Heathrow Airport to begin temperature screening trial this week May 17, 2020 Passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport’s terminal two will from Thursday be screened to see if they have high temperatures in an attempt to identify whether they have coronavirus. The airport will implement thermal screening technology in the immigration area, which will automatically scan anyone passing through the terminal. Later, it will also begin to use [...]
Michael Gove says 17,000 recruited to administer coronavirus tracing app May 17, 2020 Seventeen-thousand people have been recruited to administer the government’s coronavirus tracing programme, with the rollout of the app expected by the end of the month. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said today that 17,000 of the 18,000 required contract tracers had been hired and that Britons across the country will be able to download the [...]
HS2: New controllers needed on the nation’s biggest train set May 17, 2020 Only last month, Boris Johnson gave HS2 the official green light. But, despite HS2 Ltd being headed up by at least 47 staff paid more than the PM, the project is already coming off the rails. Today’s report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) highlights that HS2 has gone “badly off course” and costs are [...]
Office Politics: What does the workplace of the future look like? May 17, 2020 There are plenty of people – including Barclays boss Jes Staley – who believe that big offices may be a thing of the past, now we’ve all got over our work-from-home hang-ups. But while the shift from the workplace to the home has been clear to see, less obvious is what the broader and longer-term [...]
All care homes residents and staff to be tested for coronavirus by early June, health secretary says May 15, 2020 Health secretary Matt Hancock told the government’s daily coronavirus briefing today that all care home patients and staff would be tested for covid-19 by early June. The government has been critcised for the measures taken to protect care home residents from covid-19 which is still a serious problem in the care system. Hancock said there [...]
Central London’s streets to be car-free under new mayoral plan May 15, 2020 Miles of London’s streets will be car-free under a new plan announced by the mayor to encourage cycling and walking and to help the transport system cope with social distancing. Sadiq Khan said the plan would transform parts of central London into one of the largest car-free areas in any capital city. “Covid-19 poses the [...]
Virgin Atlantic won’t fly until August under proposed quarantine measures – report May 15, 2020 The government’s plans to implement a 14-day quarantine period on incoming travellers to the UK would prevent Virgin Atlantic from resuming passenger flights until August. A source at the airline told Reuters that if the initiative, which was announced on Sunday, was approved, it would not be able to fill its aircraft. It said: “If [...]
Coronavirus ‘R’ rate as high as one, says SAGE May 15, 2020 The official estimate of the ‘R’ rate has risen slightly over the last week, according to the scientists advising the government on the coronavirus outbreak. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said the reproduction number is now between 0.7 and one, up from 0.5 to 0.9 last week. Part of the requirements of easing [...]
Coronavirus: 384 more deaths recorded in the UK May 15, 2020 The number of coronavirus deaths in the UK has risen by 384 to 33,998, the Department of Health has said. The latest death toll counts those who tested positive for coronavirus and died by 5pm on 14 May. As of 9am this morning, the department said that it had carried out 2,353,078 tests in total, [...]
UK approves Abbott’s coronavirus antibody test May 15, 2020 The UK has given approval to US drugmaker Abbott Laboratories to produce a coronavirus antibody test, Public Health England said today. Public health authorities had previously given the green light to Switzerland’s Roche to make a coronavirus antibody test. Mass antibody testing is being considered by many countries as a way to help escape from [...]
