Reopened pubs may require drinkers to register, Matt Hancock suggests

Customers in England may be asked to register when they arrive at pubs and restaurants as part of the the Government’s plan for reopening the hospitality sector, Matt Hancock has suggested.

The Health Secretary has confirmed that ministers will announce a further easing of the lockdown this week, with restrictions potentially lifting as soon as July 4.

Asked about reports that ministers are considering plans to ask diners and drinkers to register as they enter a venue, he said: “I wouldn’t rule that out. There are other countries in the world that take that approach.”

It follows the news that Boris Johnson is set to announce a new “one metre plus” rule for all venues, including shops, restaurants, schools, offices, and parks, in an overhaul designed to unlock swathes of the economy.

The move, which would take effect from July 4, is understood to entail allowing people to remain a metre away from others if they take additional measures to protect themselves, such as wearing a mask or meeting outdoors.

Follow all the latest updates below.

03:10 PM

More than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases reported in Florida 

The Florida Department of Health has reported 3,494 new cases of the coronavirus today, bringing the state total to 97,291, according to new data. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said cases are “shifting in a radical direction” toward populations in their 20s and 30s.

On Saturday, reported cases were the highest for a single day in the state with 4,049, according to to the Florida Department of Health. 

03:02 PM

Apple accused of failing to cooperate with ‘democratically elected governments’ over contact-tracing app chaos

Story continues

The Health Secretary has accused Apple of refusing to cooperate with “democratically elected governments” after being forced to ditch the original version of the contact-tracing app due to issues with iPhones. 

Signalling the frustration of ministers towards the tech giant, Matt Hancock claimed today that Apple was being “intransigent in the face of perfectly reasonable requests” as he highlighted previous rows over terrorism. 

With work now underway on a “hybrid” app – which will seek to incorporate components of the NHS version and one produced by Apple and Google – he also rejected claims from the companies that they had not been consulted on the new plan. 

It comes just days after the Government was forced to abandon the NHSX app after an internal audit found it could detect only one in 25 contacts on Apple phones. 

Harry Yorke has more here. 

02:54 PM

Thousands of extra kittens could be born due to lockdown

Thousands of extra kittens could be born this summer due to lockdown restrictions, with animal welfare charities already feeling the strain of the “kitten crisis”.

Cat owners are being urged to keep female cats indoors as the number of kittens being born is expected to rise, with the seasonal boom exacerbated by the UK’s lockdown restrictions because fewer vets are carrying out neutering procedures.

One man from Harrow found himself with a house full of 17 cats during the lockdown after his unneutered female cat became pregnant. The situation quickly spiralled, with multiple litters being born at the same time.

The kittens were taken into the care of Cats Protection and they will eventually be rehomed.

02:43 PM

Sadiq Khan opens up about his mental health during lockdown

Sadiq Khan has admitted that he has not always “provided proper leadership” as he struggles with his mental health during lockdown.

The Mayor of London said that he was used to stressful situations, but the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown has proved to be “the hardest of [his] professional life, in relation to the loneliness”.

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, in which he addressed the Black Lives Matter movement as well and controversies over his handling of the Transport for London (TfL) saga as well as the boxing up of public monuments, Mr Khan spoke candidly about his mental health.

“I’ve found it really tough,” he said. “So, for eight weeks I didn’t leave, literally, my home and Tooting Common. That’s it. I thrive on company, on being out and about. And I was struggling.” 

Read more here. 

02:32 PM

Schools consider disinfectant lights as they step up efforts to open in September

Schools are considering using conveyor belt tunnels containing ultraviolet lights to sanitise books and toys in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 when they fully reopen.

The energy emitted by UV-C light damages the DNA or RNA of virus particles in a process known as photodimerisation, inactivating them and preventing the cells from reproducing.

Previous studies have shown UV-C lights are highly effective at decreasing the infectivity of SARS, a similar coronavirus to Covid-19.

Lizzie Roberts has more here. 

02:21 PM

How many Covid-19 cases are in your area?

Public Health England release a daily update on how many confirmed cases of the coronavirus there are in each English local authority.

Type in your postcode in the tool below to find out how many cases there have been in your local area.

02:14 PM

UK death toll rises by 43

The coronavirus death toll in the UK has risen by 43 to 42,632 as of 5pm on Saturday, figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show.

In total, 304,331 people have tested positive. There have been 7,890,145 tests, with 175,018 of those taking place on 20 June.

01:57 PM

Britain’s biggest shoe maker Hotter Shoes at risk of collapse

Britain’s biggest shoemaker is threatened with collapse after landlords rejected its plan to close almost all of its 61 stores and pay lower rents on the remainder, Russell Lynch reports. 

Hotter Shoes, owned by private equity firm Electra, wants to close 51 of its shops and shed 600 jobs as it pins most of its hopes on online sales in the wake of the virus.

The chain, which specialises in comfortable footwear, also wants to cut 120 jobs at its Lancashire head office and factory – where it claims to make a pair of shoes every 20 seconds – as it slashes capacity by more than half.

After landlords rejected attempts at a consensual restructuring, Hotter said it had “no alternative” but to launch a “two-stage formal insolvency process” and seek a company voluntary arrangement, which creditors and landlords will vote on next month and can be pushed through by a majority accounting for three-quarters of liabilities.

Read the full story here. 

01:53 PM

Gyms and swimming pools call for clarity on reopening date and one-metre social distancing

The Government has been warned that hundreds of swimming pools and leisure facilities will close unless they receive financial help and urgent clarity over their potential reopening next month.

Gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools have all spent weeks drawing up detailed guidance on how they could safely resume in a limited capacity with two metres of social distancing, but are still waiting to discover if Government guidance will now switch to one metre and they will be cleared to open their doors on July 4.

A drop to one metre would be game-changing for the sector — and allow facilities to operate at virtual full capacity — but there is growing concern at the status of swimming pools, which are used annually by 14 million people but are especially expensive to run.

Jeremy Wilson, our chief sports writer, has more here. 

01:47 PM

More than 5,000 new Covid-19 cases reported in Chile

Chilean health officials announced 5,355 new cases of the coronavirus in Chile and 202 new deaths over the last 24 hours.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in the Latin American country to 236,748 and the death toll to 4,295, the officials said during a news conference today.

Chile is currently has the third-highest number of cases in Latin America after Brazil and Peru, and ranks ninth globally, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

The country’s chief epidemiologist Rafael Araos said there are other people who might have also died from the virus.

