Pope demands access to virus vaccines for poor

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

It's almost time to wrap up our coronavirus live page for the evening. But first, let's take a look at the day's headlines.

In the UK:

• The exams scandal continues as opposition politicians claim the algorithm used to downgrade thousands of A-level results in England was "unlawful"
• Exams must see big changes in 2021 to ensure grades "properly recognise and reward" pupils, a union has told the education secretary
• The government is "looking at" lifting the cap on the number of places to study medicine at UK universities, after changes to A-level results meant more students than usual have met their required grades
• It is "not yet safe" to lift local lockdown measures in Aberdeen and restrictions will be extended for another week, Scotland's first minister says

• A further 16 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus and another 812 people have tested positive

Around the world:

• Pope Francis has said the world's poorest people must have access to a coronavirus vaccine if one becomes available
• Spain has reported 3,715 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours - a new daily record since the country eased strict lockdown measures in June
• Australia's prime minister, Scott Morrison, has backtracked after saying a coronavirus vaccine should be "as mandatory as you can possibly make it"
• Greece is to ban parties on the popular holiday island of Mykonos to curb the spread of the virus
• And the number of people confirmed to have died from Covid-19 in Iran has surpassed 20,000, the country's health ministry has said

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

It's a year like no other for GCSE results, as coronavirus meant exams were cancelled when the UK went into lockdown.

For many teenagers who are preparing to receive their grades tomorrow, it's a nervous evening.

Sixteen-year-old Rijul Das is one of them - he's hoping to become an astrophysicist.

He wants to study Maths, Physics, AS Economics and Further Maths - for that, he needs certain results in his GCSE qualifications.

After a huge backlash to the way A-level and GCSE grades were determined using a controversial algorithm, teachers' assessments will now be used for all students - apart from where the algorithm gives a higher grade.

Rijul still has reservations: "The results won't be what I could have got if I'd taken exams but it's the best they can do. And if my results are good I'll be happy and I can just chill.

"The teachers know us well so I just have to hope."

We'll be covering GCSE results day live on the BBC News website - do join us.

An entire class of primary pupils in Scotland, and their teacher, have been asked to self-isolate after a case of coronavirus.

Contact tracers are working to identify close contacts at St Albert's Primary School in Pollokshields on the south side of Glasgow.

A council spokeswoman said "control measures are in place at the school, and there is currently no evidence of transmission within the school itself".

The number of pupils and staff asked to self-isolate has not been confirmed.

• Where in Scotland have school pupils tested positive?

BBCCopyright: BBC

Staff self-isolating after an outbreak of coronavirus at a sandwich factory in England's East Midlands are now having to use food banks and struggling with rent, a union has claimed.

Many of the almost 300 workers who tested positive at M&S supplier Greencore in Northampton are members of The Bakers' Union.

The union entered a grievance with Greencore on Tuesday as its regional officer George Attwall said its members "are now in hardship".

Attwall and branch secretary Nicolar Macari said only statutory sick pay was being paid to the vast majority of people self-isolating, and that workers "are being evicted as a result of not being able to pay rent" while others "were forced to use food banks for the first time in their lives".

• Must I be paid if I have to self-isolate or I am sick?

The union claims it is "unfair" workers only get statutory sick pay of £95.85 per week while managers are "enjoying full company sick pay".

Greencore said it will give "weekly paid colleagues" a £400 bonus "in recognition of the financial impact".

Read more here.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the senior US disease researcher who has become a household name amid the coronavirus pandemic, has been honoured with his own baseball bobblehead.

Fauci threw out the opening pitch on 23 July at Washington DC's Nationals Park. His pitch, which missed home plate by a long way, led to the doctor getting his own baseball card - which quickly became one of top selling collectible cards in US history.

The pitch quickly led to jokes, with some Twitter users pointing out that it is "literally his job to make sure nobody catches anything".

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The algorithm used to downgrade thousands of A-level results in England was "unlawful", opposition politicians have claimed.

The computer-based model used by Ofqual to standardise results - after exams were cancelled due to coronavirus - breached anti-discrimination legislation as well as laws requiring it to uphold standards, Labour says.

• How did the exam algorithm work?

The party wants the education secretary to publish the legal advice he was given.

Gavin Williamson has backed Ofqual but apologised for the hurt caused to pupils by the chaos.

Read the full story here.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Florida has become the fifth US state to surpass the grim milestone of 10,000 coronavirus deaths.

The figure was announced as the state's health department reported 174 additional deaths. Many occured weeks ago, but have only just been confirmed to be coronavirus-related.

Florida also reported 4,201 new cases on Wednesday, continuing a two-week downward trend in new infections.

The other states to have hit 10,000 deaths are New York, New Jersey, California and Texas.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Violinist Katie Kresek waited for more than a decade to have her own chair in a Broadway orchestra.

Last year, she became the co-orchestrator and violinist for the theatre performance of Moulin Rouge! the Musical. Just 10 months after she started, the lights have gone down on her dream.

She says she'll be "heartbroken" if the show doesn't return after theatres were closed due to the coronavirus crisis. "It's sad that when it finally happens, it has to be cut short," she says.

Instead of performing eight shows a week for a live audience, Kresek now records music alone in her bedroom.

Her story is a familiar one to other live performers and particularly Broadway's thousands of workers.

REUTERSCopyright: REUTERS

Earlier we reported that Pope Francis has called for a coronavirus vaccine to be provided to the world's poorest people if one becomes available.

His comments came after Australia said it had secured access to a promising vaccine and would offer free doses to its entire population of 25 million people.

But how close are we to a coronavirus vaccine?

While no vaccine has yet been proven to protect the human body against Covid-19, medical researchers around the world are working hard to change that.

