Summary for Sunday, 17th May
Good morning and thank you for joining us. Here’s a look at the latest headlines regarding the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.
Schools were closed as part of the measures to curb the spread of the virus
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves has called on the government to work with teachers, parents and unions on reopening schools.
The government is planning to begin a phased reopening of schools in England from 1 June, but teachers' unions have said the date is too soon for this to be safe.
The Labour MP told Sky News "all of us want to see more children attending school" and "for the best possible education we want to see our children in the classroom".
But to safely reopen schools and gain the confidence of parents and teachers she said the government needed to be more transparent about the science behind its decisions.
"Instead of dialling up the rhetoric, we want government to work with teachers, parents and the teaching unions to get this right," she added.
Lord Coe says competitions may happen behind closed doors
World Athletics President Lord Coe has warned athletics may have to be held in stadiums without spectators when it returns.
The annual Diamond League of elite track and field athletic competitions is scheduled to return in mid-August after a revised calendar was announced a few days ago.
But Coe says the 11 events of the series are all likely to be held behind closed doors.
"In the short term we may have to compromise on that," he told Inside the Games website. "We can't be oblivious or tin-eared to what we're being told by local communities and public health authorities.
"I don’t think anybody is contemplating this as the ideal long-term solution - sport would wither on the vine quite quickly if that were the case.
"But that may well be a compromise we have to make in order to get the athletes back into competition, leagues finished, at least some kind of competition."
Add one more name to the list. Former UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has called on China to be more transparent and share data about the coronavirus with the World Health Organization (WHO).
"If we don't get these answers it will only increase the sense that China doesn't want to be a member of the family of nations," he told Sky News' Sophy Ridge programme.
He also pointed to scientific research that suggests the number of cases could have been reduced if China had acted earlier.
Last month, our security correspondent Gordon Corera reported that intelligence officials in the UK and the US believed that China's real casualty figure from the virus was much higher.
His predecessor, Barack Obama, has again hit out at the administration's response. In an online address to graduating college students, he said the pandemic had shown that many officials "aren't even pretending to be in charge". We have more on what he said.
Meanwhile, here are some other developments around the world:
Carolyn Fairbairn told Sky News the government should think "very carefully" about how this might be introduced. The new restriction is expected to take effect at the end of this month though few details are known.
It is also not clear whether there are plans to quarantine people arriving to the UK via other modes of transport.
Fairbairn called for collaboration with the aviation sector to make flying safe, noting that airports like those in Vienna and Hong Kong are introducing testing as an alternative to quarantines.
Getting people flying again would be "an incredibly powerful boost to our economy", she added.
Heathrow Airport is usually one of the busiest in the world
The restrictions on our movement have hit the travel sector hard and we're starting to get a sense of its impact in numbers.
Passenger traffic at London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, has fallen by 97%, John Holland-Kaye, the airport's chief executive, has said.
Like other business leaders, Holland-Kaye has also expressed concern over plans to introduce a quarantine for people flying into the UK, saying the measure can't be in place for more than a relatively short amount of time "if we're going to get the economy moving again".
He called on the government to work with the EU and the US to create an international standard when it comes to quarantine rules, arguing that countries having different plans was creating confusion.
“It's no good having an immunity passport, if other countries have different systems,” he told Sky News.
Erling Braut Haaland and his Borussia Dortmund colleagues celebrated their opening goal in a socially distanced fashion
Germany's Bundesliga resumed on Saturday, becoming the first major European league to return to action since lockdown restrictions began.
With no spectators present, the sound of the crowd was replaced by players and coaches shouting to one another and the satisfying thud of the ball hitting the back of the net - for fans of teams that won, that is...
Six games took place, with Borussia Dortmund beating Schalke 4-0 to close the gap to one point on leaders Bayern Munich, who play on Sunday.
New protocols saw teams arrive in several buses so they could socially distance on the journey to the game - players and staff had been quarantining in team hotels all week and are being tested for coronavirus regularly.
Facemasks were worn on the way into the ground while other people attending, including the media, had their temperatures checked and police patrolled to make sure no crowds gathered at venues.
Footballs were also disinfected by ball boys before the game and again at half-time.
The country has one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world for coronavirus: more than 30,000 people have tested positive out of a population of less than three million.
