Here's a really useful, easy-to-understand explanation of how the new 90-minute coronavirus test works.It's courtesy of Professor Chris Toumazou, CEO of biotech firm DnaNudge.

Image source, PA Media

Entries are open for the very first Virtual Great North Run, which will see runners complete the half marathon anywhere in the world via an app.

It's also the 40th anniversary of the event, which spans 13.1 miles (21km) between Newcastle and South Shields.

A record 60,000 people were due to take part on 13 September but it was cancelled due to coronavirus.

Organisers have stressed that runners in the free virtual event must follow government social distancing rules.

The app will highlight popular course features, use sounds from past events, motivational messages and provide distance updates.

However, the actual route of popular event is out of bounds, as it is held on closed roads which are not accessible to pedestrians at other times of the year.

Read more here.

Image source, Reuters

The southern French city of Nice has introduced an outdoor mask policy.

People will have to wear masks in many major areas of the city including the Promenade des Anglais, Mayor Christian Estrosi said.

It comes as a number of major French cities and regions make the wearing of masks outdoors compulsory. In the Mayenne region, it is compulsory for all people over the age of 11 to wear masks outdoors.

In Lille, authorities announced last week that masks would be compulsory in all pedestrianised areas of the town including parks and gardens.

Brittany has made masks compulsory in outdoor markets, including in the city of Brest. Popular tourist destination Saint-Malo has made face coverings compulsory in the old town area due to an increase in visitors.

Authorities in the country say the number of daily confirmed cases has jumped on the mainland in recent weeks.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that images of people meeting in bars and restaurants with little or no physical distancing "made her want to cry".

Ms Sturgeon was speaking after pictures emerged, external of Aberdeen city centre over the weekend, where 13 coronavirus cases were linked to the Hawthorn Bar.

She urged people to think carefully about how often they needed to go to a pub or restaurant, and said that the outbreak was "exactly what we feared" when the decision was taken to reopen the hospitality industry.

The first minister also highlighted that updated guidance has been published for essential call centres, following an outbreak at the Sitel call centre near Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, which was contact tracing for NHS England.

And she encouraged parents and carers to apply for the School Age Payment, a benefit from the Scottish government which offers £250 to cover school costs of children starting primary school. Schools in Scotland are due to go back full-time from next Monday.

There have been 18 more positive coronavirus cases in Scotland, and no further deaths, meaning the total remains at 2,491.

The city of Venice is heavily reliant on tourism but locals have long campaigned for an end to huge numbers of visitors.

When Venice went into lockdown, restaurants, hotels and shops all had to close.

As it begins to reopen, some people are questioning whether Venice should be so dependent on tourism.

Here's the health secretary, Matt Hancock, speaking about the up to half a million coronavirus tests that could be carried out daily by the end of October.

Mr Hancock said faster test results could keep rates of infection down”.

It comes as new 90-minute tests that can detect coronavirus and flu are to be rolled out in hospitals and care homes from next week.

Image source, PA Media

One of the top stories in the UK this morning is on a new test for coronavirus that can return results within 90 minutes.

The swab tests, which are used to check if someone currently has the virus, can also detect flu. The tests will be rolled out from next week in care homes and labs.

At the moment, the majority of test results come back within 24 hours but a quarter take up to two days.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been speaking about the tests, calling them a "big step forward".

He said a widening of testing would be achievable, and the aim was to look "across the community" and test people who might have coronavirus - but don't show any symptoms.

Mr Hancock also said that newspaper reports that the government plans to extend shielding to the over-50s this winter are "inaccurate and speculation".

Image source, Reuters

The German government has branded as "unacceptable" a protest against coronavirus measures in Berlin this weekend.

Thousands of people took part in the "day of freedom" protest, with demonstrators saying that wearing face coverings violated their rights and freedoms.

Ulrike Demmer, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman, said demonstrators who did not wear face coverings or keep to social distancing guidelines “exploited their right to demonstrate”.

The BBC's Damien McGuinness said some participants were from the far right and some were conspiracy theorists who do not believe Covid-19 exists, but others were ordinary people who simply object to the government's approach to the pandemic.

