Here is a round up of the latest details regarding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic:

• There were no further coronavirus deaths in hospitals in the North-East and North Yorkshire yesterday.

• Latest figures published on Friday afternoon confirmed a total of 1,733 people had died in the region after testing positive for Covid-19.

• It was the second day in a row that the region has not recorded any new Covid-19 patient deaths.

• But nationally, a further 22 patients died with the virus in hospital settings across England.

• Gateshead Council has confirmed that it has no immediate plans to reopen its leisure centres, gyms and swimming pools, despite others reopening on July 25.

Councillor Martin Gannon, leader of Gateshead Council, said: “While coronavirus infection rates in Gateshead are declining, we remain committed to our pledge to protect the most vulnerable people in our communities. We have therefore made the decision to maintain the closure of our leisure."

• Boris Johnson has said the Government is looking at introducing stricter rules on wearing face coverings.

He said: “As we get the numbers down in the way that we have and we really stamp out outbreaks in the way that we are, I do think we need to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they don't normally meet," he said in an online question and answer session with the public.

"We are looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings in shops, for instance, where there is a risk of transmission."

• The Prime Minister said expert opinion on face coverings had shifted over the course of the pandemic.

"The balance of scientific opinion seems to have shifted more in favour of them than it was.”

• Boris Johnson has also urged Britons to go back to work if they can, in a shift from the Government's policy of asking people to work from home.

• The PM said: "I want people to go back to work as carefully as possible. It's very important that people should be going back to work if they can now.

"I think everybody has sort of taken the 'stay at home if you can' - I think we should now say, well, 'go back to work if you can'.”

• Mr Johnson said it is important to suppress coronavirus ahead of the winter when the disease could come back.

• Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the UK will not join an EU scheme to procure a coronavirus vaccine if one is successfully developed.

Mr Hancock said that signing up to the EU programme would have meant abandoning Britain's own procurement programmes, which were more developed.

• Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said the businesses which announced job cuts this week had reported that coronavirus had accelerated shopping trends that were already in place.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said: "I think if you look carefully at the statements of the businesses which have been announcing those big consultations, which I know from talking to the leaders of those companies how difficult the decisions are in any sort of job losses, is that actually what they are saying is that a lot of that is acceleration of transformation trends which were already under way.”

• Culture minister Caroline Dinenage said she wanted the beauty sector to be able to reopen "as soon as possible". Her comments came after guidance indicated that beauty parlours will not be able to provide face treatments when they reopen, such as eyelash tinting and doing make-up.

• Labour has said the restrictions involved for reopening beauty salons would put jobs at risk which are "overwhelmingly" held by women from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Shadow women and equalities minister Marsha de Cordova said: "This week, the Chancellor ignored Labour's calls to carry out and publish an equality impact assessment of what impact his summer statement would have on different groups.”