Category Archives: UK news

Coronavirus live news: Trump pushes to withdraw WHO funding immediately

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US public health departments being told to prepare November vaccine distribution; signs Covid-19 easing in Brazil; Berlusconi tests positive. Follow the latest updates

On loneliness in Victoria, Australia:

Under Melbourne’s strict lockdown rules, couples who live apart can visit each other but other visitors are banned, so a lot of single people who live alone, like Ford, have spent weeks completely isolated. Victorians are allowed to exercise with one other person for an hour outdoors, but that person has to live nearby because of the restrictions on movement. In practice, this means that unless you live in the same suburb as your friends and family, you are unlikely to be able to exercise together:

Related: 'It gets into your bones': the unique loneliness of coronavirus lockdown when you live alone

The UK government is to trial routine weekly Covid testing of the population as part of preparations to head off a possible winter second wave, as the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt called for such tests to become the norm.

Matt Hancock said the government was committing an extra £500m to scale up testing capacity and launch community pilots trialling the effectiveness of repeat testing in schools and colleges, as well as in the population as a whole. It will also ramp up the trials of a new test kit that it is claimed can provide results within 20 minutes:

Related: Mass weekly Covid-19 testing of population to be trialled in England

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Star Wars actor John Boyega says non-white roles are ‘pushed to the side’ in franchise

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British actor, who played former stormtrooper Finn, says the process had changed him and made him ‘angry’

The British actor John Boyega has criticised the treatment of non-white characters in the latest Star Wars films, saying they were marketed as important elements in the franchise but were ultimately “pushed to the side”.

In an interview published by GQ magazine on Wednesday, Boyega expressed bitterness over how his role as stormtrooper Finn faded in the latter episodes of the trilogy which concluded with The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.

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Hostile environment has fostered racism and caused poverty, report finds

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Policy has failed in its main objective of encouraging more migrants to leave UK voluntarily, says IPPR

The “hostile environment” policy has fostered racism, pushed people into destitution and wrongly targeted people who are living in the UK legally, a study has concluded.

The measures formally introduced by Theresa May while she was home secretary have also failed to achieve their key objective of increasing the numbers of people choosing voluntarily to leave the UK, according to the report published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

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Mass weekly Covid-19 testing of population to be trialled in England

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Jeremy Hunt says UK should embrace repeat testing as route to more ‘normal life’

The UK government is to trial routine weekly Covid testing of the population as part of preparations to head off a possible winter second wave, as the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt called for such tests to become the norm.

Matt Hancock said the government was committing an extra £500m to scale up testing capacity and launch community pilots trialling the effectiveness of repeat testing in schools and colleges, as well as in the population as a whole. It will also ramp up the trials of a new test kit that it is claimed can provide results within 20 minutes.

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Race to track 200 people on flight after officials fail to tell airline of Covid cases

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Exclusive: Wizz Air left in dark after eight teenagers travelling from Crete to London Luton test positive

Health officials are scrambling to contact more than 200 British holidaymakers on a flight from Crete last week after authorities failed to alert the airline that eight passengers had tested positive for coronavirus.

The teenagers, from Hampshire, were diagnosed after returning to the UK on a Wizz Air flight to London Luton airport on 25 August. The positive tests should have triggered an urgent response to track down the other 204 passengers on board, but Wizz Air said it had not been made aware of the cases until contacted by the Guardian.

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Coronavirus live news: leading US Democrat Nancy Pelosi pictured without face covering in hair salon

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US rejects global vaccine effort; cases rise in India, Russia and Hungary; Australia enters recession

Greece recorded has recorded the first coronavirus case in the overcrowded migrant camp of Moria on the island of Lesbos, two migration ministry officials said on Wednesday.

A 40-year old asylum seeker has tested positive for the virus and had been put in isolation, one of the officials told Reuters. Authorities were trying to trace the people he had been in contact with, the official said.

I am now handing over the blog to the very capable Amy Walker. Thank you for reading and please do keep us updated on all coronavirus-related tips and stories.

