Covid latest: Here's what you need to know this Tuesday morning, September 22

• Further Covid-19 measures could be announced today after the UK's chief medical officers raised the virus threat level to 4 yesterday evening. Chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, told a press briefing there was now “significant rates of transmission” of coronavirus in parts of the UK. And Chief Scientific Officer, Sir Patrick Vallance, warned that there could be 50,000 coronavirus cases per day next month if the rate of the disease’s spread is not brought down. He said: “At the moment we think the epidemic is doubling roughly every seven days. If, and that’s quite a big if, but if that continues unabated and this grows doubling every seven days… if that continued you would end up with something like 50,000 cases in the middle of October per day. 50,000 cases per day would be expected to lead a month later, so the middle of November say, to 200-plus deaths per day."

Chief Scientific Officer, Sir Patrick Vallance Picture: PA

• A Further 454 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the North-East and North Yorkshire according to the latest figures published on Monday afternoon. The Government said that as of 9am Monday there had been a further 4,368 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. Overall, 398,625 cases have been confirmed nationally. It also said a further 11 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday. This brings the UK death total to 41,788 according to Government statistics.

• Grandparents and other carers will once again be able to look after children and vulnerable adults from outside their household after Government u-turn on new local lockdown laws. The new restrictions currently in force in the North-East and North-West did not take into account the role family carers play in allowing people to continue working. On Monday afternoon Health Secretary Matt Hancock acknowledged that such arrangements were a “lifeline” for many people, and without them they were unable to do their jobs. But he said the exemption would not allow parents to send their children to “playdates or parties” with friends from another household.
• The UK now has access to six different Covid-19 vaccine candidates in development, across four different types, representing more than 340 million doses. Priority groups such as frontline health workers, those with serious diseases, the elderly and ethnic minorities are first in line to receive a jab, should a vaccine be approved. Across the world there are more than 240 vaccine candidates, with more than 40 in clinical trials. Nine of these are in phase three, or phase 2/3 trials.