The NHS’s new coronavirus track-and-trace app could be hijacked by trolls bent on ‘sowing chaos for malicious pleasure’ with people more likely to ignore warnings about self-isolating if ‘false alerts’ become widespread, experts warned today. The UK app is currently the only one in the world that will allow an element of self reporting – … Read more
Ministers have been warned by their expert scientific advisers that lifting the coronavirus lockdown and then reimposing restrictions later would be seen by the public as a ‘serious failure of policy’. Newly-released secret documents show the government’s scientists have argued in favour of only a very slow easing of measures. They said if lockdown was … Read more
Employers could shun workers who have not had coronavirus after lockdown, prompting people to actively try to catch the disease or obtain fake test results on the blackmarket, the government’s science experts warned ministers. Secret documents prepared by the independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) last month outlined the potential drawbacks of introducing … Read more
The Trump administration is privately projecting the death toll from the coronavirus will reach 3,000 cases daily on June 1 even as the president pushes for a reopening of the economy. That number is nearly double the current level of 1,750 deaths a day from the disease. The projections, obtained by The New York Times, … Read more
Boris Johnson was warned by his own Tory MPs today that prolonging the UK’s coronavirus lockdown could result in a ‘tidal wave of human misery’ as the Prime Minister was urged to ease restrictions ‘as quickly at possible’. The PM is expected on Thursday to renew the lockdown before using an address to the nation … Read more
Obesity may be one of the biggest risk factors for developing severe COVID-19, according to scientists. Elderly people, regardless of their weight, have been found to be the most vulnerable to severe illness or death if they catch the coronavirus. But scientific evidence, mostly from the US, is beginning to show that someone who is … Read more
Red spots on the hands, blisters on the torso and itchy wheals have been identified as possible signs of the coronavirus. Dermatologists have warned of five skin symptoms that may be a sign of the deadly infection after studying 375 patients in Spain. Experts were asked to identify patients who had an unexplained skin ‘eruption’ … Read more
Social bubbles could be limited to fewer than ten people and super-spreader indoor events could be banned until well into 2021 to avoid a second peak of coronavirus infections, scientists revealed. Senior epidemiologist Adam Kucharski has warned Britain could face ‘exponential growth’ in Covid-19 cases if groups of people start getting together to celebrate as … Read more
Ministers have warned lockdown may need to remain in place for months until the number of new cases falls below 1,000 per day after Professor Chris Whitty raised the spectre of a second peak far worse than the first. The total number of new coronavirus deaths in all settings was 674 on Thursday, down from … Read more
Surgeons warn thousands will die if Britain comes out of lockdown now and say Boris Johnson must not use NHS as his ‘economic punchbag’ Professor Neil Mortensen of the Royal College of Surgeons issued the warning Prof Mortensen said many members are reporting shortages of PPE equipment Medics fear loosening the lockdown could lead to … Read more