Coronavirus news – live: UK adds more countries to 'no-go' list as Covid cases increase 17% over last week in England
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Your support makes all the difference.There has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in England in the past week as officials target testing in virus hot spots.
Officials say the rise corresponds with the targeted testing for areas where there is known outbreaks in cases but that the increase also reflects the overall rise in incidence of the virus.
New figures from Greater Manchester show almost half of all coronavirus contacts across the region are not being reached by the government’s tracing system.
Great Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the failings were now so bad, they were “hampering” efforts to keep the region’s infection spike under control.
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US State Department lifts international travel warning for Americans
The US State Department has lifted its international travel advisory advising Americans against travelling during the coronavirus pandemic, stating it would now look at countries on a case-to-case basis.
In March, the department first implemented an international travel advisory as the coronavirus ravaged through parts of Europe and China. It was then announced in a statement on Thursday that the department would lift the advisory – which has remained at the highest alert level as a level 4 since 19 March – in collaboration with the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the Department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice ... in order to give travellers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions," the release said.
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UK adds more countries to 'no-go' list as coronavirus cases soar
Belgium has become the latest European country to be added to the UK government’s “no-go” list because of a sharp increase in coronavirus cases.
Travellers arriving in the UK from Belgium after 4am on Saturday will be required to self-isolate for 14 days, transport secretary Grant Shapps announced. Andorra and the Bahamas have also been added to the list of countries subject to the quarantine order.
The government has given people looking to leave the three countries far more warning than they did for Spain, which was abruptly removed from the travel exemption list on 25 July with less than five hours’ notice.
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Ohio governor tests positive for coronavirus hours before Trump meeting
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has tested positive for the coronavirus.
He will no longer meet president Donald Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland this afternoon.
The president is on his way to Ohio to speak about economic prosperity, visit a Whirlpool plant, and attend a fundraising reception.
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Coronavirus test and trace service records 17% increase in positive cases in last week
There has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the past week as officials target testing in virus hot spots.
New data from England’s test and trace service shows the rise in positive cases comes despite the number of people overall being tested rising just four per cent.
Officials say the rise corresponds with the targeted testing for areas where there are known outbreaks in cases but that the increase also reflects the overall rise in incidence of the virus.
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Food production plant in Ireland shutters after 80 workers fall ill
A food production plant in Co Kildare, Ireland, has suspended operations after 80 workers tested positive for coronavirus.
O'Brien Fine Foods said it stopped operations at its Timohoe facility at 9pm on Wednesday.
The company has been engaging with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to test all employees after three confirmed cases. Eighty workers have so far tested positive for Covid-19.
"Of 243 tests completed, 80 have been confirmed as positive for Covid-19. Of the 80 confirmed, the level of asymptomatic infectivity appears to be very high. We are completing testing of a further 42 employees today," the company said in a statement.
Republican governor caught virus fter hugging friends, not at Trump rally - spokesperson says
Oklahoma governor spokesperson Charlie Hannema said Thursday that Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, the first governor in the nation to test positive for the coronavirus, was infected when he hugged two friends from Tulsa.
At least one of the two men, whom Mr Hannema did not identify, later tested positive for the virus. He added the meeting took place July 10 in Oklahoma City, and was not connected to Mr Stitt's attendance at a June 20 campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Tulsa.
Mr Stitt announced July 15 that he was quarantining himself following a positive test.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health on Thursday reported 41,401 coronavirus cases and 593 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, increases of 837 confirmed cases and 10 deaths from those reported Wednesday.
Africa's confirmed case number reaches one million
Africa's confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed one million, but global health experts say the true toll is likely to be several times higher.
The projected number reflects the gaping lack of testing for the continent's 1.3 billion people.
Large numbers of undetected cases are a danger for Africa with many of the world's weakest health systems. Some countries have only a single testing machine. Some have conducted less than 500 tests per million people.
↵Home Office restarts deportation of asylum seekers by charter flight despite coronavirus fears
Asylum seekers are set to be deported for the first time since coronavirus took hold in the UK, prompting concerns that the Home Office is “playing politics with public health”.
Up to 20 asylum seekers are scheduled to be deported to France and Germany on Wednesday under the Dublin regulation, a law that requires asylum seekers to claim asylum in the first safe country they arrive in.
Lawyers said it was “disproportionate” to carry out chartered returns in the current climate, and accused the Home Office of failing to give sufficient regard to to the “unpredictable nature” of flights on which vulnerable individuals are forcibly removed.
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Researchers identify ‘Cummings effect’ undermining public trust in government during lockdown
Boris Johnson’s handling of his top aide breaking lockdown had “negative and lasting consequences” for the public’s trust in the government during the coronavirus pandemic, researchers have established.
The authors of a study published in the Lancet medical journal identified a “Dominic Cummings effect” showing a clear decrease in public confidence in the government on 22 May when the story broke, with trust continuing to falls sharply in the following days.
The findings of the research suggest that Mr Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle may have reduced compliance with lockdown: behavioural scientists say trust in the government’s handling is key in ensuring voluntary compliance with lockdown and social distancing rules.
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