Coronavirus - 13th October

Summary for Tuesday, 13th October

• A further 143 people in the UK have died with the virus - more than double the previous day's figure
  
• Public Health England calls the rise "hugely concerning", with cases increasing in older age groups
  
• Labour's Sir Keir Starmer calls for a two to three-week national "circuit breaker", including the closure of hospitality
  
• The UK government has defended its new three-tiered system of restrictions for England as "robust" but "balanced"
  
• It comes after newly released files show scientific advisers called for a short England lockdown last month
  
• The UK chancellor says he cannot "save every job" as the unemployment rate rose to 4.5% between June and August
  
• Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo tests positive for coronavirus
  
• A man in the US caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous
  
• There are more than 37.8 million confirmed cases globally with more than 1.08 million deaths
  

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, as the UK wakes up to the sobering news that the unemployment rate rose to 4.5% between June and August.
Worldwide, there have now been 37.8 million cases of coronavirus and 1.08 million recorded deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
In the US, doctors have warned that a previous infection with Covid-19 may not necessarily give you immunity after a 25-year-old man caught the coronavirus twice, the second time far more seriously.
We will bring you all the latest facts and figures about the global spread of the virus and how governments, scientists and individuals are responding.

Stories making headlines in the UK today

• The government's scientific advisers called for a short lockdown in England to halt the spread of Covid-19 last month, newly released documents show. The advice was revealed hours after the government unveiled its new three-tier system of local restrictions, which did not include a "circuit breaker" lockdown and other recommendations made by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage)
  

• A think tank has warned the UK economy cannot be "fully protected" from the effects of the pandemic, as slower growth and higher borrowing leave it with record levels of debt. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said UK government borrowing this year will hit a level never seen in peacetime due to the pandemic
  
• A homeless charity has criticised government plans to allow communal night shelters for rough sleepers to reopen this winter. Ministers are due to publish safety guidance later today detailing how the shelters - closed earlier this year due to Covid - could reopen if required. But Crisis has warned that social distancing in shelters would prove "all but impossible"
  
• Researchers want more British people belonging to ethnic minorities to sign up for coronavirus vaccine trials. The large UK studies need diverse groups of volunteers to check if the jabs will work for all populations
  

Trump wants to 'kiss everyone' at first rally since recovery

Donald Trump threw face masks into the crowds

US President Donald Trump has made a defiant return to the campaign trail less than two weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.
He told thousands of supporters in Florida he was feeling “so powerful” and offered to walk into the crowds and “kiss everyone”. He even threw masks into the audience, though neither he nor many of his supporters were wearing them.
On Sunday Trump's personal doctor said he was no longer a Covid transmission risk to others and disclosed on Monday that his most recent tests had been negative over consecutive days, although he did not give the dates.
Florida is a key battleground state and has also been hit hard by the coronavirus.
Democratic rival Joe Biden will be in the state later on Tuesday and is expected to campaign in key suburban areas, focusing on the administration’s handling of the pandemic.

Stories from around Europe

Czech schools will shut and go online from tonight and restaurants and bars will close too as daily cases reach 4,310. Hospital admissions have more than doubled since the start of October.
An Austrian report into the Iscghl ski resort outbreak that affected more than 6,000 European tourists in March has criticised the local mayor, regional authorities and even Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Ski-ing was allowed to continue three days too long, and when evacuation came it was rushed and disorganised.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte is expected to announce the complete closure of restaurants, hotels and cafes for at least two weeks this evening. Catering industry head Dirk Beijarts says this could be the last straw for some owners. Average daily infections have doubled in a fortnight to more than 6,000.
The French cabinet will this evening consider a possible curfew to bring down the infection rate. In Paris, the head of public hospital group APHP, Martin Hirsch, warned 90% of intensive care beds would be filled by 24 October
Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa has ruled out lifting Madrid's locally disputed state of alarm, even though 14-day infection rates have fallen to 501 cases per 100,000 people. He wants to see the rate below 200, not 500.
A new Italian decree bans school trips and amateur contact sports such as football in the park. Private parties are banned and Italians are strongly urged to limit home visits to six.

