Another six people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, says NHS England.

It brings the total number of confirmed deaths in England to 29,431.

Two more deaths were reported where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate but there was no positive test result.

UK-wide figures are expected to be reported later, but may differ from the totals from the four nations as they are calculated on a different time frame and include deaths in care homes and the community, as well as in hospital.

Image source, Reuters

The World Health Organization has urged Lebanon to stay vigilant about the threat of Covid-19 as the country struggles to recover from last week’s devastating explosion in Beirut.

There was already an upward trend in the daily number of cases before the disaster, and on Tuesday the Lebanese health ministry reported a record 309 new infections.

“While we have to still continue to respond to the consequences of the blast, we also need to stay vigilant with respect to Covid,” the WHO’s regional emergency director in the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Richard Brennan, told a virtual briefing.

He said a priority was to restore all of Beirut’s primary healthcare facilities. Just over 50% of those in areas affected by the blast are not functioning, including three major hospitals, he said.

“Lebanon does have a very strong track record to date against Covid. If we can step up our response again, I think we will be able to get on top of this recent acceleration in cases.”

The WHO is also distributing about 25 tonnes of protective equipment that has been brought in over the last couple of days.

Hazel Shearing
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

One of the more unusual sights of the coronavirus pandemic has been that of cruise ships drifting around in the English Channel, apparently abandoned at sea. But why are they there? And how did they become a holiday attraction?

The cruise industry was hit early in the pandemic, when the virus first swept the Diamond Princess, in Japan and then the Grand Princess, in the US.

Holidays were cancelled and empty boats had to go somewhere. Ships have to pay fees to berth, meaning an already crippled industry would be losing even more money if they docked in ports.

The arrival of the UK's "ghost ships", as one Twitter user called them, has transformed the view from the coast and fascinated locals and tourists alike. They have now become a tourist attraction in their own right, with people paying to see them up close.

The captain of one of the cruise ships parked off the Dorset coast has even started to wave back at those on tours using what he describes as a six-foot-long hand made of plywood.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Getty Images

Mask-wearing is a divisive issue in the US and remains optional in many parts of the country.

In Marion county, Florida, one sheriff has told his staff they are not allowed to wear one at work. And it doesn't stop there, visitors to the sheriff's office cannot wear one either.

"My order will stand as is when you are on-duty/working as my employee and representing my Office – masks will not be worn," Sheriff Billy Woods wrote in an email reported by ABC news., external

The city of Ocala, Florida also advises officers not to wear masks, saying it will help make communication with people they encounter easier.

Florida has been badly-hit by the pandemic, with more than half a million cases reported so far. The number of new daily cases remains high but has started to decrease in recent weeks., external

Another five people in Wales who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the death toll there to 1,586.

Public Health Wales said eight more cases of the virus had been confirmed in lab tests in the last 24 hours.

Both Scotland and Northern Ireland reported no new Covid-19 deaths, leaving the total number of deaths in those nations at 2,491 and 557 respectively.

Northern Ireland said it had recorded another 29 positive tests and Scotland said it had seen an additional 47 cases - 24 of which were in the NHS Grampian area that includes Aberdeen, currently subject to a local lockdown.

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Image source, Reuters

China has reported only nine new cases of Covid-19 in the north-west region of Xinjiang, the area of the mainland with the largest current outbreak.

This is in stark contrast to two weeks ago. At the end of July more than 100 new cases were being reported each day in the region.

There were local lockdowns across the capital city of Urumqi – the area hardest hit - during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.

This affected a significant proportion of the city’s population, given that 20% of Urumqi’s population is made up of Uighur (12%) and Hui (8%) Muslims.

The Urumqi outbreak began on 15 July. In total, more than 19,000 people were placed under medical observation.

Communities were swiftly locked down while medical staff sent from 10 different regions carried out mass testing on the city’s population of 3.5 million.

There were never any major concerns that the Xinjiang outbreak might lead to a second wave. The Chinese government watches Xinjiang's citizens very closely, more so than in other regions of the country. It is the area where China has been internationally criticised for detaining huge numbers of Muslims in re-education camps.

Image source, David Hanson

A couple who booked a "dream trip" to New Zealand are among those struggling months later to get refunds for flights cancelled during the pandemic.

David Hanson and girlfriend Jemima Rodwell were due to fly out in March and travel around in a campervan before attending a wedding. The Emirates flight was cancelled with three days' notice, but five months on they still have not been repaid the £1,742 cost of the tickets.

"I'm extremely frustrated, really angry just how they can get away with it in terms of being so long," said David, from Manchester.

The experience of chasing the booking agency, airline and insurer for "months and months" had been demoralising. "You end up just feel really powerless," he said.

Consumer group Which? says "time after time" airlines have broken the law on refunds during the pandemic. Now it is calling for the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, to be given new powers.

