Coronavirus news: Pubs reportedly face closure in new regional England lockdown

Coronavirus ‘R’ number rose above one after hospitality sector reopened

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the coronavirus reproduction (R) number appears to have risen above one approximately three weeks after hospitality venues reopened.

Ms Sturgeon said she was “grateful” for the work done by hospitality businesses in stopping the spread of Covid-19 but warned such venues presented a “particular risk”.

“The R number seems to have risen above 1 approximately three weeks after the hospitality sector opened up,” she told MSPs.

“We know that more than one fifth of people contacted by test and trace, report having visited a hospitality setting.”

She added: “All of these reasons, significantly restricting licensed premises for 16 days temporarily removes one of the key opportunities the virus has to jump from household to household.

“It is an essential part of our efforts to get the R number significantly below 1.”

Follow strict measures now to avoid full lockdown in future, Sturgeon says

Nicola Sturgeon has urged people in Scotland to follow the coronavirus measures announced this afternoon to ensure there will not be a full lockdown in the future.

The first minister said the new restrictions, mainly on hospitality, would help stop the virus from continuing its increased spread throughout the country in the coming weeks.

“These new restrictions will last for 16 days. They are intended to be short, sharp action to arrest a worrying increase in infection,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“However, although they are temporary, they are needed.

“Without them, there is a risk the virus will be out of control by the end of this month.”

She added that the restrictions would help to keep schools and businesses open over the winter.

Two more universities move to online teaching after coronavirus outbreaks

Two universities in Newcastle have said they are moving almost all their classes online due to coronavirus outbreaks, joining three other major universities.

All programmes at Northumbria and Newcastle universities will be delivered online unless face-to-face teaching is an essential part of the course.

The temporary changes will come into effect from Thursday for a period of three weeks following a rise in Covid-19 cases across the student population.

It follows a similar move to online teaching by Manchester University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Sheffield.

Greene King announces pub closures, cutting 800 jobs

Greene King has announced it is closing dozens of pubs, with 800 jobs being cut from the business, due to the tight restrictions on hospitality during the coronavirus pandemic.

The hospitality company, which has 3,100 pubs, restaurants and hotels across the nation, has decided to keep 79 of its sites closed.

“The continued tightening of the trading restrictions for pubs, which may last another six months, along with the changes to government support was always going to make it a challenge to reopen some of our pubs,” a Greene King spokesperson said.

Our reporter, Sabrina Barr, has the full story below:

‘Without doubt the most challenging year in the history of the NHS,' chief executive says 

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has told the NHS Providers conference the health service would have to be "agile" in its response to coronavirus, as the winter months approached.

"This has without doubt been the most challenging year in the history of the National Health Service, that's what a once-in-a-century pandemic means," he said.

"If we're speaking frankly there are disturbing signs that infection from coronavirus are again rising, they are clearly heading in the wrong direction.

"As we look into winter we are going to have be very agile in our response, not only to coronavirus but to winter pressures and to sustaining the wider range of services that the NHS offers."

Sir Simon added: "The NHS that comes out the other side of Covid is going to be a different NHS than the one that went into the pandemic and that's deliberate.

“Of course there are going to be some things that are completely unchanged... but clearly we have new needs that we are going to have to address and will have to be factored into the capacity of the NHS.”

£10m for network of long Covid clinics across UK

Sir Simon also said £10m of funding had been allocated to establish a network of long Covid clinics across the UK, to treat the increasing number of people unable to shake the effects of the virus months after being initially infected.

"In line with new nice guidelines on effective patient treatment pathways (the clinics) will offer support for the tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of patients who have got long Covid," he said.

UK coronavirus death toll rises by 70 to 42,515

The UK’s coronavirus death toll has risen by 70, the government said, bringing the total number of deaths to 42,515.

More as we get it:

WHO concerned about virus spikes in Cuba, Jamaica and Caribbean

The World Health Organisation has said it is concerned about spikes in Covid-19 cases in countries that had managed outbreaks effectively, such as Cuba and Jamaica, and 11 Caribbean states that have moved from moderate to intense transmission, its regional director Carissa Etienne said on Wednesday.

The good news is that rates of severe Covid-19 cases have fallen across the Americas and fewer people are being hospitalised needing intensive care, she said in a virtual briefing from Washington with other Pan American Health Organization directors.

Scottish school exams cancelled or postponed

National 5 exams in Scotland will be cancelled and others will start later in the year due to Covid-19, education secretary John Swinney has said.

The move means young people who were due to sit the tests will be assessed based on coursework instead.

Highers and Advanced Higher qualifications will be pushed back, starting on 13 May, to ensure pupils who missed teaching time due to the pandemic earlier this year will have the chance to catch up.

Northern Ireland ‘only two weeks from record hospital admissions’

Northern Ireland's chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride has warned of a "rising trajectory" of cases and hospital admissions, saying: “We are only two short weeks away from seeing hospital admissions as high as they were back in March.”

He added: “It is our actions and decisions in the coming days that will determine how bad that situation becomes.”

Dr McBride said until a vaccine is found for Covid-19, the spread must be limited by limiting social contacts, and that shielding was being continued but was under review.