University students must be allowed to return home to their families at Christmas, Labour has said, amid fears that coronavirus outbreaks could keep young people in halls when term ends.
Thousands of students are currently confined to their rooms following a surge in cases at institutions including Glasgow, Manchester Metropolitan and Edinburgh Napier.
The Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “I very much want students to be able to go home at Christmas. And if we all pull together and observe these new rules, we follow the guidance then we will be able to get to a point where that should be possible.
“We’re three months away from Christmas. We are constantly keeping this situation under review, taking the necessary measures. Of course we want to avoid that situation, but I don’t think it’s helpful three months away to speculate on that.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week declined to rule out asking students to stay on campus over Christmas, after Government scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport said the measure may be needed to stop the virus spreading to older relatives.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green has written to her opposite number Gavin Williamson, urging him to “promise” students that such restrictions will not be imposed.
Follow the latest updates below.
09:41 AM
10pm pub curfew: Labour warns of mixed messaging and job losses risk
On the 10pm pubs curfew, shadow justice secretary David Lammy has told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “There cannot be a situation in which we have two different public health messages to the people of this country.
“The Government is the lead, the Government has the science, so we support the Government in the restrictions it has to bring forward, but it does look like the 10pm.
“But it’s not clear where that came from – has led to a situation where people are bubbling out of pubs, they’re hanging around towns and they’re potentially spreading the virus.”
Mr Lammy added that employment in his constituency of Tottenham could be running at 45 per cent, which he described as “an eye-watering figure” and believes it comes in the absence of “proper support” from the Government.
“It worries me greatly that you could see unemployment in a constituency like mine beyond 40 per cent,” he said. “We did see civil disorder in the past, I don’t want to see civil disorder again, I don’t want to see streets on fire, but I’m very, very worried this morning.”
09:37 AM
Learning instruments at older age has soared after Covid lockdown
Sales of musical instruments have surged thanks to the thousands of adults who took up an instrument during lockdown, reports Camilla Turner, with the UK’s biggest online retailer of instruments and sound equipment having reported a huge rise in sales.
Gear4music saw the value of UK sales rise by 80 per cent from April to June compared with the same period last year to £21.2 million.
Among the big sellers were electric and acoustic guitar starter bundles as well as digital pianos, the company’s chief executive said.
While children’s music lessons were often the first thing to go for cash-strapped families at the start of the pandemic, there was a surge of interest in learning instruments from adults.
“Covid-19 does change the way you see the world quite a lot and things you might have been putting off,” said Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM).
Read more: 80 per cent rise in instrument sales as home learning booms
09:27 AM
Manchester students lockdown: 1,700 self-isolating after triple figure Covid cases
Around 1700 university students are self-isolating at Manchester Metropolitan University after more than a hundred tested positive for coronavirus.
The students have been told to stay indoors for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms.
Students Thea Walton and Ellie Jackson say they can’t leave the campus, not even to buy food, and it feels “like a prison”. The only positive thing, they say, is they are now allowed to mix with other flats, as the area has been treated as one household.
09:24 AM
End of furlough scheme brings painful forecast for economy
It is small wonder that Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, decided to skip the Budget. The numbers are almost too awful to contemplate, opines Jeremy Warner.
Less than halfway into the financial year, the UK Government has already borrowed more than it did in the whole of 2009-10, the peak of the financial crisis.
With not much if any growth in prospect for the remainder of this year, Capital Economics reckons the full-year total could reach £370bn, or 18.4pc of GDP, the worst deficit by some way of any G7 country.
The Chancellor didn’t want to talk about how it’s all going to be paid for in his economic update last week, except to remark that the furloughed workers scheme – which is being replaced with something less generous – was not sustainable.
On the Keynesian principle of “look after the present and the future will take care of itself”, he’s decided to leave the question on hold.
Given the poisonous politics of the required austerity, and the dreadful precedent of default, I can’t really see any alternative to haircutting creditors via the backdoor of inflation. It’s a terrible thing for governments to do nonetheless.
09:11 AM
Brady amendment vote: Tory Covid rebels face ‘nuclear’ option
Boris Johnson is preparing to effectively dare rebels to vote down his entire package of Covid-19 measures this week if the Commons Speaker blocks a vote designed to give MPs a say on new restrictions, reports our Sunday political editor Edward Malnick.
A growing number of MPs are rallying around an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, which would force a vote on future social restrictions before they are imposed.
With some 60 Conservatives preparing to back the move, Mr Johnson would face his first parliamentary defeat since his landslide election win if opposition parties also vote against the Government en masse.
But ministers believe Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, will rule the amendment “out of scope” of Wednesday’s motion on the first six-month renewal of the Coronavirus Act – despite allies of Sir Graham having received advice to the contrary.
