Coronavirus news – live: Face coverings will not be made in compulsory in shops, Michael Gove says as Herefordshire farm in lockdown

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Coronavirus in numbers

Face coverings will not be made mandatory in shops, Michael Gove said – two days after Boris Johnson hinted that England could copy Scotland by introducing the rule.

The cabinet office minister also stepped up calls for people to return to work following reports that the government was set to ease restrictions on using public transport.

It came as a Herefordshire farm went into lockdown after 73 vegetable pickers tested positive for coronavirus. The 200 staff are being kept in isolation in mobile homes at the site.

Meanwhile Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would be prepared to impose a border quarantine with England to prevent the spread of the virus if necessary, though there were no “immediate plans” to do so.

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Key Points

• Herefordshire farm in lockdown amid coronavirus outbreak
• Scotland not ruling out border quarantine with England
• Masks 'will not be made compulsory in shops', says Gove
• PM set to ease restrictions on public transport
• Tax rises needed to pay for pandemic, ex-minister warns
• 'Enough vaccine for all of UK in 2021', says scientist
• Trump wears mask for first time in public

[12 July 2020 23:53 · Vincent Wood]

Houston officials call for return to lockdown

Top officials in Houston are calling for the city to lock back down as area hospitals strain to accommodate the onslaught of patients sick with the coronavirus.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, both Democrats, said this weekend that a stay-at-home order is needed for America's fourth-largest city to cope with the surge of Covid-19 cases.

The call comes after a week in which Texas continued to break records for confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths linked to the disease. State health officials reported 8,196 new cases Sunday, another 80 deaths and a total of 10,410 people hospitalised due to the virus.

The decision over a lockdown, however, rests with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott — who has resisted this step, saying it should be a last resort.