BBC OS

After a brief respite, South Africa reinstated its nationwide ban on alcohol sales on Sunday as it battles against the spread of coronavirus.

The government says the move will help take pressure off the country's health system - a view which many doctors support.

Dr Phumudzo Ndwambi, a general surgery and trauma doctor in Johannesburg, said the alcohol ban would help free up beds for Covid-19 patients:

She told BBC OS on World Service radio the problem was worst at specific times, like the weekend, or when there are big events.

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Acting Liberal Democrat leader Sir Edward Davey asks UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to commit "in principle" to holding a public inquiry into the pandemic.

He says Johnson has previously said it is too soon for one - but he advocated one into the Iraq War "just months" after the conflict started.

Again, the prime minister says now is not the time to devote "huge amounts of official time" to an inquiry when the UK is "in the middle" of a pandemic.

But he adds: "We will have an independent inquiry into what happened."

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Parliament

Sir Keir says the proportion of people being contacted by the test and trace system "has done down" every week.

He asks the PM directly whether he has read the scientists' report published earlier this week.

Boris Johnson replies that he is "of course aware of the report".

He adds the government is taking "every reasonable step" in its preparations for a possible resurgence of the virus.

He accuses the Labour leader of knocking people's confidence in the tracing system, schools, public transport and other areas.

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Parliament

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Labour's Sir Keir Starmer says it is "vital" that the UK government learns from the current wave of the pandemic. He says testing and tracing capacity will need to be "significantly expanded" to work properly during a winter spike.

He asks what assurances the prime minister can give to ensure track and trace will work properly by September.

Boris Johnson says the track and trace system is working at "unprecedented scale". He says it is doing "fantastic work" and 80% of contacts are found. He says the UK's test and trace system is as good as "any other system anywhere else in the world".

House of Commons
Parliament

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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is taking MPs' questions in the House of Commons.

For his first question, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer says a failure to provide "sector-specific" support could cost thousands of jobs.

He says such targeted action could have helped prevent recent job losses announced in the aviation sector recently.

Boris Johnson says the government has done a "huge amount" to support the sector.

He accuses the Labour leader of being equivocal on whether he supports government action to protect jobs laid out in the chancellor's summ er statement earlier this month.

European Union states should launch larger vaccination campaigns against flu starting earlier in the year to reduce the risk of simultaneous influenza and COVID-19 outbreaks in the autumn, the European Commission has said.

Flu vaccination campaigns normally begin in the autumn, but it's being advised that they start in the summer.

EU officials are worried about hospitals becoming overwhelmed by a surge of patients, as happened at the peak of the pandemic in Europe in March and April.

States are also urged to buy more shots against flu.

Earlier this week, scientists in the UK warned that a second winter wave of coronavirus could be deadlier than the first was.

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Home Secretary Priti Patel has been challenged over the number of coronavirus cases arriving in the UK from abroad, while speaking to MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.

Yvette Copper, chair of the committee, asked Patel how many people are estimated to have entered the UK with coronavirus in July - but the home secretary responded that she did not have a "specific" figure.

Ms Patel said approximately 55,000 people come into the country on a daily basis and the assessment by the government's scientific advisory group, Sage, is that 0.5% of the total number of Covid-19 cases in the UK are from people coming into the country - a figure that was the same in March.

Ms Patel also told MPs that compliance with the coronavirus quarantine measures for people arriving in the UK after travelling abroad has been "incredibly high".

Under the rules, people arriving in the UK must self-isolate for 14 days or face a fine of between £100 and £1,000.

But the measures were relaxed on Friday, allowing travellers arriving in the UK from dozens of countries to avoid the self-isolation period.

Ms Patel said 383,000 spot checks were carried out between 6 June and 12 July and the compliance rate was 99.9% - with the majority of checks carried out at the border.

Shona Dunn, second permanent secretary to the Home Office, said as of last week around 20% of those were follow-up checks on people who have come into the country, which were conducted by Public Health England.

It comes after new data revealed that not a single person was fined by police in England and Wales for breaching quarantine rules in the first two weeks after they were introduced.

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Disneyland Paris has re-opened after four months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. Visitors must register online in advance.

The amusement park closed in mid-March as France battled its first wave of coronavirus. The country has since begun to ease restrictions, allowing bars and restaurants to open in early June.

More than 30,000 people have died from Covid-19 in France.

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Richard Warry
Assistant Editor, BBC Health

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The coronavirus vaccine trial results announced by the biotechnology company Moderna are preliminary, based on tests on just 45 people, and it would be wrong to try to draw any firm conclusions at this stage, but they do suggest that scientists are on the right track in their efforts to develop a vaccine for Covid-19.

We will have to wait for the results of much larger human trials before we know whether this vaccine really will be effective in preventing Covid-19 infection.

This study does suggest that this method - which uses a type of genetic material called messenger RNA - is able to stimulate the production of antibodies which are able to neutralise the virus in laboratory samples.

However, much more work is required before we can know whether the same effect can be fully replicated in people - and whether it will be strong enough to protect them from falling ill.

There is also a question mark over whether the more severe side effects experienced by a small number of participants who were given the highest dose of the vaccine will prove to be a major stumbling block.

About 200 studies of various types of vaccine are under way around the world. The science community is incredibly focused on this challenge and hopes are high that it is one they will crack - but it will probably take months before we know.

Read more about the vaccine entering third phase trials here.

Belgian health minister Maggie De Block's new face mask is attracting attention online after she wore it to parliament on Tuesday. The covering has her face printed on it.

She tweeted a picture, writing "yesterday I put on a mask with the proceeds going to charity".

