Coronavirus news – live: Teachers and parents criticise threat of fines for children who miss school as scientists claim to have found first patient reinfected with Covid-19
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Your support makes all the difference.Teaching unions and parents have hit back over the threat of fines if children do not return to the classroom next week, warning it could undermine trust between families and schools at a crucial point in the UK’s recovery from coronavirus.
It comes after Boris Johnson urged parents to send their children back to school when they reopen in England, saying that yet more time outside the classroom is a greater health risk than returning – a view echoed by Jennie Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, who said car crashes and flu were greater health dangers than Covid-19.
Scientists, meanwhile, claim to have found the first person to be reinfected with coronavirus – a man in Hong Kong who is believed to have caught one strain four months after battling a different incarnation of Covid-19.
Man may be world's first reinfected Covid-19 patient
A man may have become the world's first reinfected Covid-19 patient, according to Hong Kong University's microbiology team.
The 33-year-old, who came from Spain, is thought to have been infected with a different strain of coronavirus four months after he first came down with the illness.
Responding to a question about the possible reinfection, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation cautioned against jumping to conclusions.
You can read more in our breaking news story:
Hogan under pressure to reveal travel history
The European Union’s trade commissioner Phil Hogan is under pressure to explain his movements after he was stopped by police in the west of Ireland for driving while using his mobile phone, writes Adam Forrest.
Mr Hogan is already facing calls to resign his role as Ireland’s commissioner to the EU after attending a golf dinner with more than 80 people despite coronavirus restrictions on indoor gatherings.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has also demanded the commissioner explain whether his recent journeys between different counties in the west of Ireland breached local lockdown rules.
France to impose reciprocal quarantine on UK travellers 'within days'
French authorities reciprocate the UK's decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France within days, the country's junior minister for European affairs said on Monday.
Britain said on Friday that travellers from the UK to France were required to self-certify that they are not suffering coronavirus symptoms or have been in contact with a confirmed case within 14 days before their journey.
Since 15 August, British authorities have also required travellers returning from France to self-isolate upon their return due to high Covid-19 infection rates in France.
"We will have a measure called reciprocity so that our British friends do not close the border in one single way," Clement Beaune told France 2 television.
"For travellers returning from the United Kingdom, there will probably be restrictive measures decided in the next few days by the prime minister and by the defence council."
Switzerland hits UK's quarantine threshold
Switzerland could become the next European country to be subject to quarantine measures by all four nations of the UK, according to new figures.
A seven-day rate of 20 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people is the threshold above which the UK government considers triggering quarantine conditions.
Switzerland is currently recording a seven-day rate of 20.7 cases per 100,000.
Scotland has already taken Switzerland off its list of countries from which people do not need to self-isolate on arrival.
'The government wrote the worst-case scenario plan for this winter, but doesn't want us to believe it'
The government’s latest “reasonable worst case scenario” winter planning document going around Whitehall has been leaked to the press and it’s the same old rubbish as last time, writes Tom Peck.
Emergency airdrops for the Channel Islands? The rationing of drinking water? Come on. Get real, they say. It’s not going to happen.
The last time this occurred, when The Sunday Times published the details of Operation Yellowhammer, Michael Gove very kindly set the record straight, explaining that his department’s own documents were just yet more media scaremongering.
First child victim of Covid-19 in Iowa
A young child died from coronavirus complications in June, the state health department belatedly announced Sunday evening.
It was the first confirmed death of a minor in Iowa from Covid-19.
The Iowa Department of Public Health said the state medical examiner's office concluded its case investigation into the death of the child, who was under the age of 5, on 6 August.
But the death was not reported in the state's statistics until Saturday, more than two weeks later.
"The child's death was publicly reported this weekend after ensuring the individual's identity would remain protected and notifying the family," the department said in a statement.
"We have made every effort to protect the identity of this child, while the family grieves this devastating loss. Again, we send our sincerest condolences."
Dozens of Iowa school districts are preparing to reopen on Monday.
Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered schools to reopen for at least 50 per cent in-person instruction.
100 infections at nudist resort
A popular French naturist resort has been hit by an “alarming” outbreak of coronavirus, with 100 holidaymakers so far testing positive, writes Liam James.
Officials in the town of Cap d’Adge noted the “very worrying” spread among the nudist community, citing a 30 per cent positive testing rate as they put in place measures to combat the outbreak.
Local government has asked all residents of the small resort town to be tested. There were 57 positive tests on last Wednesday alone, according to the regional health service.
Von der Leyen requests more detail of Hogan movements
The president of the European Commission has requested further details about her trade chief's attendance at a controversial golf dinner in Ireland.
Pressure has been building on commissioner Phil Hogan to step down from his EU role after attending last week's function with more than 80 people present.
Ms Von der Leyen's spokesperson Dana Spinant told reporters: "This is a matter which requires careful assessment on our side.
"It is a matter where details count, therefore the president has requested Commissioner Hogan to provide a full report covering the matters... the president has received such a report from Commissioner Hogan last night."
Read more about Mr Hogan's case here:
Man leaves hospital after battling Covid-19 for 110 days
A Nottingham man was finally able to leave hospital on Friday after a 110 day battle with Covid-19, writes Liam James.
Sixty-five-year-old Mick Pickering, from Newthorpe in Nottinghamshire, contracted the coronavirus back in April and was admitted to hospital on 4 May suffering symptoms of lethargy, loss of appetite, shivers and feelings of sickness and diarrhoea.
'Vital' for kids to get back to school, PM says
Boris Johnson as said it is "absolutely vital" that England's schoolchildren returned to the classroom and there was only a "very, very, very small" chance of them catching coronavirus.
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, said fines could be used as a "last resort" to punish parents who did not comply.
The government has repeatedly said that schools will be the last thing to shut if there are local lockdowns and Downing Street said that if that happened, teachers would be expected to continue classes remotely.
Mr Johnson said a return to class in September was essential for children's education and wellbeing, but acknowledged that parents "are genuinely still a bit worried".
"All I can say is the risks are very, very, very small that they'll even get it, but then the risk that they'll suffer from it badly are very, very, very, very small indeed," the PM said.
"I think it's vital that parents understand that schools are safe and that teachers have gone to great lengths to get schools ready."
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