Peru opens Machu Picchu for single, stranded tourist

Jesse Katayama was originally due to visit Machu Picchu in March

Japanese tourist Jesse Katayama travelled to Peru last March with the dream of visiting the famed Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, the world heritage site closed and he was stranded in the nearby town of Aquas Calientes.
The site is expected to re-open next month with reduced capacity, but the culture minister gave special permission for Katayama to enjoy a solo visit to the ancient Inca citadel before he returns to Japan.
In a video recorded on top of Machu Picchu mountain, the tourist declared it a “truly amazing” tour.
Peru has reported more than 849,000 coronavirus cases and 33,000 deaths since the pandemic began, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

UK restrictions a 'very tight balancing act' - Sage scientist

We have been reporting this morning that the the government's scientific advisers were calling for a short lockdown in England last month to halt the spread of Covid-19 - measures that were not implemented.
Sir Mark Walport, a member of that group of advisers, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Breakfast getting the right level of restrictions was a "very, very tight balancing act" between suppressing the virus and causing economic harm by closing parts of society.
Sir Mark, who is also a former chief scientific adviser to the government, said it was possible the government would have to introduce the tougher measures proposed by Sage, which include the closure of all bars, restaurants and cafes, as well as indoor gyms and personal services, such as hairdressers.
"It's clear it might have to happen - the numbers are going up very significantly.
"You've only got to look across the Channel at what's happening in other countries across Europe to see the pressure intensive care beds are under in France, in Spain. Everywhere the cases are rising and we do know they can be brought under control, but it's a challenging thing to do."
Asked if it was a mistake to not follow Sage's recommendations, Prof Walport said the government "have their difficult political decisions to make", adding that ministers were listening to scientific advice.

National lockdown would be 'incredibly damaging' for UK - minister

"We want to try, wherever we can, to avoid a blanket national lockdown," Jenrick told Radio 4's Today programme.
"That is incredibly damaging to people's lives, and the rate of infection does vary very widely across the country."
The minister also defended the three-tier system of local restrictions announced by the government yesterday, after England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said he did not have confidence the baseline measures would be enough to curb the virus in very high infection areas.
"What we don't want to do is impose measures on parts of the country without the consent of local communities and their local leadership," Jenrick said.
He said there were no plans for any other areas to go into the highest tier of restrictions - Tier 3 - this week, though this would be kept under review.

Man gets Covid twice and second infection 'more severe'

James Gallagher - Health and science correspondent, BBC News
A man in the United States has caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report.
The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body.
Reinfections remain rare and he has now recovered.
But the study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases raises questions about how much immunity can be built up to the virus.
The man from Nevada had no known health problems or immune defects that would make him particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.
Read more

Vaccine trial paused after participant falls ill

Michelle Roberts - Health editor, BBC News online
Johnson & Johnson has temporarily paused its multinational Covid vaccine trial to investigate why one participant in the study fell ill.
The company says an independent review will check if the person's unexplained symptoms are related to the jab.
It has suspended recruitment to the phase 3 trial as a precaution.
The company says that in large trials with tens of thousands of volunteers it is expected that some may become unwell during the study period.
It said it could not give more details about the participant, for privacy reasons.
"We're also learning more about this participant's illness, and it's important to have all the facts before we share additional information," it said in a statement.
It is not the first Covid vaccine trial to have to take a pause.
The UK's Oxford University study had an unexplained illness too, but has since deemed it safe to resume, except for in the US where regulators are still in discussions with the manufacturer Astra Zeneca.
The Johnson & Johnson trial started recruiting participants in late September, with a goal of enrolling up to 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in the US as well as in South America and South Africa.

Trump tells fans he’ll give them ‘big fat kiss’ after Covid infection at packed rally



Many in the crowd were not wearing masks as the president told them coronavirus was becoming a thing of the past


Supporters cheer as President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One for a campaign rally at the Orlando Sanford International Airport Monday

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Hours before President Trump was set to return to the campaign trail in Florida on Monday, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, warned that holding large rallies was “asking for trouble” with cases of the coronavirus surging in many states.

By Neil Vigdor and Sheila Kaplan - New York Times

Dr. Fauci, in an interview with CNN, said that Americans needed to be more cautious in the fall and winter months, and warned that rising rates of infections in a number of states suggested Americans should be “doubling down” on precautions rather than casting them aside.

“We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that,” Dr. Fauci said of Mr. Trump’s decision to begin a full schedule of campaign rallies. “We’ve seen that when you have situations of congregate settings where there are a lot of people without masks, the data speak for themselves. It happens. And now is even more so a worse time to do that, because when you look at what’s going on in the United States, it’s really very troublesome.”

He noted that many states were now seeing increases in positive tests. “It’s going in the wrong direction right now,” he said.

