option to pick and choose which shots they get while reserving a right to receive their "full share" of doses, documents seen by Reuters show.
The change appears aimed at convincing governments which have negotiated their own bilateral deals securing experimental vaccines to also sign up for the global COVAX facility by Monday's deadline for submitting expressions of interest.
First US coronavirus reinfection case identified in Nevada study
Researchers for the first time have identified someone in the United States who was reinfected with the novel coronavirus, according to a study that has not yet been reviewed by outside experts.
The report, published online, describes a 25-year-old man living in Reno, Nevada, who tested positive for the virus in April after showing mild illness. He got sick again in late May and developed more severe Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Most US states reject Trump administration's new Covid-19 testing guidance
A majority of US states have rejected new Trump administration Covid-19 testing guidance in an extraordinary rebuke of the nation's top agency for disease prevention, according to officials at state health agencies and public statements reviewed by Reuters.
At least 33 states continue to recommend testing people who have been exposed to Covid-19 and have no symptoms, spurning guidance published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week that said testing may be unnecessary.
Sixteen states did not immediately respond to requests for comment and North Dakota said it had not made a decision.
FDA expands emergency use of Gilead's remdesivir in hospitalised Covid-19 patients
Gilead Inc said on Friday the US Food and Drug Administration had expanded the emergency use authorisation of its experimental antiviral Covid-19 treatment, remdesivir, to allow its use in all hospitalised COVID-19 patients.
The drug was authorised in May for use in patients with a severe form of the illness, after trial data showed the antiviral drug helped shorten hospital recovery time.
Patients with more moderate Covid-19 were shown in studies to have modest benefit after being given the drug, according to a study published last week.
Azerbaijan extends some coronavirus restrictions until 31 September
Azerbaijan has extended some coronavirus lockdown restrictions, including the closure of its borders, until 31 September after a further rise in the number of infections, the government said on Saturday.
Azerbaijan, which saw a daily increase of coronavirus cases of between 130 and 180 in the past several weeks, will reopen museums and exhibition halls from 1 September.
But shopping malls will remain closed and public transport will be limited, while the ban on travelling between the regions remains in place, the government said.
Azerbaijan introduced measures to stem the coronavirus on 24 March and has extended them several times.
The South Caucasus country of about 10 million people had registered 35,986 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 527 deaths as of Saturday.
Comment: Public opinion is resistant to Boris Johnson’s exhortations to go back to our desks but he’ll win out because of the hidden hand of the laws of economics, writes chief political commentator John Rentoul
Russia's coronavirus death toll exceeds 17,000
Russia said on Saturday 111 people had died from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, raising the official death toll to 17,025.
Russia's coronavirus taskforce reported 4,941 new cases, bringing its nationwide tally to 985,346, the fourth largest caseload in the world.
Creatives stage protest against 1,000 South Bank job cuts
Scores of creatives have rallied outside the National Theatre in central London to protest against more than 1,000 "callous" job cuts along South Bank.
Three major arts institutions - the Tate, the National Theatre and the Southbank Centre - are making mass redundancies brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Workers are also campaigning for fair redundancy payouts and preferential rehiring for casual staff, and against the large salaries retained by bosses.
Paul Valentine, 32, visitor experience host at the Southbank Centre and chairman of the Public and Commercial Services union, described the cuts as "draconian".
"We feel like the Government has let us down," he said.
"Obviously to the public £1.5 billion sounds like a lot of money but really that's not going to the people that need it."
Up to 400 people are expected to lose their jobs at each of the Southbank Centre and the National Theatre, and more than 300 at the Tate.
A procession of workers from all three institutions marched from the National Theatre to the Southbank Centre just before midday, where speeches were given by staff members and various artists and poets.
A banner, made in solidarity with the workers by Turner prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, was also unfurled.
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