Coronavirus news you might have missed overnight: Rush to get 15-minute antibody tests into homes, as UK wakes to new draconian emergency law

Government orders 10,000 new Dyson ventilators in anticipation of UK virus peak

The coronavirus pandemic continues to cause chaos across the UK and around the world.

Here’s your morning briefing of everything you may have missed overnight about the fight against Covid-19.

UK to make new 15-minute at-home antibody tests available ‘within days’

A Public Health England director revealed new 15-minute home test kits to determine whether people have had a case of coronavirus – and there are thought to be immune – will be available to the British public within days.

The government has bought 3.5 million of the tests for coronavirus antibodies, which are currently being assessed for accuracy.

If they work, the tests would allow doctors and nurses to determine whether they could return to work.

Thousands of the tests will be sold in chemists such as Boots or delivered by Amazon to people with symptoms who are self-isolating as soon as next week.

They will be given to NHS staff and key workers first as a priority.

Emergency legislation becomes law, giving ministers unprecedented powers to tackle outbreak

The UK woke on Thursday to new draconian emergency powers aimed at helping ministers to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 came into law on Wednesday after both the Lords and the Commons passed the unprecedented 329-page bill in just three days.

It will see the powers of ministers, councils, police, health professionals and coroners temporarily strengthened during the UK’s current lockdown, which is designed to stall the spread of the potentially deadly illness.

Ministers, for example, will now have the ability to restrict or prohibit events and gatherings during the outbreak of the virus, “in any place, vehicle, train, vessel or aircraft, any moveable structure and any offshore installations and where necessary, to close premises”.

The legislation, which will be in force for a two-year period, will be reviewed by MPs every six months, after No 10 relented to pressure earlier this week.

Dyson receives order for 10,000 ventilators from government

The government has ordered 10,000 medical ventilators designed at breakneck speed by vacuum maker Dyson, as the country tries to boost the number of devices available to treat coronavirus patients.

An image issued by Dyson of their proposed CoVent ventilator on a hospital bed (PA)

Engineers from the British firm drew up designs for new machine within a matter of days after prime minister Boris Johnson made an urgent appeal for manufacturers to supply the NHS in anticipation of cases peaking in the UK in coming weeks.

Founder James Dyson said his company had received an “initial order” of 10,000 units from the government, which it will supply on an “open-book basis”.

The company is also looking at ways of making the ventilator available internationally.

UK death toll rises to 463

The number of deaths in the UK as a result of the Covid-19 coronavirus rose to 463, after authorities in England reported a further 28 deaths in 24 hours.

They included a 47-year-old who did not have an underlying health condition.

The others who died, including one person aged 93, did have underlying health conditions, NHS England said. Their families have been informed.

US coronavirus death toll passes 1,000

The number of dead in the US rose to 1,041 on Wednesday, with nearly 70,000 people infected with Covid-19.

In recognition of the scale of the threat, the US Senate passed a $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems.

The Senate passed the vote unanimously despite misgivings on both sides about whether it went far enough or not far enough.