Police broke up the protest, saying organisers had not respected coronavirus hygiene regulations. Some 45 officers were injured.

Police made 133 arrests, according to AFP news agency.

Health Minister Jens Spahn said: “Yes, demonstrations should also be possible in times of coronavirus, but not like this.

“Distance, hygiene rules and masks serve to protect us all, so we treat each other with respect.”

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that there is a possibility that a “silver bullet” answer to defeating the virus might never happen.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference: “There is no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be”.

It comes just days after the WHO warned that the pandemic was likely to be “lengthy”.

A number of trials are taking place around the world to help try and find a vaccine to fight the virus.

Last month, an Oxford University announced that its vaccine appeared safe and triggered an immune response. More than 10,000 people will take part in the next stage of the trial.

Image source, PA Media

The UK government's "eat out to help out" scheme begins today, offering diners 50% off their bill on any Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in August.

The offer - up to a maximum discount of £10 per person - is part of a drive to boost the economy.

But the struggling hospitality industry has already been hit hard by the lockdown. Can it be saved by the scheme or, with the offer only available 13 days during the month, is it too little, too late?

For Marcello Distefano, boss of the San Carlo chain of restaurants, "there are still a lot of difficulties facing our industry".

The chain has 21 restaurants across the country, but six of its branches remain closed and 130 of its 700 workers are still furloughed.

"Even at the London branches open, sales figures are down 70-75% on last year," Mr Distenfano said.

"With there still being so many unknowns, we still have a sense of uncertainty about our future."

Read more from our business reporter Simon Read here.

More than 18 million coronavirus infections have been confirmed and more than 700,000 people have died since the pandemic began.

Our visual journalism team have put together charts and graphs to help show the spread of the virus and the locations that are currently the worst affected.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

There's lots of interest this morning in our guide about how people in the UK can use the government's "eat out to help out" scheme.

Under the offer, diners can get 50% off their bill - although the discount is capped at £10 - on any Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in August.

The idea is to boost the hospitality industry, which has been struggling since lockdown.

Here are some points to know about the scheme:

• The discount is only available on food and (soft) drinks consumed on site
• You can claim your 50% off as many times as you like during the month
• There is no limit on how many people can use the discount in one party, and it includes children
• Participating venues are supposed to offer the full 50% discount all day Monday to Wednesday and across the whole food and soft drink menu
• There's no minimum spend and you don't have to order food to be eligible - for example, a £3 coffee would cost £1.50 under the scheme.

For more information, check out our guide here.

To search for your local restaurants taking part, click here., external Or for a list of the chains taking part, that's here., external

Former England footballer Paul Scholes is in the news today, after police spoke to him over claims he flouted lockdown rules by staging a house party.

According to the Sun newspaper, , externala party was held at his Oldham home for his son's birthday on Friday evening, the day new rules kicked in in Greater Manchester.

The local restrictions ban social gatherings in people's homes and gardens.

Scholes, 45, who played for Manchester United, has not commented on the report.

In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said: "On Sunday we were made aware of allegations of an earlier breach of Covid-19 restrictions at a residential property in the Oldham area.

"In line with normal procedure and policing by consent, officers attended and engaged with an individual explaining the restrictions and encouraging them to be compliant."

Read our full story here.

Image source, BBC Three

Restrictions on those shielding were lifted this weekend in the UK.

A total of 2.2 million at-risk people have been self isolating.

Two BBC journalists who have been shielding themselves share their experience and speak with others at high risk of the virus about what the last 131 days have been like for them.

Read more here

Image source, Reuters

In case you missed it, the plan to reopen schools in England made headlines at the weekend, after teaching unions called for clarity from the government.

Schools are due to open in England, Scotland, external, Wales , externaland Northern Ireland to all pupils at the start of next term. (That's in September, except in Scotland where it's later this month.)

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said reopening schools in September was an "absolute priority" for the government and it would be safe.

"We have to get children back to school in September," he told the BBC.

