Coronavirus news – live: Shoppers risk fines as face masks become mandatory in England on 24 July

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Enough coronavirus vaccine doses for everyone in UK 'in first half of next year' if trials succeed, research chief says

Matt Hancock will announce on Tuesday that face coverings will become mandatory mandatory in English shops from 24 July, with shoppers risking a £100 fine if they fail to comply.

The prime minister – who was first pictured wearing a mask only days ago – said: “The scientific evaluation of face coverings and their importance on stopping aerosol droplets, that’s been growing, so I do think that in shops it is very important to wear a face covering if you’re going to be in a confined space and you want to protect other people and receive protection in turn.”

His comments came as three people escaped quarantine at a Herefordshire farm – where 200 staff members had been ordered to isolate after 74 infections were identified. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation warned that the coronavirus pandemic had the potential to get “worse and worse and worse” if countries do not follow basic healthcare guidance.

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Key Points

• Matt Hancock to make masks mandatory in shops from 24 July
• Three escape quarantine at Herefordshire farm with 74 cases
• Coronavirus crisis may get 'worse and worse and worse', WHO warns
• Hancock promises ‘biggest flu vaccination programme in history’ this winter
• Work from home guidance under review, Downing Street says
• Leicester coronavirus rate decreasing but city is still ‘an outlier’
• More than 100 outbreaks tackled a week, health secretary says
• Beauty salons and tattoo shops to reopen in England

[14 July 2020 00:28 · Andy Gregory]

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