He said that people should continue to wear masks and practice social distancing — and avoid large gatherings — to prevent new outbreaks. “That’s just a recipe of a real problem if we don’t get things under control before we get into that seasonal challenge,” he said.

Essex asks to be raised to lockdown tier two

Local leaders in Essex are asking that the county is moved from the "medium" Covid alert level (tier one), to the "high" alert level (tier two), under the government's new lockdown system.
After discussions between MPs and council leaders, the county has decided to apply to be placed into the middle tier after seeing a "significant increase" in cases.
Dr Mike Gogarty, Essex's director of public health and wellbeing, said: "Across the county we have moved from gradual to exponential growth, with the number of cases rising exponentially.
"We want to act now to minimise the impact on public health and the economy, and by doing so we believe we can shorten the period of enhanced restrictions."
Essex County Council leader David Finch said that by "making painful decisions now" the region could avoid going into the "very high" (tier three) level of restrictions.
You can find out more about the new system and what it means for you here.

Anti-lockdown protests as Argentina cases top 900,000

Argentina, one of the countries where the daily number of confirmed coronavirus infections has continued to increase in recent weeks, passed the 900,000-case mark on Monday.
A strict lockdown early on in the pandemic meant that the number of cases grew slowly at first. But following an easing of restrictions, cases have been rising steeply.
The milestone comes as thousands of Argentines joined anti-government protests in the capital, Buenos Aires, and other major cities. While their grievances were varied, including opposition to a reform of the justice system, many protesters said that they were unhappy with the government's handling of the pandemic and in particular, with the lockdowns it had imposed.
Argentina is the country with the sixth highest number of cases after the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and Colombia.

First death from reinfection reported in Netherlands

We've already reported today on the 25-year-old in the US state of Nevada who has caught Covid-19 a second time, and more severely than the first. Details of that are here.
But Dutch virologists have now released a report detailing the death of an 89-year-old woman, after catching the virus two months after she was admitted to hospital with Covid infection. That is the first such report worldwide.
The woman's immune system was compromised by a rare bone marrow type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. She was first admitted to hospital with a fever and severe cough but recovered and went home.
Fifty-nine days later, and just after she started a new course of chemotherapy, she developed coronavirus again. She was admitted to hospital, tested negative for antibodies, and died two weeks later. You can read the report here .
The first case of re-infection was reported in Hong Kong in August, raising questions about immunity from an initial infection.

Analysis: UK deaths doubling every fortnight

Robert Cuffe - BBC head of statistics

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There were 11,444 deaths registered in the UK in the week to 2 October, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Of these, 343 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, a figure that has been doubling every fortnight over the last month.
The low point for deaths involving Covid-19 was 83 at the start of September.
Two weeks later, that figure rose to just under 160 and then doubled again in the most recent figures.
This is still far below the peak of 9,500 seen in a single week in April.
It would have to double five more times to reach that scale.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said yesterday that some further rises in the number of deaths are already “baked in” in the coming weeks by the rises we have seen in people testing positive and people going into hospital with coronavirus.

More UK areas should have closed pubs - Labour

More areas should have had pubs and bars closed by the government during Monday's announcement of a new three-tier system of restrictions in England, Labour's Jonathan Ashworth has said.
The shadow health secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that if further restrictions were needed to "get on top of the virus, then I'm afraid we have to do that".
"It is why I support the decision that was taken yesterday to close pubs and bars in Merseyside.
"I think, actually, the government should have gone further yesterday because we've got to reduce social mixing given where we are with the prevalence of the virus in parts of the country."
Ashworth added that he would like to see local authorities being made responsible for running NHS Test and Trace, "so that the public health experts on the ground can now do this contact tracing rather than the national call centres".

Shielding not needed in England yet, despite rising Covid rates

Michelle Roberts - Health editor, BBC News online
People in England who are on the shielding list will be sent a letter in the post to explain the latest guidance.
These "most clinically vulnerable" individuals are not being asked to shield again.
That's because, unlike in March, there are other protective measures in place - such as the rule of six and the wearing of face coverings in shops - to help reduce the spread.
They should take precautions to avoid getting Covid, though, and the updated advice gives tips on how they should do this, particularly if they live in a region that has an ongoing outbreak, such as places classified as tier three.
Read more

