Here's an overview of some of the key coronavirus news points from the last 24-hours.

  • Laws underpinning new lockdown restrictions for Greater Manchester, parts of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire are yet to be implemented four days after the rules were introduced, the Government has admitted. Ministers said the rules, placing bans on people from different households meeting following a spike in coronavirus cases, were effective from midnight on Friday. But on Monday afternoon the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed it was yet to implement laws bringing the rules into force.
  • The NHS Test and Trace programme needs to be scaled up in order to reopen schools safely, researchers have said. A new modelling study has implied that reopening schools in September must be combined with a high-coverage test-trace-isolate strategy to avoid a second wave of Covid-19 later this year. The study comes as Australian research found there were "low" levels of coronavirus transmission in schools and nurseries. The modelling study - which simulates various scenarios - examined the possible implications of schools reopening in the UK coupled with broader reopening of society, such as more parents returning to the workplace and increased socialising within the community. The authors found that "with increased levels of testing... and effective contact tracing and isolation, an epidemic rebound might be prevented".

The Northern Echo:

  • Mass testing the public for Covid-19 could lead to the rest of society being able to reopen - including sports grounds and theatres, one expert has said. Gordon Sanghera, chief executive of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, said that mass testing could lead to the introduction of health passports which would allow people who test negative for Covid-19 "access all areas". Introducing tests for everyone once or twice a week would mean that people who have the virus but who are not yet showing symptoms could be "taken out of society and quarantined to minimise infection", he said. Oxford Nanopore Technologies is one of two companies which has introduced a rapid coronavirus test which promises results within 90 minutes.
  • A spike in coronavirus cases in Swindon is being driven by an outbreak at a large logistics firm, local leaders have said. Swindon Borough Council health chiefs said that mobile testing teams had been called in after the outbreak at XPO Logistics and many of the new cases being picked up were asymptomatic people. The latest data from Public Health England (PHE) on Monday showed in the seven days to July 31 the rate of new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in the town was 48.6, up from 19.8 the previous seven days. It was the largest rise in new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in England during the seven days to July 31.

The Northern Echo:

  • Those living in rural areas are more at risk of losing their jobs due to the coronavirus, a report by a Conservative-dominated group of councils has found. The study by Grant Thornton UK LLP for the County Councils Network (CCN), which acts for 39 of the biggest English authorities, predicts that almost six million people in England's counties are working in "at risk" jobs, with 46% of the country's entire furloughed workforce residing in county areas. Expressing fears that a significant number of furloughed workers in the counties will not have jobs to go back to once the scheme ends in October, CCN county leaders are calling on the Government to provide councils with devolved powers to protect employment.