Moderna set to provide EU with 80m doses of coronavirus vaccine August 24, 2020 US drugs firm Moderna today announced that it had concluded initial talks with the European Union to supply 80m doses of its potential coronavirus vaccine. Under the potential purchase agreement, the EU will have the option to acquire an additional 80m doses of the treatment, for a total of up to 160m doses. A phase [...]
Italy begins coronavirus vaccine trials as WHO chief urges global cooperation August 24, 2020 Italy has become the latest country to begin testing a potential coronavirus vaccine on human candidates, it was announced today, as cases of the new disease continue to rise again in Europe. The trial begins as the World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries around the world to come together to ensure that all nations get [...]
Number of UK workers on furlough falls to 6.8m August 21, 2020 The number of UK employees on furlough fell from highs of almost 10m to 6.8m at the end of June as the coronavirus lockdown eased and staff returned to work. The latest government statistics showed that the number of people being paid through the coronavirus job retention scheme dropped sharply in June as some businesses, [...]
Offices should be a ‘safe haven’ for suffering staff August 21, 2020 Offices across London are slowly beginning to reopen again after Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave firms “more discretion” from August to bring staff back in after lockdown. One such company is engineering consultancy Arup, which houses half of its 6,000 UK staff in its headquarters on Fitzroy Street in Bloomsbury. Tim Chapman, the firm’s London [...]
Portugal added to UK’s Covid-19 safe travel list August 20, 2020 Britons on holiday in Portugal will no longer need to quarantine when they return after the country was added to the UK’s safe travel list. The rule change, which comes into force at 4am on Saturday, means UK tourists do not have to self-isolate for two weeks after returning from Portugal. Travellers that return from [...]
Poll: Britain’s economy won’t recover for at least two years August 20, 2020 Britain’s economy will not fully recover from its current historic downturn for at least two years, a Reuters poll of economists found, but there is only a slim chance the Bank of England will use negative interest rates to boost the upswing. Britain has suffered the highest death toll from the novel coronavirus in Europe, [...]
Spain sees surge in Covid-19 cases with daily post-lockdown record August 19, 2020 Spain recorded more than 3,700 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday as the country suffered its worst day since the end of June when lockdown restrictions were eased. Just under half of the 3,715 cases were recorded in Madrid, which logged 1,535, while the Basque Country and Aragon regions had around 470 new infections each. [...]
Heathrow Airport boss tells No10 to ‘get a grip’ on quarantine policy as testing facility unveiled August 19, 2020 The chief executive of Heathrow Airport has called on Downing Street to “get a grip” of the UK’s coronavirus quarantine policy. John Holland-Kaye said the 14-day isolation period applying to many travellers should be shortened as it was “holding back the recovery of the UK economy”. Heathrow has already unveiled plans for a new testing [...]
UK firms cut more than 106,000 jobs amid coronavirus pandemic August 19, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has battered the UK economy since it arrived in early 2020 – and no sector has remained unscathed, with more than 100,000 job cuts planned during the pandemic. The government’s furlough scheme has allowed millions of people to keep getting a paycheck, but fears are growing that when this is phased out [...]
Government working with Heathrow on coronavirus testing August 19, 2020 Health secretary Matt Hancock said the government is working with Heathrow Airport on its plan to roll out testing of passengers to help end the two week quarantine for international travellers. The airport is reportedly planning to test passengers to help allow them avoid the 14-day quarantine for travellers arriving in the UK from countries [...]