Coronavirus news – live: Vaccine before Christmas ‘unlikely’ says Whitty, as Hancock makes preparing for winter ‘a priority’

Video from a congressional candidate’s fundraiser in Washington shows Donald Trump mingling with a small crowd without a mask – even as he finally began wearing one in public after months of resistance.

Mr Trump appeared at a fundraiser for Madison Cawthorn, a young congressional candidate in North Carolina who defeated a Trump-backed contender in his recent primary – thereby breaking the president’s perfect endorsement record.

In Mr Cawthorn’s video of the fundraiser, held at the Trump International Hotel near the White House, he is enthusiastically greeted by various high-profile guests, including South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham – also unmasked – and the president’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who shakes his hand saying “you can touch me”.

Expert warns against complacency during summer months

Warning against complacency during the summer months, Wellcome Trust director Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar said June, July and August were a "crucial phase" to prevent a second wave of Covid-19.

He told the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee: "If we have any sense of complacency of 'this is behind us', then we will undoubtedly have a second wave, and we could easily be in the same situation again.

"The lockdowns have made an enormous difference to the community transmission - they've done nothing to change the fundamentals of the virus.

"It remains as infectious as at the end of December, it has the same clinical syndrome, it kills the same number of people.

"And as soon as the lockdowns ease, if we don't have mechanisms to change the fundamentals - that means diagnostics, testing, treatments and vaccines - then this will come back, and it'll come back in winter when all the other respiratory (diseases do)."

He added: "If we don't have things in place by the beginning of September when schools restart, we will face a very, very difficult winter."

A Nobel Prize winning geneticist has warned the UK government risks sleepwalking into a “winter of discontent” unless clear governance structures are implemented for the remainder of the pandemic.

Professor Sir Paul Nurse, a distinguished scientist and director of the Francis Crick Institute, criticised what he described as a “pass the parcel” approach and said it was unclear who was responsible for various aspects of the coronavirus strategy.

Covid-19 pathogen will be around 'forever', scientist warns

Professor Sir John Bell, of the University of Oxford, told the Commons Health and Social Care Committee it is unlikely that Covid-19 will be eliminated.

"The reality is that this pathogen is here forever, it isn't going anywhere," he told MPs.

"Look at how much trouble they've had in eliminating, for example, polio, that eradication programme has been going on for 15 years and they're still not there.

"So this is going to come and go, and we're going to get winters where we get a lot of this virus back in action.

"The vaccine is unlikely to have a durable effect that'll last for a very long time, so we're going to have to have a continual cycle of vaccinations, and then more disease, and more vaccinations and more disease.

"So I think the idea that we're going to eliminate it across the population, that's just not realistic."

Coronavirus is worse in cold weather, research suggests

Coronavirus may be more severe in colder months than warmer ones, and dry indoor air may encourage its spread, new research suggests.

Severe Covid-19 outcomes decreased as the pandemic progressed from winter to the warmer months, analysis indicates.

Experts warn that their findings paint a grim picture for the colder weather, when it is thought the disease may re-emerge.

Researchers analysed data from 6,914 patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in Croatia, Spain, Italy, Finland, Poland, Germany, the UK and China.

They mapped this against local temperature and estimated indoor humidity and found that severe outcomes - being taken to hospital, admittance to ICU or the need for ventilation - dropped in most European countries over the course of the pandemic, covering the transition from winter to early summer.

The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, suggests there was a corresponding decrease in the rate of deaths from the disease.

There was roughly a 15 per cent drop in mortality for every one degree Celsius rise in temperature, the King's College London researchers say.

By contrast, the severity of symptoms and mortality rate remained constant in China during the first wave of the pandemic, which occurred solely throughout the winter.

A Kentucky couple who declined to sign health department documents on self-isolation were put under house arrest because one tested positive with Covid-19.

Elizabeth Linscott and her husband, Isaiah, told a local news station that Hardin County authorities arrived at their home last week to install ankle monitors.

The couple declined to sign documents agreeing to quarantine at home with their young daughter after Ms Linscott tested positive some days earlier.

Professor Whitty defends government over lockdown approach

Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, has said that ministers followed expert advice with a "delay that was no more than you would reasonably expect".

Giving evidence to the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee, Prof Whitty was asked if he was "content" the government followed his advice on staging different elements of the lockdown. 

He replied: "Ministers at the time, who were put in an incredibly difficult position, in my view, followed the advice given by Sage, which are clearly signposted through the minutes of Sage, with a delay that was no more than you would reasonably expect for what are really very difficult things to operationalise and decide.

"And I think I'd make a slightly further comment, which is obviously to be able to do this, there was a bit of signposting sometimes we may have to go further. And ministers were aware of that and they said that at the time.

"So, for example on the 16th (of March), my memory is that the Prime Minister did not announce schools closing, but I think he did say at that time, 'and we might need to consider schools closing'."

Prof Whitty added: "But I do not think, I'm not saying now and I'm not going to say at any point, to be clear, that in my view there was huge delay between the advice that ministers received given the enormity of the difficulties that we were asking of people and the practical implications of what was being done."

Vaccine task force doing 'all it can,' says Sharma

Alok Sharma has said the vaccine task force is doing "all it can" to ensure the UK gets access to a "safe and effective vaccine" as soon as possible.

Mr Sharma told MPs on Tuesday: "The Coronavirus Vaccine Task Force set up in my department under the excellent leadership of its chair Kate Bingham has been making very good progress.

"The Government has supported the vaccines being developed at Oxford University and Imperial College and has now secured access to three different vaccine classes as well as a treatment containing Covid-19 neutralising antibodies."

Effective vaccine before Christmas 'unlikely', says Whitty

Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, has warned that the chances of a “highly effective” vaccine being ready for distribution by Christmas are “very low”.

This comes after AstraZeneca said it hopes to deliver Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year, after preliminary trial results revealed it induces a strong immune response within humans and appears to be safe.

Giving evidence to the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee, Prof Whitty said although he was “cautiously optimistic” there would be a vaccine this side of Christmas, the chances of it being “actually highly effective is in my view very low.”

He also said he “very much doubts” a coronavirus vaccine will be made compulsory. “Forcing people to have vaccines does not seem like a good answer under any circumstances,” he added.

Professor Sir John Bell, of the University of Oxford, meanwhile told the Committee it is “unlikely” that the vaccine will “have a durable effect that'll last for a very long time”.

He added: “So we're going to have to have a continual cycle of vaccinations, and then more disease, and more vaccinations and more disease.”

Dutch coronavirus infections are increasing, health officials have warned in a weekly statement.