Mosques, schools and shopping malls remain closed in the tiny Gulf state, one the world’s richest in terms of per capita income. Building sites are open with preventive measures in place in order to prepare for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Robert Chote told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "The key worry is if you have not just a very sharp downturn in the economy but one that scars its future potential."
"The key issues are... how swift that recovery is and whether the economy is permanently scarred at the end of it. If we come out of this with the economy being smaller than we would have anticipated going in, that's a bigger question than exactly how deep it is at the worst point," he added.
If you want to know more about how the economy is expected to perform in the months to come, here are some charts with Bank of England's scenarios.
- Former President Barack Obama addresses the US high school class of 2020, marking graduation in lockdown
- He also criticises his successor, President Donald Trump, for his handling of the pandemic response
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledges frustration over the "complex" easing of England's lockdown
- Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer calls for a unified approach from the four UK nations to relaxing lockdown
- Eurovision stars past and present joined a show on Saturday, the night this year's cancelled contest would have taken place
- Italy is taking a "calculated risk" in easing its lockdown measures, PM Giuseppe Conte admits
- More than 311,000 people globally have now died and more than 4.6 million are infected - Johns Hopkins University
Welcome to our live coverage
Good morning and thank you for joining us. Here’s a look at the latest headlines regarding the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged frustration over the"complex" easing of England's lockdown, writing in the Mail on Sunday that more complicated messages were needed during the next phase
- It comes as No 10 pledges up to £93m to speed up a new vaccine research lab - the total number of UK deaths rose to 34,466 on Saturday
- Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a four-nation approach and says different plans across the UK nations are not going to "help us out of this crisis"
- Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham says the PM faces a "fracturing of national unity" if he ignores the regions, adding that mayors had not been told the lockdown was being eased
- Radiologists are "very concerned" patients may not be cured of serious illnesses when demand for services increases because of a lack of imaging equipment in the UK
- And the competition may have been cancelled but that didn’t stop Abba's Waterloo being named the greatest Eurovision song of all time by BBC viewers.
Labour: Work with teachers and unions on reopening schools
Schools were closed as part of the measures to curb the spread of the virus
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves has called on the government to work with teachers, parents and unions on reopening schools.
The government is planning to begin a phased reopening of schools in England from 1 June, but teachers' unions have said the date is too soon for this to be safe.
The Labour MP told Sky News "all of us want to see more children attending school" and "for the best possible education we want to see our children in the classroom".
But to safely reopen schools and gain the confidence of parents and teachers she said the government needed to be more transparent about the science behind its decisions.
"Instead of dialling up the rhetoric, we want government to work with teachers, parents and the teaching unions to get this right," she added.
Athletics may return to empty stadiums
Lord Coe says competitions may happen behind closed doors
World Athletics President Lord Coe has warned athletics may have to be held in stadiums without spectators when it returns.
The annual Diamond League of elite track and field athletic competitions is scheduled to return in mid-August after a revised calendar was announced a few days ago.
But Coe says the 11 events of the series are all likely to be held behind closed doors.
"In the short term we may have to compromise on that," he told Inside the Games website. "We can't be oblivious or tin-eared to what we're being told by local communities and public health authorities.
"I don’t think anybody is contemplating this as the ideal long-term solution - sport would wither on the vine quite quickly if that were the case.
"But that may well be a compromise we have to make in order to get the athletes back into competition, leagues finished, at least some kind of competition."
Former UK minister questions China's handling of virus
A number of Western officials have criticised China's handling of the coronavirus crisis, accusing the country of not being transparent enough at the beggining of the outbreak or of trying to cover up the true extent of the cases - accusations the Chinese government has consistently denied.Add one more name to the list. Former UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has called on China to be more transparent and share data about the coronavirus with the World Health Organization (WHO).
"If we don't get these answers it will only increase the sense that China doesn't want to be a member of the family of nations," he told Sky News' Sophy Ridge programme.
He also pointed to scientific research that suggests the number of cases could have been reduced if China had acted earlier.
Last month, our security correspondent Gordon Corera reported that intelligence officials in the UK and the US believed that China's real casualty figure from the virus was much higher.