“In relation to those who died due to Covid without laboratory confirmation, that is, deaths in which Covid is a possible or probable cause, the number rises by 3,069,” he said.

This number of “probable” deaths from the coronavirus is not included in the country’s death toll.

01:39 PM

Iran reports over 100 virus deaths for third day running

Iranian health authorities have reported over 100 new deaths from Covid-19 today for the third day running, stressing that the outbreak had not yet peaked in the hard-hit country.

The country recorded its lowest single-day death toll in early May, before seeing a new rise in cases in recent weeks.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the 116 deaths reported today had brought the country’s overall Covid-19 toll to 9,623.

Iranian authorities have not imposed a mandatory lockdown on the population but closed schools, cancelled public events and banned movement between the country’s 31 provinces in March, before gradually easing restrictions starting in April.

01:32 PM

China bans imports from top US poultry producer and closes Pepsi factory in hopes to control outbreak

China has banned imports from a top US poultry producer and ordered a Beijing Pepsi factory to close today as authorites clamp down on food production and distribution amid a new Covid-19 cluster in the capital.

Health officials also reported 22 new virus cases in Beijing, where they have tested more than two million residents, as they seek to contain a wave of new infections linked to a wholesale market in the capital.

Imports of frozen chicken from Tyson Foods have been “temporarily suspended”, the General Administration of Customs said, after a virus outbreak was found at one of the company’s production facilities in the US.

Products from the firm that have already arrived in China will be confiscated, the statement said.

US food and drinks giant PepsiCo was also ordered to shut down one of its snack-making plants in Beijing after several employees tested positive, company spokeswoman Fan Zhimin said.

01:23 PM

No new Covid-19 deaths in Northern Ireland

There have been no new Covid 19-linked deaths announced in Northern Ireland today, with the death toll recorded by the Department of Health remaining at 545.

There were four new cases confirmed through tests conducted in health trust labs in the region, taking the total recorded by the labs since the outbreak began to 4,870.

01:18 PM

No Covid-19 deaths in Scotland for fifth time this month

No deaths of patients in Scotland who had tested positive for the coronavirus were registered in the past 24 hours, according to the latest Scottish Government figures

A total of 2,472 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, no change on Saturday’s figure.

This marks the fifth day in June when the death total has not changed.

The Scottish Government’s daily statistical update indicates that 18,156 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 26 from 18,130 the previous day.

Of those who have tested positive, 518 were in hospital on Saturday night.

A total of 16 patients were in intensive care with either confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a rise of two in 24 hours.

01:10 PM

Boris Johnson ‘sticking like glue’ to road map out of lockdown

Boris Johnson has said he is “sticking like glue” to his road map for easing the coronavirus lockdown for the hospitality sector from July 4, and will this week unveil his plan for the future of the two-metre rule.

In a Downing Street interview, the Prime Minister said: “The disease is increasingly under control and I just want people to reflect on that important fact.

“It’s going down, we are getting it down.

“So, of course, as we make that progress it will be possible to open up more and you will be hearing more about what we want to do with not just non-essential retail but with the hospitality sector from July 4 and we’re sticking absolutely like glue to the road map to the plan that I set out on May 10.

“But it’s very important we don’t lose our vice-like grip on the disease; we’ve got to keep it on the floor where we’ve got it.

“On the progress on social distancing, watch this space and you won’t have much more to wait now. You’ll certainly be hearing more this week.”

​Read more: The Government’s 50-page roadmap out of lockdown, explained

01:05 PM

Which shops are now open, and what are the new Covid-19 guidelines?

Shoppers made their way back to the high street on June 15, queuing to buy previously “non-essential” items such as clothes, shoes, books and computers, as lockdown rules were relaxed.

Boris Johnson has confirmed that all shops are now allowed to reopen as part of the Government’s three-stage plan to ease lockdown measures. 

Dominic Penna and Max Stephens have all you need to know about what shops are open, and what the new rules are in this strange new normal. 

12:57 PM

Trauma for bereaved families of Russia’s hidden Covid dead

Russia has to date officially recorded the relatively low number of  8,111 dead from Covid-19, but the experience of thousands of ordinary people tells a very different story.

The contrast between the official figures and the reality on the ground is grimly illustrated by the story of Anastasia Petrova – whose death at the age of 36 will not show up in Russia’s toll of Covid dead.

The editor-in-chief of the local newspaper “Business Interest”, Anastasia was admitted to hospital with a temperature of 39 on March 24. Four days later she was put on a ventilator in intensive care. 

On March 31, she died, leaving behind her two sons, aged 12 and 13, and her husband. 

Her mother, Marina Shilova, 58, buried her daughter in a closed coffin and is convinced that Covid-19 played a part in her death.

”Coronavirus worsened my daughter’s condition,” she told The Telegraph from Perm, a city near the Ural mountains, 718 miles northeast from Moscow. Doctors in Perm told Mrs Shilova: ”There was nothing left of her lungs.”

Read the full report, from Maria Georgieva and Patrick Sawer, here. 

12:49 PM

Travel quarantine is ‘completely useless’, says leading scientist

The Government’s controversial travel quarantine is “completely useless” and should be “dropped as soon as possible”, a world leading epidemiologist has claimed. 

Professor Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has today joined a growing list of MPs and business leaders calling for Boris Johnson to ditch the policy. 

Asked about the effectiveness of the blanket travel restrictions – which require all overseas arrivals to isolate for 14 days, Prof Piot said the move would only have “made sense at the very beginning, before we had cases.”

He added that due to the UK’s relatively high infection rates, the quarantine would “not contribute much” towards suppressing the coronavirus and was simply inflicting “enormous” damage to the economy. 

Harry Yorke has more here. 

12:42 PM

How gyms and fitness centres could reopen in July – and what the rules could be

Gyms and leisure centres are planning to open “showroom sites” this month in an attempt to reassure Government, health agencies and their users that they can reopen safely, writes Jeremy Wilson.

With new data last month showing a projected £2 billion ‘social cost’ in maintaining restrictions on gyms until October, the sector has published a framework that, with Government approval, could allow it to reopen formally after July 4 as part of the third phase of the lockdown roadmap.

According to Huw Edwards, the chief executive of UKactive, gyms and leisure facilities should also form a central part of the nation’s wider long-term health strategy for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some other countries have already reopened gyms, including Hong Kong, which has perspex screens between treadmills, and Switzerland, which has adapted facilities and limited numbers. 

Read the full story here. 