About 140 potential vaccines are in early development, and dozens are now being tested on people in clinical trials.

• Trials of a vaccine developed by Oxford University show it can trigger an immune response
• The first human trial data back in May indicated the first eight patients taking part in a US study all produced antibodies that could neutralise the virus
• A group in China showed a vaccine was safe and led to protective antibodies being made. It is being made available to the Chinese military
• Other completely new approaches to vaccine development are in human trials

Ultimately, billions of doses of several types of Covid-19 vaccines will need to be made to keep the virus at bay. They will have to be manufactured, distributed and administered across the globe.

An emergency scheme allowing some low-risk prisoners in England and Wales near the end of their sentence to be released early is to be paused by the government.

The initiative was introduced in April to help free up prison space to prevent the spread of the virus, but will be stopped at the end of August.

Ministers initially said that 4,000 inmates would be eligible for the programme - but only around 200 were freed.

The government said the decision would be kept under review.

Life in a face covering means eye expression needs to make a big impression, prompting a shift in make-up sales.

Eye makeup has been taking a larger proportion of cosmetics sales during and after lockdown, according to analysts NPD.

With lips now often hidden behind a mask, make-up sales in that area are taking a lesser share of spending.

Online retailer Asos recently said sales of make-up and sportswear had been particularly strong as people were stuck at home.

Read the full story here.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has tweeted to say that the positive Covid-19 test rate in New York City - the percentage of people in a large testing pool determined to be infected with coronavirus - has fallen to "its lowest level ever".

According to criteria set by the World Health Organization (WHO), a positive rate of less than 5% indicates that the epidemic is under control in a state or country.

BBCCopyright: BBC

A 60-year-old woman who was given permission to visit the Isle of Man to take care of her late mother's estate has been jailed for breaking quarantine rules.

Fraser Nolan, from Belfast, arrived on the island by ferry from Northern Ireland on Sunday morning and agreed to self-isolate at a vacant family home.

But two days later police received an anonymous tip-off that Nolan had left the premises. She later admitted taking a bus to see a locksmith.

Non-residents who travel to the island must quarantine for 14 days as part of rules to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Nolan has been jailed for four weeks.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

School head teachers can’t send children for a coronavirus test or have them detained without parental consent, despite viral social media posts claiming this is the case.

The Facebook and WhatsApp posts are aimed at “all caring parents out there”, and say that schools can take a child to a coronavirus testing centre if they were showing symptoms - and then have officials detain them further without parental access if they test positive.

The children’s commissioner for England has said this is not the case, writing: “It is not true that public health officers have the power to screen and assess without a parent or carer present. This power can only be exercised in the presence of an individual with responsibility for the child”.

That means a parent, carer or legal guardian must be present should a child need a test for Covid-19. In the event of a positive test, the most likely result would be self-isolation at home, the commissioner says.

While powers of detention do exist, they would only be used in extreme cases where there is a flagrant risk to other people, shadow public health minister Alex Norris says. Guidance to public health officials on these powers is publicly available on the UK government website.

Emotional social media messages - however well-meaning - are not the best source of information about Covid-19 and its consequences. Here’s how you can stop viral misinformation spreading online.

Wes SouterCopyright: Wes Souter

Northampton now has the highest rate of new cases in England. The East Midlands town had a struggling High Street even before Covid-19, but what does the increase in cases mean for traders?

Steffans Jewellers has been a feature of Northampton town centre for more than 40 years and its owner, Wes Souter, says sales have been "very positive" since the national lockdown was eased.

But he's concerned about the pressure the pandemic is putting on business owners, particularly if Northampton goes into local lockdown.

"I worked through the darkest hours of [the national] lockdown," he says, revealing how he spent days in the closed store dealing with online orders and "fearing we were going to have looting".

"This is a story of anxiety and fear. For a lot of business owners that is what it looks like."

Read more here.

EPACopyright: EPA

Spain has reported 3,715 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours - a new daily record since the country eased strict lockdown measures in June.

The total number of confirmed infections in the country is now 370,867, with 28,797 deaths recorded, the latest figures published by Spain's health ministry show.

Spain has seen a surge in new infections since lifting its three-month lockdown.

In recent days, large protests have taken place in the Spanish capital, Madrid, over the mandatory use of face masks and other measures imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

The demonstrations follow a swathe of new restrictions introduced by the government, including a ban on smoking in public.

Shruti DarakCopyright: Shruti Darak

Another student scrambling for a university place in the UK, after this week's coronavirus-related changes to A-level results, is Shruti Darak, from Chelmsford.

She now meets the grade requirements for a place at her second choice university, Anglia Ruskin, to study medicine - but the university is unsure if it has space to take her.

"I think they should increase places for the medical courses and pupils who have met the conditional offers should be given places this year," she told the BBC.

"If they aren't increased I'd have to take a gap year and I'd have nothing to do which is so unfair because I have the grades for this year."

• Universities facing 'crazy demand' from students

Live music venues across England have been shut throughout the pandemic.

But one venue in London, The Piano Works, has been making preparations for the day it is permitted to reopen, installing a number of safety measures.

They include a disinfectant tunnel that customers have to pass through before entering the venue.

BBC London's Jamie Moreland finds out more.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, in north-west England, where restrictions have been reintroduced following a rise in coronavirus cases, is calling for a relaxation of some local lockdown measures.

Labour's Andy Burnham said he was writing to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, with the support of the region's council leaders, calling for:

• no new restrictions on Oldham beyond those already in place
• a relaxation of the ban on gatherings in Wigan
• further business opening allowed everywhere, except Oldham.

Earlier today Oldham Council's leader warned a full local lockdown in the town could prove "catastrophic" for business, although it has one of the highest rates of new infections in England.