Coronavirus news: Luton and Blackburn put on highest Covid-19 alert level, as face mask rules spark confusion across England
The key updates and developments from Thursday 23 June
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Your support makes all the difference.Face masks will have to be worn in shops and supermarkets in England from Friday under new government rules which have been criticised as “confusing”.
The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed face coverings will be required in shops and takeaways, such as Pret A Manger, if people intend to take their food and coffee away – however customers will be allowed to remove them if sitting down to consume food or drink bought on site.
Meanwhile Luton and Blackburn with Darwen were added to Public Health England’s coronavirus watchlist as “areas of intervention” due to high infection rates. It means further lockdown-easing measures such as the reopening of sports centres has been postponed in both areas.
New data also showed the government’s test and trace programme has failed to reach 33,235 close contacts (16.4 per cent) of people who have tested positive for Covid-19.
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Coronavirus will not be eliminated and we must learn to live with it, says Blair
Coronavirus will not be eliminated and Britons must learn to live with it, Tony Blair warned as he urged the government to focus on containment measures to see the country through a second wave.
The former prime minister said infrastructure to stop the spread of the virus was critical as another national lockdown would not be possible, suggesting that people instead need to learn to live safely with the virus.
In an interview with the PA news agency, Mr Blair described the crisis as "the biggest challenge logistically and practically" a government has ever faced, but criticised ministers for not yet putting in place an "infrastructure of containment".
He said: "The reality is that we're going to be living with Covid-19 - we're not really going to be able to eliminate it.
"And when you look at what has been happening in other countries, as lockdown has been eased, then more and more problems have appeared and many countries, having gone into lockdown then easing it, are finding spikes in the disease.
"You can't be sure of this but there's at least a 50/50 chance that you have a resurgence of the disease in the autumn and that's why it is absolutely essential now to prepare for that.
"And to put in place every single last bit of containment infrastructure that you possibly can to make sure that if that happens you are able to control the disease, because you're not going to be able to go back into the lockdown that we endured in March, April and May."
Trump: Hot spot virus states may need to delay school openings by a few weeks
US president Donald Trump has said states that are currently coronavirus hot spots may need to delay re-opening schools by a "few weeks" while he pushed otherwise for students to be able to return to classrooms en masse in the fall.
"They have to open," Mr Trump said of schools nationwide.
He said it would be up to governors in the hot-spot states to decide about school re-openings, and said decisions needed to be based on data.
William and Kate donate £1.8m to pandemic mental health work
The foundation of Prince William and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, has awarded almost £1.8m to support the mental health of front line workers and others affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The couple's Royal Foundation Covid-19 Response Fund is helping a range of projects, including a charity that provides individual grief trauma counselling to workers in ambulance, fire, police and search and rescue services.
Another grant aims to help support the mental health of thousands of pregnant women and new parents.
The royals spoke earlier this week with two emergency responders and two mental health counsellors at Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham Estate.
Kate spoke of the "lasting impact" that the pandemic would have on the mental health of many front line workers.
Senate Republicans to unveil coronavirus proposal next week, McConnell says
US Senate Republicans will unveil their proposal next week for a fresh round of coronavirus aid, including more direct payments to Americans and a partial extension of enhanced unemployment benefits, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday.
Mr McConnell spoke after four days of fits and starts in talks between Senate Republicans and the White House on the plan. Officials said earlier on Thursday they were jettisoning a payroll tax cut that President Donald Trump wanted.
"The administration has requested additional time to review the fine details, but we will be laying down this proposal early next week," Mr McConnell told the Senate. "We have an agreement in principle on the shape of this package."
Republicans have been trying for days to agree on a negotiating position, a preliminary step to hashing out details with Democrats who control the House of Representatives, which in May passed a proposed $3trn response plan that the Senate declined to take up.
↵Opinion: If national polls released this week can be trusted, voters are convinced President Donald Trump is mishandling both America’s Covid-19 response and its far-reaching economic turmoil.
Now Republicans are digging their favourability hole even deeper with a bizarre promise to kill a broadly popular $600-per-week unemployment supplement, writes Max Burns, a veteran Democratic strategist and senior contributor at Millennial Politics.
That conclude's today's coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest news and updates.
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