Coronavirus news – live: WHO says everyone must wear face masks in public as Matt Hancock urges people not to attend George Floyd protests
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The World Health Organisation has updated its coronavirus guidance in response to recent research to say everyone should wear face coverings in public where there is a risk of virus transmission.
The change came as Matt Hancock, the health secretary, announced all hospital visitors would have to wear face coverings from 15 June and urged the public to not attend upcoming George Floyd protests due to concerns about the potential for large gatherings to spread Covid-19.
Meanwhile, as the official UK death toll passed 40,000, scientists halted a trial of the anti-malaria drug touted by Donald Trump after researchers at the University of Oxford found hydroxychloroquine was ineffective as a treatment for coronavirus.
Follow the latest developments in the liveblog below:
Potential vaccine already in production, says AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca has already started production of a potential Covid-19 vaccine in a bid to meet demand should the drug prove effective.
Chief executive Pascal Soriot said the company would know by August whether or not the vaccine works.
Spain to further ease lockdown measures
Coronavirus lockdown restrictions in the hard-hit Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona will be eased further from next week, Spain's health minister Salvador Illa has said.
From Monday, customers will be allowed to eat and drink inside bars and restaurants rather than just on outdoor terraces and children will be able to play outside at any time of day, not just in dedicated time slots.
Government defends 'clunky' test and trace system
The government has defended the test and trace system after senior NHS officials reportedly called it "clunky".
The Guardian reported that Tony Prestedge, the scheme's chief operating officer, told staff it would not be operating on a world-class level until September or October.
The prime minister's official spokesman said: "The new NHS test and trace service is up and running and is live.
"Anyone in this country can now book a test and the majority who book a test get the results back within a day.
"Thousands of people who have tested positive have been contacted in a matter of days and their close contacts successfully traced, using both online services and over the phone.
"Baroness Harding [who is leading the test and trace efforts for the government] has been clear from the outset the system will improve over time but the key point is it is up and running and helping to save lives."
Government's scientific advisers saw test showing 'clear gap' in Scotland's virus preparedness, Downing Street confirms
Downing Street has confirmed a group of scientists advising the UK government saw the results of a test that showed a "clear gap" in Scotland's preparedness for handling a virus similar to Covid-19.
The exercise held in March 2018 simulated an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (Mers-CoV) to assess NHS Scotland's readiness to respond to a suspected outbreak.
The prime minister's official spokesman said: "It was specifically to test the preparedness of the Scottish government, as I understand it, and that reflects the fact that public health is a devolved matter.
"The report produced by the Scottish government was shared with the Nervtag group - New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, in long-hand - at a meeting on June 2019."
Asked whether it was discussed by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), the No 10 spokesman said: "I don't know - Nervtag obviously feeds things into Sage, I don't know anything beyond that it was shared with Nervtag."
When put to the spokesman that the report represented a missed opportunity to act earlier on the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), the PM's spokesman said: "I think we've acknowledged that the UK government did face challenges in securing PPE at a time when there was unprecedented global demand across the world.
"We have now made good progress, both in terms of getting more PPE from overseas but also in increasing domestic (supply)."
Four more deaths in Wales
A further four people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of deaths to 1,383.
Another 76 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 14,314, according to Public Health Wales.
Wales 'not told in advance of new face mask rule'
First Minister Mark Drakeford said the UK Government had not discussed the decision to make the wearing of face masks on public transport mandatory in England.
"I wish that we'd had a chance to explore this with the UK Government before they made the announcements," he said.
He said the advice from the chief medical officer for Wales was that wearing face masks gave people "some marginal extra protection" but was not sufficient to make it mandatory.
"The chief medical officer has expressed his anxieties that people might do more risky things because they think a face mask offers them protection, which it doesn't," Mr Drakeford said
"But context changes because in England it is mandatory to use face masks while on public transport.
"Trains and roads between north and south Wales weave in and out of the border all the time and in a sheer practical sense we have to think through whether having separate regimes is a possibility when you can leave on a train that starts in Wales, goes into England, comes back into Wales, goes back into England, comes back into Wales. Is it in a practical sense possible to have different regimes?"
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All 5.7 million inhabitants of Singapore could be issued with a wearable contact-tracing device under new plans to combat coronavirus.
The gadget can be worn on a lanyard or carried loose. It is designed to bypass glitches in an earlier smartphone-based system that used Bluetooth and had limited uptake – difficulties also experienced by other governments including the UK.
Japan aims to have vaccine before Tokyo Olympics
Japan's health minister has outlined plans to bring coronavirus vaccines into use by June 2021, a month before the postponed 2020 Olympics begin.
"We will be securing production facilities in parallel with expedited vaccine development," Katsunobu Kato told reporters.
The government has pledged 146 billion yen (£1.05bn) for vaccine production and distribution as part of its budget.
Japanese pharmaceutical firms developing coronavirus vaccines include Shionogi & Co and AnGes Inc.
R 'as high as 1 in North West and South West of England'
Public Health England have revealed that the R number - the average number of people that will contract coronavirus from an infected person - is as high as 1 in the North West and South West regions of England.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, PHE medical director, said: "Our estimates show that the regional R numbers have increased although they remain below one for most of England - this is to be expected as we gradually move out of lockdown.
"It is vital that everyone continues with social distancing, practising good hand hygiene and must remain at home and order a test if they have symptoms."
Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser said that the R number for the UK as a whole has remained steady at between 0.7 and 0.9. In England R is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.
During a virtual briefing with journalists, Sir Patrick said the prevalence of Covid-19 was on a "downward trajectory" in the UK.
"The prevalence of coronavirus, according to the ONS, is at 0.1 per cent, with 53,000 people with Covid-19 in the past two weeks," he said.
"The latest R-value calculation is between 0.7 and 0.9 for the UK as a whole, it may be a little bit higher in England it may be between 0.7 and 1, and there is a bit of regional variation."
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