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Turkey seeing second peak of Covid-19 outbreak – as it happened

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US president’s move challenged by Congress; Silvio Berlusconi has Covid-19; Brazil’s death toll appears to be easing. This blog is now closed

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:

Related: Coronavirus live news: Trump pushes to withdraw WHO funding immediately

Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll appears to be easing for the first time since May, data shows, a sign the Latin American country could be descending from a long infection plateau that has seen it suffer the world’s second-worst outbreak after the United States, Reuters reports.

With nearly 4 million confirmed cases, the virus has killed over 120,000 people in Brazil. But the level of average daily deaths dropped below 900 per day last week - the lowest in three and a half months and below the rate of both the United States and India, according to a Reuters tally.

Researchers at Imperial College London also calculate that the transmission rate in Brazil, at which each person infected with the coronavirus infects another person, is now below 1, the level required for new infections to slow.

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UK coronavirus live: Gavin Williamson chose to cancel exams while Ofqual wanted them to go ahead, MPs told

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News updates: Ofqual wanted exams to go ahead but Williamson chose to cancel

The education commitee has published the written submission it has received from Roger Taylor, chair of Ofqual, about the exam grade debacle. There is a link to it here.

We have received this written statement from @ofqual.

You can read it in full here: https://t.co/R4OO4eB1Qx pic.twitter.com/EG9jdZ0X2y

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has posted a nine-item thread on Twitter explaining the reasons for the decision to tighten coronavirus restrictions in three local authorities in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. It starts here.

1. New restrictions have come into effect in Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire & East Renfrewshire. I know residents in these areas - I am one - feel frustrated and are wondering why we have done X and not Y...so I thought it would be helpful to set out some of the rationale...

3. Our data suggests that spread in and between households is driving much of the transmission just now. That doesn’t mean there are no cases in pubs etc - but unlike in Aberdeen, pub clusters don’t appear, at this stage, to be main driver. That analysis has guided decisions...

4. Based on data, clinical advice is that restricting household gatherings indoors - where it is most difficult to keep physical distance - is vital. Closing pubs wouldn’t be an alternative to that - but an additional measure which, for now, they don’t consider proportionate

8. Data has also told us in recent days that we’ve had a number of positive cases amongst people returning from Greece - that’s why we’ve had to add Greece to quarantine list. Given uncertainties of situation, my advice remains to avoid non essential foreign travel for now

9. Finally, I know how difficult all this is. I hate having to take these decisions and you all hate the impact of them. My plea is that we treat yesterday’s developments as a wake up call and take seriously our individual responsibilities to stop #COVID spreading. Thank you!

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Covid lockdown eased in two of England’s worst-hit areas despite surge in cases

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Lifting of restrictions in Bolton and Trafford described as ‘completely illogical’

Restrictions on social gatherings for more than half a million people in two of England’s worst-hit areas have been lifted, despite councils warning the government it was too soon to lift the measures.

The government pressed ahead with the lifting of restrictions for more than 520,000 people in Bolton and Trafford in north-west England overnight despite a surge in the number of cases in both areas.

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‘I had to stand up’: young refugees learn to take on MPs and the UK media

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The voices of young asylum seekers have been absent from the debate over their futures – until a charity decided to teach them public speaking

Naqeeb, a 20-year old refugee from Afghanistan, has watched with increasing dismay the reaction of politicians and journalists to the people who are risking their lives attempting to reach the UK across the Channel.

Among those packed aboard flimsy dinghies are teenagers and children travelling alone: more than 400 unaccompanied minors have attempted to cross from France to England by sea this year.

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UK will lead world on tackling famine and Covid with new department, says Raab

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Merging DfID and FCO will cement Britain ‘as a force for good’, Raab claims, but critics fear aid will be deprioritised

Dominic Raab pledged Britain will take the global lead in tackling coronavirus and the growing risk of famine in developing countries by combining diplomatic strength with “world-leading” aid expertise, as the newly merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) prepared to launch on Wednesday.

In his first appointment as head of the FCDO, the foreign secretary appointed Nick Dyer, acting permanent secretary of the former Department for International Development (DfID), as the UK’s first special envoy for famine prevention and humanitarian affairs.