12:35 PM

Coronavirus around the world, in pictures

12:23 PM

Analysis: The health risks are clear, but education is too important for students to miss

The danger of contracting Covid-19 has to be balanced against the damage that curtailed education can inflict for the rest of one’s life, writes our global health security editor Paul Nuki. 

Scientists have been scouring the world for evidence on the impact of schools reopening but are frankly struggling to find solid enough data to hang policy on. This is problematic because there are 8.82 million pupils in England, more than three million of them at secondary school. Releasing them all back at the start of the respiratory disease season is the stuff of which epidemiologists nightmares are made.

The most comprehensive paper on the matter was considered by Sage on April 30 and modelled a range of scenarios for reopening schools and their impact on infection rates. It found that the younger the cohort the less risk there is of transmission.

“Early years provision has a smaller relative impact than primary school, which in turn has a smaller relative impact than resuming secondary schooling,” it says. Of seven scenarios looked at, the most promising in terms of getting everyone back is a system where all age groups and teaching staff are split in two.

Read the full analysis here. 

12:17 PM

UK to seek new powers to scrutinise foreign takeovers

Britain will seek changes to the law to allow scrutiny of certain foreign takeovers to ensure they do not threaten the country’s ability to tackle public health emergencies such as the coronavirus outbreak.

The Government said today that it would introduce changes to the Enterprise Act on Monday to allow it to intervene if a business involved in a pandemic response became a target of a takeover.

“These powers will send an important signal to those seeking to take advantage of those struggling as a result of the pandemic that the UK Government is prepared to act where necessary to protect our national security,” Business Secretary Alok Sharma said in a statement.

12:06 PM

Pope hopes pandemic could trigger greater environmental awareness

The Pope has said that the dramatic reduction in pollution during lockdown should trigger greater environment awareness as the measures are lifted.

At his Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said the pandemic made many people reflect on their relationship with the environment.

“The lockdown has reduced pollution and revealed once more the beauty of so many places free from traffic and noise. Now, with the resumption of activities, we should all be more responsible for looking after our common home,” he said.

The Vatican released a 225 page manual on Thursday in which is said that Catholics should disinvest from fossil fuel industries and closely monitor companies in sectors such as mining to prevent environmental damage.

11:58 AM

South Korea to limit visas to Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens due to Covid-19 cases

South Korea will limit visas issued to Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens from June 23 as the countries’ citizens account for a high percentage of arrivals with confirmed Covid-19 cases, Health Minister Park Neunghoo announced today.

Some exceptions, including those for diplomats and essential business personnel, will be made.

All arrivals in South Korea are required to be tested and quarantine for two weeks, but Park said an increased number of confirmed cases in arrivals had become excessively burdensome to the country’s national health system.

The minister announced several other steps to help mitigate the issue, including a stricter waiver system, stronger visa management for arrivals, and a reduced number of flights operating to countries with high numbers of Covid-19 cases.

South Korea reported 48 new cases from Saturday, of which 40 were locally transmitted, bringing the total confirmed cases to 12,421.

11:49 AM

The only British place that is Covid-free: How life got back to normal in Guernsey

The Channel Island celebrates reaching “Phase Five” of its success story in defeating Covid-19, way ahead of the UK and many other countries, reports Steve Bird.

Late into the night, more than 400 young people will squeeze their way into a Guernsey nightclub to revel in a pastime once banned as a dangerous threat to public health. 

The DJ will power up the 50,000-watt sound system and dazzling lighting rig as the crowd are expected to dance without a care in the world for social distancing.

Those youngsters will become the first people to visit a nightclub in the British Isles since the coronavirus lockdown in March.

Fusion Night Club has, like so many other businesses on Guernsey, opened for the first time on Friday as islanders celebrated reaching “Phase Five” of its success story in defeating Covid-19, way ahead of the UK and many other European countries.

Read the full story here. 

11:45 AM

Welsh Government hopes to bring ‘stay local’ message to an end

The First Minister of Wales has said that the Welsh Government are keen to bring the “stay local” coronavirus message to an end in two weeks time, but emphasised that it remained in place for now.

The Welsh Government are hopeful that people will soon be able to travel across Wales, rather than simply in their local area, in a fortnight.

Mark Drakeford warned that this would mean communities who have not had many visitors would have to prepare to welcome people safely, with things like car parks and public toilets needing to be reopened. He emphasised that ensuring this happened safely would take time, so the “stay local” message remained in place for now.

He reminded people that “coronavirus has not disappeared”.

“Two more weeks, one last lap, we can do this together. Then provided everything remains as we hope it will, we will be able to make that part of the coronavirus crisis something behind us,” he said.

11:35 AM

Midday summary

Good afternoon. If you’re just joining us, here’s what you’ve missed today so far:

• Boris Johnson is poised to announce a new “one metre plus” rule for all venues, including shops, restaurants, schools, offices, and parks, in an overhaul designed to unlock swathes of the economy. 

• Matt Hancock has confirmed that ministers will announce a further easing of the lockdown this week, with restrictions potentially lifting as soon as July 4.

• British holidaymakers are free to travel to Spain from today without facing the requirement to self-isolate, the country’s foreign minister announced last night – but visitors will have to quarantine in the UK when they return.

• The Government’s test-and-trace programme is still beset by chaos as couriers are arriving to pick up tests at wrong times and tracers have told The Telegraph they are “on the verge of quitting”.

• India has passed the 400,000 case mark today, after recording 15,413 new Covid-19 infections, according to its Health Ministry.  

• Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll has risen above 50,000 after a further 964 deaths were recorded on Saturday. Brazil is now the world’s second-worst hit country after the US.

• The R rate in Germany has jumped to 1.79 after a raft of localised outbreaks, far above the level needed to contain it over the longer term.

• US President Donald Trump said he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down testing, arguing that increased tests had led to more cases being discovered.

• South Africa has announced nearly 5,000 cases for a new daily record, but even as cases rise, President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced a further loosening of what once was one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.

11:19 AM

India crosses 400,000 mark with 15,000 new Covid-19 cases

India has passed the 400,000 case mark today, after recording 15,413 new Covid-19 infections, according to its Health Ministry.  

That was India’s highest daily number of recorded cases, and the fourth consecutive day the country had seen its biggest numbers of new infections.

India also recorded 306 deaths in the past 24 hours, data showed.

The country now has 410,461 cases, including 13,254 recorded deaths. 

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 6,807,226 tests have been done, with 190,730 of those conducted in past 24 hours. 

