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Coronavirus news you may have missed overnight: Boris Johnson set to scrap ‘stay home’ advice, as Italian scientists claim to have developed world’s first coronavirus vaccine

More than 3.76 million people have now been infected worldwide and over 262,000 deaths have been reported

Chiara Giordano
Thursday 07 May 2020 08:55 BST
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Coronavirus: UK death toll passes 30,000

More than 3.76 million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide and over 262,000 deaths have been reported.

In the UK, 30,076 people have died from coronavirus. This figure includes those who died in hospitals, care homes, and the wider community. However, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 that have been registered across the UK currently stands at 32,898.

Here is your morning briefing of the coronavirus news you might have missed overnight.

Boris Johnson set to scrap 'stay home' advice and ‘ease lockdown limits on work, parks and exercise’

Boris Johnson is set to scrap the government’s “stay home” slogan and relax advice on work, exercise, and socialising as he announces the first easing of the UK’s lockdown this weekend, according to reports.

Picnics, sunbathing in parks and unlimited exercise are expected to be put back on the table as the prime minister begins to loosen restrictions he enforced in March to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Mr Johnson has confirmed his long-awaited roadmap of options for escaping the lockdown will be unveiled on Sunday – three days after the restrictions must be reviewed under law. He told MPs on Wednesday he hopes some restrictions could be eased as early as Monday.

Bank of England warns of deepest recession on record with economy to shrink 14% in 2020

The Bank of England has warned the UK economy could contract by close to 30 per cent this summer in its first official outlook since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The BoE cautioned over a “very sharp” fall in GDP over the first half and a “substantial” rise in unemployment as it left interest rates at a record low of 0.1 per cent.

The Bank said it expects economic output to fall by around 3 per cent in the first three months of 2020 and a further 25 per cent in the second quarter.

Its "illustrative scenario" suggests GDP could fall 14 per cent for 2020 as a whole - the deepest annual fall since 1706. But the Bank said the sharp fall in activity should be temporary and that activity should “pick up relatively rapidly” once lockdown measures are eased.

The jobless rate could hit 8 per cent, the Bank said. However, it warned that forecasting the economic outlook this year was fraught with uncertainty.

Italian scientists claim to have developed world’s first coronavirus vaccine

Italian researchers claim to have developed a vaccine that can neutralise the coronavirus in human cells.

Tests carried out at Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital, which specialises in infectious diseases, generated antibodies in mice that work in human cells.

After a single vaccination, the mice developed antibodies capable of blocking the virus from infecting human cells, claimed Luigi Aurisicchio, chief executive of Takis, the company working on the treatment.

Coronavirus testing restricted across London after chemical shortages, as Boris Johnson announces even bigger target

Widespread testing for coronavirus has been suspended among staff and patients at hospitals and GP practices serving 3.5 million people because of a shortage of vital chemicals.

On the day Boris Johnson unveiled a new target of 200,000 Covid-19 tests a day by the end of May (before backtracking and clarifying it was a target of capacity, not testing), pathology services in south London - including four major hospitals and hundreds of doctors’ surgeries - have been forced to impose restrictions on testing both in hospitals and in the community.

A leaked email to NHS staff from the South West London Pathology Partnership has confirmed only patients and staff who show symptoms will now be tested for Covid-19 after the labs, based at St George’s Hospital, were unable to source enough of the chemical reagents needed for the tests.

Experts warn potential for Covid-19 to spread through sewage ‘must not be neglected’ by researchers

The potential for coronavirus to spread through sewage “must not be neglected” in efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, environmental biologists have warned.

Although attempts to slow the spread of the virus have mainly focused on preventing human-to-human transmission, experts from the University of Stirling have now warned more research is needed on how Covid-19 could spread in wastewater.

Researchers suggested in April that analysing sewage could provide an effective early warning system for outbreaks after wastewater sampling at five sewage planets in Paris, France, revealed a pattern of coronavirus concentration which coincided with outbreaks of cases.

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