Coronavirus news – live: Boris Johnson hints two-metre rule could be scrapped in schools, after Covid-19 alert level lowered
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Boris Johnson has hinted he may scrap the two-metre social distancing rule for schools, adding: “Watch this space.” His comments came after schools in England were offered £1bn to help children catch up on learning lost due to coronavirus.
Plus, the UK’s Covid-19 alert level has been lowered from 4 to 3 on the recommendation of the four chief medical officers, who nonetheless warned: “It does not mean that the pandemic is over.”
Also on Friday, figures showed that black men suffered the highest coronavirus death rate of any group at the height of the UK’s epidemic.
UK infections shrinking, government says
The Covid-19 reproduction number for England has fallen to between 0.7 and 0.9, bringing it into line with the rest of the UK, the government said on Friday.
Boris Johnson said he hoped the time of national lockdowns was over after the four chief medical officers agreed that the coronavirus threat level should be lowered.
The Government Office for Science said that the growth rate, which captures the size and speed of change, was -4 per cent to -2 per cent in the UK as a whole, and -4 per cent to -1 per cent in England alone.
Those figures indicate the disease is shrinking across the country.
Americans wearing masks to prove they dislike him, Trump claims
Donald Trump has claimed some Americans are wearing masks amid the Covid-19 pandemic to show their disapproval of him and not to slow the virus’s spread, writes Gino Spocchia.
The US president, who appeared to contradict US Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention recommendations with his comments, added that his issue with masks was that people touch them.
Teachers' union complains of 'information black hole' from government
Schools and colleges are trying to prepare for September in an "information black hole" from the government, a union has claimed.
Speaking after Boris Johnson set out his aim to return all pupils to classrooms for five days a week in autumn, Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said government rules would need to change for that to be possible.
He said: "In order for this to happen, the current government guidelines would need to change because it would not be possible to do this while limiting class sizes to 15. You would need twice as many classrooms, and twice as many teachers."
He added: "Schools and colleges are doing everything they can to prepare for September in what can only be described as an information black hole on the part of the government."
Mr Johnson hinted earlier that he plans to scrap the two-metre social distancing rule in schools.
When can Britons go on holiday again, and where to?
As the travel industry slowly begins to relax restrictions on movement, it feels as if there’s a glimmer of hope on the horizon for those desperate to get away this summer, writes Joanna Whitehead.
It goes without saying that safety must take precedence over any personal urge for, let’s say, a Florentine gelato, but the optimists among us are starting to see a shift in the right direction.
With restrictions remaining in many destinations, we’ve looked at where Brits might be permitted to travel and when.
Switzerland donates humanitarian supplies to Venezuela
The Swiss government has sent nearly 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Venezuela, primarily to help treat Covid-19 victims, its foreign ministry said on Friday.
The government chartered the aircraft to support United Nations agencies and other aid groups which gathered supplies worth 2 million Swiss francs ((£1.7m) for the people of Venezuela amid the country's political, social and economic crisis.
The package included PPE, medicine, emergency equipment, hygienic articles and tools for preparing potable water to help around 1.2 million people, the ministry said.
Sage was told in April that coronavirus could spread to nine in 10 care homes
A paper published in April and seen by Sage, the government's advisory group of experts, warned that Covid-19 could go on to infect 90 per cent of England's care homes.
That proportion of homes was expected to see at least one case if transmission rates at the time remained stable, the authors said.
The authors of the paper, from the University of Manchester, also suggested that staff working in multiple care homes could be spreading the virus between them.
The paper, "Preliminary analysis of Public Health England (PHE) Care Home data", is dated April 2020.
It shows new reported outbreaks of Covid-19 in care homes "rose rapidly" in early to mid-March before plateauing from late that month.
Virus surging in Iran
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Iran passed 200,000 on Friday, as state media continued to warn about a lack of proper social distancing despite a new surge of infections.
Daily deaths have exceeded 100 most of this week, for the first time in two months. Health officials announced 120 deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 9,392, and 2,615 new cases for a total of 200,262.
The parliamentary research centre issued a report in April suggesting that the actual number of coronavirus deaths might be almost twice the official figure.
UK cases pass 300,000 amid global surge
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK has passed 300,000 amid a surge in new infections globally, writes Anthony Cuthbertson.
Data from John Hopkins University revealed that there have been 301,935 cases of Covid-19 in the UK, though the number of new daily cases has fallen significantly in recent weeks.
By contrast, major outbreaks across Asia and South America contributed to a record high number of new cases around the world on Thursday.
With quarantine for travellers to destinations outside these islands officially in place until next summer, many holidaymakers are looking at staying within the UK and Ireland this year.
The five nations are opening up to tourism – but all at different speeds. Travel correspondent Simon Calder looks at the picture right now in this piece:
Figures show ministers awarded contracts exceeding £11m to companies to aid the government’s effort to develop a custom-made coronavirus contract tracing app, political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports.
It comes after Matt Hancock scrapped plans to build the country’s own centralised app, which has been trialled on the Isle of Wight, rather than use technology already available from global giants Apple and Google.
Read more below:
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