Mark Lowen
BBC News, Rome

Fed up with quarantine restrictions by Britain and other countries? Desperate to travel safely again? Italy thinks it has the answer, trialling Europe’s first “Covid-free flights”. Two of Alitalia’s seven daily Rome-Milan services will be reserved for passengers who test negative for coronavirus either at a rapid testing unit set up at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, or elsewhere within 72 hours before the flight, and can show a certificate to prove it. It’s an experiment that, if successful, could be rolled out to other domestic and international routes in the hope of allowing air travel to recover and luring back passengers.

“I think it’s better than just going inside the aeroplane not knowing if the other people are positive or negative,” said Lisa Mandini, clutching her test certificate. “It’s fast - I had to come to the airport just two hours before the flight. Even if a passenger has their mask down their face, I feel more secure like this.”

Fiumicino’s testing unit has been up and running for a month already: a simple and efficient process in which passengers from Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain are given a nasal swab at the arrivals floor. The result comes in just half an hour, which they show at the airport exit.

Italy has moved from Europe’s first epicentre of the pandemic to a pioneer of airport testing. The question now is whether others will follow.

Martin Patience
BBC News, Middle East correspondent

Image source, EPA

Lebanon’s largest prison is grappling with coronavirus outbreak. A security source told the BBC that about 200 prisoners had contracted Covid-19 in Roumieh prison, located close to the capital, Beirut. Earlier this week, it was reported that prisoners had staged violent protests saying they were not getting the medical care they required.

The jail houses more than 3,000 prisoners and is infamous for poor conditions and overcrowding. There are growing calls for those imprisoned for petty crimes to be released. Lebanon is currently witnessing a surge in the number of Covid-19 infections.

The authorities are warning that they’ll be overwhelmed if the infection rate continues to grow while at the same time the country tries to recover from the devastating Beirut port blast last month.

The Scottish National Party's Philippa Whitford asks if Health Secretary Matt Hancock accepts that cutting test appointments in parts of the UK causes a danger of new outbreaks not being detected at an early enough stage.

She also says there are reports of people in England being encouraged to enter an Aberdeen postcode in order to secure a test.

Does the health secretary accept this could undermine Scotland's contact tracing system?, she asks.

Hancock says the government has always had in place a series of safeguards to prevent this issue.

He says there are more tests in Scotland than the rest of the UK per head of population.

Hancock adds that in Scotland's NHS there is extra testing capacity that needs to be used.

We've been telling you about the new restrictions for the north-east of England, where Health Secretary Matt Hancock says there are "concerning rates" of infection.

But what is the situation there?

Well, he said Sunderland currently had an infection rate of 103 cases per 100,000 people, while in South Tyneside, Gateshead and Newcastle the figures are all above 70.

There's more detail on this in the graphs below.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

India is approaching the ninth month of the coronavirus pandemic with more than five million confirmed cases - the second-highest in the world after the US - and more than 80,000 reported deaths. It reported another record jump in daily infections on Thursday - 97,894 in the last 24 hours.

Infection is surging through the country in a "step-ladder spiral", a government scientist told me. The only "consolation" is a death rate - currently 1.63% - that's lower than many countries with a high caseload.

The increase in reported cases has partly to do with increased testing - but the speed at which the virus is spreading is worrying experts.Here's why. It took 170 days for India to reach the first million cases.

The last million cases took only 11 days. Average daily cases have shot up from 62 in April to more than 87,000 in September.

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is now chairman of the Commons health select committee, says he welcomes the expanded use of NHS 111.

But he asks about how the changes will affect how effectively sepsis is detected.

Hunt says A&Es have made "huge progress" in testing for sepsis.

If this is going to be done by phone, it is vital call handlers are properly trained and algorithms adjusted to make sure they ask the right questions, he says.

Matt Hanock says he "whole-heartedly supports" Hunt's suggestion.

He says he will ensure the point made is registered.

Labour's Jon Ashworth asks Hancock to guarantee care homes "won't face the same shortages" of personal protective equipment (PPE) that they had previously.

He also raises concerns about the "huge harm" that can be caused if there are restrictions on family visits.

Ashworth asks in the Commons: "Does he rule out reimposing nationwide restrictions on family visits?"

Hancock responds by saying there is a "huge plan" to ensure care homes can get enough PPE and that details will be announced soon.

On family visits, he said it was an "incredibly difficult" challenge - as "no-one wants to spread coronavirus" but there's also a need to "make sure those in care homes get the support they need and deserve".

Mr Hancock finishes his statement by talking about work to protect care homes.

He says the government will extend its adult social care infection control fund, which he says has helped social care providers to reduce the rate of transmission.

This will be extended for six months, with the government providing a further £540m of funding, he says.

The health secretary says the government will also soon bring forward its adult social care winter plan.

"We'll do whatever is humanly possible to protect our care homes from this virus, so they're a place of sanctuary this winter," he adds.

Responding to the shadow health secretary's questions on testing, Hancock insists testing capacity is at "record levels" - and "has increased week on week".

"The challenge is that demand has gone up," he adds.

He stresses that those with symptoms should get a test - but "if you do not, then do not come forward to get a test".

Those areas where extra restrictions are in place are being prioritised, he adds.

Image source, PA Media

The health secretary says the government is expanding the role of the NHS 111 phone service as part of a pilot taking place across a number of health trusts in England.

Hancock says millions of people have used the service during the coronavirus pandemic.

