Covid news – live: UK daily cases hit three-month high as record number sign up for booster jabs

Ireland has confirmed 2,029 new cases of Covid-19.

Dr Tony Holohan, the country’s chief medical officer, said there had been a “significant increase” in transmission since the start of October.

He urged the public to be vigilant over the bank holiday weekend.

Test and Trace was unable to contact almost one in ten people who tested postive for Covid-19 in the seven days to 13 October.

As a result, health authorities did not receive the details of close contacts from 9.8 per cent of these people.

The figure rose from 9.4 per cent the previous week.

New coronavirus infections in France have leapt by almost 20 per cent since last week, with 6,127 cases recorded on Thursday.

Health ministry data also revealed a further 37 deaths from the virus, bringing the death toll up to 117,389.

Infections in France have fallen from 28,000 per day in mid-August but have started to rise again in recent days.

Police in Toronto will not be allowed to work unless they are fully vaccinated against coronavirus by the end of November, officials have said.

Those who do not comply with the rules will be placed on unpaid leave.

“The safety of our workplaces and the health of our members is of critical importance to the service,” the force said in a statement.

The federal government and other large employers such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corp have also set similar deadlines for their staff to be fully inoculated.

The Irish culture minister has confirmed that nightclubs will be allowed to operate at fully capacity, just hours before the venues are due to reopen.

Speaking on Thursday evening, Catherine Martin said new rules including socially-distanced queueing for drinks would apply from Friday.

Masks also need to be worn by clubbers who are not dancing or drinking.

Ian Redmond, who runs a venue in Dublin, told PA news agency there were a few anomalies in the government’s guidelines. “It seems a bit crazy, but everyone just want to do their best,” he said.

Health secretary Sajid Javid has said a record 234,000 people booked a booster jab appointment yesterday.

“We know that natural immunity provided by the vaccine reduces over time, which means if you are vulnerable, you are more likely to catch Covid-19 and become seriously ill if you don’t take up the offer of a booster,” he said.

In total, more than 4 million people in England have received their booster shot.

Given the UK’s worrying spike in Covid-19 infections, should masks be mandatory again? And should we all start working from home once more?

Dr Bharat Pankhania, a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter, is on hand tomorrow morning to answer any questions you have about the current coronavirus situation.

Join him here from 10am on Friday:

Every member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should back a Covid-19 vaccine waiver, the Biden administration has said.

“We...need every WTO member to step up as well and support an intellectual property waiver, and every company must act ambitiously and urgently to expand manufacturing now,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.

The US announced its support for the move in early May. The intellectual property waiver, which is yet to be backed by the UK, would allow poor nations to manufacture their own coronavirus vaccines.

Lord Kamall has raised fears over police-enforced mask wearing after medical professionals urged the government to implement a back-up strategy to combat high levels of Covid-19 infection in the UK.

‘Plan B’ includes bringing back legal requirements to wear masks, asking people to work from home and the mandatory use of vaccine certificates.

Lord Kamall said the Government is “relying very much on a range of scientific advisers to tell us if we need to move to Plan B”, adding: “But at the moment because we’re not where we were last winter, because we have broken the link between cases, hospitalisation and deaths, at the moment we’d prefer to try Plan A.

“One of the concerns we have heard about mandatory face masks at the moment is who enforces it?

“Do we suddenly have more police enforcing it and become a police state?”

A surge in demand at The Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske saw more than 100 patients awaiting treatment in A&E and 25 ambulances queueing outside.

Managers at Cornwall’s main hospital raised the operating level from OPEL4 — known as a ‘black alert’ — to an ‘internal critical incident’ to allow for greater cooperation to ease the crisis.

Allister Grant, medical director of the RCHT: “Even though they are already working extraordinarily hard, our staff are supporting the opening of extra inpatient areas not only in our hospitals but in care homes who have beds available but not the staff to open them.

“Families, friends and neighbours are urged to help us, too, by offering to support someone waiting for home care to leave hospital sooner, and we would ask them to contact the ward directly if they can help in any way.”