Plus, 'why am I paying for student digs?'
| Scientists' stark warnings |
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| | | "People have relaxed too much." That's the message from England's deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van Tam, as coronavirus case numbers continue to increase sharply. Those words were echoed by a second senior government scientific adviser, Prof John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He told ITV's Robert Peston cases were now "increasing exponentially" and the UK was in a "risky period". Why are they concerned? Well, 2,948 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Monday. On Sunday, there were 2,988, which was the highest figure since 22 May. Both experts accept that hospital admissions and deaths remain very low and so far, the surge in infections is predominantly among the young and less vulnerable. But they also believe there's been a significant and concerning change across the country in recent days, which could mean those things soon stop being true unless people alter their behaviour. What does that mean? Well, it's familiar stuff - sticking to social distancing, practising good hygiene, and so on. How bad could things get? Our health correspondent Nick Triggle examines that key question. The scientists' warnings come as more parts of the UK are facing local restrictions. Stricter rules on home visits have been extended to two more areas in the west of Scotland, and in Wales, measures come into place in the county borough of Caerphilly from 18:00 BST on Tuesday. Meanwhile, holidaymakers on seven Greek islands are facing a rush to get back to England in time to avoid quarantine. See more on the latest travel situation. | |
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| The furlough scheme - which has paid 80% of the wages of workers placed on leave since March - has been a huge help to many, but the government says up to £3.5bn may have been claimed fraudulently or paid out in error. HM Revenue and Customs told MPs it estimates that 5 to 10% of furlough cash has been wrongly awarded, and it is currently looking into 27,000 "high risk" cases where a serious error has likely been made. Latest data shows the furlough programme has cost £35.4bn so far, and the government stresses it has protected 9.6 million jobs. Even with it, though, figures gathered by the BBC show British employers filed plans for more than 300,000 redundancies in June and July - six and seven-fold increases respectively on the same months in 2019. The furlough scheme is coming to an end in October and the fear is there will be many more job losses after that. | |
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| The UK's chief Brexit negotiator has called for "more realism" from the EU when trade talks resume later. Lord Frost said there was "still time" for the sides to reach agreement, but Brussels needed to recognise the UK had the right to act as "a sovereign state". His words follow a threat from the prime minister to walk away if a deal isn't done by 15 October, and plans for a new law potentially unpicking previously agreed customs arrangements, which has raised eyebrows in Europe. BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says it's important to remember, though, that bad tempers don't necessarily mean a compromise won't eventually be found - just as it was last year over the original Brexit divorce deal. | |
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| | | | | Sara is a third year student from Leeds, studying international development at King's College London. She says she was told her course would be completely online this term on 1 September - the day she began paying almost £3,000 for her accommodation. In-person teaching in her second term "will depend on the Covid-19 situation closer to the time". It's left her feeling short-changed. She says she's also had little guidance about what campus life will look like and whether she will need to - or be able to - spend any time there. | |
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| | Larissa Kennelly | BBC News | |
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| | | | Brexit dominates the front pages again, and according to the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson will tell EU leaders today the divorce deal agreed last year is "contradictory", and "unforeseen" threats to the Union mean it must be rewritten. In reply, the Financial Times says the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will tell the prime minister that if the agreement is "redrawn", trade talks will collapse. For the i, it's a "bitter row"; for the Daily Express, an "angry stand-off". The Guardian, meanwhile, says it's seen leaked diplomatic cables that are evidence of the EU's "plummeting trust" in Mr Johnson. Elsewhere, the Sussexes are widely pictured after they repaid the £2.4m of taxpayers' money spent to renovate their former home, Frogmore Cottage. The Metro says they have "paid off their debt to the nation" after sealing a "mega bucks" production deal with US streaming service Netflix. | |
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| | | 'Long Covid' Call for more help for those left chronically ill |
| | | | | | Wildfires Record area burned this year in California |
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| If you watch one thing today |
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| If you listen to one thing today |
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| If you read one thing today |
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| Need something different? |
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| | | | 1998 The Real IRA announce a ceasefire, a month after planting a car bomb that killed 29 people in Omagh - watch the report |
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