On Saturday, Belgium made wearing it compulsory to wear a mask in many indoor places, including shops, cinemas, museums.

Shoppers in England will soon have to wear a face covering every time they nip out for a pint of milk and some bread.

Here we've tried to answer some of the most-asked questions on the matter - how to make them, wash them, recycle them. And we've not shirked the big ones, like how do you stop your glasses steaming up?

The trick, we're told, is mask first, glasses second - and try to create a seal so no air escapes around your nose and cheeks. For more tips, watch our video.

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Police in Chile are training dogs to sniff out people who have Covid-19.

The sniffer dogs, a labrador and three golden retrievers, are normally used to detect drugs and explosives, or to find missing people.

While the virus itself has no smell, the metabolic changes it triggers causes people's sweat to smell differently, Fernando Mardones, the professor of veterinary epidemiology behind the project, told AFP news.

The idea is to have the dogs trained up by August so they can go on patrol at railway stations and airports.

The UK-based charity Medical Detection Dogs has been conducting trials along the same lines, which are reportedly going "very well". Read more about them here.

Mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been given a month to stop confining workers on site.

Labour minister Nene Ilunga Nkula said companies have been "granted a one-month moratorium to return to normal operation" in an open letter published on Tuesday.

It comes after campaigners called for an end to the system of mandatory on-site confinement put in place by copper and cobalt mining companies to try to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Workers had been told to stay or risk losing their jobs.

Mining of commodities, like cobalt and copper, accounts for a third of the DR Congo's economy while generating more than 90% of its export revenues.

However, fears of the coronavirus pandemic causing a global recession have led to big falls in the prices of commodities mined in the DR Congo, which is a setback to the country’s economy.

Governments around the world keep talking about R0, also known as the Reproduction-number or R-number.

It's a measurement that lots of countries are using when it comes to making decisions about lockdowns, what restrictions should be kept in place and which ones should be lifted.

But what exactly is the R number and why does it matter?

Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire faces a gradual re-imposition of lockdown measures if the spike in infections there is not reduced within two weeks, a senior local official has warned.

Residents have already been told to limit the number of visitors to their homes, bump elbows rather than shake hands and wear face coverings in all confined public spaces, including workplaces, libraries, museums and health centres.

Professor Dominic Harrison, the local director of Public Health, said: "What we are seeing from looking at the postcode data in the last two weeks is a single house being infected and the whole household becoming infected, creating household clusters in part of the town."

He said the majority of new cases were in the south Asian community and areas with a high number of terraced houses, occupied by four or more people.

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The tourism industry globally has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, including Airbnb hosts who ordinarily rent out rooms or whole properties to visitors.

Now Airbnb has launched "kindness cards" that suggest users donate money to their former hosts. The cards "make it easy to send a message of appreciation or encouragement, with the option to add a contribution", an email to Airbnb users reads.

The tool has been met with anger from people who say it is short-sighted at a time of global economic suffering.

"Why would I donate to my host? I can't even afford one house," tweeted one user.

Some Airbnb hosts have turned short-term rentals on the platform into their main business, making significant profits after buying and renting out numerous properties.

But some social media users supported the idea. "Built great relationships with so many hosts that I've stayed with, and it's nice to be able to easily spread a bit of joy," tweeted one., external

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A delay to an order of protective equipment (PPE) for NHS dentists in Northern Ireland could see some treatments pushed back, the British Dental Association is warning.

About three million PPE items were due to be delivered to dentists this week, but have now been delayed until the start of next week.

The Department of Health said the logistical challenge of the delivery had been "significant".

Tristan Kelso, from the Northern Ireland branch of the British Dental Association (BDA), said the PPE delay "will absolutely delay [treatments], there's a big backlog of treatment and we want to provide that under the health service".

Dentists in Northern Ireland have been able to provide non-urgent care to the public since 29 June.

If you thought that incredible wealth and privilege would make you immune from lockdown misery, you might want to think again. That's according to the CEO of exclusive rehab centre in Switzerland catering to heads of state, CEOs and celebrities.

The £65,000-a-week Paracelsus Recovery had five times the number of normal calls during lockdown, the clinic's founder Dr. Marta Ra told British newspaper the Evening Standard., external

Issues that clients were struggling with included drug and alcohol abuse, mental health and eating disorders. Loneliness and isolation were the top triggers, Dr Ra explained.

The England and Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford is to become the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from The University of Manchester.

The 22-year-old is being recognised for his campaign to continue free school meals vouchers during the holidays.

In lockdown, the government provided vouchers to families whose children qualified for free meals but insisted this would not continue outside term time.

However, the footballer successfully persuaded the government to extend the food voucher scheme throughout the summer.

"Marcus is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary talent and drive that stretches well beyond the football field," said university President and Vice-Chancellor Prof Dame Nancy Rothwell.

Rashford said: "It's a proud day for me and my family."

He follows legendary Manchester United figures such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton, who have previously received the award - the highest honour the university can offer.

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A new study shows the rate of coronavirus infections in England significantly reduced before lockdown eased in May.

The government-commissioned research by Imperial College showed there were on average 13 positive cases for every 10,000 people and the reproduction number - or R - was 0.57.

At the time, the R number had been estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.

The study of 120,000 volunteers suggested young adults aged 18 to 24 and people of Asian ethnicity were more likely to test positive.

Researchers also found care home workers were at greater risk of being infected during lockdown than the general population.

And the study showed 69% of those who did test positive reported no symptoms on the day of their test or the previous week, though they may have developed symptoms later.

• What is the R number and how is it calculated?