He says the government is investing £24m to increase call handling capacity and to make sure there are more clinicians to provide expert advice and guidance.

NHS 111 will be a gateway to the emergency care system, he tells MPs.

In future, rather than queuing in the accident and emergency department, people in some areas will be asked to contact NHS 111 first to see who can provide the appropriate care.

He says the government wants this approach to lead to better waiting times.

If the pilots are successful, they would be rolled out to all trusts from December, he adds.

Jonathan Ashworth, the UK Labour Party's shadow health secretary, challenges Matt Hancock on the testing crisis.

He says it's a case "not so much of test and trace - more like trace a test", referring to the problems some people have had in accessing a Covid-19 test.

He asks Mr Hancock if there will be more testing capacity available in areas where there are tightened restrictions, like in the North East, as just announced.

Mr Ashworth says the NHS is at the cusp of a second spike - and that instead of fixing the issue of testing, the government was instead restricting access.

It is "urgent" the government "fixes testing, fixes tracing" or we face a "very bleak winter indeed", he adds.

Mr Hancock says the government is working to bolster the health and social care system in England.

He adds that winter is always a "stretching time" but the coming one presents "particular" challenges because of coronavirus.

He says the government had allocated another £2.7bn to the NHS to support it in winter months.

He says this funding is in addition to extra money for PPE and testing.

The health secretary also announces a series of measures to support hospital emergency departments.

A further £150m is being earmarked to expand 25 emergency departments, he says.

Image source, PA Media

Mr Hancock says he knows the impact these new restrictions will have on people's lives and tells those affected the decisions were not taken lightly.

"The data says we must act now, so we can control the virus and keep people safe," he adds.

He says he knew people in the North East would "come together" to defeat the virus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced new social restrictions for parts of north-east England.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Hancock said from Friday restrictions would apply in Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, Sunderland and County Durham.

In these areas residents should not socialise with people outside of their household or support bubble, he said.

Hospitality will be restricted for food and drink to table service only.

And late-night restrictions on operating hours will be introduced, so leisure and entertainment venues must close between 22:00 and 05:00.

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said a pandemic was on the government's "radar" when he was in power - but admits a different kind of outbreak was anticipated.

He told Times Radio that a pandemic was classed as a "tier one risk" - but that it was "fair to say" planning was focused on it being a flu pandemic, rather than a respiratory disease, like coronavirus.

The difficulty, he added, was being prepared for the right thing, admitting that "better work could have been done there".

In the interview, he also said "mistakes have been made"on the issue of care homes and social care, which were connected to decision-making.

But he also said the coronavirus pandemic has been a crisis far greater than than he or any other recent prime ministers have had to deal with, adding that you have to make a large number of decisions and "you're not going to get everything right".

The number of weekly coronavirus cases has exceeded the infections reported when the pandemic first peaked in Europe in March, the World Health Organization has warned.

"We have a very serious situation unfolding before us," the organisation's Europe director said in a press conference on Thursday.

Hans Kluge added that September's figures should serve as a "wake-up call" for European governments, as the region's weekly tally reached 300,000 patients last week.

Image source, Getty Images

An official appointed by President Trump to oversee health communications about vaccines has gone on medical leave after he made controversial remarks.

In a Facebook live on Sunday Michael Caputo accused scientists in the Department of Health and Human Services of forming a "resistance unit" against President Donald Trump and giving up science in favour of politics. He also ecnouraged Trump supporters to buy guns, predicating that Democratic candidate Joe Biden would refuse to accept a Trump victory in November's election.

In a statement, Caputo said he decided to take a temporary medical leave to “pursue necessary screenings for a lymphatic issue discovered last week”.

An aide to Caputo, Paul Alexander, is leaving the department permanently after reportedly putting pressure on officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to adapt their messages to Trump's.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

Image source, PA Media

There has been a sharp decline in turnaround times for in-person tests (walk-in and drive through centres) in England, NHS England Test and Trace weekly figures show, external, as demand rose in the week until 9 September.

A third of people got their results back within 24 hours of taking a test - down from two-thirds last week.

On the measure often quoted by ministers - results back the next day- 65% of people received their results the day after a test was taken, compared with 89% reported last week.

The number of people testing positive for coronavirus in England increased by 75% compared with the previous week - 18,371 new people tested positive.

The number of people who were newly tested also rose, but to a lesser extent (up 27%).

You can read more about the latest figures on testing here.

Image source, Getty Images

Strict caps on international arrivals have left around 30,000 Australians stranded in the UK and unable to return home, a group of airlines say.

It is essential to help Australians camped out at Heathrow airport in London, the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia (BARA) says in a statement on its website., external

It is calling on Australian authorities to increase their quarantine capacity to allow more residents to return.

Currently around 4,000 Australians are allowed back into the country per week, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he wants to increase that to 6,000 weekly, ABC News reports., external

Laura Bicker
BBC News

The company behind South Korea's new Covid-19 test which tells the difference between coronavirus and flu is sending thousands of kits to Europe and the UK in the next week.

The firm Seegene claims the accuracy rate of the test is 98-99% and results are possible in just two hours.

The single PCR test can detect whether a patient has either Sars-CoV-2, two types of seasonal flu or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

There are currently 30 million test kits in production in South Korea - 95% will be exported and 27% of them will go to Europe. Spain is the largest market in Europe followed by Italy, Germany, France Belgium and the UK.