Coronavirus news: Boris Johnson leads national clap for NHS anniversary, as UK prepares for ‘largest ever’ flu immunisation this winter

Nation claps for NHS on 72nd anniversary 

The Prince of Wales and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer joined in nationwide tributes to mark the 72nd anniversary of the NHS.

People from across the country joined in applause at 5pm on Sunday as a way of saying thank you to NHS staff who have worked throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative follows the success of the weekly Clap for Carers, and it is hoped the applause will become an annual tradition.

Prime minister Boris Johnson will meet NHS workers in the Number 10 garden on Sunday afternoon, while public buildings including the Royal Albert Hall, Blackpool Tower and the Shard have been lit up blue in tribute to the health service.

Both Sir Keir and Charles paid tribute to the NHS in separate messages on Sunday.

Charles said: "The current pandemic means that the NHS - and the entire country - has been through the most testing time in the service's history.

"Our remarkably selfless nurses, doctors, paramedics and countless other staff have made costly sacrifices to provide treatment for more than a hundred thousand patients with coronavirus and thousands more who needed other care.

"And, in tribute to them, we have come together as a nation to thank them for their skill, professionalism and dedication."

Meanwhile, Sir Keir said the health service had a personal resonance for him as his late mother was a nurse and later relied on the NHS as she became ill.

He said: "Many, many times she got gravely ill and it was the NHS that she turned to, and I remember as a boy, a teenager, being in high dependency units, in intensive care units, with my mum, watching nurses and other support staff keep my mum alive.

"They did that on more than one occasion - it's etched in my memory. For them, it was just the day job. They were doing that every day.

"So, it's very personal for me and I'm very grateful to the NHS and my mum was very grateful, she loved the NHS through the many decades that she absolutely depended on them."

Images from tonight's Clap for Carers:

(Members of staff of the Leeds General Infirmary gesture to their colleagues from the street as they all participate in the national clap)

(Members of staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital participate in the nationwide clap for the NHS)

(Boris Johnson and Clap for Carers founder Annemarie Plas outside 10 Downing Street)

Politicians have all come together to pay homage to the NHS on its 72nd anniversary

'The system needs a huge amount of work'

The UK's social care system "needs a huge amount of work" as it has been "broken for a long time", Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said on Sunday night.

Sir Keir said he agreed with NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens, who told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic had shone a "very harsh spotlight" on the "resilience" of the social care system.

Speaking to PA, Sir Keir said: "On social care, he's right. The system needs a huge amount of work. It has been broken for a long time.

"I think it has been fractured, it's been underfunded, I think the staff have been undervalued and underpaid, and the Prime Minister needs to take responsibility.

"The Conservative government has been in power for 10 years and therefore they've had time to start doing something about social care - they haven't done it."

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.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland show, she said: "We had to have our Public Health Scotland officials security cleared in order to access the Home Office systems.

"That's the system you need to access to get passenger data - in order to protect people's data.

"That has been resolved and those follow-up calls will begin this week."

Scientists say coronavirus is airborne and ask WHO to revise recommendations

Hundreds of scientists say there is evidence that small airborne particles of coronavirus can infect people and are calling for the World Health Organisation to revise recommendations.

The WHO has said the disease spreads primarily from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, which are expelled when a person with Covid-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks.

In an open letter to the agency, which the researchers plan to publish in a scientific journal next week, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined the evidence showing smaller particles can infect people, the New York Times reported.

Whether carried by large droplets that zoom through the air after a sneeze, or by much smaller exhaled droplets that may glide the length of a room, the coronavirus is borne through air and can infect people when inhaled, the scientists said, according to the NYT.

However, the health agency said the evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing.

"Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence," Dr Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO's technical lead of infection prevention and control, was quoted as saying by the NYT.

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Captain Sir Tom Moore, the 100-year-old who raised millions of pounds for the NHS, has shared a video of himself clapping for the health service. "Happy 72nd Birthday NHS," he tweeted. "Thank you for all that you do for us."

Surgical masks have become mandatory in all public places in Iran after the country appeared to be losing control in its battle against Covid-19, reports international correspondent Borzou Daragahi.

It reported a record 163 deaths attributed to the respiratory pandemic over the last 24 hours, the highest daily fatality count in the country since the disease struck Iran.

In a daily briefing, Iranian health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari also reported 2,560 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total of those confirmed to have contracted the virus to at least 240,000.

On Saturday, five members of the Iranian parliament were reported to have tested positive for Covid-19, the latest example of the illness striking the country's political and religious elite.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the mandatory use of masks in public spaces starting today, dispatching police and ideologically motivated paramilitary Basiji forces to enforce the measures. The masks were already obligatory on public transport.

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India puts back Taj Mahal reopening due to Covid-19 risk

India has withdrawn a planned reopening of the Taj Mahal, citing the risk of new coronavirus infections spreading in the northern city of Agra from visitors flocking to see the 17th century monument.

Local authorities issued a new advisory late on Sunday ordering an extension of lockdown curbs on monuments in and around Agra. The government order did not specify the duration of the lockdown for monuments that have been closed since March.

"In the interest of the public, it has been decided that opening monuments in Agra will not be advisable as of now", the district authorities said in a notice published in Hindi.

Agra, one of India's first big clusters of the virus, remains the worst-affected city in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state.

It was immediately not clear whether the federal government would scrap its plan to reopen other monuments across the country, such as New Delhi's historic Red Fort.