Here are key updates from the coronavirus pandemic from the last 24-hours. 

  • Almost 1,600 people across the North-East and North Yorkshire have died in hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus. Latest figures published on Saturday afternoon confirmed one more coronavirus patient has died in the region, taking the death toll to 1,559. 
  • Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said 36,675 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Friday, up by 282 from 36,393 the day before.
  • Dominic Cummings has said he “behaved reasonably and legally” when he travelled from his London home to County Durham during the lockdown. Opposition MPs have accused Number 10 of a “cover-up” and called for the Prime Minister’s top aide to resign after it emerged that he had driven 250 miles despite the guidelines on travelling.
  • Responding to Mr Cummings' actions, deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries said: "All of the guidance has a common sense element to it, which includes safeguarding around adults or children.
  • Businesses will have to pay at least a fifth of the wages of furloughed workers in coming months, it has been reported. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said the furlough scheme will be in place until at least October with companies to be asked to "start sharing" the cost from the start of August. The Times reports Treasury has devised a scheme which would see employers cover between 20 and 30 per cent of a worker's wage.
  • Irish airline Aer Lingus intends to lay off staff after a Government wage subsidy scheme expires next month, a trade union said. It has been buffeted by the coronavirus crisis which has devastated the aviation industry. Forsa official Angela Kirk represents cabin crew and other grades and said the national carrier's plans were premature.