Coronavirus news - live: UK at Covid ‘tipping point’ warns Hancock as Londoners could be told to work from home again

Scottish government considering new lockdown restrictions

A decision on greater lockdown restrictions being imposed in Scotland will be made in the early part of this week, the Scottish health secretary said.

Jeane Freeman, speaking on BBC Breakfast on Sunday, said the Scottish government will have an announcement "very shortly" on any more restrictions.

There was a rise of 350 positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland on Saturday - the highest daily increase in four months.

The rate of transmission in Scotland - or R-number - is now believed to be between 1.1 and 1.4.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon warned on Friday that greater measures may have to be put in place "if we want to avoid another full-scale lockdown".

Hospital admissions ‘doubling every eight days’

Matt Hancock has said the number of hospital admissions for coronavirus was rising and would be followed by an increase in the number of deaths.

"We have seen in other countries when the case rate shoots up, the next thing that happens is the numbers going into hospital shoot up," the health secretary told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.

"Sadly, we have seen that rise, it is doubling every eight days or so - people going into hospital - then, with a lag, you see the number of people dying sadly rise."

Matt Hancock has also confirmed - both on Sky and BBC - that he would report somebody to police for breaking the coronavirus rules.

“Everybody should,” he told Sophy Ridge.

UK is at tipping point, says Hancock

Health secretary Matt Hancock has warned the UK is at a “tipping point” in the fight against coronavirus as he rejected calls to apologise for the chaos in the testing system.

“Now is the moment,” Mr Hancock said as he urged the public to follow strict measures designed to break the chain of infection or face further restrictions.

Here’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin with the full write-up:

Global coronavirus update

India on track to become worst-hit country - India has registered 92,605 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and is expected to surpass the United States as the pandemic's worst-hit country within weeks. The health ministry also reported 1,133 additional deaths for a total of 86,752. Sunday's surge raised the country's virus tally to more than 5.4 million.

Russia reported 6,148 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the second straight day when the daily number of cases exceeded 6,000, taking the national tally of infections to 1,103,399. The country's coronavirus crisis centre said 79 people had died of the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the Russian death toll to 19,418.  

Czech Republic - A further 2,046 cases were reported on Saturday, a record number for a weekend day when fewer tests are done, data from the Health Ministry showed on Sunday. The overall count of confirmed cases rose to 48,306 in the country of 10.7 million people.

Germany - The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,345 to 271,415, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by two to 9,386, the tally showed.

Indonesia reported 3,989 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the total to 244,676, data from the country's health ministry showed. The data added 105 new deaths, taking the total to 9,553, the biggest death toll in Southeast Asia.

South Korea - Daily new cases have fallen below 100 for the first time in more than a month, as the country's recent viral resurgence is gradually easing. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday that the newly counted 82 cases took the country's total to 22,975 with 383 deaths.

Mexico - The health ministry on Saturday reported 5,167 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country, bringing the total to 694,121 cases, and 455 new deaths, for a cumulative death toll of 73,258.

National lockdown more likely due to testing chaos, says Labour

Sir Keir Starmer said that if he was prime minister, he would apologise for testing being "all over the place".

He told Sky News: "I don't think a national lockdown is inevitable, I think it's more likely because testing is all over the place.

"But I've said to the Prime Minister you need to take swift action, decisive action. The infection rate is clearly going up.

"The testing regime is all over the place and I think one of the concerns I have, and a lot of people have, is that because the Government's now effectively lost control of testing, it doesn't necessarily know where the virus is.

"So if I was the prime minister, I would apologise for the fact that testing is all over the place and instead of using the summer to prepare for the autumn, which is what we said should happen, we're in this position just when we need testing to be at its very best, it's near collapse."

‘The cavalry is coming’: Hancock hopes for vaccine this year

Matt Hancock has said it is still possible that there could be a coronavirus vaccine before the end of the year.

"There is still hope that we will get one of the vaccines over the line this year. The Oxford vaccine is still at the front of the queue. More likely is next year, and probably the early part of next year," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.

"We have got the cavalry coming over the next few months - the vaccine, the mass testing and the improvements in treatments - but we have got to all follow the rules between now and then to keep people safe."

‘There is no second wave’, says expert opposing new UK lockdown

Here’s more from Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford,  who has told Sky News that - despite the surge in cases across the UK - "there is no evidence right now of what's called a second wave."

Asked if Prime Minister Boris Johnson was wrong to make that claim on Friday, he said: "I get for our ministers this is an incredibly complicated area, some of the issues we're talking about require five or six years of healthcare experience to really get your head around.

"This is about good advice, to the prime minister, to the Health Secretary, that allows a wider range of expertise to come on board, and if they did that they might look at the problem slightly different.

"I think over the next few weeks if we can see a slower, analytical approach to the data, and a different approach to the advice, the prime minister might see a subtle change in his language that reflects a need to normalise what's going on.

"This is a seasonal effect now, if it becomes worse and it impacts on disease, then, yes, that's the point when we have restrictive measures, but that time is not now."

Londoners could be told to work from home, says Hancock

Londoners could be told to work from home this week, the health secretary has warned, as coronavirus cases rise in the capital.

Matt Hancock said officials were meeting today to discuss possible new restrictions for London and refused to rule out some of the measures suggested by Sadiq Khan.

The London mayor has urged ministers to extend the latest regional restrictions - including ordering bars and restaurants to close at 10pm - to cover the capital as well and is said to be considering asking people to go back to working from home.

Second lockdown ‘would be devastating’ for pubs

The boss of Wetherspoons has said that pubs and hospitality businesses could be wiped out by further coronavirus restrictions such as a curfew or two-week “circuit break”.

Tim Martin, who employs 43,000 people in Wetherspoon's pubs and hotels, told The Sunday Times further restrictions would be "even more devastating" for a sector hit hard by the pandemic.

Greene King chief executive Nick Mackenzie, who is responsible for staff at 2,700 hospitality businesses, also told the paper the government needed to provide further clarity and assistance.

"The sector is fighting for survival - we are already seeing pubs in areas where there are additional restrictions are performing less well, especially those in Scotland," Mackenzie said.

"New measures such as a 10pm curfew will cause further damage and hit city-centre pubs most, especially in London."