Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The government had been due to replace the furlough scheme - with its replacement set to come in at the start of this month, until the new England lockdown was announced.

So this is a change of heart from ministers - and a really significant one.

The government will argue it is necessary because of a changing health picture.

But political opponents have been calling for this for some time - they believe the chancellor has waited too long.

The chancellor says he is offering "significant extra support to protect jobs and livelihoods in every region and nation" of the UK.

He says this will mean extending the furlough scheme, increasing support for the self-employed and speeding up payments.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has started to give his statement in the House of Commons, where he's expected to give details of the extension of the furlough scheme until March.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

Turnaround times for test and trace were slightly better than last week with 26% of in-person tests providing results within 24 hours, according to the most recent figures provided by NHS Test and Trace (England).

This is a slight improvement on figures published last week (23%), but still well below the peak seen at the end of June (93%).

The figures describe tests conducted in the week to 28 October, a week when testing capacity started to rise substantially - just before the government’s end-of-October target for testing capacity to reach 500,000 tests a day.

In-person tests are those done at drive-through or walk-in centres or by mobile testing units.

The government sometimes prefers to quote the number of tests returned by the end of the next day, rather than within 24 hours. This always looks better since somebody who had a test taken at 2pm on Monday and got the result at 4pm on Tuesday would not be within 24 hours, but would have received their result by the end of the next day.

That figure was 62%, up from 46% last week.

Image source, Reuters

Conservative MPs in the north of England are urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to leave communities "locked into lockdown" indefinitely.

Jake Berry chairman of the Northern Research Group (NRG) of Tory backbenchers, called for a "clear roadmap" for local areas to leave restrictions.

People are being asked not to leave home unless necessary and pubs, restaurants, gyms and non-essential shops are closing until 2 December. After that, the prime minister has said England's regions will return to the three-tier system.

Mr Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, Lancashire, said many northern MPs feared their constituencies would be heading back into the highest tier of restrictions.

"Our constituents have been some of the worst affected by Covid, with many losing jobs and businesses," Mr Berry said. "We cannot allow our region to become locked-in to lockdown indefinitely."

Image source, WPA Pool

The governor of the Bank of England says the contraction the UK economy is currently experiencing is "unprecedented".

Andrew Bailey told the BBC that the pandemic had made a "huge impact" on the economy and it wouldn't recover to pre-coronavirus levels until early 2022.

His comments come after the Bank of England pumped an extra £150bn into the economy and decided to keep interest rates on hold at 0.1%.

Bailey also said that the Bank's forecast that the economy would shrink by 11% in 2020 was based on a trade deal being agreed between the UK and the European Union.

The chancellor is set to extend furlough until March, sources have told the BBC.

The full details will be unveiled in a statement in the Commons shortly.

It's not clear if it will be the full 80% rate currently available.

Here's our breaking news story with more details.

We're due to hear shortly from Chancellor Rishi Sunak on the latest support for jobs and the economy, as England's restaurants, pubs and non-essential shops close until 2 December. But which groups are still in need for help?

One is freelance workers. While the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme covers up to 40% of average earnings - with a boost for the November lockdown - an estimated 2.9m freelancers, contractors and newly self employed people aren't covered.

The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) has said the support scheme is "vital" but accused the Treasury of "wilfully ignoring a third of self-employed" people.

The Confederation of British Industry has also called for job support to be extended for longer than a month, saying the government should assure businesses that it will be in place for as long as needed.

And the extension of the furlough scheme as England heads into lockdown has prompted questions from others parts of the UK, some of which introduced extra restrictions on businesses before England.

Scotland has complained it is "still in the dark" about whether it will have access to the same level of support if it needs a lockdown.

But Boris Johnson told MPs yesterday that the furlough scheme would be available to other parts of the UK if they needed lockdowns at different times.

Image source, PA

Later this morning, we're expecting to hear from Chancellor Rishi Sunak about support for jobs during the pandemic. But what's the situation now?

Announcing England's lockdown, the prime minister said the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme - the official name for the furlough scheme - would be extended for an extra month.

Under this scheme, workers placed on leave by their employers receive 80% of their pay, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Since July, employers have also been able to bring employees back to work part-time, and furlough them for the rest. This will continue.

In recent months, firms have had to top up furloughed wages by 20%, with the government paying 60%.

Now, the state will put in the full 80%, with the employer only covering pension and national insurance contributions. But workers shouldn't notice any difference.

The furlough scheme had been due to end on 31 October, to be replaced by the Job Support Scheme.

Intended to help industries shut down by the three-tier system of restrictions, it offers workers 67% of their wages up to a maximum of £2,083.33 a month, without requiring a contribution from employers.

Image source, EPA

There were more than 100,000 new cases of coronavirus in the US on Wednesday, in a record one-day increase.

The figure, reported by the Covid Tracking Project, is accompanied by a steep rise in hospital admissions - suggesting that it is not solely due to increased testing.

More than 1,100 deaths linked to coronavirus were recorded on Wednesday.

More than 50,000 people across the US are currently in hospital with coronavirus - an increase of about 64% from early October.

Average daily death rates in the country have also been increasing again.

Image source, Family handout / PA Media

The husband of a nurse who died with Covid-19 is calling for extra protections for mothers-to-be in the workplace.

Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, died in April after giving birth at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where she worked as a nurse until she was 32 weeks' pregnant.