Obama criticises Trump's virus response: Latest world news
US President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus has come under a lot of criticism as the country has the highest numbers of cases - nearly 1,5 million - and deaths - almost 89,000.His predecessor, Barack Obama, has again hit out at the administration's response. In an online address to graduating college students, he said the pandemic had shown that many officials "aren't even pretending to be in charge". We have more on what he said.
Meanwhile, here are some other developments around the world:
- Religious services have resumed in parts of Australia seven weeks after lockdown measures were introduced. New South Wales is the latest jurisdiction to allow places of worship - as well as cafes and restaurants - to reopen under strict conditions, with up to 10 people allowed to worship. Many churches, synagogues and mosques have decided to stay closed. The live streaming of religious services will continue
- Italy is taking a "calculated risk" in easing its lockdown measures, PM Giuseppe Conte has admitted. He said "the contagion curve" could rise again, but the country could not afford to wait for a vaccine
- Kenya has closed its land borders with Tanzania and Somalia except for cargo transport. Testing for the coronavirus at border posts will be compulsory for all drivers
Businesses 'worried' about quarantine plan for air travellers
The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said businesses are "really worried" about potential plans to bring in a 14-day quarantine for those arriving in the UK via air.Carolyn Fairbairn told Sky News the government should think "very carefully" about how this might be introduced. The new restriction is expected to take effect at the end of this month though few details are known.
It is also not clear whether there are plans to quarantine people arriving to the UK via other modes of transport.
Fairbairn called for collaboration with the aviation sector to make flying safe, noting that airports like those in Vienna and Hong Kong are introducing testing as an alternative to quarantines.
Getting people flying again would be "an incredibly powerful boost to our economy", she added.
Heathrow passengers fall by 97%
Heathrow Airport is usually one of the busiest in the world
The restrictions on our movement have hit the travel sector hard and we're starting to get a sense of its impact in numbers.
Passenger traffic at London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, has fallen by 97%, John Holland-Kaye, the airport's chief executive, has said.
Like other business leaders, Holland-Kaye has also expressed concern over plans to introduce a quarantine for people flying into the UK, saying the measure can't be in place for more than a relatively short amount of time "if we're going to get the economy moving again".
He called on the government to work with the EU and the US to create an international standard when it comes to quarantine rules, arguing that countries having different plans was creating confusion.
“It's no good having an immunity passport, if other countries have different systems,” he told Sky News.
Professional football returns in Germany
Erling Braut Haaland and his Borussia Dortmund colleagues celebrated their opening goal in a socially distanced fashion
Germany's Bundesliga resumed on Saturday, becoming the first major European league to return to action since lockdown restrictions began.
With no spectators present, the sound of the crowd was replaced by players and coaches shouting to one another and the satisfying thud of the ball hitting the back of the net - for fans of teams that won, that is...
Six games took place, with Borussia Dortmund beating Schalke 4-0 to close the gap to one point on leaders Bayern Munich, who play on Sunday.
New protocols saw teams arrive in several buses so they could socially distance on the journey to the game - players and staff had been quarantining in team hotels all week and are being tested for coronavirus regularly.
Facemasks were worn on the way into the ground while other people attending, including the media, had their temperatures checked and police patrolled to make sure no crowds gathered at venues.
Footballs were also disinfected by ball boys before the game and again at half-time.
Wear mask or face prison, Qatar warns
Qatar has made the wearing of face masks compulsory, with anyone defying the order facing a jail term of up to three years or a fine of up to $55,000 (£45,000) for those who repeatedly fail to cover up.The country has one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world for coronavirus: more than 30,000 people have tested positive out of a population of less than three million.
Mosques, schools and shopping malls remain closed in the tiny Gulf state, one the world’s richest in terms of per capita income. Building sites are open with preventive measures in place in order to prepare for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
UK economy already in recovery phase as 'worst is over'
The UK economy is now over "the worst" of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and is entering a recovery phase as restrictions are loosened, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility has said.Robert Chote told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "The key worry is if you have not just a very sharp downturn in the economy but one that scars its future potential."
"The key issues are... how swift that recovery is and whether the economy is permanently scarred at the end of it. If we come out of this with the economy being smaller than we would have anticipated going in, that's a bigger question than exactly how deep it is at the worst point," he added.
If you want to know more about how the economy is expected to perform in the months to come, here are some charts with Bank of England's scenarios.