Coronavirus news: Pubs could have to close to keep schools open in local lockdowns, as Sturgeon admits failings on exam grades
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Your support makes all the difference.Pubs may be forced to close in areas under local coronavirus lockdowns so that schools can remain open, Downing Street has said.
Boris Johnson has said the UK has a moral responsibility to get children back into the classroom.
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to Scottish exam students who were marked down "because of an algorithm".
She said: "In a very difficult and unprecedented situation, we took decisions that we thought on balance were the right ones."
The number of NHS contact tracers are to be slashed by a third, while the rest are set to be redeployed locally.
Announcing the changes to the NHS Test and Trace programme, the Department for Health and Social Care said it would cut the number of national contact tracers by 6,000 by 24 August.
Sturgeon admits failings on exam grades
On school examination grades Ms Sturgeon admitted the government had got it wrong during the pandemic.
With almost no examinations taking place, teachers graded pupils in key exams and the grades were then moderated by examination boards. To the dismay of pupils, many grades in Scotland were revised down.
"In a very difficult and unprecedented situation, we took decisions that we thought on balance were the right ones," Ms Sturgeon told a briefing, adding that there had been too much focus on the system and too little on the pupils involved.
"Too many students feel they have lost out," she said. "Not as a result of anything they have done, but because of an algorithm.
“In addition, that burden has not fallen equally across our society.
"I do acknowledge that we did not get this right and I am sorry for that."
Separately, Aberdeen's lockdown will be extended if necessary, the first minister has said.
She added: "Having done it, we need to make sure we do it long enough to get the cluster and the outbreak under control, and so I can't rule out and won't rule out the possibility that we may have to extend for a further seven days."
'Johnson must take responsibility for schools'
Here we go again. Boris Johnson is staking his reputation on a full reopening of schools in England at the start of next month. After failing to deliver his pledge for all primary school pupils to return to the classroom before their summer break, Johnson cannot afford another broken promise, writes Andrew Grice.
By visiting two schools in east London today, the prime minister is taking personal charge, although if things go wrong again the person to pay the price will probably be Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, in the next reshuffle.
Iran closes newspaper over virus criticism
Iran shut down a newspaper on Monday after it published remarks by an expert who said the official figures on coronavirus cases and deaths in the country accounted for only 5 per cent of the real toll.
Mohammad Reza Sadi, the editor-in-chief of Jahane Sanat, told the official IRNA news agency that authorities closed his newspaper, which began publishing in 2004 and was mainly focused on business news.
On Sunday, the daily quoted Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, an epidemiologist the paper said had worked on the government's anti-coronavirus campaign, as saying the true number of cases and deaths in Iran could be 20 times the number reported by the health ministry.
"The administration resorted to secrecy for political and security reasons," he said, and only provided "engineered statistics" to the public.
Iran has reported a total of nearly 330,000 cases and 18,616 deaths, including 189 fatalities in the last 24 hours.
Outbreak at Swindon Tesco
A number of members of staff at a Tesco supermarket in Swindon have tested positive for coronavirus, writes Kate Ng.
The Wiltshire town has been among England's worst-affected in recent weeks, with more than 1,020 cases seeing it placed on the government's coronavirus watchlist.
On Sunday, Public Health England reported 24 new cases in the town in a single day. The recent rise in infections has been linked to an outbreak at an Iceland distribution centre.
Pubs may have to close to keep schools open
Pubs will have to close to keep schools open if there is a local outbreak of Covid-19 next month, No 10 has confirmed.
Schools will be the “absolute last” group to close in a local lockdown, Downing Street said.
Monks test positive
Ten Franciscan monks and eight trainees in Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis in Italy's Umbria region, have tested positive for coronavirus and gone into isolation, the Catholic order said on Monday.
Father Enzo Fortunato, a spokesman, said the 18 were not in the main convent complex, which includes the basilica where the saint is buried, but housed in a separate structure for trainee monks, known as novices, and their immediate superiors.
The newly-arrived novices were from France, Malta and Croatia.
Rubbish to pile up across Europe
Concerns are rising across Europe that the coronavirus-induced slump in oil prices could knock demand for recycled plastics but data is still patchy on how the pandemic has affected the amount of trash piling up, the European Union’s environment chief said.
As lockdowns around the world caused a drop in demand for fossil fuels, oil prices have plummeted this year, making virgin plastics even cheaper than recycled versions of the material.
That could spell trouble for EU plans to improve recycling rates. The EU generates around 26 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Only 30 per cent of that is recycled.
EU fears more border closures that could hamper trade and movement
As European countries struggle to manage spikes in coronavirus cases, concern is mounting about a "second wave" of uncoordinated border restrictions within Europe that threatens the free movement of goods and people — a foundation that the world's biggest trading bloc is built on.
Despite repeated warnings about the dangers of unannounced checks, some countries have imposed new restrictions, or demanded that travelers quarantine, recalling the panic border closures after Europe's first outbreak emerged in Italy in February, blocking traffic and medical equipment.
Beyond the economic impact of uncoordinated measures, experts fear that countries are becoming so used to lowering the gates at their frontiers as they see fit that the future of Europe's ID-check free travel zone known as the Schengen area is in real peril.
In a letter to national governments, seen by The Associated Press, the European Commission warns that "while we must ensure that the EU is ready for possible resurgences of COVID-19 cases ... we should at the same time avoid a second wave of uncoordinated actions at the internal borders of the EU."
AP
Aramco profits plunge due to coronavirus
Saudi Aramco is to push ahead with paying out $75bn in dividends this year, despite its profits plunging 73 per cent as the coronavirus pandemic caused demand for oil to plunge, writes Ben Chapman.
The huge shareholder payout, which mostly goes to the Saudi government, is crucial to managing the kingdom's finances.
Profits plunged more than expected, dropping 73.4 per cent in the second quarter to 24.6 billion riyals (£5bn).
Face-masks now mandatory in parts of Paris
Parisians and visitors to the French capital now face a £31 fine if they are caught without a face mask in certain popular areas.
One location covered by the measure is the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin, among the city's most popular outdoor spots for lunch .
Wearing a face mask outdoors also is required at the city's open-air markets, at popular tourist sites like Notre Dame Cathedral and Montmartre district neighborhoods, on several typically crowded streets and in parts of the Paris suburbs, authorities said.
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