"We're working very closely with headteachers and the teaching unions to make sure that all the steps necessary are put in place over the summer so that the children can go back in September and it is an absolute priority for the government," he said.

Unions raised questions over the plans after England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty warned the country was "near the limit" for opening up society.

Catch up with the full story here.

Every year, Bristol in the south west of England hosts an international hot-air balloon fiesta, bringing together teams from across the world.

But this year, because of the virus, the event - which usually attracts 500,000 visitors - could not take place as usual. Instead, balloons flew over the city as part of a "fiesta flypast".

Organisers had kept the launch location "top secret" and urged people to watch from home on Monday morning.

"We are bringing the balloon fiesta to everyone's doorstep," said the festival's operations director Ben Hardy. The full story is here.

Image source, Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters

A crew member on a cruise ship in the Pacific has tested positive for Covid-19, according to local reports from French Polynesia.

The Paul Gauguin was forced to suspend its journey just weeks after resuming operations when the case was detected by the ship’s doctor.

Passengers were told to stay in their cabins as the ship turned back to Papeete on the island of Tahiti, where all on board are expected to be tested.

The cruise industry has found itself at the centre of the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of passengers were stranded at sea earlier this year as ships were hit by outbreaks of the virus.

Ahead of resuming operations, Ponant, the company that runs the Paul Gauguin, had reassured customers in a blog post, external that it had strict regulations in place that “go further than the international standards for the sector”.

The cruise ship was sailing between the islands of Bora Bora and Rangiroa when the case was detected.

A Norwegian cruise ship has also been struck by the virus. Four crew members tested positive on the MS Roald Amundsen last week. It had been on a journey to the Svalbard in the Arctic before it docked in Tromso, northern Norway. All 160 quarantined crew were to be tested and the 177 passengers, now disembarked, were urged to self-isolate.

Image source, EPA

Five Latin American countries are now among the 10 most affected in the world, and cases are moving towards the five million mark in the region as a whole.

• The past two days have seen a steep rise in cases in Colombia. It registered a new record daily high on Saturday with 10,673 new cases, only to surpass that figure on Sunday with 11,470 new cases in 24 hours.
• Bolivia has declared the school year finished more than four months early. The cabinet chief said that rural areas just did not have enough access to the internet to make online studies feasible. All pupils will automatically pass to the higher year when classes resume. Teachers will continue to get paid, the government said. Bolivia has more than 80,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,100 Covid-related deaths.
• More than 72,500 people who fled Venezuela's economic and political crisis have returned to their home country via its land borders since the pandemic started, according to UN figures. Many Venezuelan migrants rely on informal jobs which were heavily hit by strict lockdowns imposed in many countries in the region. Those returning face a mandatory quarantine in camps where conditions have been described as overcrowded and squalid.

Image source, EPA

Doctors in Zimbabwe say the country is facing a crisis from a shortage of healthcare workers as the number of coronavirus cases begin to rise.

Dr Rashida Ferrand, an epidemiologist at the main public hospital in the capital Harare, told the BBC that there are too few doctors and nurses because of a health workers’ strike, which began before the pandemic, and a shortage of protective equipment.

The hospital says it has had to turn away Covid-19 patients because it can only staff 30 beds for virus patients.

Zimbabwe has recorded almost 4,000 cases and 70 people have died. However, doctors say the figures are much higher.

Last week Zimbabwe's Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri died from the virus.

This pandemic has hit the Spanish island of Ibiza hard, with much of its clubbing industry forced to close down.

And the UK's 14-day quarantine requirement for people returning from Spain has struck a further blow to tourism.

Nightclub owners in Ibiza have now resigned themselves to a lost summer season.

"I have to be responsible," Yann Pissenem, the co-owner of Hi Ibiza, one of the largest clubs on the island, told the AFP news agency.

If clubs opened, they would risk "creating clusters everywhere" which would "destroy the rest" of the island's economy, he said.

José Luis Benítez, the head of the Ibiza Leisure Association which represents the nightlife sector, believes social distancing and nightclubs are incompatible.

"When we shout, saliva can go as far as two metres," he says. "Who can keep distances inside a nightclub?"