11:17 AM

Former Iraqi football star Ahmed Radhi dies from Covid-19

A former Iraqi football player has died from the coronavirus in Baghdad.

Ahmed Radhi, 56, was one of Iraq’s most famous football stars in the 1980s. He became the first Iraqi football player to score a goal in the World Cup in 1986 and was voted the Asian Footballer of the Year in 1988.

Radhi was admitted to a hospital in Baghdad on June 13 and died Sunday after testing positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Youth and Sports media office.

On Saturday Iraq recorded 1,870 new coronavirus cases and 88 deaths, the highest daily tally recorded in the country since the pandemic began, according to the country’s health ministry.

This brings the nationwide total cases to 29,222, and total deaths to 1,013.

11:13 AM

Five key questions about Google and Apple’s contact tracing system

This week the UK government performed an abrupt u-turn on its contact-tracing technology to tackle the coronavirus. 

The app it was developing with NHSX, the health service’s research wing, is set to be replaced with an app built using technology developed by Apple and Google, the US technology giants.

But what is so different about Apple and Google’s system? And why does the government believe it is the only way to move forward after lengthy delays to Britain’s previous plans?

Matthew Field and Michael Cogley have all the answers to your questions here. 

11:03 AM

Frustrated Sunak warns wasteful ministers to get a grip on spending

Rishi Sunak is to issue a warning to government departments over their grip on spending, amid frustration at Gavin Williamson and Matt Hancock’s handling of several schemes costing tens of millions of pounds.

Sources said the Chancellor had become “increasingly irritated” with “certain parts of Whitehall”  failing to work up sufficiently detailed spending proposals or presiding over poor delivery of projects.

Ahead of a government-wide spending review in the autumn, Mr Sunak is expected to write to Cabinet ministers to warn that they will be held to a “higher standard” as the country emerges from the height of the coronavirus epidemic. The Treasury will also conduct an audit of each department’s finances.

Edward Malnick has more here. 

10:57 AM

Taxi drivers, security guards and health workers ‘have higher mortality’

Sir Ian Diamond, the UK’s National Statistician at the Office of National Statistics, has said there is a “real gradient in health and mortality towards the most disadvantaged members of society” and that BAME people are more highly concentrated towards that more disadvantaged end of society.

But he also added: “We can say occupations like taxi drivers, security guards and health care workers have higher mortality,” he tells the Andrew Marr Show.

“But it doesn’t control out all the excess mortality we are seeing from people among BAME groups.”

The ONS is continuing to look at data in this “incredibly important and worrying area”, he added.

​Read more: Why are so many people from BAME backgrounds dying from coronavirus?

10:52 AM

Five arrested in crackdown on lockdown raves

Five men have been arrested as part of a police crackdown on lockdown raves, the BBC reports.

Staffordshire Police detained the men, aged between 19 and 24, on suspicion of conspiring to commit a public nuisance as raves were anticipated.

The force also seized a generator, speakers and an amplifier.

It comes after a warning from police about planned raves across the county border in the Black Country on Saturday and gatherings in Greater Manchester, where one man died and three were hurt.

Supt Carl Ratcliffe, from Staffordshire Police, said: “These gatherings are both illegal and irresponsible and put people at risk with the current global pandemic still not over.

“We will do all we can to stop these illegal raves from taking place.”

10:49 AM

Britons in Dubai sell possessions and return home as coronavirus ends expat dream

Dubai’s expat community groups are full of bargains; everything from cars to gym subscriptions. The fire sales are a result of expats left jobless by the UAE’s coronavirus lock-down. Among them, thousands of British expats are trying to scrape back the pennies before they are forced to leave a place many call home.

The coronavirus lockdown has upended the lives of thousands of expats, turning their dream of a life abroad into a nightmare of uncertainty. Thousands have been made redundant, with strict visa regulations forcing them to return to the UK, with little time to catch their breath.  

Gareth Browne has more here. 

10:46 AM

Germany climbing out of economic slump, says central bank chief

Germany has turned the corner on the worst of an economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and is now on the path to recovery, the central bank chief of Europe’s biggest economy said today.

“We experienced in the last months the deepest economic slump in Germany’s (post-war) history,” Jens Weidmann told Sunday’s edition of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“The good news is: the trough should be behind us by now, and things are looking up again. But the deep slump is being followed only by a comparatively gradual recovery.”

Weidmann also voiced support for the unprecedented economic rescue and stimulus packages unleashed by Berlin to shield German companies and jobs.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Government unveiled a rescue package worth 1.1 trillion euros, smashing through a long-held no new debt dogma to fund the measures.

Earlier this month, it said it would put another 130 billion euros into various schemes, including a cut in VAT, to stimulate the economy.

​Read more: England and Germany worlds apart in how they have tackled Covid-19, says Jurgen Klopp

10:29 AM

Brazil’s death toll passes 50,000

Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll has risen above 50,000, according to a coalition of Brazilian news outlets that is tracking the pandemic.

Another 964 deaths were recorded on Saturday taking the South American country’s total number of fatalities to 50,058. The actual figure is believed to be considerably higher.

Brazil, which is now the world’s second-worst hit country after the US, has also confirmed 1.07m Covid-19 cases – 30,972 on Saturday alone. Experts say low testing say the true figure could be seven times higher.

10:23 AM

Matt Hancock apologises for breaking social distancing rules

Matt Hancock has apologised for breaching social distancing rules by approaching a colleague in the House of Commons and patting his back.

The Health Secretary told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC: “It was just totally natural. This shows how difficult social distancing is.

“I know these rules inside out and I haven’t seen my colleague for weeks and I really like him.

“All I can do is say I’m incredibly sorry for this momentary breach. It’s because I’m human, we’re all human and I’m not less determined to follow the rules because of a momentary breach.”

10:21 AM

Pantomime season ‘won’t happen’ over Christmas because of Covid-19

Pantomime season “won’t happen” over Christmas because of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to theatre director Sir Nicholas Hytner.

Sir Nicholas said the entire arts sector is “on the brink of ruin” because even the one-metre social distancing rule would not be enough to keep the industry financially stable.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, he also said the industry needs “unprecedented and immediate” investment which would enable performers to find a way to work.

Asked if changing the two-metre rule would be enough, he said: “Even with the one-metre social distance, the maximum capacity any of us would be able to manage even if we had a go would be around about 25-30 per cent, which simply isn’t enough to run a big show or an opera or a ballet.

