UK coronavirus live: lockdown expected to be lifted in parts of north-west England

Restrictions to ease for Burnley and Hyndburn and expected to lift in Stockport and Bolton; Shapps insists return to office is safe as report says many want to continue working from home

3.19pm BST

The reproduction number (R value) of coronavirus across the UK remains unchanged since last week, and is still above 1.0, according to data released on Friday by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).

The growth rate of coronavirus transmission, which reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day, has changed slightly. For the whole of the UK the latest growth rate is between minus 2% and plus 1% per day, a slight change from between minus 3% and plus 1% last week. The growth rate means the number of new infections is somewhere between shrinking by 2% and growing by 1% every day.

2.56pm BST

As the UK government urges people to return to the office and schools reopen, England’s test-and-trace system was hit with fresh problems after there were delays in contacting nearly 2,000 people infected with coronavirus, and one in seven home tests failed to produce a result.

My colleague Josh Halliday reports that an internet outage meant nearly 3,000 more people than usual were transferred to the contact-tracing system after testing positive for Covid-19 in the week ending 19 August. Two-thirds of these people had been tested days or weeks earlier, meaning there was a delay in reaching them and their close contacts when they should have been self-isolating.

Continue reading…Restrictions to ease for Burnley and Hyndburn and expected to lift in Stockport and Bolton; Shapps insists return to office is safe as report says many want to continue working from homeGrant Shapps says it’s safe to return to officesPlymouth divided over teenagers who tested positive after Greece trip‘Vanishingly small’ risk of severe illness or death for childrenGlobal coronavirus updates – live UK registers highest number of Covid infections since mid-June 3.19pm BSTThe reproduction number (R value) of coronavirus across the UK remains unchanged since last week, and is still above 1.0, according to data released on Friday by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).The growth rate of coronavirus transmission, which reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day, has changed slightly. For the whole of the UK the latest growth rate is between minus 2% and plus 1% per day, a slight change from between minus 3% and plus 1% last week. The growth rate means the number of new infections is somewhere between shrinking by 2% and growing by 1% every day. 2.56pm BSTAs the UK government urges people to return to the office and schools reopen, England’s test-and-trace system was hit with fresh problems after there were delays in contacting nearly 2,000 people infected with coronavirus, and one in seven home tests failed to produce a result.My colleague Josh Halliday reports that an internet outage meant nearly 3,000 more people than usual were transferred to the contact-tracing system after testing positive for Covid-19 in the week ending 19 August. Two-thirds of these people had been tested days or weeks earlier, meaning there was a delay in reaching them and their close contacts when they should have been self-isolating. Related: NHS test and trace hit by delays and Covid home test failures Continue reading…