Is the UK government still listening to the science?
James Gallagher - Health and science correspondent, BBC News
We have entered a crucial phase in the epidemic.
Cases are increasing across the whole of the country and the number of people in hospital is now higher than before the full lockdown.
It is at this critical moment that the gulf between the official scientific advice and the political decisions made by government has been laid bare.
Documents released by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) reveal a call to action three weeks ago.
"The re-imposition of a package of measures is required urgently," it warned on 21 September.
It added: "The more rapidly these interventions are put in place the greater the reduction in Covid-related deaths and the quicker they can be eased.
"Not acting now to reduce cases will result in a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences."
Read more

Swimming to cope with Long Covid

Scientists and doctors are only starting to understand the long-term consequences that some people experience after being infected by coronavirus.
Louise Buxton was a healthy, 47-year-old triathlete and swimming teacher from Derbyshire. Now she says she is suffering from Long Covid.
She discovered by chance that swimming relieved her continuing chest pain. It wasn't something doctors had advised her to do.
Watch our video above.

How Johnson's lockdown measures were shaped

Laura Kuenssberg - Political editor
"Save lives, protect the NHS and shelter the economy."
If you were paying close attention at the end of September when the prime minister made his latest announcements about the limits on our lives, you'd have spotted the change in the slogan, as we reported here.
It was obvious then that the government was trying to grapple, not just with the threat to health, but with the very real prospect of spreading economic misery caused by the initial lockdown earlier this year.
At that point on the 22 September, we had already revealed a few days earlier that the government's scientific committee, Sage, had put forward the idea of a short, sharp lockdown, the so-called "circuit break".
Reading the Sage minutes in black and white, the distance between their proposals and the prime minister's eventual decision seems to portray a dramatic sudden split.
It is no surprise, however, that the situation is more complicated than that.
First off, despite the political rhetoric at the start of the pandemic, there has never been such a thing as "the" science.
It's the political environment, and the difference of opinion inside government, that has developed too.
Boris Johnson's decisions were ultimately shaped more strongly by reluctance, not just from the chancellor, but a strong push back from the Tory backbenches, and a fear of public fatigue too.
Read more from Laura here .

Tier three restrictions 'fundamentally flawed', says Burnham

The highest tier of coronavirus restrictions is "fundamentally flawed", the mayor of Greater Manchester has said.
Andy Burnham told the BBC he "resisted" the city being placed in tier three - very high - because it would cause "certain harm" to the economy due to a lack of financial support.
Each of the three tiers of restrictions, announced on Monday, is imposed after talks with local leaders.
Mr Burnham, whose city is in tier two - high, told BBC Radio 5 live's Emma Barnett Show: "They've created tier three without a proper economic support package and they're trying to pressurise people into tier three, even though it will do certain harm to those economies, often quite fragile economies in the north.
"That is why tier three as currently constructed is fundamentally flawed and why we have resisted being pushed into it."
Liverpool remains the only area currently in the highest level of restrictions.

Track the pandemic

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Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with more than 37 million confirmed cases in 189 countries and more than one million deaths.
The virus is surging in many regions and some countries that had apparent success in suppressing initial outbreaks are also seeing infections rise again.
Track the pandemic with the help of our interactive graphics.

Chinese city tests three million in a single day

Kerry Allen - BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst
Yesterday, we reported that the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao will test nine million citizens in five days.
This was announced within 24 hours of 12 people testing positive for Covid-19. Six are with symptoms, six are without.
Testing booths were quickly set up across the city yesterday, with medical staff carrying out swab and antibody tests from 7am to 11pm local time.
Today, state newspaper Global Times says that 3.07 million people have already been tested - a third of Qingdao’s population. Another three million are expected to be tested today.
Global Times says that “the target is to test about six million people from five districts by Tuesday, and roughly nine million” by the end of the week.
So far, 1.1 million tests have been processed, and all results have come back negative.
Hospital personnel were tested as a priority yesterday. Today, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools are carrying out tests on students and staff.
Hundreds of thousands of tests have also been carried out on people who have visited Qingdao in the last fortnight.
State broadcaster CGTN says that more than 225,000 people outside of the city have been tested, and all results have so far come back negative.

Kim Jong-un draws tears with speech on virus

Watch as North Koreans weep during a speech by leader Kim Jong-un on fighting coronavirus.