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Alan Partridge on his new podcast: ‘This is the real, raw, be-cardiganed me’

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He’s back – sporting a post-lockdown haircut and hosting a new podcast. Britain’s No 1 raconteur talks about his new hat, driving a Vauxhall, and why Boris Johnson looks like the evil rabbit in Watership Down

Turn right out of Norwich railway station, take the number 12 bus, change at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, ride eight stops on the number 4 towards Swanton Morley, walk 1.1 miles, and you can’t help but spot the twin louvred conical towers of the oasthouse that Alan Partridge calls home. It is from this very oasthouse that Partridge – raconteur, national treasure, wit – broadcasts his brand new podcast, From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast, and to which Partridge has invited the Guardian.

Partridge bounds out to greet me in what appears to be an effusive show of hospitality. He offers a handshake before snapping it back into a more pandemic-appropriate wave. “I am so fine with social distancing,” he says. “Remember, I work in television where you’re forever mauled, hugged and leant on by over-pally floor managers or cackling makeup ladies. Now I can say, ‘Get your hands off me!’ without appearing in any way rude.”

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‘Trickle not a torrent’: workers in Canary Wharf and Manchester return to the office

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Suits and takeaway coffees were back out in London’s financial district - but numbers are still lower than normal

The morning flow of commuters arriving at Canary Wharf, London’s financial district, was a trickle on Tuesday rather than the torrent traditionally associated with the end of summer return to work.

Sparse numbers of suited and smartly dressed workers emerged from the underground station, clutching their morning takeaway coffees, destined for the corporate headquarters of banks, financial services companies and law firms.

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Tony Abbott: some elderly Covid patients could be left to die naturally

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‘Health dictatorships’ failing to consider economic costs of crisis, ex-Australian PM says

Tony Abbott, the former Australian prime minister tipped to become a UK trade envoy, has railed against Covid “health dictatorships”, saying the economic cost of lockdowns meant families should be allowed to consider letting elderly relatives with the coronavirus die by letting nature take its course.

He claimed it was costing the Australian government as much as $200,000 (£110,000) to give an elderly person an extra year’s life, substantially beyond what governments would usually pay for life-saving drugs.

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Boris Johnson seeks to mollify Tory MPs dismayed by U-turns

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PM admits government has backtracked on multiple issues but insists it is on right course

Boris Johnson has moved to mollify angry backbenchers disillusioned by the number of government U-turns, admitting the government has been forced to backtrack on multiple issues throughout the pandemic but insisting it is on the right course.

The prime minister has been facing a restive party as MPs return to Westminster, with several senior Conservatives expressing public dismay over the disaster of A-Level grading and chaotic communication over quarantine periods and the use of masks in schools and shops.

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No 10 blames EU and plays down prospects of Brexit trade deal

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Spokesman for Boris Johnson says hopes of meeting deadline in December are dwindling

Downing Street has played down the prospect of reaching a trade deal with the EU in time for December, saying it will be “very difficult” – and blaming Brussels’ insistence on tackling tough issues upfront.

The UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, is meeting his EU counterpart Michel Barnier in London, in advance of the next round of formal talks next week.

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Quarter of Covid victims in England and Wales have dementia – study

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Data also shows up to 75% of all deaths in care facilities globally were of people with dementia

People with dementia accounted for a quarter of all Covid-related deaths in England and Wales, and three-quarters of all deaths in care facilities globally, data shows.

The London School of Economics and University College London are looking at the mortality rate of those with dementia in a regularly updated report. According to their research, up to 75% of Covid-19 deaths globally in care facilities are those with dementia as an underlying condition.

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Bronze age Britons made keepsakes from parts of dead relatives, archaeologists say

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Pieces of bone were turned into ornaments, and may have been placed on display

Bronze age Britons remembered the dead by keeping and curating bits of their bodies, and even turning them into instruments and ornaments, according to new research on the remains.

Archaeologists found that pieces of bone buried with the dead were often from people who had died decades earlier, suggesting their remains had been kept for future generations, as keepsakes or perhaps for home display.

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Channel swimmer found 500 metres off Dover after eight-hour search

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Coastguard confirms swimmer is well and he will be checked over by ambulance staff

A nearly eight-hour search for a person trying to swim from Dover to Calais unaccompanied has ended after he was spotted by a passing vessel.

Emergency services launched a major operation to try to locate the male swimmer, who was eventually found just 500 metres off Dover.

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