Headlines
• UK testing ‘mega lab’ opens
• France & Greece to mandate vaccines for health workers
• NSW Australia, announces $500m per week relief package
• Delhi runs out of vaccines
• 11.2% of UK students currently absent due to coronavirus
World news
• The UK’s first testing “mega lab” has opened. The Rosalind Franklin laboratory in Leamington Spa is expected to be capable of processing hundreds of thousands of samples a day and is the largest laboratory of its kind in the UK.
• Valencia’s regional government has succeeded in obtaining a court order to authorise lockdowns in more than 30 towns in eastern Spain.
• France has announced that all health care workers in the country must be fully vaccinated by 15 September or risk not being paid. The requirement applies to doctors, nurses, office staff and volunteers.
• In France, health passes showing a vaccination or a recent negative test will be required to access shops, bars, cinemas and long -distance train journeys from next month.
• Greece has ordered mandatory vaccines for all health workers, including those working in retirement homes.
• In its latest Financial Stability Report, the Bank of England has said banks “have the capital and liquidity to be able to support the economy”, but while the economic outlook has improved, risks remain, especially from the spread of Covid, and households and firms will continue to need loan support from banks. However, the Bank of England has lifted all Covid restrictions on dividends at the UK’s banks.
• Changes to the NHS Test and Trace app, which should reduce the number of isolation alerts sent, will be introduced on Monday. The parameters determining what constitutes a close contact are being adjusted.
• In the UK 747,000 students are self -isolating, with 39,000 having confirmed cases. The absentee rate reached 11.2%, an increase from 8.5% last week. 80.4% of state school pupils in England were in class on 8 July, down from 83.4% on 1 July and 87.4% on 24 June. In secondary schools, only 73.6% attended class, down from 76.9% on the previous week, while 85.1% of pupils attended primary school, down from 87.8% on 1 July according to the Department for Education.
• Mass Participation Sports Organisers, a collection of sports organisers including Parkrun and the Great North Run, says events will resume from next week. The first event is the Standard Chartered Great City Race on 20 July.
• A number of states in India, including the capital, Delhi, say they ran out of vaccine stocks this week, while others including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra say vaccine supplies are running critically low in many areas.
• New South Wales has announced a financial relief package for individual and small businesses affected by the ongoing restrictions, which will cost an estimated $500m per week.
• Bangladesh is to lift its nationwide lockdown for the country’s second -biggest religious festival, the government has announced.
• The European Medicines Agency has said it is analysing data on rare cases of a nerve disorder reported among recipients of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, after the US added a warning label to the shot.
• In Taiwan, many sports and entertainment venues are allowed to open again today, after a two -month shutdown.
