How badly will coronavirus hit UK house prices in 2020? July 29, 2020 Property experts hope a stamp duty holiday and relaxed lockdown restrictions will protect UK house prices from a sharp coronavirus fall this year. At the height of lockdown, experts predicted that UK house prices could fall by as much as 10 per cent this year due to the impact of coronavirus. However, chancellor Rishi Sunak [...]
Coronavirus pushes Santander to €11bn loss July 29, 2020 Santander suffered a record loss of €11bn (£10bn) in its latest half-year, it revealed today, as coronavirus provisions tanked its bottom line. The figures A massive €12.6bn impairment relating to coronavirus meant Santander swung to a €10.8bn loss for the first half of 2020. Underlying profit before tax halved to €3.8bn year on year. And [...]
BRC: Retailers ease discounting in July as lockdown relaxed July 29, 2020 British retailers discounted their goods less in July than the month before, after consumer demand picked up in many sectors as coronavirus lockdown restrictions eased, data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed today. Average shop prices in July were 1.3 per cent lower than a year before, compared with 1.6 per cent lower in [...]
UK inks deal for 60m vaccine doses from Sanofi and Glaxosmithkline July 29, 2020 Britain has signed a supply deal for up to 60m doses of a possible COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Sanofi and Glaxosmithkline, it said today, its fourth such arrangement. No vaccine has yet been approved to treat or prevent COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus that has killed more than 659,000 people and [...]
Government mulling two-test system to cut quarantine time July 28, 2020 People entering the UK from red-listed countries may be allowed to leave quarantine early if they test negative twice for coronavirus in a limited number of days. The BBC reported that the government was close to giving the go-ahead to a trial programme of double testing in order to ease pressure on the travel sector. [...]
Twitter limits Donald Trump Jr’s account over coronavirus video July 28, 2020 Twitter said today it has limited access to Donald Trump Jr’s account for 12 hours, following a tweet he had posted which violated its misinformation policy on coronavirus. The eldest son of US President Donald Trump posted a video yesterday of doctors talking about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus. In the video, [...]
Airlines push for regional approach after ‘foolish’ Spain quarantine July 28, 2020 The UK’s aviation industry has called on the government to implement focused quarantines on specific regions of overseas countries in a bid to prevent further damage to the sector. Over the weekend, ministers decided to make it mandatory for all travellers returning from Spain to self-isolate for 14 days after a spike in infections in [...]
Oldham hit with new lockdown measures after spike in coronavirus cases July 28, 2020 Some lockdown measures have been reintroduced in Oldham after a “dramatic” spike in cases of coronavirus over the weekend. Residents should not allow social visitors into their homes and must keep a safe distance of 2m from others. Those who are shielding have been told to continue doing so for another two weeks, until 14 [...]
UK considers regional quarantine rules for overseas countries July 28, 2020 The government is considering putting in place quarantine measures for certain regions of foreign countries rather than the whole country, transport minister Baroness Vere confirmed. Speaking in the House of Lords today, Vere said: “For the time being we are taking the approach by country for border measures, but it is the case that it [...]
UK tax rises: How will Rishi Sunak pay down the coronavirus deficit? July 28, 2020 Rishi Sunak’s first five months as chancellor has seen him shower the UK economy with hundreds of billions of pounds, helping make him the most popular government figure. However, talk has already turned to the ballooning deficit – predicted to be around £350bn this year – and how to reduce it to more manageable levels. [...]