Pupil support worker Kirsty Ness from Edinburgh was due to fly to Gdansk in Poland with her boyfriend in early April but Ryanair cancelled their flight.

Despite asking for a cash refund, Kirsty says she was initially sent a voucher to rebook. After five phone calls and dozens of emails, she says she finally received her money this week.

Alistair Coleman
BBC anti-disinformation unit

Image source, PA Media

At least 800 people died worldwide as a result of coronavirus-related misinformation in the first three months of this year, a study has found.

A further 5,800 people were admitted to hospital after being exposed to false information on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and chat apps, the study said, external.

The study’s authors echoed statements from the World Health Organization (WHO), which warned the Covid-19 “infodemic” spread just as quickly as the virus itself.

Most of the deaths and hospital admissions were the result of people drinking methanol and alcohol-based cleaning products, wrongly believing them to be a cure for coronavirus.

But following advice that resembles credible medical information - such as ingesting large quantities of vitamins - can also have “potentially serious implications”, the authors say.

The paper concludes that it’s down to international agencies, governments and social media platforms to fight back against this “infodemic”.

A BBC investigation, which can be read here, found links between virus misinformation and assaults, arson and deaths.

The UK has plummeted into recession, with its economy shrinking an unprecedented 20.4% in the latest three-month measure. To put that into context, the biggest quarterly contraction at the height of the 2008 financial crisis was 2.1%.

Taking a look at the first six months of 2020, the UK economy shrank by 22.1% - compared with a fall of 10.6% in the US and a decline of 11.9% in Germany.

Spain fared slightly worse than the UK as its economy shrank by 22.7%.

Liz Martins, UK economist at HSBC, thinks there are three main reasons for the UK's performance.

"Compared to Europe, we locked down a bit later, so we spent more of the second quarter locked down as other economies were unlocking," she says.

Secondly, the UK is extremely dependent on the services sector - which means a lot of work can't be done from home. The sector, which includes restaurants, retail, entertainment and accommodation, ground to a halt during the strictest parts of lockdown.

Lastly, Martins says, the UK "arguably" took longer to bring the virus under control which affected confidence.

Image source, Getty Images

Mexican-American singer and actor Trini Lopez has died at 83 after falling ill with Covid-19.

Lopez, who had a hit in 1963 with his version of If I Had A Hammer and played one of The Dirty Dozen in the 1967 film, died in Palm Springs, California of complications from coronavirus.

Lopez, an accomplished guitarist, was mentored by Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra and designed two instruments for the Gibson Guitar Corporation.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters was among those paying tribute, saying Lopez had left "a beautiful music legacy".

More details here.

Image source, EPA

If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of the main headlines related to the pandemic today:

• Official figures have confirmed that the UK suffered its biggest economic slump on record between April and June, with GDP plummeting by 20.4% during the pandemic and plunging the country into recession for the first time since 2009.
• Head teachers said a last-minute plan to ensure that no student is penalised because exams were cancelled in the pandemic is "panicked and chaotic". It will mean students are awarded whichever is highest out of their estimated grades, their mock exam results, and an optional written exam in the autumn.
• Wales is also considering changes to ensure students are not disadvantaged, while Northern Ireland's exam board said there would be "no change", although students can use mock exam results to appeal against their grade.
• Airlines are taking too long to refund customers whose flights were cancelled due to the virus, according to consumer group Which? Some customers say they have not been repaid five months later.
• Thousands more pupils in Scotland are returning to the classroom for the first time since March, as schools continue their phased reopening.
• But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced that the local lockdown in Aberdeen will continue for a second week.
• Northern Ireland's Health Minister Robin Swann said the nation is at "one of the most dangerous" points in the pandemic, with cases rising and concern that people are no longer following guidance to prevent outbreaks.

Image source, Reuters

Young people need to do their part to stop coronavirus from spreading, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again said.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal in a speech to mark International Youth Day 2020.

“Although most young people are not at high risk of severe disease during this pandemic, they play an important role, and share in the collective responsibility to help us stop transmission,” Dr Tedros said in Geneva.

The US and European countries have reported an increasing proportion of infections coming from young people in recent months. This has been attributed to the easing of lockdowns, large gatherings and relaxed attitudes to social distancing.

So, to what extent are young people responsible for spreading Covid-19?

“Young people are not [fully] responsible for the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases,” Sarah Hess, technical officer for the WHO’s emergencies team, said. “However, we do know that sometimes uninformed decisions can result in risky behaviour that might increase the spread of Covid-19."

The spread of coronavirus among the 400,000 people living in England's care homes has been identified as one reason the UK has the highest virus death toll in Europe.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised that all staff and residents would be tested by early June - but the introduction of regular tests was delayed.

