Coronavirus news UK: Sunak urged to consider four-day week to boost economy, as Spain says will not quarantine UK visitors
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK’s chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was urged to consider introducing a four-day working week to as a means of overhauling the British economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Former shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas are among the signatories of a letter sent to Mr Sunak and seen by The Independent arguing for reducing working hours to provide greater opportunities amid growing levels of unemployment, borrowing an idea from New Zealand’s popular prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Spain has decided to accept UK travellers from Sunday without a retaliatory two-week quarantine, while Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, has said a review of the current two-metre social distancing rule will be finishing “shortly” after Boris Johnson told the public to “watch this space”.
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UK visitors to be 'freely' welcomed to Spain from tomorrow without mandatory quarantine, foreign minister says
Spain will allow the entry of visitors from the European Union from Sunday when it ends its state of emergency, and foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said this would apply to British citizens too as she urged the UK to drop its mandatory quarantine for Spanish visitors.
Anyone returning to the UK would still need to quarantine for 14 days. Boris Johnson is under considerable pressure from within his own party to form so-called air bridges with nations that have Covid-19 under control to exempt them from the quarantine.
"We will allow British visitors to enter Spain just like the rest of the European Union as from June 21 freely and without the need for a quarantine," Ms Laya told BBC News.
"We're discussing with the UK authorities to see if they would do the same on their side, we nevertheless are doing this out of respect for the 400,000 British citizens that have a second residence in Spain and are dying to benefit from their homes in our country.
"We do hope they will be sensitive to the 250,000 Spaniards that are also living in the UK and would like to enter the UK without a quarantine."
75 coronavirus cases confirmed at Welsh chicken processing plant - with further rise expected
Production was halted at the 2 Sisters factory in Llangefni, Anglesey, on Thursday after the Covid-19 outbreak was declared and staff told to self-isolate for two weeks.
Public Health Wales said the figure of 75 infections was accurate as of 3pm on Saturday, adding: "This number is expected to increase further over the next few days as we continue to process the samples taken from employees... Over 350 members of staff have provided samples so far."
It comes amid concerns over how coronavirus outbreaks are announced, with another cluster centred on the Kober meat processing plant in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, confirmed by owner Asda on Friday.
On Thursday, the 2 Sisters Food Group announced it was "doing the right thing" and would cease work on site for 14 days. The company said the first reported positive case at the plant was on 28 May and a full "safe ways of working" action plan had been in place since early March.
2 Sisters Food Group is one of the largest food producers in the UK, with brands including Fox's Biscuits and Holland's Pies, and customers such as supermarkets, KFC and Marks & Spencers.
The Llangefni site does not supply retail or branded food service customers, the firm said.
Northern Ireland's official labs record no new cases for first time since pre-lockdown
The daily update from the Department of Health revealed there were no positive results in the 995 tests analysed in their labs through Friday.
The department confirmed that the figures marked the first day since March that no new positive tests had been reported in a 24-hour period by health trust labs across the region.
One further death of a patient who had previously tested positive for coronavirus was announced, bringing to 545 the total number of deaths recorded by the Department of Health - a toll that primarily focuses on fatalities within hospitals.
The figures do not include test samples taken in drive-in National Testing Centres, which are analysed through a UK-wide arrangement involving private laboratories.
The actual number of deaths linked to Covid-19 in the region is significantly greater than 545, as many have occurred outside a hospital setting, in care homes and domestic dwellings.
The most up-to-date overall figure, including confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases in all settings, stood at 802 for the week ending 12 June.
R factor jumps to 1.79 in Germany, Robert Koch Institute says
The rate, published in Robert Koch Institute for public health's daily situation report, compares with a value 1.06 on Friday.
A reproduction rate, or 'R', of 1.79 means that 100 people who contracted the virus infect, on average, 179 other people. A reproduction of less than 1 is needed to gradually contain the disease.
Six of Trump's campaign staff test positive ahead of Tulsa rally
Donald Trump's campaign has said six staff members helping set up for his election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have tested positive for coronavirus, with communications director Tim Murtaugh saying "quarantine procedures" were immediately initiated.
Staff members will not attend the rally, nor will anyone who had immediate contact with those staff members would attend either, Mr Murtaugh said, adding that campaign staff are tested for Covid-19 as part of the campaign's safety protocols.
Campaign officials said everyone who is attending the rally will be given temperature checks before they pass through security. They will also be given masks to wear, if they want, and hand sanitiser at the 19,000-seat BOK Centre.
The rally is expected to be the biggest indoor event the country has seen since restrictions to prevent coronavirus from spreading began in March.
Tulsa has seen cases of Covid-19 spike in the past week, and the local health department director asked that the rally be postponed. But Republican governor Kevin Stitt said it would be safe.
France records 19 more deaths and 641 new cases
The country's official death toll now stands at 29,633, the health ministry said on Saturday - the fifth-highest in the world.
The UK today confirmed 128 further deaths and identified 1,295 new cases.
Ireland's 50-person limit for church services 'strange' and 'disappointing', senior cleric says
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin suggested the size of congregation should reflect the size of each church when places of worship reopen on 29 June.
The limits, announced by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as part of the latest fast-tracking of Ireland's exit plan, are set at 50 people indoors and 200 people outdoors, rising to 100 people indoors and 500 people outdoors by 20 July.
"It is obviously disappointing that with the reopening for public worship, there is a blanket restriction to the participation of a maximum of 50 in these first weeks," Archbishop Martin said.
"It seems strange that in a church with a capacity of 1,500 people which has been scrupulously fitted out for conformity with social distancing and with clear indications about movement and interaction of people within church, that only 50 people might be present, while we all see a situation in which large retail outlets are brimming with people," he said.
"I hope that it will be possible to come to a more reasonable and responsible situation in which numbers permitted to attend Mass could be proportionate to the size of each church. The numbers would not be very large. In some cases, it is not just a question of the limitation to 50 people in a large parish church, but this would effectively mean that only 50 people out of a parish of over 10,000 might be able to attend."
Overseas aid grants stopped in setback for coronavirus fight
Funding for scores of life-saving overseas projects has been stopped ahead of the axing of the aid department, undermining attempts to prevent the coronavirus wreaking havoc in the world’s poorest countries.
The doomed Department for International Development (DfID) has “paused” grants as it prepares to slash billions from its budget – before it is abolished altogether in September, The Independent can reveal.
Six staff members at Trump rally test positive for Covid-19
As the world prepares for Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his campaign team has confirmed that six staff members have already tested positive for coronavirus.
The event is expected to draw tens of thousands of people despite warnings from public health officials against large public gatherings.
Nigel Farage gets exemption from US travel ban to attend rally
US officials have exempt Nigel Farage from the country’s travel ban under the “national interest” clause, as Donald Trump prepares to hold his first major campaign rally since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
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