UK afternoon round-up

The government's scientific advisers called for a two-week "circuit breaker" lockdown to halt the spread of the virus

Good afternoon and thanks to all those joining our coronavirus live page today.
Here are the main UK news stories so far:

• The government's scientific advisers called for a short lockdown in England, among other measures, to halt the spread of Covid-19 last month, newly released documents show. Only one of the measures proposed by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies was implemented by the government - but Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has defended the response to the virus as "robust"
  
• The UK unemployment rate has surged to its highest level in over three years as the pandemic continues to hit jobs. The unemployment rate grew to 4.5% in the three months to August, compared with 4.1% in the previous quarter
  
• Shielding is not being reintroduced in England, despite rising levels of coronavirus across most of the nation. Government advisers say that, unlike in March, there are other protective measures in place - such as the rule of six and the wearing of face coverings in shops - to help reduce the spread
  
• Stormont's leaders have been warned Covid-19 infection rates will keep rising in Northern Ireland if both schools and the hospitality sector remain open, the BBC has learned. They have also been told expanding tighter measures currently in place in the Derry City and Strabane council area across NI will be "insufficient"
  
• Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has described new coronavirus measures brought in by the Scottish government last week as "tough but necessary". The tougher regulations, including widespread hospitality restrictions, are "firmly rooted in scientific advice", she said
  

What are the latest global developments?

We've just had a UK roundup - and here are some of today's biggest global stories on the coronavirus pandemic, brought to you by our team of reporters in London and around the world:

• More than 37.8 million cases have been confirmed worldwide, along with 1.08 million coronavirus-related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University
  
• America remains the worst-hit country, with 7.8 million infections, followed by India and Brazil with 7.1 million and 5.1 million respectively
  
• Cases and hospital admissions are also rising fast again in many European countries, including France and Spain
  
• Health officials in China say they've tested more than three million people in the last 48 hours after a cluster of coronavirus infections was detected in the city of Qingdao. The authorities plan to test the city's entire population of nine million
  
• Dutch virologists have released a report detailing the death of an 89-year-old woman after she became reinfected with coronavirus for a second time. It's the first report of its kind
  
• Meanwhile there's good news for one Japanese tourist. Peru has opened the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu just for him after he waited almost seven months to visit the world heritage site, which has been closed due to the pandemic.
  

'Inevitable' London will pass threshold for more restrictions soon - Sadiq Khan

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said it is "inevitable" the capital will pass a "trigger point" to enter a higher tier of coronavirus restrictions in the "next few days".
He said: "Across our city... the average over the last seven days is about 90 [cases] per 100,000.
"All the indicators I have, hospital admissions, ICU [intensive care unit] occupancy, the numbers of older people with cases, the prevalence of the disease, the positivity, are all going in the wrong direction.
"Which means, I'm afraid, it's inevitable over the course of the next few days, London will have passed a trigger point to be in the second tier."
The mayor insisted London should move as a whole into greater restrictions, despite variable rates across the capital.
He said: "We're keen to go as one, as we can see the complexities and the confusion caused by some boroughs having additional restrictions and other boroughs having less.
"Many Londoners work in one borough, live in another borough, study in another borough, go to a restaurant in another borough so we're really keen to go as one city."
The new three-tier system of restrictions in England was announced on Monday. Currently, London is in tier one, meaning only coronavirus restrictions that are in place nationally, such as the rule of six indoors and the 22:00 pub curfew, apply.
The extra tier two restrictions would involve no mixing between different households in any indoor settings, and the rule of six would also apply outdoors.
Read more here

More secondary schools than ever sending home pupils

The number of secondary schools in England sending home pupils because of Covid is increasing rather than diminishing, the latest official figures show.
There are 21% of secondary schools counted as not fully open - up from 18% the previous week and 8% in mid-September.
This is usually because they have sent home pupils in response to Covid cases.
About 7% of primary schools had to send home pupils, up from 5%.
These weekly figures from the Department for Education, based on responses from about 80% of state schools, show overall attendance remaining at about 90%.
Read more

Lockdowns are 'a last resort' for curbing infections - WHO

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) special envoy for Covid-19, David Nabarro, has told the BBC that time limited national lockdowns are the "last resort" for tackling a surge in cases.
Speaking to the World at One on BBC Radio 4, Nabarro said that governments should instead "combine together all the measures we know are effective.
"When it comes to people's behaviour that is the combination of distancing, face masks, hygiene and self-isolating to protect the vulnerable," he said. "When it comes to what the state does, it's a combination of testing, contact tracing, isolating, and having the capacity to deal with outbreaks when they build up."
Nabarro added that Covid-19 was becoming "a disease of poor and disadvantaged people, so we really have to pay attention to those who have the least resources."

