Here are the latest updates on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic:

  • A FURTHER 355 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours according to official Government figures released on Friday, bringing the UK total to 48,475. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 64,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
  • THE Government said that, as of 9am on Friday, there had been a further 23,287 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,146,484. Separate Government figures show there were 10,344 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England on Thursday, up from 8,681 a week ago, while 984 were in ventilation beds, up from 803 a week ago. Both figures decreased on the previous day, from 10,419 patients in hospital and 995 in ventilation beds on Wednesday.
  • A TOTAL of 1,246 patients with confirmed Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals in England on Tuesday, the latest figure available, compared with 1,190 a week earlier. Data released on Friday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) shows the estimate for R for the whole of the UK is between 1.1 and 1.3.
  • BLANKET provisions allowing all pubs to serve takeaway food and booze will be extended by the Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick to give the hospitality sector long-term reassurance. Pubs, bars and restaurants were forced to close across England this week as part of the second national coronavirus lockdown but the new regulations allow takeaway alcohol to be served as long as it is pre-ordered online, via phone or post. The automatic takeaway permissions established during the spring lockdown will be renewed for another year and Mr Jenrick said his department will look into whether this one-size-fits-all approach should become the norm. It means businesses will not need to go through a planning application process to provide takeaway, with the exemption being extended until March 23 2022.
  • ITALY coach Roberto Mancini has tested positive for coronavirus, the Italian Football Federation has announced. The 55-year-old former Manchester City and Inter Milan boss, who was tested as part of pre-screening ahead of Sunday’s national team training camp, is asymptomatic and self-isolating at home in Rome.
  • THE Welsh Government has faced calls to extend lockdown in the south Wales valleys as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise there. The country will adopt a new set of national rules when Wales’s 17-day firebreak lockdown ends on Monday, but opposition parties fear these new rules will not be enough to tackle the virus. The final week of the country’s lockdown saw more Covid-19 patients in Welsh hospitals than there were during the April peak of the first wave. The rate of coronavirus infections across England and Wales appears to be slowing down, new data suggests.
  • THE Office for National Statistics (ONS) said an estimated 618,700 people in England – one in 90 – had Covid-19 between October 25 and 31, up from 568,100 the week before. But while the infection rate has increased in recent weeks, “the rate of increase is less steep compared with previous weeks”, the ONS said. Ruth Studley, head of analysis for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: “At a national level we are seeing infections slow across England and Wales but they are still increasing. “Within England, every region apart from the North East has shown increased levels of infection.
  • MIKE Ashley’s Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, Evans Cycles and Frasers department stores, has confirmed it will not open any stores in England – even if they are considered “essential retailers”. The company also launched a scathing attack on the Government, singling out Cabinet minister Michael Gove. In a statement released to the stock market on Friday afternoon, Frasers Group said: “In England, stores closed from 5 November 2020 and are currently expected to reopen when current regulations expire after 28 days. “The Government finally updated mixed retail rules for England yesterday, Thursday 6 (sic) November 2020. “We note inconsistencies remain and, given Michael Gove MP chose to perform a PR stunt on TV to deflect the public’s opprobrium on to Frasers Group at the start of the previous lockdown, we currently will not be opening any of our fascias in England, including those with mixed retail use that include ‘essential retail’.”