Coronavirus news: Boris Johnson leads national clap for NHS anniversary, as UK prepares for ‘largest ever’ flu immunisation this winter
The latest updates from Sunday 5 July
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Your support makes all the difference.The NHS was honoured on its 72nd anniversary with a nationwide clap on Sunday evening, as politicians, medical professionals and the general public paid tribute to the service.
Prime minister Boris Johnson led the applause from Downing Street and will later meet NHS workers in the Number 10 garden, while public buildings including the Royal Albert Hall, Blackpool Tower and the Shard have been lit up blue.
Earlier in the day, John Apter, chair of the Police Federation, warned that it is “crystal clear” drunk people can’t – or won’t – socially distance, after scenes showed huge crowds packed into Soho in central London on Saturday evening.
'Give us everything you've got on Greater Manchester'
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has said more "track and tracing" information on people who have contracted coronavirus is needed.
The former health secretary insisted local authorities were not being given the data they need to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: "What we need is the real-time, patient-identifiable data that the government receives rather than the limited, anonymised data we are currently getting.
"We also need reliable data from the national contact tracing system.
"One expert told me this week that the lack of patient-specific data was like local detectives being asked to solve crimes without being given the names of any of the victims or suspects.
"So my appeal to the health secretary is a simple one: give us everything you have got on Greater Manchester."
Mr Burnham's comments came after health secretary Matt Hancock insisted experts could be provided to give the mayor more help in interpreting data.
No follow-up checks carried out on travellers returning to Scotland
No follow-up checks on travellers returning to Scotland from abroad have been carried out due to officials lacking the correct clearance, the Health Secretary has said.
Jeane Freeman said Public Health Scotland officials had been unable to access the Home Office system to check on people who had flown into airports north of the border, but the issue was now being resolved.
Those returning from abroad are currently required to quarantine themselves for two weeks.
The Sunday Post reported that no follow-up checks were carried out north of the border, despite Public Health England calling a random sample of arrivals to ensure they were sticking to the rules.
The Health Secretary said these calls would begin in Scotland in the coming days.
Public Health Wales said one more person has died after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of deaths there to 1,531.
The total number of positive tests has increased in Wales by 15 to 15,890.
Couples may put off divorce during pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic could lead to married couples who were previously considering divorce to delay proceedings, a survey has suggested.
A poll of more than 1,000 adults across the UK who had previously been divorced asked participants whether the virus outbreak would influence their decision to divorce their partner.
Of the respondents, 28 per cent said they would be less likely to pursue divorce due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Two million help in socially-distanced mass tree planting
More than two million people have gathered at river banks, farmlands and government buildings in northern India, while trying to practice social distancing, to plant 250 million trees as part of a government plan to tackle the climate crisis.
Officials in Uttar Pradesh distributed millions of saplings to be planted across the state to help India's efforts to increase its forest cover.
The country has pledged to keep a third of its total land area under forest and tree cover, but a growing population and increasing demand for industrial projects are placing greater stress on the land.
BREAKING: The Department of Health and Social Care said 44,220 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Saturday - up by 22 from 44,198 the previous day.
The Government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which are thought to have passed 55,000.
The DHSC also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Sunday, there were 516 positive results. Overall, a total of 285,416 cases have been confirmed.
A reminder that the country will be once again clapping the NHS today at 5pm to mark the 72nd anniversary of the service.
The ‘Clap for Carers’ first began at the start of lockdown with members of the public applauding from their doorsteps and windows every Thursday at 8pm to honour NHS staff, supermarket workers, teachers and other frontline employees who were instrumental in the fight against Covid-19.
Coronavirus surges on Colombia's Caribbean coast
Coronavirus cases and deaths are surging along Colombia's Caribbean coast as the region becomes the epicentre of the pandemic in the Andean country, with doctors warning many deaths are going undetected.
Colombia - Latin America's third-most populous nation - has officially reported over 113,000 cases of coronavirus and just under 4,000 deaths among its 50 million inhabitants.
The climbing figures pale in comparison with some neighbouring countries, with regional giant Brazil exceeding 64,200 deaths on Saturday.
Colombia's Caribbean region accounts for close to 40 per cent of the country's reported cases and just over half its deaths, according to an analysis of government data by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
There is no definitive hypothesis about why there has been higher mortality in the coast region, but officials and doctors say flouting of social distancing rules and a higher incidence of certain other diseases may play a role.
Atlantico province, with its port capital Barranquilla, has registered over 1,300 deaths - more than Bogota, even though Atlantico has only about one-third of the capital's population.
Ireland delays easing of travel restrictions until 20 July
Ireland will ease quarantine restrictions on people travelling from abroad on 20 July, with people arriving from a "green list" of countries with low Covid-19 rates to be exempt from isolating themselves for 14 days, transport minister Eamon Ryan said.
The government had said in June that the restrictions would be eased from 9 July, but Mr Ryan said this had been delayed due to concern about travel-related infections.
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