The UK has recorded 26,688 new coronavirus cases - a new daily record and a 25% increase on yesterday’s total. Weekly hospital admissions are up 39% in the UK and weekly deaths are up 57% on the previous week. (See 5.22pm.) As Jamie Jenkins, a former ONS statistician reports, in England hospital admissions are now at the level they were in the middle of May.
But in Scotland, where restrictions were tightened earlier than in the rest of the UK, there are some positive developments in the figures. Although deaths are still rising (see 2.11pm), the recent sharp rise in new cases seems to have halted. (See 4.43pm.) Tens of thousands of deaths are now inevitable in a second wave of coronavirus infections sweeping across England because of the failure to contain the virus, a government scientific adviser has warned. As my colleague Ian Sample reports, John Edmunds, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told MPs that without further measures England’s tiered Covid-19 strategy would lead to high numbers of new infections every day, putting the NHS under strain and driving up the death toll. “If you look at where we are, there is no way we come out of this wave now without counting our deaths in the tens of thousands,” Edmunds, an epidemiologist, told the joint hearing of the Commons science and technology committee, and the health and social care committee. Downing Street has said it is restarting trade talks with the EU, after Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, said this morning that Brussels accepted the need for compromise on both sides. (See 5.39pm.) Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “dividing communities” and pitting regions against each other in his approach to local lockdowns, arguing that areas put in the top level of coronavirus restrictions were likely to be stuck there for months. Nicola Sturgeon has accused Boris Johnson of ignoring expert advice about the need for a Covid restrictions strategy that includes an “extreme” top level close to the full lockdown imposed in March. Leaders in the Sheffield city region have attacked the government’s “tawdry” and divisive approach to imposing tough coronavirus restrictions, saying its £41m deal is far less than needed and tied up in red tape. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has accused Boris Johnson of telling a “blatant lie” to the House of Commons after the prime minister accused him of bankrupting Transport for London. The Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner, is facing demands to apologise for apparently calling a Tory MP “scum” in the Commons after he criticised Labour’s opposition to the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis. England and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has locked horns with Tory MPs in a Twitter row over the footballer’s campaign to extend free school meals (FSM) to cover holidays. Rishi Sunak has cancelled the UK government’s three-year spending review for the rest of parliament to allow Treasury ministers more time to focus on coping with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.