For Alison Taylor, a care home worker in Sheffield, that means she discovered too late that she had contracted the virus unknowingly, without developing symptoms.

"I find it really hard to think that I might have passed it to care homes, to residents, to my family," said Alison.

Employed by an agency, she worked at four different homes before regular testing was introduced. An antibody test last week confirmed she had been infected at some time in the past.

"I could be responsible for other people's deaths without knowing," she said.

Image source, EPA

Barcelona have become the latest Spanish football team to confirm a positive case of Covid-19 within its squad.

The player was one of nine reporting for pre-season training, showed no symptoms and has been quarantined at his home, the team said.

Barcelona said he has not been in contact with any senior players, who travel to Lisbon on Thursday to prepare for a Champions League quarter-final.

Valencia confirmed two cases of Covid-19 this week, while Atletico Madrid reported two positive tests before their Champions League quarter-final.

Athletico’s women’s team have also been affected. Their training was suspended following four more positive tests for coronavirus among their squad and coaching staff.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says "serious questions" must be asked about the government’s economic strategy in the wake of today's GDP figures.

After officials confirmed the UK was going through its biggest economic slump on record, Starmer says the country "should not be in this position".

"Nobody can avoid the fact that there was going to be an economic crisis as a result of the pandemic. We knew that. But we now find ourselves in a double whammy," he said.

"We've got one of the worst death rates across Europe and now we're going to have one of the worst recessions."

Starmer reiterates his call for the furlough scheme to have "more flexibility" to support businesses and sectors struggling more than others.

“The government has been far too slow. We were slow into lockdown, slow on protective equipment, slow on testing... all of this has contributed to the situation we find ourselves in today, and the government needs to accept responsibility and start answering questions," he said.

Image source, PA Media

The local lockdown imposed in Aberdeen a week ago after a spike in coronavirus cases is to stay in place.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the number of new cases in the city had fallen in recent days - but was still "much higher" than in other areas.

She said it was therefore too early to lift any of the restrictions. This means pubs and restaurants will remain closed, with restrictions on travel and visiting other households still in place.

Sturgeon said a total of 177 cases had now been linked to the outbreak - 12 more than yesterday.

Read more here

Health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have grown accustomed to dealing with outbreaks of disease.

The country has been grappling with Ebola epidemics for years. So when Covid-19 arrived, doctors were well prepared.

“This is not my first epidemic,” Doctors Without Borders staff member Papy Dieya told the BBC.

Watch the video below to see what lessons Papy learned from the country’s Ebola crisis.

The UK government has raised concerns over rising case numbers in European countries, such as Spain, Belgium and Andorra – with reports that France is also being monitored closely.

But how much are infections rising in the UK itself?

Yesterday's figures show 1,148 new cases - not far off the 1,397 recorded in France on the same day.

But the average over recent days is much lower: 928 in the UK, compared to 1,600 in France.

When the UK imposed quarantine restrictions on travellers from Belgium last week, case rates there had reached 49.2 per 100,000 people, compared to 14.3 per 100,000 people in the UK.

A survey by the Office of National statistics, which involved taking swabs from almost 120,000 people, suggested last week that a rise in UK infections in July may have levelled off.

But there is still cause for concern - Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the government has had to "squeeze that brake pedal" and halt plans to relax coronavirus measures further.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre - a new body set up by the government to offer advice on how to set the coronavirus threat level across the UK - has suggested that 1,000 cases a day should be considered the limit of "acceptable incidence". The UK exceeded that twice this week.

Jenny Hill
BBC Berlin correspondent

Image source, Reuters

For most Germans, the most pressing concern right now is keeping cool during a heatwave that continues to drive the temperature well above 30C.

But, as people crowd to the shady shores of country lakes or queue outside city ice cream shops, scientists and politicians are worrying about a significant rise in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

In the last 24 hours, 1,226 cases were recorded - the highest number since early May.

Germany’s health minister says he’s concerned but insists the situation remains manageable - for now.

What worries the authorities is that, unlike previous spikes caused by large but isolated outbreaks, the rise in recent weeks has been driven by lots of small outbreaks which may be harder to contain.

There’s anxiety as children return to school, with some states insisting that students and teachers wear masks.

And there are wider concerns about general behaviour. In one district of Berlin, authorities inspected 13 bars and found that only one complied with coronavirus safety measures.

New Zealand will succeed in ridding the country of the coronavirus once again, a top health expert has told the BBC.

The country put its largest city, Auckland, back into lockdown on Wednesday, after recording four new Covid-19 cases.

Prof Michael Baker, the epidemiologist behind New Zealand's virus elimination strategy, said it was "a shock" but insisted that "one thing you have to plan for is setbacks".

Watch his interview with BBC Newsnight.