Thousands of people across the country have taken to their streets, gardens and windows to pay tribute to NHS workers and carers for the third consecutive week
Continue reading...Category Archives: UK news
EasyJet agrees delay with Airbus on delivery of 24 new aircraft
Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s biggest shareholder, has repeatedly tried to get order cancelled
EasyJet has agreed with Airbus to delay the delivery of 24 new aircraft as the budget airline tries to stave off a shareholder rebellion led by its founder and former chief executive, Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s biggest shareholder, has repeatedly called for easyJet to cancel its orders for new planes, with coronavirus lockdowns likely wiping out months of revenues.
Continue reading...UK lockdown could end ‘with sector-by-sector plan’ for firms
Industries like manufacturing could return to normal before entertainment companies, according to Whitehall sources
Ministers are looking at ending the coronavirus lockdown with a “gradual sector-by-sector approach” that could see vital industries such as manufacturing get back to work before less critical ones like entertainment, according to Whitehall sources.
Two officials said one of the main options being explored for ending the lockdown was the idea of a phased return by industry, with civil servants in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy among those looking at how it could work.
Continue reading...Dominic Raab thanks NHS staff and key workers for Covid-19 response – video
The first secretary of state has thanked NHS staff and others working on the UK’s response to the coronavirus crisis. ‘We will never forget their sacrifice,’ he said of those who had lost their lives
Continue reading...‘We’re not done yet’: coronavirus lockdown must continue over Easter, says Raab – video
Dominic Raab has said the UK must not ease up on lockdown measures going into the Easter weekend. 'Thank you for your sacrifice but we’re not done yet,' he told the public. 'We must keep going.' The lockdown measures were introduced with a three-week review, which is due next week
Continue reading...Nurse offers advice on caring for those with coronavirus at home – video
Many people will get coronavirus at some point during this pandemic and in the majority of cases will be able to manage the illness themselves. Emma Hammett, a nurse and founder of First Aid for Life, offers some advice on how to look after people who have mild or moderate symptoms at home.
If you're looking after loved ones whose symptoms are severe or getting worse, you should seek medical help immediately – particularly if they are in a vulnerable group
- Find all our coronavirus coverage here
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they, and should I see a doctor?
Tool to report lockdown rule-breakers ‘risks fuelling social division’
Majority of forces in England and Wales adopt online form allowing people to report others
New police tools that encourage the public to report people they suspect of breaching coronavirus restrictions risk fuelling “social mistrust and division”, a barrister has warned, as the majority of the UK’s forces adopt the scheme.
Twenty-six of the 43 police forces in England and Wales have launched dedicated online forms allowing people to report suspected breaches of the lockdown, such as large gatherings in parks.
Continue reading...Blindsided: how coronavirus felled the global economy in 100 days
A singular event has economists asking the same questions as everyone else: how far is there to fall – and can we ever get back?
It is New Year’s Eve 2019 and around the world stock markets are closing for business on a high note. Shares in the US are up by almost 30% on the year, those in Japan by 18%. Even in Britain, where the mood has been dampened by months of Brexit uncertainty, the FTSE 100 has risen by 12%.
Overall, it had been the best year for stocks since 2009 and traders saw no real reason why the party should not continue into 2020. The US and China looked close to an armistice in their trade war, the US central bank was stimulating the world’s biggest economy, and Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in the general election had removed any lingering doubts about whether Britain would leave the European Union.
Continue reading...Why are coronavirus mortality rates so different? – video explainer
How can we understand the risk of dying from Covid-19 when there are so many numbers flying around? There are actually three types of fatality rate, which are calculated in different ways and tell you different things. When we know what each means and how they work, we can learn more about how new infections such as the coronavirus affect us
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: confirmed global cases pass 1.5m as Boris Johnson leaves intensive care
Italy’s curve flattening but deaths rise by 610; UK’s PM improves in hospital; virus could push 500m people into poverty
- Full story: global coronavirus cases pass 1.5 million
- Boris Johnson leaves intensive care
- How coronavirus spread across the globe - visualised
- US coronavirus updates – live
- See all of our coronavirus coverage
The UK’s housing secretary Robert Jenrick has responded on Twitter to The Guardian’s story about him visiting his parents.
For clarity - my parents asked me to deliver some essentials - including medicines.
They are both self-isolating due to age and my father's medical condition and I respected social distancing rules.https://t.co/XlRujT8S5Y
Egypt reported 139 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its total since the start of the outbreak to 1,699, according to a health ministry statement.
