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The prime minister has reportedly had a change of heart in how to tackle the obesity crisis, after apparently attributing his serious bout of Covid-19 to being overweight.
The news comes as more than 33,000 people have died in the UK after contracting coronavirus, with 233,151 people testing positive.
Here’s the latest:
Boris Johnson to reportedly launch ‘much more interventionist’ approach to tackling obesity
Boris Johnson is reportedly preparing to launch a new strategy designed to lower rates of obesity as part of the fight against coronavirus.
According to The Times, the PM – who in April was hospitalised with the virus and spent three days in intensive care – told senior ministers “I’ve changed my mind on this”, and is preparing a “much more interventionist” drive against obesity.
Researchers at Glasgow University have previously found that being obese doubles the risk of needing hospital treatment for coronavirus, with an increase in BMI aligning with the risk of having a severe case of Covid-19.
Around a third of Britons are believed to be clinically obese, and figures released by the NHS on Thursday revealed that a quarter of coronavirus patients who have died in hospitals in England had diabetes.
The Times reported that Johnson is understood to be convinced that his weight was a major contributing factor to his hospitalisation.
In a column for the paper, The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth wrote that the PM said “it’s all right for you thinnies” when talking about Covid-19 in Downing Street, and is said to be “obsessed” with encouraging more people to cycle to work.
Infection rate in London has dropped far below ‘R’ value in other regions, researchers say
The number of people being infected with coronavirus in London each day could have fallen as low as 24, while the North East faces 4,000 infections each day, researchers have said.
According to modelling carried out by Public Health England and the University of Cambridge’s MRC Biostatistics Unit, the infection rate – known as the R value – across England has fallen.
Sky News reports that researches have seen the R number fall to 0.75. In his address to the nation on Sunday evening, the PM said the R value would have to stay below 1 to continue loosening lockdown.
According to research, the North East and Yorkshire has an R rate of 0.8, the South West 0.76, the North West 0.73, the South East and East of England 0.71 and in the Midlands 0.68.
London’s average rate has reportedly fallen to 0.4, which means that for every 10 people who are infected, they are likely to pass it onto four people.
When R drops below 1 it means the virus isn’t spread at a high enough rate to sustain an outbreak, so the number of infections gradually drops. The closer the number is to zero, the faster the virus declines.
While the new research has been shared widely, some experts have warned that it should be treated with caution.
Asked if 24 new cases a day in the capital is robust, Dr Sebastian Funk – a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine – told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well, there is some variation around this and there is some uncertainty in this, but what we have observed in London is that case numbers and death numbers have come down faster than in other parts of the country – albeit from a considerably higher level.
“So I think it… well, I would say it is a little bit higher than that, but it is probably lower than the rest of the country.”
Asked whether the R rate should be looked at regionally, Funk said: “I absolutely do so, yes.
Homeless to be kicked out of accommodation as government reportedly drops funding
Hundreds of homeless people could be kicked out of temporary accommodation as the government reportedly scraps the funding for the ‘Everybody In’ scheme.
Manchester Evening News (MEN) revealed on Thursday evening that hundreds of people in Manchester could be forced onto the streets, including some 400 who have been made homeless over the course of the pandemic.
Thousands of people across the UK have been temporarily housed, and questions over their fate once lockdown started to lift have lingered ever since the unprecedented scheme to help the homeless self-isolate was announced at the end of March.
A leaked report to the region’s combined authority, seen by the MEN, reveals the Ministry for Communities, Housing and Local Government (MCHLG) has “drawn a line” under the ‘Everyone In’ initiative, telling councils it will no longer be funded. No public statement has yet been made by the government.
In Greater Manchester alone, almost 5,000 people are expected to be classed as homeless between the start of April and the end of July – including more than 70 prisoners each month who are released with no address to return to.
Rail passengers urged not to travel without advanced ticket and face covering
Rail passengers have been urged not to travel without an advanced ticket, with those using the West Coast Mainline asked to wear face coverings.
Avanti West Coast made the announcement as part of new social distancing on its services linking London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham, the BBC reported.
New measures are to come into effect on Monday, with passengers potentially being refused travel if guidelines are not followed.
“We’re appealing to our valued customers to help us and other passengers by only travelling with a reservation,” said Avanti West Coast’s managing director Phil Whittingham.
“If everyone does this, we’ll be able to keep social distancing in place on board, both for our customers and our people.
“If customers do turn up without a reservation, we’ll do our best to help but we can’t guarantee they’ll be able to take the train they want.”
Other measures include only allowing carriages to reach a quarter of their usual capacity, asking passengers to book in advance on the Avanti, and to avoid using station facilities.
All staff will wear face masks, waiting rooms will be closed, enhanced cleaning on board and most shops will be closed.
Trump refuses to wear mask during visit to mask supplier, suggests testing is ‘overrated’
Donald Trump has said testing for Covid-19 might be “overrated” during a visit to a mask factory, throughout the course of which he refused to wear a mask.
“We have the best testing in the world. Could be that testing is, frankly, overrated. Maybe it is overrated,” Trump said on Thursday during a visit to Owens & Minor, a medical supply company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that distributes masks and other products.
“You know, they always say, ‘We want more, we want more,’ because they don’t want to give you credit. Then we do more, and they say, ‘We want more,’” he added.
Trump did not wear a mask during his visit, and neither did his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Everyone else did, according to the pool report from S.V. Date, HuffPost’s senior White House correspondent.
Hundreds of Trump supporters lined the road along the president’s route to the plant on Thursday, and thousands appeared to be at the plant itself to greet him. Many were not wearing masks.
Even though the federal government’s own health experts recommend wearing masks, Trump has refused to do so.
“I don’t think that I’m going to be doing it,” he said after the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines to encourage mask usage.
Trump has also reportedly said he would look ridiculous wearing a mask and that he worried it would send the wrong message, contradicting his (unscientific) predictions that the end of the pandemic is just around the corner.