Hancock rejects 'flawed' herd immunity approach

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK should have no confidence about ever reaching herd immunity.
He told the Commons many infectious conditions never reached herd immunity - such as measles, malaria, Aids and flu.
"And with increasing evidence of reinfection, we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid, even if everyone caught it," he said.
"Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine, even if we could get to it, which we can't."
Addressing MPs, who were debating the latest restrictions introduced by the government, he said that any suggestion that the nation could "segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity" was "simply not possible".
Hancock continued: "We are not the kind of country that abandons our vulnerable or just locks them up. If we let this virus continue unchecked, the loss of life would be simply too great to contemplate."

Downing Street continues restrictions talks with northern leaders

The government is continuing discussions with leaders of England's northern regions about moving areas into the "very high risk" tier of restrictions.
The prime minister's official spokesman said the government continued to "work with local leaders in the North to agree additional interventions in level three areas, in order to drive down transmission of the virus".
The spokesman declined to name areas that the government wanted to enter tier three restrictions but said the government did have "the ability to impose measures if it's considered that's what's needed to reduce transmission".
Downing Street also responded to accusations that it had ignored Sage advice to impose a lockdown three weeks ago.
The prime minister's spokesman said: "Think you need to look at what the full detail of those Sage minutes say, they explicitly point out that policy makers will need to consider analysis of economic impacts and the associated harms of their epidemiological impacts and that's exactly what the prime minister, the chancellor and colleagues did."

Hancock says schools will remain open, even if restrictions tighten

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the government does not "rule out" further restrictions on England's hospitality, leisure, entertainment and personal care sectors.
He was speaking in the Commons during a debate on coronavirus restrictions.
But Hancock added: "Retail, schools and universities will remain open."
The health secretary also told MPs the NHS Covid-19 app had now been downloaded by more than 17 million people.

Czech schools and bars to shut in partial lockdown

Rob Cameron - BBC Prague Correspondent
The Czech Republic is imposing a new partial lockdown from midnight (22:00 GMT) to combat coronavirus.
There's a touch of Kremlinology to interpreting the official Covid response here. Statements must be viewed through a prism of political realities, in a land governed by a coalition of rivals.
But every so often a statement is so sobering it is difficult to dismiss it as point-scoring. On Monday it was provided by Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek: "80,000 active cases is a problem, 120,000 is the point of no return. We're now at 61,000."
Those cases are now rising faster than anywhere else in Europe.
Mr Hamacek has been among those calling for a full lockdown; the new rules have instead been described as "soft lockdown". But will they be enough? The sense amongst those who must obey them is no.
And if this isn't enough, and Mr Hamacek's warning of "mobile morgues in car parks" becomes true, who is to blame?
Not, it seems, Prime Minister Andrej Babis. The man accused of overruling tougher measures in September was asked if he now felt a sense of responsibility for the country's current predicament.
"No," he replied, at the close of an increasingly testy online press briefing. "My conscience is clear."
Read our full story.

Ronaldo tests positive for Covid-19

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for coronavirus, Portugal's Football Federation said.
The 35-year-old Juventus striker is "well, has no symptoms and is in isolation", the federation said in a statement on its website.
He will miss Wednesday's UEFA Nations League game against Sweden.
Read more here.

17,234 more Covid-19 cases in UK

A further 17,234 coronavirus cases have been reported in the UK, according to figures on the government's Covid-19 dashboard.
It marks a rise on the same figure for the previous 24 hours and takes the UK's total case number to 617,688.


There was also a rise in the number of deaths reported. A further 143 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded on Tuesday, more than double the previous day's figure.


Reporting lags and a known 'weekend effect' can inflate figures on Mondays and Tuesdays.
There were 4,367 people in hospital with coronavirus on Sunday 11 October.

Welsh call to stop travel from high-prevalence areas

Wales' First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has written to Boris Johnson to ask the UK prime minister to stop people moving from high-prevalence areas to low-prevalence ones.
In his letter Drakeford said voluntary guidance had proved ineffective and "firmer action" was urgently required.
He wrote: "Much of Wales is now under local restriction measures and people living in those areas are prohibited from travelling outside their county boundary without a reasonable excuse. This measure is designed to prevent the spread of infection within Wales and to other areas of the UK. Our efforts are being undermined by travellers from high-prevalence areas in other parts of the UK travelling to Wales."
But the prime minister's official spokesman said the government had published guidance which was "very clear that people from very high risk areas such as Merseyside should avoid travelling in or out of the area".