“Most of that won’t be able to happen until the other side of social distancing and, honestly, the entire arts sector is on the brink of ruin and that’s not just the theatres.”

His comments came after research by the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre suggested 70 per cent of theatres will run out of money by the end of 2020.

10:11 AM

School closures ‘will trigger UK child mental health crisis’

Many schoolchildren will need urgent support from psychologists when the lockdown eases because their lives and education will have been so badly disrupted by school closures, the Guardian reports.

Educational psychologists advising the Government say ministers will have to foot a huge bill for professional help for those in urgent need, and that the longer schools remain shut the worse the crisis will become.

Dr Gavin Morgan, who sits on the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group – which feeds into the advisory group Sage – said: “There is going to be a hell of a lot of work to be done from teachers and educational psychologists. We are going to have to pick up a lot of broken pieces and put things back together.”

Morgan, of University College London, made it clear that while the problems were likely to be more serious for those from underprivileged families, other children would also face adverse effects from missing their normal routines, their teachers, and playing with friends.

His views were echoed by Prof Cathy Creswell, of the University of Oxford, who said a recent study of 10,000 families in the UK suggested primary school children were much more troubled by lockdown than secondary school pupils. 

​Read more: ‘I’ve treated children with Covid, but I’m more worried about the mental health impact on Generation C’

10:06 AM

Coronavirus around the world, in pictures

09:54 AM

Mysterious Covid-linked disease ‘no longer expected to be fatal’ in children after treatment breakthrough

A breakthrough in treatment means that a mysterious Covid-linked children’s inflammatory syndrome is “no longer expected to be fatal”, a top paediatrician has said. 

Dr Karyn Moshal, a senior consultant in paediatric infectious diseases at Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) in London, said that youngsters who show symptoms are now recovering within three to five days. 

In April, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, ordered an urgent investigation into a reported rise in children needing intensive care after contracting Covid-19 after the NHS issued an alert to GPs. It led to calls for schools to stay closed, and panic among parents.

But Dr Moshal said that condition is now “no longer expected to be fatal”, after a combination of treatments were rapidly developed by doctors.

Paul Martin has more here.

09:52 AM

Number of global Covid-19 cases could be close to 20 million

The director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has said the number of global Covid-19 cases could be close to 20 million.

The figure is more than double the official estimate of 8.5 million.

Professor Peter Piot said he expected any second wave of the virus in the UK to be “a series of local outbreaks” rather than a “tsunami” across the country.

He called for the mandatory wearing of face coverings in public places as social distancing measures start to be relaxed, but criticised other “completely useless measures” such as the Government’s 14-day quarantine for travellers arriving in the country.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “That only would have made sense at the very beginning before there were cases. Today that is not going to contribute much and the damage it causes to the country, to the economy is going to be enormous.”

09:49 AM

‘I worry my son took his life because lockdown had made him so unhappy’

In the early days of the pandemic, while people washed their hands to the tune of Happy Birthday with one eye on the news, few could have predicted the weeks of disruption and grief that were to come, writes Eleanor Steafel.

But after the initial panic subsided, after the virus had carved its devastating path through our care homes, it became clear that the collateral damage from Covid-19 could prove to be far more damaging than the virus itself, and none more so than for the young.

“Generation C”, as they have been dubbed, may be the least likely to become fatally ill with Covid-19 – but it is the young who stand to bear the brunt of the fallout from this pandemic. They have coped with cancelled exams, gap years and Saturday jobs. They’ve missed months of school and had their time at university cut short – and on top of it all, they’ve had to miss out on so much of the joy of being young as their social lives were cancelled and their freedom curtailed.

Ian McCracken had no idea his son was struggling until Lewis took his own life in April. For the past eight weeks, McCracken has tried to fathom some tangible reason for why his bright, sociable 17-year-old boy felt he had no option but to die. “None of us saw this coming,” he tells me from his home near Belfast. “I truly believe – and none of us know this for sure – that coronavirus killed him, even though he didn’t have the virus.”

Read the full piece here. 

09:39 AM

Ministers to announce further easing of lockdown this week

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that ministers will announce this week a further easing of the lockdown – potentially as early as July 4 – and whether the two-metre rule will also change.

He told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC: “I think we are about to see another step in the plan and this week we will announce further details of the measures that we can take to relieve some of the national lockdown measures at the start of July, including on July 4.

“That review (on the two-metre rule) will come to bear this week and we will be setting out further details this week on the measures in that space.

“We’re going to set out those details absolutely this week.”

Read more: ‘One metre plus’, the new rule that will reopen UK

09:24 AM

Number of daily infections dropping in Afghanistan

The number of daily infections of Covid-19 is dropping in Afghanistan, the health ministry said, as it recorded 409 new infections.

This takes the total number of confirmed cases to 28,833. The death toll also rose by 11, to a total of 581 fatalities.

The country, which has admitted it has a lack of testing capacity, has tested 64,958 suspected patients since the outbreak began. There have been 8,764 recoveries and 19 patients are in critical condition.

In a press conference today in Kabul, Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the country’s acting health minister, said that the “number of daily infections is dropping and if people cooperate, we can control the spread of the virus.”

The health ministry has previously said that it was unable to increase testing for the coronavirus due to a lack of laboratories and an overload of suspected patients, and said medical workers would determine new Covid-19 patients through their symptoms, rather than through tests.

09:18 AM

Man shielding with leukemia to climb height of Mount Kilimanjaro on his stairs  

A man with leukemia has begun a five-day climb of his staircase to replicate the height of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for a blood cancer charity.

Father-of-two Paul Carless, 52, a consultant from Mortimer, Berkshire, will walk up and down his 12-step staircase more than 2,000 times for five hours every day from Sunday morning to Thursday afternoon for Blood Cancer UK.

Mr Carless, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in December 2013, was scheduled to climb the real mountain in Tanzania this week, but his plans were interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.

He will instead replicate the ascent wearing full kit and carrying a bag with all the equipment he would have needed for the real journey.

Just over £2,000 has been raised for the cause as of Sunday morning.

Mr Carless told the PA news agency: “The reason I’m doing this is to try to raise funds for Blood Cancer UK, which like other charities across the UK, has seen its income nose-dive off a cliff because of the pandemic.

“Also to raise awareness of blood cancer – many people have been shielding up and down the country and it’s been an incredibly tough time for everyone.”

09:13 AM

Forget a lockdown baby boom, 75,000 fewer births are expected

When the UK went into lockdown in March, nudges and winks about how people might keep themselves entertained were common. Countdown’s Rachel Riley’s tweet was typical: “Pubs shut, football off, working from home… I predict we’ll know what a lot of you filled your time with nine months from now.”