Surgeons safely delivered her baby, also named Mary, by caesarean section before Ms Agyapong was transferred to the intensive care unit where she died.

Her widower Ernest Boateng wants the prime minister to introduce a work-from-home rule for pregnant women during the pandemic.

A Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) report into her death was critical of how her care was managed.

The hospital and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) have been approached for comment.

Image source, Reuters

Jordan has reported a record daily death toll from Covid-19, as it struggles with a serious resurgence of the disease ahead of a parliamentary election next week.

The health ministry recorded 62 new deaths on Wednesday, external, bringing the overall total to 1,029. The number of infections meanwhile rose by 4,658 to 91,234.

The kingdom, which has a population of 10 million, kept a lid on its outbreak at the start of the pandemic by imposing a strict nationwide lockdown.

However, it has seen a steep rise in cases since the end of September. It reported more than 60,000 new infections and 768 deaths in October, and it currently has the highest per capita mortality rate in the Arab world, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

The government has sought to stem the spread of the coronavirus by imposing night-time and weekend curfews, restricting gatherings to 20 people, and imposing financial penalties on those not wearing face masks.

It has decided not to postpone Tuesday’s election and it will not impose a four-day “comprehensive” curfew until after the results are announced on Wednesday afternoon, despite concerns that waiting could make the outbreak worse.

With non-essential businesses now closed for four weeks, how do they plan to cope?

Halifax's Piece Hall - a former 18th Century cloth hall - is full of small independent traders, many of whom are now having to sell through a "click and collect" method.

But that doesn't work if you're a hairdresser, like Christian Scott.

“Fingers crossed it’s only four weeks,” he told Radio 5 Live's Wake Up to Money.

“For me to shut my doors at the beginning of November, it’s scary. All my lads in there are self-employed, they haven’t got savings. There are seven lads in there who have to live by their means. It’s a scary situation for all of us really.”

The spring lockdown caused a rise in mental distress with reports up 8% compared with the same period in previous years, the director of health protection at Public Health England says.

PHE is launching an Every Mind Matters campaign to highlight the mental health support available as England enters a second lockdown, with restrictions also in place across many other areas of the UK.

Professor Yvonne Doyle told Radio 4's Today programme: "These are common mental disorders that may come and go and there are things people can do about it themselves - there is a lot of help available.

"I think it is important to stress that these symptoms of anxiety, they are almost normal in a situation where everybody is out of their routine and it is very difficult for everybody.

"So the important thing is to acknowledge that people will feel anxious, that the feelings will pass and that there is help available and that quite a lot of that will be helpful for people to access themselves."

If you are looking for mental health support, these groups may be able to help.

Image source, Getty Images

With gyms and pools shut as England's second lockdown begins, many of us will be digging out the running kit again.

But for some, the thought of running in the dark is a scary one - so how can we exercise safely? Here are some tips from BBC Newsbeat.

Image source, Getty Images

Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven is the latest world leader to be self-isolating after a possible Covid-19 exposure.

Lofven posted on Facebook to say someone in his circle had come into contact with an infected person. Although his contact had tested negative, the prime minister and his wife were still staying at home on the advice of their doctor.

"I'm working remotely. We feel good and have no symptoms," Lofven said, adding that he and his wife would be tested as soon as possible.

Sweden, which came under scrutiny for its decision to avoid imposing a lockdown during the first wave of the pandemic, has experienced a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks as the virus spreads rapidly across Europe.

The Bank of England has announced it will pump another £150bn into the UK economy as part of another round of "quantitative easing". But what does that mean and how is it supposed to help the economy recover?

Because the Bank is in charge of the UK's money supply, it is able to increase the supply by printing more or just creating it electronically.

Under quantitive easing, it spends most of the money it creates electronically in buying government bonds - a type of investment where you lend money to the government.

Buying billions of pounds' worth of bonds pushes the price up by increasing demand. Many interest rates on loans offered by banks to businesses and individuals are affected by the price of government bonds.

If those government bond prices go up, the interest rates on those loans should go down - making it easier for people to borrow and spend money.

When the latest round of QE is complete, the Bank of England will hold well over a third of the national debt - charging less interest to the government than other lenders.

Most research suggests that QE helped to keep economic growth stronger, wages higher, and unemployment lower than they would otherwise have been.

But it also tends to increase the prices of things such as shares and property, benefitting wealthier members of society and making it harder for younger people to buy their first homes and build up savings.

Read more

Image source, AFP

Captain Sir Tom Moore has launched a new campaign to coincide with England's lockdown to get people walking, supporting those who feel "lonely and frightened" during this time.

He raised £33m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday.

Capt Sir Tom said: "We are in a difficult situation but we'll get through it if we all join together."

The challenge encourages people to log their walking on social media using the hashtag #WalkWithTom over the next week.

Capt Sir Tom hopes to raise money for his foundation, which aims to combat loneliness and support those facing bereavement.

Read more here.

During the lockdown in spring, domestic violence charities said life got much harder for victims of abuse, with almost two-thirds saying the violence got worse and three-quarters saying the restrictions made it harder for them to escape.

Calls to the Respect advice line for male victims also increased by 65% during the first three months of the pandemic.

So as people in England are once again told to stay at home, Refuge has extended the hours of its live chat, which offers help for people who may not be able to use the phone.

Trained support workers are available between 15:00 GMT and 22:00 from Monday to Friday at www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk, external.

Support is also available 24 hours a day on the helpline at 0808 2000 247.