Filming postponed for Britain's Got Talent Christmas special

The Britain's Got Talent Christmas special has postponed its filming after at least three crew members tested positive for coronavirus.
The affected workers found out their test results before production was due to begin this week.
A spokeswoman for the ITV show said protocols had been followed and "crew members are self-isolating at home".
The festive special is expected to feature some of the show's most successful past acts.
Read more here.

Labour leader to hold first live news conference

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will hold his first live televised news conference this afternoon, responding to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement yesterday, and discussing the recent rise in coronavirus cases.
We'll be bringing all the latest as the conference gets under way at around 17:00 BST.

Rising Covid deaths in UK is 'concerning' - Public Health England

The increasing numbers of deaths attributed to coronavirus in the UK is a "stark reminder" to follow the rules, according to a leading medical expert.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England, said cases were now increasing among older people and admissions to hospital were also rising. Increasing deaths were "concerning", she said.
She added: "This is a stark reminder for us to follow the guidelines.
"Importantly, do not mix with others when unwell.
"We must all do our part to help control the virus by following the restrictions in our areas, maintaining social distance, wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces and washing our hands regularly."
Read more on the latest social distancing rules in the UK here.

Analysis: Calls for a circuit breaker grow louder

Nick Eardley - Political correspondent
What we heard from Sir Keir Starmer is the argument that the government has essentially lost control - that it needs to try and wrestle back control with a two to three week shutdown of significant parts of the economy in England.
The argument the government makes is that PM Boris Johnson has to balance the economic necessity the country has - the need to keep businesses afloat and keep people earning money - with the health risks.
But it does seem today there are increasing calls for a circuit breaker - or short lockdown.
It will be really interesting to see how that argument develops over the next couple of days.

What is a circuit breaker?

We're hearing a lot about a so-called "circuit breaker" - but what is it and can it work?
Well a "circuit-break" is the name for a proposed short, sharp period of tightened restrictions for everyone, to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick, said last month such a measure could be used to "buy yourself some time".
A bout of tighter restrictions should result in cases falling instead of rising, but how far they drop is uncertain and would depend on how severe the restrictions are.
It is suggested schools and workplaces would remain open, but the hospitality sector (think bars and restaurants) would be hit. This is not Lockdown 2.0.
Read more from the BBC's Health and science correspondent James Gallagher here.

'Momentous' errors worsened Austria's ski resort outbreak

Some of the first cases of Covid-19 in Europe last March were detected in ski resorts. Now an official investigation in Austria says the virus could have been contained in two popular resorts there if the authorities hadn’t made some “momentous miscalculations”.
The report said officials had been too slow to close the resorts of Ischgl and St Anton when the outbreaks became clear and led to thousands of new cases spreading across 45 countries.
The authorities maintain they responded appropriately according to the information that was available at the time.

MPs approve England's new three-tier Covid alert system

MPs have approved the government's three tier Covid-19 alert level system for England after supporting three motions in the House of Commons.

Analysis: Important to rewind when looking at case rise

Nick Triggle - Health Correspondent
The 143 new deaths reported is clearly a concern.
It is the highest daily figure since early June and feels significant, even taking into account the impact of the delayed reporting at the weekend, which often pushes up the figures on a Tuesday.
But to understand what is happening you have to rewind a month or so and look at cases.
Cases were rising rapidly then – it is what promoted the government’s senior advisers to warn there could be 50,000 cases a day by mid October.
That has not happened. Just over 17,000 were announced today.
The trajectory has not been as steep as it could have been.
We have seen a similar pattern happen with hospital admissions. They are rising, but over the last week the rate of increase has slowed just a little.
Deaths will, sadly, continue to go up in the coming days and weeks, but if the patterns seen with cases and hospital admissions are sustained those rises will slow too.
It is very, very different from the rapid surge we saw in the spring.
But a gradual and slow continual rise could still have a devastating impact over the long autumn and winter period.
That is why we are seeing politicians and scientists argue about what is the best way to contain the virus, while limiting the impact restrictions have on wider society and the economy.