Riley may be a numbers whizz on the Channel 4 gameshow, but her predictions of a baby boom are likely to be wide of the mark.

As Laxman Narasimham of Reckitt Benckiser – owner of the Durex brand – said in April, condom sales have fallen across the world, but it isn’t due to a surge in carefree babymaking.

Lockdowns create practical difficulties for relationships, but the chief executive said even established couples were being less intimate as a “manifestation of anxiety”.

Far from a boom, many experts believe nations are instead on course for a Covid “baby bust”, as concerns over a crashing jobs market and uncertain income prospects keep thoughts of expanding the brood at bay – with potential longer-term consequences for productivity.

Read the full story here. 

09:08 AM

Britain moving into period of ‘surveillance’, says ONS head 

The head of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has said the UK is moving into a period of “surveillance” of Covid-19.

Sir Ian Diamond told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I think we are moving into a new phase, the virus certainly hasn’t gone away and we need to move into a period of surveillance and real vigilance to identify any outbreaks and move to get on top of them really, really quickly.

The UK is currently seeing about 3,000 new infections per day.

Sir Ian said the ONS is currently running one of the largest surveys it has ever done to monitor for an uptick in cases as the lockdown restrictions are lifted.

“My own belief is that this virus is going to be with us for a very long time and we are going to have to be absolutely vigilant to check we are on top of the outbreaks which will come,” he said.

Sir Ian said current data suggests that around 3.5 million people in the UK have either had Covid-19 or have natural antibodies to it.

08:58 AM

Former Bangladesh cricket captain tests positive for virus

Former Bangladesh cricket captain Mashrafe Mortaza and two other players said they have tested positive for the coronavirus, as infections in the South Asian nation rise.

Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam and former opener Nafees Iqbal were the other two who revealed their positive test results.

Mashrafe, who stepped down as the one-day international captain in March but remains available for selection, announced the news on social media late on Saturday.

“Today my Covid-19 results came as positive. Everyone please pray for my quick recovery,” Mashrafe wrote on Facebook.

Mashrafe, who is also a member of parliament, had been active in helping people during the pandemic, AFP reports. 

Bangladesh has confirmed over 108,000 infections and more than 1,400 deaths from the coronavirus so far.

08:55 AM

Government ‘asleep at the wheel’ over reopening schools, says Labour

Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, has accused the Government of being “asleep at the wheel” over reopening schools.

She told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “I would like to see more children return to school safely, but the truth is the Government have failed in the commitments that they made to parents and to the country which was to return all primary school children to school safely before the summer holidays.

“Frankly I don’t know what the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been doing for the last three months, because he should have been using this period of lockdown to prepare schools to ensure that the space is available, because many schools are cramped, particularly in inner city areas… [They] were going to struggle with the smaller bubbles in which children need to be taught in and so the Government should have been working with libraries, with community centres, with leisure centres to open them potentially as school settings or putting temporary buildings in.

“The Government didn’t do that, they were asleep at the wheel.”

​Read more: When will schools fully reopen, and should I send my child back to school?

08:51 AM

Labour would support end to two-metre rule, says Shadow Health Secretary 

The Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth has said that Labour would support the end of the two-metre rule if other safety measures are put in place.

He told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC: “Yes, under certain circumstances.

“But we also need to see a greater use of face masks, I would’ve thought.

“As I’ve said, certain staff, workers who are very public-facing in their day-to-day action, perhaps greater use of face shielding, let’s get testing and tracing up and running.”

​Read more: ‘One metre plus’, the new rule that will reopen UK

08:48 AM

Comment: School kids could do a better job of running this Cabinet

I don’t think I have ever felt the despair I do now about those who are meant to be in charge, writes Bryony Gordon. 

It was the Tim Tams that did it for me. They tipped me over the edge. I thought, at first, that the picture of our prime minister brandishing a packet of Australian biscuits was some sort of photoshopped spoof. It had to be, because why would he be talking about Tim Tams when he is in charge of a country that a) has the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe and the third highest in the world b) has no serious way of defeating coronavirus other than asking its citizens to stand two metres apart from one another, and c) is currently not providing an education to the majority of its children.

But no. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that Boris Johnson had actually decided that it would be a good use of his time to make a hilarious social media video in which he spoke of his excitement about the opening of trade talks with Australia. “How long can the British people be deprived of the opportunity to have Arnott’s Tim Tams?” he asked, with a flourish, as if he hadn’t just been schooled on child welfare by a premiership footballer. Do you know when you’re in trouble, as a politician? When someone on £200,000 a week is more in touch with the day to day realities of British families than you are. 

Read the full piece here. 

08:43 AM

Deaths linked to Covid-19 in Ukraine passes 1,000

The number of deaths linked to the coronavirus in Ukraine has passed 1,000, the government website says.

The country has had 36,560 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with the death toll currently at 1,002.

08:39 AM

Hancock says Apple would not make change required for Government’s coronavirus app to work

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Apple would not make a change required to make the Government’s coronavirus tracing app work and accused the firm of being “intransigent” in the past.

His comments follow the news that the NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app is to be abandoned and replaced after an audit found it could detect only one in 25 contacts on Apple phones. The programme has been dogged by criticism, with questions for months about why Britain insisted on building its own app, rather than harness the skills of the tech giants. 

He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “There were clearly problems with ours because it worked on Android, and Apple wouldn’t make the change to allow it to work on Apple.

“Of course I wish we had brought it in sooner, I wish that Apple had made the change for it to work in Apple phones in the same way that the original works on Android phones, but we will get there.”

He added: “The moment that Apple and Google brought forward their technology we started working on that as well so absolutely it’s perfectly a reasonable point that people make that Apple have in the past also been intransigent in the face of perfectly reasonable requests from democratically elected governments to work with them on solving particular problems, whether that’s about solutions to terrorism or other technical problems.

“And so absolutely I understand that reluctance on their part and to be fair to Apple they may have good technical reasons for it which are under the skin of things.”

​Read more: NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app ditched in major U-turn

08:34 AM

Doctors not confident in NHS ability to cope with second wave, survey shows

Doctors are feeling high levels of exhaustion and have little confidence they can manage the huge backlog of missed patient care or a second spike of infections, research shows.

A survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) of more than 7,000 doctors between June 16 and 18 showed an increase in stress levels among the workforce.

