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

  • Lockdown-style restrictions have now come into force affecting households and pubs in parts of the North-East. From midnight Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, Northumberland, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and County Durham came under new lockdown rules. The tough new restrictions include a ban on households mixing with other households, a curfew on pubs, restaurants and bars, and restrictions on non-essential public transport. Darlington and the Tees Valley are not affected by the new restrictions, with council leaders saying that the situation is being monitored closely by the Government. Tees Valley residents are being urged to continue to adhere to social distancing rules to avoid having the restrictions imposed that are now in place in the further North-East.

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Bishop Auckland is among the County Durham towns affected by the new lockdown restrictions Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

  • There have been 313 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the North-East and North Yorkshire in the 24-hour period leading up to Thursday afternoon. Latest figures show that the North-East region has 19,227 confirmed cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, while Yorkshire and the Humber has 41,659. And the Government said that as of 9am today, there had been a further 3,395 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. Overall, 381,614 cases have been confirmed nationally. It also said a further 21 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday. This brings the UK coronavirus death total to 41,705. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,500 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
  • Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock has tested positive for coronavirus. The 71-year-old Boro boss has been displaying mild symptoms of the virus, and is currently in isolation. He is understood to be in good spirits, and is continuing to work on trying to complete signings for the club. However, he is not having any involvement in training at Boro's Rockliffe Park training ground. Assistant manager Kevin Blackwell and first-team coach Ronnie Jepson will take charge of Saturday's Championship home game with Bournemouth. All of Warnock's coaching staff have recorded a negative test result.

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Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock

  • Croatia, Austria and Trinidad and Tobago have been removed from the list of safe countries people can travel to without going into quarantine following fears they could be experiencing a second wave of Covid-19. The move, announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday evening, means people travelling from these countries will have to isolate for two weeks if they return to the UK after 4am on Saturday. In addition, Scotland has also removed Switzerland from the safe travel list, so anybody returning to north of the border from the Alpine country will also have to self-isolate for a fortnight. However, passengers arriving in the UK from Portugal will no longer have to self-isolate because it has been added to the travel corridor list from 4am on Saturday.Thailand and Singapore have also been added to the list of travel corridors, while Slovenia and Guadeloupe have been removed.
  • Sports governing bodies are hoping to get an answer next week about whether fans can return to stadiums on October 1, when capacities are set to be capped at between 25 to 35 per cent to allow for social distancing. A number of pilot events across a range of sports have already taken place this month with more lined up, with capacities at those events currently capped at 1,000 spectators regardless of the size of venue. Sport’s finances are in crisis because of the inability to welcome back spectators and Alison McGovern, the Labour MP for Wirral South, believes further progress could have been made with a more effective testing programme. “If we had a competently run, good, functioning system, then that would help in every aspect of our lives and that would definitely help get supporters back watching the sport that they love,” she told the PA news agency.