Coronavirus news - live: UK at Covid ‘tipping point’ warns Hancock as Londoners could be told to work from home again
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Your support makes all the difference.Londoners could be told to work from home, the government said as officials met to discuss new restrictions in the capital to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Health secretary Matt Hancock also said he could not rule out a second nationwide lockdown as he warned that the UK was at a ‘tipping point’.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer blamed the near-collapse of the testing system for making tougher restrictions more likely and urged Boris Johnson to take “swift, decisive action”.
It came as the government announced people who refuse to self-isolate will face fines of up to £10,000, while workers on low wages will receive £500 to quarantine at home.
London officials to make lockdown recommendations as mayor calls for swift action
London council leaders will make recommendations to ministers in the coming days following a spike in cases across the capital.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is understood to be pushing for quick action to stem any further spread in the city.
A spokesperson form Mr Khan said : "The situation is clearly worsening. Sadiq will meet council leaders tomorrow and any London-specific measures will be recommended to ministers following that.
"The mayor wants fast action as we cannot risk a delay, as happened in March. It is better for both health and business to move too early than too late."
France confirms 10,596 new cases
French health authorities reported 10,569 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, down from the previous day's record increase of 13,498.
The number of French deaths from the disease rose by 12 over the preceding 24 hours to 31,585, the health ministry said. The cumulative number of confirmed cases now stands at 453,763.
The latest death toll amounts to a more sizeable increase of 311 over the 31,274 published on Saturday, a difference that may reflect late arriving data for earlier fatalities.
Besides a resurgence in the spread of the coronavirus since lockdown measures ended in May, epidemiologists say higher case numbers are also the result of a six-fold surge in testing since the process became available without charge or prescription.
Memorial dedicated to Covid victims in Rio
A 3-ton memorial has been dedicated at a cemetery where many of Rio de Janeiro's Covid-19 victims have been buried.
The 39-meter (128-foot) long steel Infinity Memorial was erected to pay tribute to those who died from coronavirus and provide families with a symbol of their loss in one of the worst affected cities in Brazil.
The memorial was designed by the Brazilian architect Crisa Santos, who had the idea of installing the work at the peak of the pandemic after visiting several cemeteries in the country.
Rio de Janeiro state reached more than 17,600 deaths and more than 250,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, second only to Sao Paulo state in Brazil.
The names of 4,000 of those who died will be inscribed on the structure.
India expected to overtake the US for virus cases in weeks
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 over 5.4 million. India, however, also has the highest number of recovered patients in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Its recovery rate stands at about 80%.
Over 60% of the active cases are concentrated in five of India's 28 states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has faced scathing criticism for its handling of the pandemic amid a contracting economy that left millions jobless.
Ireland ‘at a crossroads’ minister says
Ireland is at a crossroads in the coronavirus pandemic, a government minister has said after Dublin city and county were placed under tighter restrictions following a surge of cases in the capital.
Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, said the Government "acted very rapidly" on the National Public Health Emergency Team's advice earlier this week.
"There is a very, very narrow window here now, where we the Irish people have a choice," he told RTE.
"We're at a crossroads. This could go one of two ways. We have to act now to make sure we do not go back to where we were in March or April."
Whitty and Valance to brief the public
The UK is at a critical point in the Covid-19 pandemic and faces a very challenging winter, one of the government's top medical advisers will warn at a public briefing tomorrow.
"The trend in the UK is heading in the wrong direction and we are at a critical point in the pandemic," England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is expected to say in an address set for 10am.
"We are looking at the data to see how to manage the spread of the virus ahead of a very challenging winter period."
Rishi to extend business support loans - report
Rishi Sunak is set to extend the Treasury's UK-wide programme of business support loans to help companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Times has reported.
The chancellor is expected to unveil plans to extend its four loan schemes for applications until the end of November, with banks allowed to process loans until the end of the year, the newspaper said.
Victoria, Australia reports 11 cases, two deaths
Australia's coronavirus hot spot of Victoria has reported two deaths from Covid-19 and 11 cases, continuing a steady downward trend in daily cases and putting the state on course to ease more restrictions.
Victoria, Australia's second most populous state, on Sunday reported five deaths from the virus and 14 new cases, its lowest rise in daily infections in three months.
A hard lockdown in the city of Melbourne has brought daily coronavirus cases down to double digits after it touched highs of 700 in early August.
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