Many have little confidence in the NHS’s ability to deal with the large backlog of missed, cancelled and postponed care, the union said.

Some also fear that the health service does not have the capacity to manage a second spike in coronavirus infection levels. Half of doctors  surveyed said they were either not very or not at all confident in coping if there was a second spike in Covid-19 infections, while 36 per cent were slightly confident in their ability to cope.

There has been a slight increase in the number of doctors experiencing exhaustion and burnout compared with previous results, the BMA said, with 45 per cent saying they are feeling stressed.

Some 32 per cent of those said the pandemic had heightened their stress level, while the other 13 per cent said it was not worse than before.

Asked if there had been a change in demand for non-Covid patient care over the last week, 43 per cent said there had been a significant increase and another 21 per cent said it was back to the levels before March.

​Read more: ‘We weren’t trained for this’: The junior doctors and nurses on the coronavirus frontline

08:28 AM

Transport users not wearing face masks correctly, expert warns

Many public transport users in England are not wearing their face masks and coverings correctly, an expert on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has warned.

Professor Susan Michie told The Sunday Telegraph that many commuters are not aware of how to correctly cover their face and are unknowingly putting themselves and those around them at risk.

Many people appear to be wearing their face coverings below the nose, she said, and holding the front of items to remove them, rather than using the straps behind the head.

She said: “Any time one goes out and around in parks and down the street this is the sort of thing you see.”

Prof Michie added a national campaign might be needed to “train” people on how to wear their face coverings correctly.

Read the full story here. 

08:21 AM

People may have to register before going to pub, says Hancock

People may have to register before going to the pub when lockdown is eased, Matt Hancock has said. 

Asked on Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday about plans for registration and ordering drinks through apps, the Health Secretary said: “That’s the sort of thing we’re looking at for how do you make it safe to open things.

“And things like wearing a face mask which reduces the transmission clearly, about how the seating is arranged because face-to-face is much more dangerous than back-to-back and there’s more transmission than side to side.

“And also the sorts of things you can put in place to strengthen test and trace because the whole approach is to move as much as safely possible from a national lockdown towards targeted local action when we see an outbreak.”

Pressed on registering before a pub, he said: “I wouldn’t rule that it out, it isn’t a decision we’ve taken yet, but there are other countries in the world that take that approach.”

08:17 AM

‘We’re clearly on track’ to further ease lockdown, says Hancock

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said “we’re clearly on track” to further ease the coronavirus lockdown with the reopening of the hospitality sector and the resumption of haircuts as early as July 4.

He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “We’re on plan, we will of course be setting out more details of that plan and in the plan it states that on around July 4 we will take further measures if it’s safe to do so.

“We talk about hospitality and outdoor hospitality in that plan but there are a whole series of other services, especially where you need to be physically close to someone to carry it out like a haircut – a lot of the country does need a haircut.”

Pressed if that could mean haircuts resuming on July 4, he said: “I’m not going to rule that out. We’ll set out the details as soon as we can.

“We’re clearly on track for that plan because the number of cases coming down and the plan does refer to hospitality and some of the other things that are closed that so many people want to see open.”

08:14 AM

Morocco opens field hospital after spike in Covid-19 cases

A new field hospital in eastern Morocco will from today receive around 700 Covid-19 patients following a sharp spike in infections in the kingdom, AFP reports.

Morocco reported a record single-day rise in cases on Friday after an outbreak was detected in fruit packing plants in the eastern Kenitra province, prompting Rabat to tighten restrictions in the region.

The North African kingdom reported more than 500 cases on Friday, mainly in Kenitra, having recorded on average fewer than 100 new Covid-19 infections daily since confirming its first cases in early March.

Authorities closed facilities, tested workers and launched an investigation to “establish responsibility” for the outbreak, Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit said, as cited by official news agency MAP.

Several towns in the region were placed under quarantine and screenings were carried out among residents, who were asked to go out only in cases of “extreme necessity”.

Morocco, with a population of 34 million, has reported just over 9,800 cases and 213 deaths from the coronavirus.

08:05 AM

Coronavirus around the world, in pictures

07:55 AM

Comment: The UK’s jobs nightmare is only just beginning

The priority now – faced with spiralling debts and joblessness – must be growth and more growth, writes Liam Halligan. 

As the public health crisis eases, the unemployment crisis is only just beginning. Official figures released last week were widely misinterpreted. The latest quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) data suggests unemployment remains unchanged at just 3.9pc, close to historic lows. But even the most cursory examination of available evidence, beyond this headline, reveals a far more worrying trend.

A key point is that LFS data is published with a long lag. This latest figure covers February, March and April – a 12-week period, only five weeks of which were covered by lockdown. The 3.9pc headline figure is also a moving average of the working-age population out of work across the entire three months – diluting the lockdown’s statistical impact.

The LFS, in addition, only counts those unemployed who are “actively seeking and available for work”. That’s been impossible for millions outside key worker sectors who’ve been told to stay at home. 

Read the full piece here. 

07:40 AM

Victoria to extend state of emergency after spike in Covid-19 cases

The Victorian Government in Australia has announced it will extend its state of emergency for at least four more weeks and ramp up its police enforcement of lockdown rules after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

The surge has also prompted neighbouring South Australia to reconsider its decision to reopen its border, while Queensland has declared all of greater Melbourne a Covid-19 hotspot.

Today the state’s health minister, Jenny Mikakos, announced the state had recorded 19 new cases of the virus, including 10 cases believed to be a result of community transmission. It brings the total number of active Covid-19 cases in the state to 121, the highest in two months.

“It is still a very serious situation,” Mikakos said today.

“We have had particularly some concerns around family gatherings, extended family members across many households, visiting each other even when they have been exhibiting mild symptoms.”

07:34 AM

Frustrated test and trace volunteers ‘on the verge of quitting’

As confusion persists over NHS app, workers say three weeks into programme they have contacted no one infected with Covid-19, reports Mike Wright. 

Volunteers who joined the 27,000-strong “army” recruited to call confirmed Covid-19 cases and those they may have infected, have said they have still not made a single call more than three weeks after the service’s launch.

The revelations come as it emerged last week that the system is failing to reach around one third of people who have tested positive for coronavirus.

The Government’s test and trace programme was dealt a further blow this week when it announced it is ditching an £11-million project to build its own contact tracing app after running into technical difficulties.

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said on Thursday that the NHS is switching over to Apple and Google’s version of the app, which may not be ready until the winter, after learning its model worked on only about one in 25 iPhones.

Read the full story here. 

