The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Is London now virtually Covid free?

Queues form at Primark at the Rushden Lakes shopping complex in the East Midlands as it reopens. ‘These are the people I have been waiting to find in lockdown,’ says Kate Andrews, The Spectator’s economics correspondent. ‘Braving the risk and getting back to reality!’ (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.)

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News and analysis
  • Shops reopen in England today, with long queues outside stores like Primark (see photo below). The government is considering lowering VAT to lure back nervous shoppers, according to the Times.
  • More than one million people have not been able to receive any support from government coronavirus schemes, according to the Treasury Select Committee.
  • Antibody tests used by the government could miss up to 25 per cent of coronavirus cases.
  • Controls to stop the spread of Covid-19 in hospitals were relaxed at the height of the crisis, according to a report in the Telegraph.
  • More than 3,000 transport workers and police officers have been deployed at railway stations from today to enforce the wearing of face masks while travelling.
  • The chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation has said protests should be banned during the pandemic.
  • Imperial College is to start human trials for its coronavirus vaccine this week.
  • EasyJet will resume flights today for the first time since 30 March, while this year’s Great North Run has been cancelled.
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‘We’re not used to being two metres apart — it’s usually further.’

Is London now virtually Covid-19-free?

For two weeks now, only around 25 new Covid-19 cases have been confirmed each day in London. In a city of nine million, this makes it a manageable risk. The Saturday before last, 6 June, was the first day since the crisis that there were no Covid-19 deaths in the capital’s hospitals. There were fears that recent rallies might lead to a second wave, but the early-warning indicators (i.e. calls to 111) are not twitching. The NHS releases daily data of calls made to the 111 health hotline: when these surged with respiratory problems in March it was a sign of what was to come.

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