Coronavirus news: UK could be locked out of EU vaccine scheme, as Johnson refuses to apologise for care home comments

Government discount for restaurant meals to boost hospitality sector, chancellor announces

Diners are to be given a £10-a-meal government discount for restaurants this August, with VAT on the hospitality sector also set to be slashed from 20 per cent to 5 per cent until next January, the chancellor has said.

Rishi Sunak made the announcement as part of his emergency mini-budget, which is designed to protect millions of jobs in industries hard-hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Mr Sunak said the six-month VAT cut on hospitality and tourism would run from 15 July until 12 January.

Our political editor, Andrew Woodcock, has the full story below:

EU must stand strong in fight against coronavirus, Portugal’s PM says

Portugal’s prime minister has said it is essential that the EU stands strong in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the bloc’s economy.

“We either come out of it together or we die together,” Antonio Costa told the online Global Leaders' Day conference.

“We need a strong EU.”

EU leaders are still yet to agree on the makeup of any recovery package, with a meeting on the recovery fund and the next joint EU budget set to take place in Brussels on 17 and 18 July.

Significant differences among member states remain on key issues, including whether the recovery fund will be based on loans or outright grants to those in need.

Brazil's Bolsonaro says hydroxychloroquine will cure him of coronavirus

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has said he is confident he will swiftly recover from coronavirus by using hydroxychloroquine, the controversial anti-malaria drug which has not been proven to be effective against the disease.

Mr Bolsonaro said he tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after months of downplaying its severity, despite thousands of deaths around the world and in Brazil.

The far-right leader said his fever had subsided, as of Tuesday, and he attributed the improvement in his condition to the drug.

“I'm, well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can't due to medical recommendations,” Mr Bolsonaro said.

Later on Tuesday, he posted a video to Facebook of him taking his third dose of hydroxychloroquine, which has also been promoted by Donald Trump.

“Today I'm a lot better, so certainly it's working,” Mr Bolsonaro said, downing the dose with a glass of water. 

His endorsement came after a string of studies in the UK and US found the drug to be ineffective and sometimes deadly due to its effects on the heart.

The majority of people who contract Covid-19 experience only a mild illness and recover naturally without treatment.

Italy calls for restrictions on non-EU arrivals to bloc

Italy has called for new precautionary measures for passengers travelling to EU countries from outside the bloc to contain the spread of coronavirus.

This week, the country suspended all flights from Bangladesh for one week due to a “significant number” of passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 on a flight to Rome on Monday.

“I would consider it appropriate to outline together new rigorous precautionary measures for arrivals from non-Schengen and non-EU areas,” Roberto Speranza, Italy’s health minister, said in a letter to the EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides and Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a range of measures this afternoon aimed at helping the UK’s struggling economy ahead of an anticipated rise in unemployment due to the coronavirus crisis.

Our political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, has produced a quick guide below for the headline policy announcements:

Confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa now above 500,000

Africa now has more than 500,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus as countries continue to face a serious shortage of testing materials for the virus.

The true number of cases among the continent’s 1.3 billion people remains unknown, with Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Africa chief, warning there is “a real crisis of access” for equipment.

Most testing so far has been concentrated in capital cities, but infections in many cases have spread beyond them.

The WHO said on Wednesday that Covid-19 had already killed more people in the continent (11,955) than Ebola did during its deadliest outbreak from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa.

“With more than a third of countries in Africa doubling their cases over the past month, the threat of Covid-19 overwhelming fragile health systems on the continent is escalating,” Ms Moeti said on Wednesday.

Africa's health systems are the most poorly funded and thinly staffed in the world, and already more than 2,000 health workers have been infected by the virus, according to the WHO.

The continent has just 2.2 health workers - and 0.3 doctors - per 1,000 people, the organisation added.

Sarajevo health workers strike over pay amid second coronavirus spike

About 3,000 frontline health workers in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo have gone on strike to demand a wage supplement as the country struggles to contain a second spike of coronavirus cases.

A resurgence of Covid-19 has coincided with a relaxation of some of the strictest controls imposed by Balkan countries, which have suffered much lower infection rates than many in Western Europe so far.

The medical workers, including nurses and laboratory and radiology technicians, withdrew from triage points - where they process patients for appointments with doctors - and said they would now only receive patients in life-threatening condition.

They are demanding a pay supplement covering categories such as overtime.

“A strike remains the only means for [our] struggle,” Edo Selimic, head of the medical workers' union, said.

The Sarajevo canton health ministry said it would continue to negotiate to resolve the dispute but added that the cash-strapped government would not be able to afford the union's demands.

Trump says he ‘may cut off funding’ if US schools do not open during pandemic

Donald Trump has threatened to cut off funding to schools which do not open in the autumn as he criticised a federal health agency’s guidelines on reopening as “very tough and expensive”.

The president, who is seeking re-election in November, accused Democrats of wanting to keep schools shut for political reasons, despite coronavirus cases surging across the country.

“The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if US schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children and families. May cut off funding if not open!” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

It was not clear what specific federal aid he was thinking of withdrawing.

In a separate Twitter post, Mr Trump said he would meet with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss their guidance for schools.

“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough and expensive guidelines for opening schools,” he wrote.

“While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things.”

No 10 defends Johnson’s comments suggesting ‘nobody knew’ about asymptomatic transmission

Downing Street has defended Boris Johnson’s disputed comments today claiming “nobody knew” about the asymptomatic spread of coronavirus in the early stages of the pandemic. 

Minutes from a January meeting of the government’s SAGE committee showed officials were aware of such transmission.

The minutes stated there was “limited evidence of asymptomatic transmission, but early indications imply some is occurring.”

“The point is we've learned more about the scale of asymptomatic transmission,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“It is a new virus and we're learning more about its transmission all of the time and as we've learned more, the government and public health bodies have adapted in accordance with the information we have.

“I think the point is we've been learning more about the scale and the nature of asymptomatic transmission as the pandemic has progressed.”

UK-wide data for when coronavirus deaths actually occurred up to 26 June shows the decline in fatalities has now slowed down to a stable level below 100 a day, according to PA data journalist Ian Jones.