The number of new coronavirus cases recorded in the UK has fallen for the second day in a row, despite a significant increase on last weekend’s figures. A total of 5,693 people were registered as having tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, compared to 6,042 on Saturday. And although those numbers showed a day-on-day fall,
UK
University students will be able to return home to their families for Christmas if the public sticks to the new COVID-19 restrictions and helps bring the virus under control, the culture secretary has told Sky News. Appearing on Sophy Ridge On Sunday, Oliver Dowden said: “I want students to be able to go home for
The fatal shooting of a police officer in a custody suite in London was captured on CCTV, Scotland Yard has revealed. Metropolitan Police sergeant Matiu Ratana, 54, was killed in the early hours of Friday when a handcuffed gunman opened fire before turning the weapon on himself. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said the 23-year-old
It’s 10.40pm and a man has just bought some chicken wings in Oldham. The pandemic has brought us to the point where moments later the police and council officials are ticking off the owner of the takeaway for breaking the law. The police officers don’t really want to be curtailing someone’s livelihood, the council certainly
The UK has reported 6,874 new cases of COVID-19, a rise of 240 from Thursday, meaning the overall number of confirmed cases confirmed is now 423,236. A further 34 people are reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 – a figure which does not include data from Scotland due to
A police officer has been shot dead inside a custody centre in south London. The Metropolitan Police say a 23-year-old man was detained at the scene at Croydon custody centre, and was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound. The male officer was shot at 2.15am on Friday by a man who had already been
The UK has reported 6,634 new coronavirus cases – the highest daily total ever recorded. A further 40 people are reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19, official figures show. The last time the daily death toll was higher than 40 was on 14 July, when 44 deaths were recorded.
The NHS coronavirus contact tracing app has finally been launched in England and Wales after months of delay and questions about its effectiveness. The app was trialled first on the Isle of Wight and in the London Borough of Newham and was used to send alerts to users after someone had tested positive. It uses
The UK has reported 6,178 new coronavirus cases – the highest daily total in four months. There have only been two days since the pandemic began which have exceeded this total – 1 May, when there were 6,201 confirmed cases and 5 April, when there were 6,199. More cases are being detected now than at
A second national lockdown could be needed if the latest coronavirus restrictions do not work, the foreign secretary has told Sky News. Speaking to Kay Burley, Dominic Raab said “we can’t rule it out”, but stressed the government will “take every effort to avoid that”. The foreign secretary was speaking after Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged Britons to “summon the discipline and the resolve” to avoid a second national lockdown after warning there have been “too many breaches” of coronavirus rules. In a televised address to the nation, Mr Johnson called on the public to “get through this winter together” as he set out a
The UK’s COVID-19 alert level should be upgraded from level three to level four, meaning transmission of the virus is high or rising exponentially, the four nations’ chief medical officers have said. In a statement, the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said: “After a period of lower COVID cases and
Boris Johnson is set to make a statement on the next steps the country will take to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The prime minister will speak a day after Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, warned the UK could soon see 49,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day unless action is taken. Mr
Britons are being fined for breaches of coronavirus lockdown regulations that are “unclear and ambiguous”, a parliamentary committee has warned. The Joint Committee on Human Rights said it was “unacceptable” that “many thousands” were receiving fixed penalty notices (FPNs) despite evidence the police did not fully understand their powers. It added that the way regulations
England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, has warned the rate of COVID-19 infections in the UK is “heading in the wrong direction”. On Monday, Professor Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance will deliver a televised briefing on the latest coronavirus data. According to Downing Street, they will explain how the coronavirus is
Boris Johnson must act now – not next week – to tackle a second wave of coronavirus infections across the UK, an expert in infectious disease control has warned. Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter, told Sky News it is “blindingly obvious” what needs to be done to stem the