Read more: Tory backbenchers rally round Brady amendment
08:57 AM
Protecting elderly from Covid-19 could help to ‘relax measures elsewhere’
Professor Mark Woolhouse, an infectious disease expert at the University of Edinburgh who sits on the Government’s advisory body, has said that there is a “middle ground” between draconian restrictions and opening up society and the economy.
“I think there is a middle ground, where you could have some of both,” he said. “The way you find that middle ground is not by simply focusing on suppressing the virus through the whole population, but concentrating on those people who most need protecting.
“We know who those people are, the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, those with a set of comorbidities.
“They are enormously more at risk of this virus and if we can protect them, that gives us some wriggle room to relax measures elsewhere for the rest of us.
Prof Woolhouse also said that the Government’s current coronavirus strategy amounts to “sitting it out for another six months”.
“Most people I’ve talked to in vaccine development think that we may have a vaccine in six months, but it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to roll it out on a mass scale in that time,” he told The Andrew Marr Show.
08:49 AM
Student lockdown: Government must compensate students, urges Ed Davey
“We do need to help students, and not just financially but we need to help them because they’ve got some real health issues,” the new Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey tells The Andrew Marr Show.
Some of them are being challenged because they’re being locked away, and these people have gone through real pain and trauma in recent years.
The exam fiasco, then they’re going into halls of residents where they’re not allowed to socialise, and now they’re being told they may not go home for Christmas.
I’m very worried about them and I hope that the Government won’t just act financially but will work with the universities to support them.
I think there needs to be some financial support and some of them have had to sign contracts for accommodation, so it’s a complicated issue. I don’t see the Government talking about it at all.
08:40 AM
London lockdown update: Government confirms measures ‘under review’
Asked about Sadiq Khan’s call for a ban on households in London mixing, Mr Dowden says: “Of course we keep all these things under review, but the key thing now is that people stick to the rules that we already have.”
He insists that people must stick to the rule of six and the ‘hands, face, space’ mantra while observing social distancing.
“It really is in the power of everyone to make sure they abide by those rules and prevent further, more draconian restrictions,” he says.
“The majority of people up and down the country are abiding by the rules. But I think they are frustrated at a small minority who are not law-abiding, who are putting other people’s health at risk. There is a small minority behaving selfishly.”
08:35 AM
Students Christmas lockdown: ‘Not helpful’ to speculate, says Oliver Dowden
On the issue of students returning to universities, Oliver Dowden says:
I very much want students to be able to go home at Christmas. And if we all pull together and observe these new rules, we follow the guidance then we will be able to get to a point where that should be possible.
[Us and Labour] both want to ensure students can go home for Christmas and rather than playing politics with this I’d rather we worked together in order to achieve this outcome.
We’re three months away from Christmas. We are constantly keeping this situation under review, taking the necessary measures.
Of course we want to avoid that situation [of students not going home]. But I don’t think it’s helpful three months away to speculate on that.
08:30 AM
New coronavirus rules: Important for Government to ‘move quickly’, says Oliver Dowden
Responding to Steve Baker’s comments about the death of liberty, Oliver Dowden – the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – says that Mr Baker’s view is “slightly overblown”.
“Of course there’ll be a chance for MPs to debate and vote on new measures through statutory instruments, they’ll be votes on that in relation to the rule of six,” he tells Sky’s Sophy Ridge.
Asked if MPs should have been able to vote beforehand, Mr Dowden says that in a crisis it is “important that the Government has the power to move quickly”.
“These are very difficult choices we’re making,” he says. “We have a rapidly expanding virus, we also have huge economic consequences from the decisions we’re taking and we’re having to take measures very quickly.”
08:15 AM
Sweden corona strategy: ‘The country has remained so calm’
Since the pandemic hit in the middle of March, Sweden has remained so calm, and its restrictions been so gentle, that it has often felt like a crisis happening elsewhere, notes Richard Orange.
Looking at the raised tempers, blame, hysteria and sense of panic over in the UK, the calm here has felt surreal, and something to be grateful for.
The episode also added to my first-hand evidence that Swedes are largely continuing to abide by the public health agency’s recommendations – keep your distance, keep good hygiene, and stay home when you’re sick.
While in the UK, many are angry and distrustful of their leaders, most people here are glad that politicians stood back and let the rational and reassuring state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell set the strategy.
08:00 AM
Second wave UK: What the signs from across Europe tell us
“Almost all the indicators are on the rise,” warned Sophie Vaux, an epidemiologist and programme director at Santé Publique France last week; the virus was once again in an “ascendant phase”, its spread “exponential”.
