Coronavirus Updates

Outbreaks of infection have been recorded at a number of slaughterhouses in Germany and worldwideImage caption: Outbreaks of infection have been recorded at a number of slaughterhouses in Germany and worldwide

Throughout the pandemic, we've seen significant outbreaks of coronavirus in confined workplaces including factories in the US and mines in Poland and South Africa.

Now 400 workers at a slaughterhouse in Gütersloh in western Germany have tested positive since Monday. More employees at the Toennies plant are awaiting test results.

Germany has had nearly 9,000 deaths from Covid-19, which is significantly less than some other western European countries, including the UK, France and Italy.

But it is still dealing with localised outbreaks. Several schools and playgrounds in Magdeburg have closed, as more than 180 people have tested positive, 60 of them since Friday.

And in Berlin at least 300 households in Neukölln are in quarantine after an outbreak in a block of flats.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told the House of Commons that efforts to find a coronavirus vaccine are "moving at pace".

He told MPs that yesterday the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca had signed a deal for the manufacture of Oxford University's AZD1222 vaccine, which he described as "the world's most advanced in development".

Meanwhile, Imperial College last week began the first phase of its human trials for a possible Covid-19 vaccine, which will involve 300 patients being given dosages.

"Should they develop promising results, Imperial will move to a large phase three trial later this year," Hancock said.

Prof Robin Shattock, who heads Imperial College London's vaccine team, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier that volunteers were "critically important" to its research.

He said researchers were looking for more numbers of healthy participants to take part in the clinical trials - due to begin tomorrow. They hope that a viable vaccine could be ready by next spring.

Shattock said they were starting with a very small number of volunteers "so we don't want people to be disappointed if they are not immediately engaged in the clinical trial".

Scotland sees further nine coronavirus deaths

A total of 2,462 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by nine from Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said. The figures are lower than the 4,070 deaths given earlier by the National Records of Scotland as they do not include suspected and probable coronavirus infections. Speaking during First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Sturgeon said a further 21 people had tested positive for Covid-19 compared with the previous day.

A beach in the popular Algarve. People can visit after the easing of lockdown measuresImage caption: A beach in the popular Algarve. People can visit after the easing of lockdown measures

The mayor of Lagos, in Portugal's Algarve region, has called for the prosecution of the organisers of an illegal party on 7 June, after at least 16 people tested positive.

The party, in a sports hall in the village of Odiáxere, drew more than 100 people, according to local officials, so flouting the current legal limit of 20.

Some 100 tests have been done but tracing all who attended and their contacts has been difficult. Several businesses in Lagos, which is popular with tourists, have closed temporarily for deep cleaning after employees tested positive.

Portugal has 37,336 cases and 1,522 deaths.

BREAKINGSweden's coronavirus death toll tops 5,000

The number of people with coronavirus who have died in Sweden has now reached 5,041, health officials have announced. With a population of just over 10 million, Sweden has had a heavier toll compared to its neighbours and has been closely watched owing to its controversial decision not to impose a strict lockdown. Early this month, the man behind the policy, Anders Tegnell, acknowledged that the approach had resulted in too many deaths.

Standing up in the Commons after questions to the UK Prime Minister, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been updating MPs on the steroid dexamethasone, which has been found to be an effective treatment for patients seriously ill with coronavirus.

He says there are 240,000 doses in stock and on order. And that means it's already being used in the NHS.

“It is not by any means a cure,” he says, “but it is the best news we've had.”

This development is what “good science looks like”, he says, in terms of controlled research, and it means there is “objective proof this drug saves lives”, which will benefit thousands of people across the world.

He says seven other drugs are being tested in the "recovery" trial and another nine as part of the ACCORD programme, which is looking at early stage treatments.

Hancock thanks everyone involved, including deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam, NHS clinicians, scientific teams and the people who took part in the trial before they even knew it worked.

More on that debate over council funding in England. During PMQs Sir Keir Starmer highlighted Conservative council leaders' concerns that local authorities were facing a funding shortfall of £10bn.

"The PM must have known about this problem for months," Sir Keir said, asking: "Why has he been so slow to act?"

The PM replied that the government had provided £1.6bn to support councils on the front line and £600m to social care, as well as £3.2bn to councils in general.

"We want to tackle poverty," the PM said.

Local authorities in England have responsibility to provide social care and have seen increased demand for services during the coronavirus crisis.

Earlier, London Mayor Sadiq Khan revealed he would take a 10% pay cut as the capital experienced "unprecedented challenges".

Just a day after its launch, Germany's coronavirus tracing app has already been downloaded more than 6.5 million times - that's by about 7% of the population.

Chief executive Christian Klein told reporters that the Corona Warn app's "big success" was a testament to the collaboration between SAP and Deutsche Telekom, which created it in six weeks.

"There are well over six million reasons why the coronavirus has fewer chances in the future," Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

Germany's downloads are far higher than other European countries like France with similar apps.

Corona Warn uses Bluetooth and alerts users if they've been within two metres of someone who's tested positive, and complements a tracing and tracking system Germany has had in place since February.

The app suffered initial setbacks to its development over concerns for data privacy. As a result, the released version only saves data on individual smartphones, not in a central database.

National Health Service staff must be routinely tested for coronavirus up to twice a week, says Prof Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, as the service tries to get fully back up and running.

