Coronavirus news - live: UK sees highest case increase since May amid warning of further nationwide rules

Boris Johnson may be stoking Brexit row to distract from coronavirus failures, EU's Barnier warns

Michel Barnier has reportedly said that Boris Johnson could be deliberately stoking a row over Brexit to distract from the British government's failures over coronavirus, writes our policy correspondent Jon Stone.

The EU's chief negotiator is said to have told diplomats from EU countries in Brussels that domestic considerations could be behind the shift in rhetoric, according to a report from the Politico website citing two diplomats present.

He is reported to have said the UK's apparent attempt to blow up the withdrawal agreement was either linked to domestic media management, or alternatively that the prime minister wanted to do a deal and was trying to gain leverage.

One EU source told The Independent that the claims about what Mr Barnier had said was "idle chat from ambassadors". The European Commission declined to comment.

Chinese virologist who claimed coronavirus was created in a lab and fled to US has been suspended by Twitter

Dr Li-Meng Yan, who claims to be a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health, had her Twitter account suspended by the social media site earlier this week, James Crump reports.

The virologist, who had more than 60,000 followers on Twitter before her account was suspended, made headlines this week when she claimed to have evidence that the Chinese government was involved in creating the virus, which has so far killed more than 936,156 people worldwide. She claims she fled to LA and is now in hiding in the US.

Twitter introduced a policy in May to label posts that contain information about Covid-19, which has been disputed or is controversial.

The site said the policy was introduced to “provide additional explanations or clarifications in situations where the risks of harm associated with a tweet are less severe but where people may still be confused or misled by the content.”

Twitter did not appear to label any of Dr Yan’s tweets, but instead suspended her account. A spokesperson told Newsweek that Twitter does not comment on individual accounts.

Government expected to announce new round of local lockdowns across northeast

Swathes of the North East of England are expected to be brought under local lockdown measures from Friday to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to local media reports.

The Northern Echo reports measures could include a ban on socialising between different households and a 10pm curfew on pubs. 

The paper adds Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland are all expected to be impacted.

More below:

Students self-isolating after cluster identified at university student accommodation

A cluster of infections has been identified in student accommodation at Edinburgh Napier University.

NHS Lothian’s health protection team is tracing contacts at the Bainfield halls and is advising them and those who have developed symptoms to self-isolate for a fortnight, but has stressed that the university remains open.

“Appropriate advice and guidance to self-isolate is being provided,” the health board said in a statement. “Enhanced cleaning and safety measures are already in place in the university in line with national guidance.”

Care regulator warns hospitals and nursing homes over infection risk as it urges the public to give more feedback

The head of the care watchdog has warned that some hospitals and care homes are failing to take action to protect patients from coronavirus as cases rise across the country, our health correspondent Shaun Lintern reports.

In an interview with The Independent, Ian Trenholm, the chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, said a series of inspections had revealed a minority of homes and hospitals were not doing enough to prevent infection.  

He said in one case a care home appeared to have made a “conscious decision” not to follow the rules on wearing masks and gloves and was now in the process of being closed down by the watchdog due to safety fears.

Mr Trenholm also revealed the CQC would be looking closely at patients struggling to access services because of the impact of Covid-19 and he warned it would act if some groups were disproportionately affected.

Communities secretary discusses new north east restrictions

“The number of cases has been rising rapidly in many parts of the country, but in particular in the North East, and so a decision has been made to impose further restrictions there,” Robert Jenrick told ITV.

“And a full announcement will be made tomorrow and so people living in that part of the country should watch out for that.

“And the measures will come into play at midnight on Thursday evening.

“So, over the course of the day a full briefing will be made available to everybody including the councils and business community.”

White House denies Trump endorsed 'herd immunity' and predicts Covid vaccine will be ready this year

The White House on Wednesday denied Donald Trump endorsed the controversial “herd immunity” concept as a way out of the coronavirus pandemic and that he shunned mask-wearing despite his own words during a town hall with undecided voters the previous night, John T Bennett reports.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany jousted with reporters during a combative briefing, saying the notion that Mr Trump or his advisers supported the notion of most Americans contracting the respiratory disease and becoming immune – even if hundreds of thousands more die – was merely something “cooked up” by the media.

“Herd immunity has never been a strategy here at the White House. President was noting herd immunity [develops] over a period of time,” she said.

Here is what Mr Trump said on Tuesday night at the Philadelphia town hall: “Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away. And you'll develop – you'll develop herd – like a herd mentality. It's going to be – it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen. But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly.”

Trump mistakenly tells weeping voter her mother died of coronavirus, not cancer

Donald Trump has come under fire for mistakenly telling a participant of Tuesday night's ABC News town hall that her mother, who died of cancer, suffered from Covid-19, Justin Vallejo reports.

As Flor Cruceta became emotional during the event in Pennsylvania, Mr Trump asked "did you say your mum got Covid? Your mum?" Holding back tears, she remembered how she and her mother immigrated from the Dominican Republic in 2006 to live their American dream.

"She had breast cancer but it made metastases on her brain, bone, and lungs and she passed on the 19th," Ms Cruceta said.

"I'm here because of her. She was supposed to be here and ask you and thank you for this -- if they should take -- during this epidemic, you made people closer. We lost our jobs but we learned how to love our family. So I'm saying that from her."

Government ‘not considering’ reducing loan debt to reimburse students affected by pandemic

The government has said it is "not considering" writing off or reducing tuition fee loans to help universities reimburse students whose education has been negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Officials also rejected MPs' proposal for the creation of a centralised system to support dissatisfied students in seeking refunds during "out-of-the-ordinary" events like the coronavirus outbreak.

Members of the House of Commons Petitions Committee had suggested the government find "alternative means" to reimburse students entitled to a refund, such as writing off loans, to reduce the financial burden on institutions.

The government said refunds were "a matter for providers" and highlighted the higher education financial stabilisation package and restructuring regime announced earlier this year.

It followed an inquiry launched after more than 351,000 people signed an e-petition calling on the government to reimburse all students for this year's fees due to the impact of strikes and coronavirus.

During their research, MPs received more than 28,000 responses from students, parents and university staff.

PA

Coronavirus infection rates have more than doubled over the course of a week in parts of England, soaring to more than 200 per 100,000 people in the hardest-hit region.

A total of 506 new cases were identified in Bolton in the week to 13 September, bringing the infection rate to 204 per 100,000 — up from up from 152 the week prior.

The Royal Bolton Hospital urged people to stay away from its emergency department unless they have a life-threatening illness or injury as surging cases begin to translate into rising hospital admissions.

The facility’s medical director suggested that failures in the national testing scheme were responsible for the surge of people turning up to the hospital seeking tests, as health bosses in other cities offered similar pleas not to flood A&Es with requests for tests.  

Rolling seven-day rate of new cases of Covid-19, based on government testing figures, show that Bolton and 11 other areas now have weekly rates between 100 and 200 cases per 100,000 people, including Liverpool where the rate has jumped sharply from 56 to 106.