Looking at the data for our nearest continental neighbour, Ms Vaux’s analysis is hard to fault, writes Paul Nuki. A&E admissions linked to suspected Covid cases rose by 21 per cent in France last week. Hospitalisations were up 34 per cent and intensive care admissions rose by 40 per cent nationwide.
As one might expect, the death toll was also up. It rose 25 per cent on the week, with 332 deaths recorded in French hospitals and retirement homes, according to data published on Friday.
That Europe, including the UK, is now fighting a second peak of Covid-19 there can be no doubt. But the health and economic outcomes will – just as they always have – depend largely on government policy and our collective behaviours.
Another lesson from the European data (one that could have been taken from Florida and the sun belt states of the US in the early summer) is that cases start in the young but don’t stay there for long.
07:43 AM
Prince Charles warns one million young people need ‘urgent help’
One million young people could need “urgent help” to protect their futures from the coronavirus pandemic, the Prince of Wales has warned, as he said the “enormous challenges” testing society are reminiscent of the Seventies, writes Hannah Furness.
The Prince said the country has never faced a more “uniquely challenging” time, with the “destructive hopelessness” of unemployment looming once again.
Writing exclusively in The Telegraph, he said the young in particular now need “urgent help” to protect them from the worst effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, but warned society must not let optimism “drown beneath a deluge” of negative economic news.
Saying it is “all too easy to assume that nothing can be done”, he echoed the inspiring message of the Queen in April to pledge: “The task ahead is unquestionably vast, but it is not insurmountable.”
The Prince’s own charity, The Prince’s Trust, has just helped its millionth young person. “Over all these years since the Trust was launched, there has never been an easy time,” the Prince writes.
06:56 AM
Private schools bypassing the NHS and building their testing in-house
About two weeks ago, at Benenden, a £13,000-per-term girls’ boarding school in Kent, a pupil tested positive for Covid-19.
The girl was placed into isolation in the school grounds, along with the 15 or so pupils with whom she shared a bathroom.
With access to their own large garden, the girls took plenty of advantage of the great outdoors, and teachers even erected a volleyball net and tennis court to keep them active.
And of course, they still received a wall-to-wall timetable of remote lessons.
It is certainly a far cry from the long, aimless days of Snapchat and Fortnite experienced by most of the tens of thousands of UK children currently isolating at home.
While state-educated children are languishing at home while they wait for oversubscribed Covid tests, a handful of elite private and boarding schools have bypassed the NHS’s creaky system entirely, spending tens of thousands on in-house testing machines, and building their own track-and-trace systems.
Read the full story
06:07 AM
Half a million sharks could be killed for vaccine, conservationists warn
Sharks face being slaughtered for the coronavirus vaccine, as conservationists warn as many as half a million could be killed for global supplies.
One of the ingredients in some versions of the Covid-19 vaccine under development is squalene, which currently comes from the livers of sharks.
In response scientists are racing to test a synthetic version, made from fermented sugar cane, which would mean plentiful supplies without threatening shark populations.
Conservationists estimate that over three million sharks are killed each year to obtain their liver oil for various uses, including in cosmetics and machine oil, and fear a sudden rise in demand could push some species closer to the brink.
Read the full story
05:51 AM
How Vietnam crushed its second wave
On July 24, Vietnam was enjoying its 99th straight day without any known transmission of the novel coronavirus.
While the international borders remained closed to all but a handful of specific flights, life inside the country would have appeared shockingly normal to much of the world: domestic tourism was fully functioning, restaurants and bars were busy, and social distancing regulations had ended.
The following day, the Ministry of Health announced a new case of community transmission in Da Nang, a large city on the central coast.
The source of this infection remains unknown, as all new cases in the previous three months had been people arriving from abroad who were immediately quarantined for 14 days.
Wherever it came from, the outbreak spread rapidly, and within a few weeks hundreds of new cases were detected in Da Nang, largely concentrated in a cluster of hospitals, while Vietnam’s coronavirus-related death toll jumped from zero to 35.
Read the full story
04:46 AM
DIY a bright spot for consumer spending
Many retailers have been caught off-guard by coronavirus restrictions and shifting consumer habits, but DIY stores are enjoying a boom as people spend money on their homes and gardens.
A recent report by consulting group McKinsey found that faced with a prolonged period of financial uncertainty due to the pandemic, consumers “intend to continue shifting their spending largely to essentials… and cutting back on most discretionary categories”.
Data has shown consumers worldwide are cutting back on clothing and shoes, but spending more to improve their homes.
In Britain, the sector has helped consumer spending overall to rebound to a level higher than before the pandemic hit.
“Spending for home improvements continued to rise in August as sales volumes within household goods stores increased by 9.9 per cent when compared with February,” Britain’s Office for National Statistics said this month.
