UK coronavirus LIVE: Self-isolating Brits to be given £13 a day as officials hold crunch meeting over fate of local lockdowns

A further seven people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,531, NHS England said on Thursday.

The patients were aged between 77 and 90, and all had known underlying health conditions.

Another six deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Public Health Wales said another person has died having tested positive for coronavirus, bringing its total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,595.

The number of cases of Covid-19 in Wales increased by 35, bringing the revised confirmed total to 17,843.

Delta Air Lines puts about 240 people on ‘no fly list’

Delta Air Lines has placed about 240 people on a “no fly list’ for failing to comply with the airline’s face mask policy, Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees on Thursday.

“Although rare, we continue to put passengers who refuse to follow the required face-covering rules on our no-fly list,” Bastian said in the memo, which was reviewed by Reuters.

Poland will shorten its quarantine period for those suspected of being infected with coronavirus to 10 days from 14 days, the health minister said on Thursday, amid a spike in new daily cases.

“We will change the rules for quarantine and isolation… We would like to propose the shortening of quarantine to 10 days,” health minister Adam Niedzielski told a press conference.

Poland has recorded 64,689 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,010 deaths.

Three-quarters of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 were reached through the NHS Test and Trace system, once again falling short of the Government’s target, the latest figures show.

Some 75.5% of close contacts in England were reached in the week ending August 19.

While this is up from 71.6% in the previous week, it is the ninth week in a row where the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) target of isolating 80% of contacts of coronavirus cases within 48-72 hours has been missed.

Ahead of this week’s figures being published, Health Secretary Matt Hancock acknowledged the system was “not quite there”.

Just 43% of contacts have been reached for Test and Trace cases in Bradford handled online or by call centres.

This is the lowest proportion for any local authority area in England.

For cases in Middlesbrough and Peterborough 47% of contacts have been reached, for Blackburn with Darwen and the City of London & Hackney the figure is 48%, and for Nottingham and Oldham it is 49%.

These figures are just for “non-complex cases” – cases handled online or by call centres – and cover the 12 weeks of Test and Trace from May 28 to August 19.

Since the launch of Test and Trace, 246,262 close contacts of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have now been reached through the tracing system and asked to self-isolate.

This is 80.6% out of a total of 305,725 people identified as close contacts.

The remaining 59,463 people (19.4%) were identified as close contacts, but were not reached.

Some 75.5% of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England were reached through the Test and Trace system in the week ending August 19, according to new figures from the Department of Health and Social Care.

This is up from 71.6% in the previous week.

For cases handled by local health protection teams, 95.6% of contacts were reached and asked to self-isolate in the week to August 19.

By contrast, for those cases handled either online or by call centres, 61.6% of close contacts have been reached and asked to self-isolate.

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Read more about the rise in cases in Liverpool here:

Liverpool City Council has appealed to adults under 40 to follow social distancing guidelines following a rise in cases across the city.

The authority said there had been a steady increase in the rolling weekly total over the last fortnight, with those aged 40 and under accounting for half of the cases.

Director of public health Matt Ashton said: “It is really important that as schools start to reopen and more workplaces are getting back to normal, we all take responsibility and follow the guidance to limit the spread of cases as far as possible.”

He urged people to stick to the two-metre social distancing rule, wear masks in confined spaces, wash their hands regularly and get tested if they had symptoms.

Hancock has ‘no idea’ how many people in his department are currently working from home

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he has “absolutely no idea” how many people in his department are currently working from home.

It came after CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn urged the Government to lead firms in getting staff back to the workplace.

Ms Fairbairn warned that commercial centres risk becoming permanent “ghost towns” and said that returning employees to offices is as important as getting pupils back to schools.

In an interview on Times Radio, Mr Hancock was asked if he knew what percentage of staff in the Department for Health were working at home.

“I have absolutely no idea,” he responded.

President von der Leyen ‘respects resignation of trade commissioner’

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said she respects the resignation of Phil Hogan on Wednesday night.

In a televised statement, Ms von der Leyen said she is “very grateful” to Mr Hogan for his “tireless and successful work” as a commissioner and as a member of the College.

“I thank him warmly for his valuable contribution to the work of the Commission, not only in this mandate, but also in the previous mandate where he was the commissioner in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development,” she added.

“Over the past days, I discussed with Phil Hogan about his movements in Ireland in light of information that emerged regarding respect of public health guidelines in Ireland.

“In the current circumstances, as Europe fights to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and Europeans make sacrifices and accept painful restrictions, I expect the members of the College to be particularly vigilant about compliance with applicable national or regional rules or recommendations.”

Oldham Council leader Sean Fielding said: “I am pleased that the Government have agreed to at least provide some financial help for those being asked to self-isolate in Oldham.

“Sadly this offer is nowhere near enough to provide real support, and it shows how out of touch with ordinary people this Government is.

“I stand with the Time Out To Help Out campaign in asking Government to support people across the country to self-isolate on full pay. People should not have to worry about loss of income whilst being asked to self-isolate.

“Oldham residents have pulled together to face this crisis; we now need Government do to their bit.

“We need a real and meaningful offer of support for Oldham residents, who deserve better.”

Matt Hancock has rubbished a report claiming that the NHS has a “hidden waiting list” of 15.3 million patients who need follow-up appointments for health problems following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Health Secretary told LBC radio: “I’ve looked into this research since it arrived in the Times overnight, and it is total rubbish.

“It is actually a count of the total number of appointments that there are … what they’ve done is counted all the appointments that there are in the NHS.

“If you have an appointment, that is not because you’re on a waiting list, it is because you are going to go and see someone in the NHS.

“We measure waiting lists very rigorously and obviously a really important part of the recovery of the country post-coronavirus is getting those treatments that had to be delayed, getting them dealt with.

“But let’s deal with the facts rather than a spurious survey.”