Coronavirus news: Education secretary insists ‘no child should be out of school’ after government issues long-awaited guidance on pupils returning to classroom

Test and trace update

A total of 27,125 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England had their case transferred to the NHS contact tracing system during its first four weeks, new figures from the Department of Health & Social Care show.

Just under three-quarters were reached and asked to provide details of recent contacts. Twenty-three per cent were not reached.

A further 841 people (3 per cent) could not be reached because their communication details had not been provided.

The figures run from 28 May to 24 June.

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Sobering chart shows rise in US cases

This infographic, created for The Independent by statistics agency Statista, shows how precipitously cases of coronavirus are spiking in the US.

Boris Johnson's father flouts UK's travel guidance

Boris Johnson’s father has travelled to Greece to prepare his second home as a holiday let despite strict Foreign Office advice against all but essential international travel, writes Ashley Cowburn.

Stanley Johnson posted on his public Instagram page on Wednesday evening wearing a face mask in an airport queue and boasted of arriving in Athens in a separate post to his 140,000 followers.

Cross-border outbreak

Nine people have contracted Covid-19 so far in a cluster of cases straddling the English/Scottish border, Scotland's national clinical director has said.

Jason Leitch said the people infected are from more than one household.

He said while the cluster - which has emerged in Dumfries and Galloway and the northwest of England - "feels a little bit dramatic", it should not be taken out of perspective.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Prof Leitch said the cluster "includes people who work and live in different countries, as is quite common along the border of Scotland and England", which "makes it complex". 

More than 60% of people using mobile testing receiving results within 24 hours

More than 60 per cent of people tested by mobile testing units, which travel around the country to increase access to testing including at care homes and prisons, received their results within 24 hours in the latest figures.

Between 17 June and 24 June, 22,658 people (60.6 per cent) received their test results within 24 hours of taking a test.

14,014 people (37.5 per cent) received results between 24 and 48 hours later.

37,365 people were tested at mobile testing units in the same period.

1.3 per cent of tests were not completed and 0.2 per cent of results were received in more than 72 hours.

Between 28 May and 3 June, 2,311 people (4.6 per cent) received their results within 24 hours of taking the test with the majority (87 per cent) receiving results between 24 and 48 hours later.

Furlough scheme cannot continue forever, Boris Johnson says

Boris Johnson has warned furlough scheme cannot be extended because it is not - in the long term - healthy for the economy or employees.

"I've got to be very, very blunt with you," he said in an interview with the The Independent's sister paper, the Evening Standard.

"I think people need to recognise that the particular restrictions that furlough places on you are not, in the long-term, healthy either for the economy or for you as an employee."

Scotland mandates face-coverings in shops

Wearing face coverings will become mandatory in shops in Scotland from 10 July, Nicola Sturgeon has said. 

Scotland's death toll increases by one

A total of 2,487 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by one from 2,486 on Wednesday, Nicola Sturgeon said.

Speaking during the Scottish government's daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said 18,264 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by five from 18,259 the previous day.

There are 785 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, no change on yesterday.

Of these patients, nine were in intensive care, a fall of eight.

Brussels in talks to buy remdesivir for EU

Officials in Brussels have begun negotiations with Gilead Sciences to secure doses of the Covid-19 drug remdesivir for EU member states, writes Matt Mathers.

It comes after the US Department of Health and Human Services said it had bought up 500,000 treatment courses, amounting to amounting to 100 per cent of production in July and 90 per cent for August and September.

Experts and campaigners condemned the move, saying it would hamper the efforts of countries across the globe to secure doses of the antiviral drug.