India reports nearly 55,000 new infections –as it happened

India records nearly 55,000 new cases; UK planning to avoid a second national lockdown. This blog is now closed

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12.12am BST

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12.01am BST

A major incident has been declared in Greater Manchester in response to increases in coronavirus infection rates across multiple localities".

The decision to up the readiness of emergency and public services to react to the escalating Covid-19 transmission rate in the region comes after the government announced new lockdown restrictions for parts of north-west England on Thursday.

Related: Greater Manchester declares major incident after rise in Covid-19 cases