UK Coronavirus Update Live: Breaking News and Cases as Rapid Tests Surge with £ 500 Million in Government Funding and US Boycotts Global Vaccine Scheme | The independent

Matt Hancock has rejected protests that people are forced to drive hundreds of miles for a Covid-19 test, insisting that the “vast majority” get one easily.

An official website has advised Londoners to travel to Wales and Cumbrians to head to Scotland, prompting further criticism that the much-criticized testing system is failing.

Hancock was told that he scoffed at his claim of a “world-outperforming testing regimen.” But the health secretary downplayed the criticism, saying: “Of course, there are operational challenges in any system.”

Covid-19 cases in Australia hit a maximum of eight days

Australia has reported the biggest one-day rise in Covid-19 cases in more than a week, undermining optimism that a strict lockdown on its second-largest city will soon be lifted.

Authorities said 127 cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, more than the 109 cases recorded on Wednesday and the biggest one-day jump since Aug. 28.

Most of the cases were detected in the state of Victoria, which reported 113 new cases in the past 24 hours, despite the state capital Melbourne nearing the end of a six-week lockdown.

As a result, state authorities said Australia’s second-largest city, home to 5 million people, may have to continue the restrictions beyond the scheduled end date of September 13.

In August, Victoria imposed a nightly curfew, tightened restrictions on the movement of people and ordered the closure of much of the local economy to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Australia has recorded more than 26,000 cases of Covid19, while the death toll rose to 678 after 15 other people died in Victoria.

Hancock defends quarantining foreign arrivals

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has championed the quarantine of overseas arrivals, saying that a single test upon entering the UK can only detect 7 per cent of cases.

He told BBC Breakfast: “The virus is incubated in you and therefore if you test the first day on the return, scientists estimate that we find only about 7 percent of the total cases, so still must be quarantined. “

“Countries around the world that have introduced testing on arrival are now moving away and testing much later because it doesn’t work clinically.

“I know it was controversial when we presented it, but by God I’m glad we did it because if you see the cases increasing in France, in Spain, even in Germany, the numbers of cases are increasing and we have had to, in France and Spain take that action to have the quarantine policy in place. “

Portugal’s quarantine announcement is expected on Friday

Matt Hancock has said that a decision will be made tomorrow on whether travelers should be quarantined when arriving from Portugal.

The health secretary could not say if anyone would be able to travel to Portugal on Friday without self-quarantine upon return when pressured on Sky News.

“The simplest answer is that we follow the data and make these announcements in an organized manner on Fridays at lunchtime,” he said.

“We will publish an additional decision tomorrow after we have analyzed the data and I will not prejudge that.”

Town of Middlesbrough Warned to Obey Coronavirus Rules or Face Lockdown

The people of Middlesbrough have been warned to act now to avoid a local shutdown in the coming weeks.

The city’s mayor-elect, Andy Preston, cautioned that it was “beyond urgent” for local people to act now, urging residents to wear masks and adhere to social distancing rules.

The Middlesbrough Council and Public Health England have responded to several coronavirus outbreaks in the city, with steps taken to address the groups.

But Preston worries that more cases could lead the government to intervene.

He spoke after 14 positive tests were reported on Wednesday, after 12 noon on Tuesday and eight on Monday.

Czech Republic reports highest number of daily cases since pandemic began

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic rose to 650, the highest since the pandemic hit the country in March, data from the Health Ministry showed on Thursday.

With that number, the total case count rose to 25,773 in the country of 10.7 million.

A deer hunt has been awarded a £ 10,000 grant and £ 50,000 loan from taxpayer-backed schemes that help struggling businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Devon and Somerset Staghounds are understood to be one of many hunts that obtained grants or applied for loans through government programs during the Covid-19 crisis.

During the confinement, the hunts have not been able to carry out their usual fundraising activities, such as point-to-point horse races, which cover expenses such as kennels and staff salaries.

Jane dalton has this exclusive report:

Social media companies are only removing the 2 percent of reported posts that spread misinformation about vaccines, a new report suggests.

Research by the Center for Fighting Digital Hate (CCDH) and Restless Development found that posts that claimed vaccines are poisonous, cause cancer, and even change people’s DNA can remain online.

Others claimed that the coronavirus pandemic had been faked to enforce mandatory vaccinations, or that flu injections made people more susceptible to the virus, while some were linked to broader conspiracy theories related to the Microsoft founder. , Bill Gates, 5G technology and American physician Dr. Anthony. Fauci.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Lizzie dearden has more on this:

Scientists and health activists have condemned the Trump administration after it distanced itself from the World Health Organization (WHO) global initiative for the development and equitable distribution of a coronavirus vaccine.

More than 150 countries are committing to the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (Covax), a WHO multilateral scheme aimed at working with manufacturers to provide countries with access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved. .

However, the US government has refused to cooperate with the international initiative, choosing to do so alone while placing billions in pre-orders for the most promising vaccines currently in development.

Samuel Lovett has more on this in the following article:

UK government commits £ 500 million for 20-minute trial tests

A new £ 500 million funding package will support the testing of a 20-minute Covid-19 test and efforts to explore the benefits of repeatedly testing people for the virus, the Health Secretary announced.

The money will go towards the launch of a new community-wide population repeat test in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Existing trials in Southampton and Hampshire, which use a swab-free saliva test and a 20-minute rapid test, will also be expanded through the new funding.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Testing is a vital line of defense in fighting this pandemic.

“Over the past six months, we have built one of the largest test systems in the world almost from scratch.

“We need to use every new innovation at our disposal to expand the use of testing and develop the mass testing capacity that can help suppress the virus and enable more of the things that make life worth living.

“We are supporting innovative new tests that are fast, accurate and easy to use to maximize the impact and scale of testing, helping us return to a more normal way of life.”