The Arab world’s most populous country also recorded 15 new deaths, raising the total number to 118.
Continue reading...How coronavirus changed the world in three months – video
In just three months, the coronavirus has turned the world upside down. But how did it play out so quickly? We take a look back to where it all began – from its origins in south east Asia, to its acceleration across Europe and the US. As the infection rate increased and countries went into lockdown, people began to find imaginative and inspiring ways of coping with our new reality
Continue reading...Essex lorry deaths: driver pleads guilty to manslaughter of 39 migrants
Maurice Robinson makes plea after 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in refrigerated truck
A lorry driver from Northern Ireland has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants who were found dead in a refrigerated trailer last year.
Maurice Robinson, 25, was arrested shortly after the bodies of eight females and 31 males were found in a trailer attached to his Scania cab in an industrial park in Grays, Essex, on 23 October. They included 10 teenagers, the youngest of whom were two boys aged 15.
Continue reading...UK’s coronavirus death toll: how does it compare with Spain and Italy?
Daily increase in volume of fatalities now puts UK on par with rises seen in Europe’s worst-hit countries
A total of 7,097 deaths have been recorded in hospitals across the UK to date. Although this is lower than the death tolls in Italy, the US, Spain and France, the daily increase in the volume of fatalities now puts the UK on a par with rises seen in Italy and Spain.
Continue reading...Coronavirus crisis has transformed our view of what’s important | Jonathan Freedland
After 100 days of rapid change we now see we can do without celebrities but not shelf-stackers
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
So said Vladimir Ilyich Lenin of the ferment of revolution, but he could just as easily have been talking about the 100 days that have passed since the moment coronavirus officially became a global phenomenon, the day China reported the new contagion to the World Health Organization.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson improving and sitting up in bed, chancellor says
PM ‘engaging positively’ but still in intensive care, according to update on his condition
Boris Johnson remains in intensive care but his condition is improving and he is sitting up in his hospital bed, the chancellor has said.
Rishi Sunak said the prime minister was “engaging positively” with medical staff as he gave an update on Johnson’s condition at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Continue reading...Union calls for cash payment ban on UK buses over coronavirus
Move will reduce risk of infection for drivers during pandemic, says Unite
Cash payments on all UK buses should be abolished for the duration of the coronavirus crisis to reduce the risk of driver infection, the union representing bus workers has demanded.
Unite called on Wednesday for an end to cash payments on all the bus systems still operating across the UK to help drive down infection rates, particularly as the country enters the predicted peak period of the outbreak over Easter and beyond.
Continue reading...What happens if you are in hospital with coronavirus – video explainer
The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains the different ways coronavirus can affect people, the likelihood of going to hospital and what will happen to people who are admitted.
Continue reading...Brexit: UK plan to agree trade deal by December is fantasy, says EU
Leaked letter reveals scale of bloc’s inability to function during coronavirus outbreak
Boris Johnson’s plan to seal a deal with Brussels on the future relationship with the UK by the end of December has been described as “fantasy land” by EU officials, as a leaked letter revealed the scale of the bloc’s inability to function during the coronavirus pandemic.
The European council headquarters, where member states’ positions are coordinated, is only able to hold one daily video conference due to a lack of facilities. The capacity to carry out work is 25% of what it would usually be.
Continue reading...Influencers among ‘key distributors’ of coronavirus misinformation
Study suggests mainstream news outlets struggling to compete with celebrities’ and politicians’ reach
Celebrities and politicians with large social media followings are proving to be key distributors of disinformation relating to coronavirus, according to a study that suggests the factcheckers and mainstream news outlets are struggling to compete with the reach of influencers.
The actor Woody Harrelson and the singer MIA have faced criticism after sharing baseless claims about the supposed connection of 5G to the pandemic, while comments by the likes of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, playing down the scale of the crisis in the face of scientific evidence have attracted criticism in recent days.
Continue reading...UK crime agency loses case against ex-Kazakh president’s family
Judge overturns unexplained wealth orders that led to freezing of London properties
Britain’s National Crime Agency has lost a high court attempt to force the daughter and grandson of a former president of Kazakhstan to explain where they got the money to buy £80m of property in London.
Last year, the NCA froze three of the family’s properties, including a mansion on north London’s so-called Billionaire’s Row with an underground swimming pool and cinema, over claims they were acquired using proceeds from unlawful activity.
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