05:45 AM

Cases rise as lockdown eases in South Africa

South Africa has announced nearly 5,000 cases for a new daily record.

The country has recorded a total of 92,000 confirmed cases, which is about 30 per cent of all cases across the African continent.

Even as cases rise, President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced a further loosening of what once was one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.

Casinos, beauty salons and sit-down restaurant service are among the latest businesses to be up and running again as South Africans feel the pain of the pandemic’s economic impact.

05:36 AM

Alcohol ban causes headache for winemakers

Wineries around Cape Town fear a nine-week alcohol sales ban will leave a hangover that outlasts the coronavirus pandemic, as South African bottles lose their spot on international shelves and thousands of jobs are lost.

Africa’s most industrialised economy shuttered liquor stores at the start of a strict lockdown on March 27 to limit the spread of Covid-19 and reduce pressure on busy emergency wards.

The controversial booze ban was lifted on June 1 as part of a gradual easing of confinement measures to limit the economic setbacks of the pandemic.

But wine producers in the valleys of South Africa’s Western Cape province are concerned the industry will struggle to bounce back.

The alcohol sales ban was coupled with a six-week export freeze – raising concern buyers could turn to suppliers in other countries if demand abroad is not rapidly met.

03:41 AM

Trump says he urged his team to ‘slow’ Covid testing

US President Donald Trump said he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down testing, arguing that increased tests had led to more cases being discovered.

The president has claimed on several occasions that surges of Covid-19 in several states can be explained by increased diagnostic tests.

At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Mr Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword”.

The US – which has more deaths and cases than any other country – has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita.

“Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Mr Trump said.

“So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down’. They test and they test.”

It was not clear from Mr Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, which cheered as he spoke, or if he was being serious.

However, a White House official told AFP that Mr Trump “was clearly speaking in jest to call out the media’s absurd coverage”.

“We are leading the world in testing, and we are proud to have conducted 25 million-plus tests,” the official said.

Coronavirus cases have spiked in several states, including Oklahoma, and local health officials had asked Mr Trump to postpone the rally, fearing it would contribute to the spread.

Six members of an advance team working in Tulsa ahead of the rally tested positive for Covid-19, the Trump campaign said just hours before the president took to the stage.

• The Telegraph‘s US Editor, Ben Riley-Smith, was in Tulsa for the rally. Read his story here.

02:49 AM

Arizona sets records – but not in a good way

Arizona’s total number of coronavirus cases is approaching 50,000 as the US state’s surge in new cases continues to set daily records for hospitalisations, ventilator use and intensive care beds occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Arizona has emerged as a national hot spot for the virus since Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lifted his stay-home orders in mid-May.

Health officials have attributed the new cases to increased testing and community spread of the virus.

02:27 AM

Plans to help workers find alternative careers

Ministers are drawing up plans for a retraining “revolution” to help tackle a second wave of job losses, amid fears that another two million workers could be unemployed by autumn.

No 10, the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions are preparing for large-scale redundancies when the Government ends the Job Retention Scheme for furloughed workers.

Ministers are working on proposals to help those who are made redundant to retrain to work in other areas or industries; for example, allowing someone who worked in a warehouse to train as an accountant.

Read more: Retraining ‘revolution’ planned to tackle Covid-19 unemployment

01:54 AM

Coronavirus news from around the world

• The R rate in Germany has jumped to 1.79 after a raft of localised outbreaks, far above the level needed to contain it over the longer term. The number is a setback for the EU’s most populous country, which has fared better in the pandemic than many European peers, due mainly to early testing and social distancing measures.

• Mexico reported 4,717 infections and 387 deaths from coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number in the country to 175,202 cases and 20,781 deaths. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

• Volunteers are tracking down people who break Hawaii‘s two-week quarantine order on travellers. A former TV reporter put her skills to use by uncovering clues from social media and using other information to identify those ignoring the rule. She founded a group called Hawaii Quarantine Kapu Breakers, which has found about 45 people who were then arrested by police.

• As coronavirus spreads deeper across America, it is ravaging Latino communities from the mid-Atlantic to the Southwest, infecting them at alarmingly high rates and amplifying the inequalities they live with. Latinos are especially vulnerable to infection because they tend to live in tight quarters with multiple family members and have jobs that expose them to others.

• Russia‘s official death count has risen to more than 8,000. The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 161 deaths over the past day, bringing the national total in the pandemic to 8,022. Russia also recorded 7,889 new cases. Overall, the country has 576,982 confirmed cases.

12:56 AM

Latin America and Caribbean top two million cases

Latin America and the Caribbean on Saturday surpassed two million coronavirus cases, with Brazil home to more than half of the infections.

The virus is accelerating its spread in the region – an outbreak hotspot with 2,007,621 confirmed cases.

Brazil, Latin America’s largest country, trails only the United States in infections and deaths.

It has recorded 1,067,579 confirmed cases and 49,976 deaths from Covid-19.

12:20 AM

Europe’s first post-lockdown election

Serbians will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament in Europe’s first national election since coronavirus lockdowns took effect three months ago.

Polling stations will be equipped with face masks and hand sanitisers for use by the country’s 5.5 million voters, many of whom are expected to skip voting – partly in fear of becoming infected.

Serbia, which has a population of 7.2 million, has reported 12,803 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 260 deaths.

It was among the first European countries to start opening its borders on May 22 and all lockdown curbs have since been lifted.

Still, persistent health concerns will keep some voters at home, especially among higher-risk groups.

11:50 PM

Exclusive: ‘One metre plus’ new rule

Boris Johnson is poised to announce a new “one metre plus” rule for all venues, including shops, restaurants, schools, offices, and parks, in an overhaul designed to unlock swathes of the economy.

The move, which would take effect from July 4, is understood to entail allowing people to remain a metre away from others if they take additional measures to protect themselves, such as wearing a mask or meeting outdoors.

In restaurants, pubs and bars, firms will be expected to introduce measures such as partitions between tables that are less than two metres apart.

Read Edward Malnick‘s exclusive story here.

11:48 PM

Police warn that children are at risk of radicalisation

Children are at risk of radicalisation because of school closures, the Government and police have warned.

Amid growing calls for schools to reopen as soon as possible, officials have told parents and teachers that extremists could be exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to target young people.

With classrooms shut and parents trying to juggle work and childcare they are “inevitably” spending more time online and are socially isolated – leaving them vulnerable to grooming from extremists.

Read the full story here.

11:36 PM

Today’s top stories