Here are the latest updates from the last 24 hours

  • Britain will be officially declared in recession for the first time since the financial crisis today when figures are set to show the pandemic sent the economy plunging by a record 21 per cent between April and June. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is expected to confirm the mammoth second quarter contraction, the worst in western Europe, and the UK’s nosedive into recession after a 2.2 per cent fall in the first three months of 2020.
  • A mobile testing centre will be at the Newport Community Hub in St Paul’s Road, Middlesbrough from today until Sunday. It is being operated on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care and has been deployed in response to a local increase in cases. People are urged to book online or by calling 119 - but anyone who arrives without a booking will be assisted to register. It is open from 11am to 3pm today and from 10am-4pm for the rest of the week.
  • NHS trusts in the North-East have been allocated a share of £17 million to upgrade their facilities this winter. Hospitals could use the new funding to expand waiting areas and increase the number of treatment cubicles, helping them boost A&E capacity by providing additional space, reducing overcrowding and improving infection control measures.They could also increase the provision of same day emergency care and improve patient flow in the hospital to help the NHS respond to winter pressures and the risk from further outbreaks of coronavirus.
  • Care home residents with coronavirus may be asymptomatic or not display typical symptoms, and should be tested if they are feeling generally unwell, new research indicates. In response to Covid-19, a new testing service was rolled out in care homes in north Norfolk. The service found about half of residents who tested positive for Covid-19 were asymptomatic, but some went on to develop symptoms, which in many cases were not typical and did not include a high temperature, cough or loss of smell.
  • The NHS should brace itself for a rising tide of patients in need of mental health support as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHS Confederation has warned. It warned that people requiring support and treatment are at risk of not getting the care they need and their conditions deteriorating. While the peak of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital came earlier this year, a new report has found the peak in demand for mental health care is "yet to come and mental health bodies need “intensive support and investment” to prepare for it.
  • NHS staff should have regular tests for Covid-19, scientists have said, after a new study highlighted the proportion of staff who had the disease but showed no symptoms. The new study found that one in six maternity health workers have had Covid-19, with about one in three completely asymptomatic ­– meaning the continued to go about their work as usual, potentially passing the virus to new mothers and babies.