Devon hospital to pause non-critical surgery due to Covid patients

Plymouth's Derriford Hospital has announced a temporary pause in non-critical inpatient surgery due to the "growing number of Covid patients and a need to ensure we can keep everyone safe".
Chief operating officer Kevin Baber said: "We appreciate how difficult it is for a patient to have their surgery cancelled and apologise for the distress and inconvenience this causes."
He added: "We have to ensure patients who have suspected or confirmed Covid are safely cared for away from those patients without Covid.
"This involves reconfiguring our wards to ensure everyone remains safe.
"We will be looking to resume planned inpatient surgery as soon as possible."
He said patients affected have been contacted directly so any who had not heard from the hospital should attend as planned.
Derriford remains open for emergencies - but only those people who really need it should attend the emergency department.
The hospital is one of a number which have cancelled some non-critical surgeries due to an increase in admissions of patients with Covid-19.
Plymouth has 51 cases per 100,000 people, according to the latest figures, below the England average of 77.

Netherlands set to impose stricter lockdown rules

Anna Holligan - BBC News Hague correspondent
New targeted restrictions designed to curb the rapidly increasing infection rates are expected to be introduced in the Netherlands this evening.
The rules appear to be focused on limiting social contacts, concentrating on places like bars and restaurants while schools and vital professions will remain virtually unaffected.
Experts at the Dutch Outbreak Management Team (OMT), who help to shape the Dutch government's approach to tackling Covid-19, consider the hospitality industry a hub where many infections still occur, especially among young people.
In an effort to stop house parties, shops are likely to be banned from selling alcohol after 20:00. Ordering drinks for delivery online is expected to be off limits too. This goes beyond the measures put in place during the first wave.
Limits will probably be placed on the number of visitors you can have at home, with a maximum of four people, both inside and outdoors.
Adult team sports are expected to be prohibited. Youth and professional games can apparently continue.
Traveling by public transport will be restricted to essential journeys. Only those considered to be working in the vital professions should leave home for work. Everyone else will be told to work from home.
The Netherlands recorded 6,854 new infections in the 24 hours to Monday morning. Approximately 1,298 patients are being treated in hospital, 252 in intensive care.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte is scheduled to hold a press conference at 19:00 (18:00 BST) and it is anticipated that the more stringent measures will come into effect from Wednesday.
Hospitality industry groups have said it could prove a "fatal blow" for some restaurants. But bar and cafe owners I've been speaking to in The Hague are still holding their breath and hoping the total closures will come with compensation from the state that will cushion the blow.

Re-cap: Latest from the UK

It's been a busy day for coronavirus news in the UK. Here's the latest this evening:

• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a short lockdown or "circuit-breaker" in England of two to three weeks to bring the rising rate of coronavirus under control
  
• His call comes after documents revealed government scientific advisers called for such action three weeks ago, although UK ministers have defended the new three-tier alert system in England as a robust and balanced approach to restrictions
  
• Another 143 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus, with a further 17,234 cases recorded - a rise that Public Health England has called "hugely concerning"
  
• The UK unemployment rate has surged to its highest level in over three years as the pandemic continues to hit jobs
  
• Scientists are looking for volunteers to take part in a trial to see if taking vitamin D can give the immune system a boost against Covid
  
• A leading care home operator has criticised Scottish government plans to relax rules on visiting as "premature" and "ill thought out"
  
• Leaders in Northern Ireland are meeting to discuss a range of new proposed restrictions, including school closures
  
• The number of secondary schools in England sending home pupils because of Covid is increasing rather than diminishing, the latest official figures show
  

What's happening around the world?

And here are some of today's biggest global developments:

• Infections have risen to nearly 38 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.08 million coronavirus-related deaths have also been recorded
  
• The International Monetary Fund is forecasting a somewhat less severe recession than it predicted in June. But it says the global economy is still in deep recession and there is a "sizeable" risk of a worse outcome than anticipated
  
• A man in the United States has caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report
  
• Meanwhile, in the first report of its kind, Dutch virologists have disclosed that an 89-year-old woman died after she became reinfected with coronavirus for a second time
  
• Health officials in China say they've tested more than three million people in the last 48 hours after a cluster of coronavirus infections was detected in the city of Qingdao
  
• Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for coronavirus. Portugal's Football Federation said the 35-year-old Juventus striker was "well, has no symptoms and is in isolation"
  

Thanks for joining us

We're pausing our live coverage for now, but we'll be back tomorrow.
In the meantime, you can follow all the latest news across the BBC's website.

Today's updates were brought to you by Penny Spiller, Alex Therrien, Doug Faulkner, Patrick Jackson, Holly Wallis, Paul Kirby, Vanessa Buschschlüter, Joshua Cheetham and George Bowden.