Here’s a roundup of today’s key UK coronavirus developments: Some local lockdown measures in Leicester have been lifted by the health secretary. Matt Hancock said that while coronavirus cases per 100,000 people were still above average in the city, restrictions on schools and early years childcare could be lifted, while local authorities would be able to close non-essential shops where necessary. The rules will apply to the city of Leicester, as well as Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire. Leicester’s mayor is “angry, frustrated” and “very disappointed” that some measures remain in place. Peter Soulsby said he believed the government had “released the Tory voters” from the restrictions in its amendment of the boundaries of the local lockdown, rather than focussing on the areas with a particular rise in cases. A further 66 people have died in UK hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for Covid-19. Although the Department of Health and Social Care death tally now stands at 45,053, the figures do not include all deaths including coronavirus across the UK, which are thought to have passed 55,000. Sage scientists advised the government to impose lockdown around a week before it was implemented. The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, told a science and technology committee that the group had advised the government to put the measures in place “as soon as possible” on the 16 or 18 March, after realising in mid-March that “we were further ahead in the pandemic than had been thought”. The government does not yet have capacity to carry out the 350,000 Covid-19 tests a day needed this winter. During the committee meeting, Vallance said the government “haven’t got the capacity to meet that at the moment”, in relation to a report by the Academy of Medical Sciences that suggested the tests would need to be carried out on people as they show symptoms of flu or coronavirus during the winter. Scotland has recorded its first coronavirus-related death in eight days. The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said the country’s total deaths now stands at 2,491, while 18,384 people have tested positive for the virus. About one in three companies plan to lay off staff over the next three months, a report has warned. The British Chamber of Commerce said 29% of businesses in a survey of 7,400 firms planned to cut the size of their workforce before November.