Health News at Your Fingertips

Further lockdown restrictions are being lifted in Wales to allow families and friends to be reunited, though the government admitted the new regime in northern England had given it pause for thought.

The Labour-led government said it had no plans to close the border between England and Wales but it was ready to reimpose “stay local” restrictions if there were fresh Welsh outbreaks.

The first minister, Mark Drakeford, said it was important for people who had been separated to get back together before autumn. He stressed the pandemic would not be over by Christmas.

From Monday, up to 30 people will be able to meet outdoors in Wales, though physical distancing must be maintained for people over the age of 11. Younger children will no longer have to maintain a 2-metre distance from adults or other young people.

Brighton urges tourists to stay away

Brighton and Hove council has expressed concern about the number of people visiting the seaside resort and urged tourists to stay away.

“If you’re not already here, please don’t travel to the city,” it said in a tweet.

Folkestone and Hythe council warned that Kent beaches were “proving very popular” and urged visitors to plan ahead.

The government has launched a review of the powers available to the public to challenge its decisions in court, seen by many as an attack on the judiciary.

A panel of experts, led by a Conservative former minister, is to examine if there is a need to reform the judicial review process, which is a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body.

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, was humiliated last year when the process was used to overturn his decision to prorogue parliament. He has reportedly scrapped a manifesto pledge to set up a “constitution, democracy and human rights commission” and instead plans to speed up the process by setting up small expert panels to deal with different elements individually.

Johnson believes the courts have become increasingly politicised and are being used to “conduct politics by another means”. He wants to define in law what they can and cannot be used to challenge.

The review, to be chaired by Edward Faulks, a former justice minister, will consider whether the right balance is being struck between the rights of citizens to challenge executive decisions and the need for effective and efficient government, the Ministry of Justice announced.

Specifically, the review will consider whether the terms of judicial review should be written into law, whether certain executive decisions should be decided on by judges, and which grounds and remedies should be available in claims brought against the government.

The justice secretary and lord chancellor, Robert Buckland, said:

Judicial review will always be an essential part of our democratic constitution – protecting citizens from an overbearing state.

This review will ensure this precious check on government power is maintained, while making sure the process is not abused or used to conduct politics by another means.

Any recommendations for reform put forward by the panel will be considered by Buckland and the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove. The panel will report back later this year.

Here’s the start of Peter Walker’s news story on the PM’s announcements:

Boris Johnson has reversed a decision to further relax lockdown restrictions in England from Saturday, as the chief medical officer says the country is “at the outer edge” of how far society can reopen with coronavirus.

Speaking at a hastily arranged Downing Street press conference, the prime minister said he was pausing the reopening of leisure businesses, such as casinos and bowling alleys, and preventing beauty salons resuming close-up treatments, for at least two weeks.

It was time to “squeeze that brake pedal in order to keep that virus under control”, he said. With infections rising, Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said the country had reached the limits of reopening.

Johnson said rules on face coverings would be extended from 8 August, meaning people would be obliged to wear them in indoor venues such as museums, galleries and cinemas, and that there would be greater police enforcement of mask-wearing.

BT has seen a near 70% surge in customers switching to next-generation full-fibre broadband as the working-from-home revolution prompts people to upgrade to the fastest internet connection available.

The company said the number of sign-ups for full fibre broadband, which enables users to download a hi-definition TV show in 15 seconds instead of the typical three minutes or more with standard broadband, spiked in June to 10,000 per week.

Prior to that, around 6,000 customers per week had been signing up for full-fibre broadband, BT said.

In this afternoon’s briefing, the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, said “the ONS data suggests we have reached the limits of what we can do in terms of opening things up in society”.

It would appear that he was talking about the weekly coronavirus (Covid-19) Infection Survey pilot released this morning which shows that in the week to 26 July 2020 there were around 4,200 new cases in England per day (or 0.78 new Covid-19 infections for every 10,000 people in the community population).

This is the highest rate of infection estimated since mid-May. In its analysis, the ONS stated that: “Modelling of the rate of new infections over time suggests that there is now some evidence that the incidence of new infections has increased in recent weeks.

However, the same report found “there is not enough evidence to say with confidence whether Covid-19 infection rates differ by region in England, nor whether infection rates have increased in different regions over the past six weeks.”

Elsewhere the report, which is produced in partnership with the American health tech company IQVIA, Oxford University and UK Biocentre, says that, between 26 April and 26 July, 6.2% of people tested positive for antibodies against coronavirus following a blood test, suggesting they had the infection in the past, or one-in-16 people.

In Trafford, a mostly affluent part of Greater Manchester, health officials said younger middle-class residents were behind the recent rise in cases – not the south Asian community.

Eleanor Roaf, Trafford council’s director of public health, said about 57% of the new cases were people aged 25 or below and included those in its wealthiest suburbs, Altrincham and Hale, home to footballers and television stars.

“It’s spread across Trafford. It’s not concentrated at all in our more deprived areas,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding:

My real concern is that perhaps the messaging – definitely the harms from Covid are concentrated in the more deprived areas but in fact anyone can get it and we really need to make sure that people living in wealthier areas aren’t complacent because that’s the biggest risk.

Altrincham, Hale have been some of our hotspots in Trafford, so the messaging I’m wanting to get out is [that] absolutely anyone can get it.

For the Bradford councillor Tariq Hussain the timing of the lockdown was “sacrilege” and he predicted rising tensions amongst communities. He told the Guardian:

We are in a catch-22 situation where the Covid rates are going up and we need to control it but a lockdown on the eve of Eid when families were due to see each other is just a farce.

He added:

The government has failed and failed again the people of Great Britain. To have an announcement like this, all of a sudden, with no warning is just so disappointing. It will create mayhem in Bradford because many people won’t know about the new rules and will carry on with the arrangements they have made today. When you do something so short notice how do you expect it to be policed?

Mustafa Graf, the imam at Didsbury mosque in Manchester, who had just finished leading Eid prayers, said the announcement was upsetting but encouraged the public to adhere to the new guidelines.

I was shocked when I first heard it and I had a lot of phonecalls from people asking me what they should do. It was unclear at first whether we would still be able to go to the mosque and we were relieved when we realised we could and we told people that they could still pray.

Graf, who normally holds three prayers for his congregation during Eid celebrations, held five this morning to maintain social distancing.

I know people are upset but we have to understand the gravity of this situation and it is an emergency. We won’t be able to see each other today but we must remain patient.