Speaking at a Health Select Committee meeting, he said it was vital to reassure patients but hospital trust bosses say they are still waiting for clarity on plans for regular testing.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was focusing on routine testing in care homes but had not committed to routinely testing NHS workers.

One study found that as many as 30% of infections could be missed by a single swab test, giving an infected person a negative result. Experts also fear asymptomatic staff who don't know they are infected may potentially spread the virus to others.

It was an interesting PMQs.

We had the Speaker of the House of Commons referring to Sir Keir Starmer as the prime minister by accident, adding to the sense of chaos.

Boris Johnson tried to turn the questions back on Sir Keir about the Labour leader's position on schools.

I think it was a bit scrappy over child poverty and a bit of a dispute over the statistics and what Sir Keir was trying to refer to when he was pushing the PM for a response to child poverty.

An important point was raised by Sir Keir on the pressure on local councils as a result of the coronavirus, pointing to a figure of £10bn shortfall in council budgets.

That could be one for the long term as we emerge from the crisis.

But what is Sir Keir's position on schools reopening? We are hoping for a briefing from Labour later on that.

Theme parks, museums and leisure centres are working out how they could reopen safely, as lockdown restrictions start to ease in different parts of the UK.

Even riding on a rollercoaster is going to require a face mask and social distancing when attractions open up again in England. Blackpool's Pleasure Beach has decided that, on a ride on which people scream, visitors will be more comfortable if they are made to mask up.

It is also going to be a less sociable experience - the seats on its Icon ride are only a metre apart so there will be empty rows to allow social distancing. Coronavirus: Blackpool Pleasure Beach prepares to open

Boris Johnson has warned of "tough times ahead" for the UK as it emerges from the coronavirus crisis.

Answering a question about hard-pressed families from the Scottish National Party's Ian Blackford, Mr Johnson said the government was investing massively in benefits and the furlough scheme.

He said the government had done "everything we possibly can" to help families in need, but he acknowledges, "There will be tough times ahead and we do stand by to do more where we can."

Sir Keir now turns to the "other U-turn" - the immigration health surcharge.

It's a charge for using the NHS which some workers from outside the UK are still having to pay, despite the government saying it would abolish it for health and care staff.

"The government announced it would drop this deeply unfair charge," the Labour leader says but adds "nothing has happened".

Boris Johnson says "it is vital that NHS workers get the support they need."

"NHS or care workers who have paid the surcharge will be refunded," the PM says.

"And we are getting on with instituting the new arrangements as fast as we possibly can."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he welcomes the UK government's U-turn on free school meals but that it is "just one step" to reducing child poverty.

Mr Johnson replied during PMQs in the Commons: "I can tell him that on free school meals this government is very proud that we set up universal free school meals and I'm very pleased that we are going to be able to deliver a Covid summer food package to some of the poorest families in this country, and that is exactly the right thing to do.

"But I must say that he is completely wrong in what he says about poverty. Absolute poverty, relative poverty, have both declined under this government.

"There are hundreds of thousands, I think 400,000, fewer families living in poverty now than there were in 2010."

Boris Johnson has insisted there has been a reduction in child poverty.

The PM was challenged by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who said a UK government report produced last week suggested poverty had risen by 600,000 even before the impact of the coronavirus.

But Mr Johnson said the government was "deeply concerned" about Covid-19's impact and that he was trying to minimise the impact on the poorest children.

He said "the best way we can do that is making sure kids can go back to school" - and accused the leader of the opposition of dithering on the issue.

Non-essential retailers in England are now allowed to reopen as long as they adhere to Covid-19 safety measures but food producers have been hard at it all the way through the crisis.

Finnebrogue in Northern Ireland supplies sausages to most major supermarkets in the UK.

While the thought of the virus has kept its technical director "up at night", Declan Ferguson says the company has managed to safely keep their absence rate at less than 2%.

But how exactly do you do that in the midst of a pandemic?

To school in a face mask in Abidjan, Ivory CoastImage caption: To school in a face mask in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the spread of coronavirus was accelerating across Africa.

Fast forward to today and the number of confirmed cases across the continent has risen to more than a quarter of a million, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Egypt remains the worst affected, with more than 76,000 cases, followed by South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.

Combined, all African countries account for about 3% of the global tally of infections.

UK PM to face Commons questions

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces questions in the Commons shortly. Mr Johnson will answer Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as well as a selection of cross-party MPs in the weekly PMQs session. He's likely to be asked about job losses, since it's been revealed HSBC will resume a plan to cut around 35,000 jobs. The PM may also be asked about Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United footballer who this week led a successful campaign to keep the funding for free school meals for poorer pupils in England going throughout the summer. Rashford says he wants to do more to help those in need after the government's U-turn on the matter.

Use dexamethasone on NHS patients today'

The UK's chief medical officers say a steroid treatment shown in a trial to save the lives of some critically-ill Covid-19 patients should be used "with immediate effect". Dexamethasone, which is cheap and widely available, was shown to reduce deaths among patients on ventilators and among patients needing oxygen. In an urgent letter from the UK's four chief medical officers to NHS clinicians, they said dexamethasone had "a clear place in the management of hospitalised patients with Covid-19". And there are no issues with supplies of the medicine in the UK, after the government said it now had enough treatment for more than 200,000 people.