Read more: A little house therapy can help you fall in love with your home again, here’s how to do it
03:42 AM
Australia’s hot spot lifting restrictions early as infections slow
Victoria, the epicentre of the Australia’s Covid-19 outbreak, will accelerate the easing of social distancing restrictions as infections slow to fewer than 20 cases a day, its premier said on Sunday.
Victoria, which reported 16 cases in the past 24 hours, has placed nearly 5 million residents of its capital Melbourne under one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns since early August.
With cases well below the record one-day high of more than 700 cases reported in August, state Premier Daniel Andrews said some curbs, including a night curfew, will be removed almost immediately.
The remaining curbs could be relaxed earlier, with restrictions eased when case numbers hit certain triggers. Victoria state previously said most restrictions would remain in place until the end of November.
02:51 AM
France’s health system will be overwhelmed, expert claims
France will face a months-long coronavirus epidemic that will overwhelm its health system if something does not change, one of the country’s top medical figures warned Sunday.
“The second wave is arriving faster than we thought,” Patrick Bouet, head of the National Council of the Order of Doctors, told the weekly Journal du Dimanche.
Fresh restrictions to slow the spread of the disease in the country’s worst-hit areas, including the Mediterranean city of Marseille and the Paris region, have run into local resistance.
Mr Bouet told the paper that warnings delivered this week by Health Minister Olivier Veran had not gone far enough.
“He didn’t say that in three to four weeks, if nothing changes, France will face a widespread outbreak across its whole territory, for several long autumn and winter months,” Mr Bouet said.
There would be no medical staff available to provide reinforcements, and France’s health system would be unable to meet all the demands placed on it, he warned.
Read more: What hospital admissions in Europe say about the next stage of Covid in the UK
01:55 AM
West Midlands Police kept busy with restriction breaches
A teenager has been arrested in Birmingham after allegedly assaulting an officer when police were called to a house party.
West Midlands Police said they were called to the party in Oscott which had between 20 and 30 people.
The force received 18 calls to breaches of pandemic laws, mainly due to house parties, between 10pm and midnight.
Around midnight officers shut down a pub in Birmingham which was hosting a wedding party with about 60 guests some two hours after it should have closed due to the new coronavirus restrictions.
“It’s simple – stay home, stay safe”, the force added in a tweet.
We’ve directed around 550 people to leave premises at over 20 locations across the force tonight where #Covid regulations were being breached.
Eight premises will receive a visit from licensing officials for a licence review.
No fines have been issued but we will if we have to.
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) September 27, 2020
01:50 AM
Cases top 700,000 in Argentina
Argentina’s coronavirus infections topped 700,000 on Saturday with new daily infections and deaths among the top five globally, Reuters data showed, despite seven months of quarantine that have ravaged the frail economy.
Argentina reported a rolling seven-day average of 11,082 new cases daily, behind only India, the United States, France and Brazil, all countries with far larger populations than the South American nation. Argentina’s average daily death toll this week hit 365.
Health officials on Saturday reported 702,484 total infections since March and 15,543 deaths. On Friday, the province of Buenos Aires announced it had underestimated the death toll from Covid-19 by 3,523, outraging many Argentines already weary from months of lockdown that had failed to slam the breaks on the pandemic.
The additional deaths from Buenos Aires province were not incorporated in those figures, the health ministry said.
01:22 AM
Today’s top stories
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One million young people could need “urgent help” to protect their futures from the coronavirus pandemic, the Prince of Wales has warned, as he said the “enormous challenges” testing society are reminiscent of the Seventies.
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Young people struggling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic must not be dismissed as snowflakes, the chief executive of the Prince’s Trust has said, as research shows more than half fear being unemployed.
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A senior Conservative figure has called for students locked down or forced to self-isolate because of Covid-19 outbreaks to receive refunds on their university fees.
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Officials were forced to urgently remove a major blindspot in the Government’s Covid-19 app on Saturday which meant that more than a third of daily tests were being excluded from the system.
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The fact that Europe, including the UK, is fighting a second peak of Covid-19 is undoubtable, but the outcome could differ this time around.
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Boris Johnson is preparing to effectively dare rebels to vote down his entire package of Covid-19 measures this week if the Commons Speaker blocks a vote designed to give MPs a say on new restrictions.
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Newly reported Covid-19 cases are not rising as fast as projections presented by the government’s chief scientists, Telegraph analysis can reveal.
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NHS chiefs were urged to consider grouping Covid-19 patients in separate “isolation hospitals” in order to curb the spread of the virus, but scientists were told that the move adopted by other countries was “too difficult” for the UK’s health service to achieve, the Telegraph can disclose.