The finger-prick tests were found to be 98.6% accurate in secret human trials held in June, according to the Daily TelegraphCoronavirus latest updatesThe UK government is planning to distribute millions of free coronavirus antibody tests after successful secret trials, according to reports.The finger-prick tests, which can tell within 20 minutes if a person has ever been exposed to the coronavirus, were found to be 98.6% accurate in human trials held in June, the Daily Telegraph reported. Continue reading...

With good sense having belatedly prevailed, the policy’s success is dependent on the degree and quality of complianceOn 24 July it becomes compulsory to wear face masks in shops and supermarkets in England. What determines how we can expect such measures to play out? Largely, three things: how confident we can be in the available evidence, the size of the estimated effect among a compliant population, and the degree of compliance.While a lot of attention has focused – rightly – on the first two of these, the third is equally important. Compliance not only encompasses questions of whether there is adherence to the guidance, but also the quality of the adherence. It is instructive, then, to compare the case of face masks with that of another very recent public health intervention: the recommendation of handwashing to stop the spread of Covid-19. Continue reading...

The main stumbling block is over vetting procedures to access aid from the planned economic recovery fundCoronavirus latest updatesEU leaders have failed to agree on a massive stimulus plan to breathe life into economies ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, and will try again to find an agreement whe talks resume on Saturday. .Many of the 27 heads of government declared on arrival for their first face-to-face summit for five months that a deal was crucial to rescue economies in free fall and shore up faith in the European Union. Continue reading...

With close to a million Australians unemployed, the government’s next run of decisions will need to be right, or at least right enoughScott Morrison has been musing out loud about crossroads. The brief foray into symbolism was prompted by the cluster of coronavirus infections at the Crossroads hotel in Casula in New South Wales. So far, state authorities seem to be on top of that outbreak. Victoria continues to battle its second wave.Morrison touched on the crossroads to contrast success (touch wood) in NSW and struggle in Victoria – a delicate exercise for a prime minister who wants that contrast squarely in the public domain, but not forcefully enough to blow up his relationship with the Victorian Labor premier, Daniel Andrews. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson suggested that England could see something like normality by Christmas. Don’t count on it

Patrick Vallance warns of ‘very high probability’ of second wave; PM unveils plan to return England ‘to normality’ by Christmas; UK death toll rises by 114. This blog is now closed - please follow the global live blog for the latest updates6.29pm BSTThis live blog has now closed - please follow the latest updates in the global live blog.Related: Coronavirus live news: Barcelona residents told to stay home after cases rise6.02pm BSTRelated: How prepared is Boris Johnson for a winter resurgence of coronavirus? Continue reading...

Martin Clavane on what reports about Russian hacking reveal about how the world responds to threats such as Covid-19Reports about Russian hacking into Covid-19 research are very revealing (Russian state-sponsored hackers target Covid-19 vaccine researchers, 16 July). They raise fundamental questions about how the world should collectively respond to such existential threats to humankind.Why is it natural that medical research into a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus should be a secret? Do the interests of big pharma come before protecting human life? Surely the world should be freely collaborating to protect humanity from a threat to all nations and people. No nation can be safe from it while any is not. What this therefore demonstrates, albeit unintentionally by those peddling the Russian threat, is that geopolitics are at the heart of their interests, and not stopping the virus. Continue reading...

PM sets out workplace guidelines and gives local authorities powers to close premises and cancel events

Government unveils measures after marathon emergency cabinet session as infections rise

Warning as anxiety and lack of routine lead to rise in inquiries at clinics

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccineResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...

Comet Neowise was discovered on 27 March by Nasa’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission. Scientists say the comet is about 3 miles across. Its nucleus is covered with sooty material dating back to the origin of our solar system 4.6bn years ago. It is the brightest comet visible from the northern hemisphere in 25 years Continue reading...

Even though all the vaccinologists are flat out like a lizard drinking it’s going to take some time. Hang in there everyone

Highest one-day total as Democrats urged to skip convention; restrictions reimposed in Mexico, Spain and Israel

Country’s death toll tops 76,000; Spain reports 580 new cases; Covid-19 direct cause of death among 89% of the pandemic’s victims in Italy

Pubs, restaurants, bars will remain closed in city, but restrictions on schools lifted; Patrick Vallance says government was advised to impose lockdown week before it did; 66 coronavirus deaths recorded in UK

Exclusive: more than three months after being discharged from St Vincent’s hospital, some 80% continue to experience symptoms, doctors say

Davina Cooper questions the need to use xenophobic terms to describe speciesThe widely used language of alien and invasive species threatening native ones (Increase in invasive species poses dramatic threat to biodiversity – report, 15 July) is disturbing, even when it’s about plants. There is a long-running debate in biology about the nativist and xenophobic resonances, and racist and antisemitic histories, surrounding claims that foreign plants and wildlife invade, take over and wipe out domestic species, upsetting the “natural” balance.Racism works through commonsense meanings and ideas, and these don’t have to be about people. Clearly, some plants and animals cause harm or create change, including by impeding biodiversity. But surely there is a public language to talk about these problems away from the pervasive terms of native and alien, with its dangerous implication that certain things belong, have always been at home here and form part of a proper (even timeless) balance, which the incomer upsets.

Jenner Institute at Oxford looks to recruit healthy volunteers for controversial ‘challenge trial’

Grant Shapps extends decision deadline after archaeologists discover prehistoric pits at world heritage site in WiltshireA decision on whether construction of a road tunnel near Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, can go ahead has been further delayed by the transport secretary, Grant Shapps.The deadline for the verdict has been extended by four months to late autumn to allow further consultation following a recent archaeological find within the Stonehenge world heritage site, the transport minister, Andrew Stephenson, said. Continue reading...

Solar Orbiter images shot from between Venus and Mercury orbits show ‘campfires’ in coronaThe closest ever images of the sun reveal its surface is speckled with “campfires”, miniature versions of the dramatic solar flares visible from Earth.The observations, beamed back from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, which is a joint Nasa and European Space Agency (ESA) mission, could help resolve why the sun’s atmosphere is so staggeringly hot compared to the surface – a central paradox in solar physics. Miniature flares have been proposed as a theoretical explanation for the so-called coronal heating problem, but until now no telescope has had a good enough resolution to observe the sun’s atmosphere in sufficient detail. Continue reading...

Experts say signs are promising but there is a long way to go to show vaccine works

Letter also signed by Greta Thunberg urges EU leaders to act immediately on global heatingGreta Thunberg and some of the world’s leading climate scientists have written to EU leaders demanding they act immediately to avoid the worst impacts of the unfolding climate and ecological emergency.The letter, which is being sent before a European council meeting starting on Friday, says the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that most leaders are able to act swiftly and decisively, but the same urgency had been missing in politicians’ response to the climate crisis. Continue reading...

There’s a new star sign in the skies – and the rest of the zodiac will need to shunt along to accommodate itName: Ophiuchus.Age: Eternal. Continue reading...

They are usually associated with toxic, murky lakes. But algae blooms are increasingly turning up in icy regions too. Hannah Devlin speaks to Prof Marian Yallop about the recent appearance of pink snow in the Italian alps, and what the growing numbers of algal blooms could mean for melting glaciers and ice sheets Continue reading...

160,000 Catalans back into lockdown; Florida records new daily death toll high; India Covid-19 cases top 900,000. This blog is now closed

Human fingerprint on record temperatures ‘has rarely, if ever, been clearer’, says reportThe record-breaking heatwave in the Siberian Arctic was made at least 600 times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a study.Between January and June, temperatures in the far north of Russia were more than 5C above average, causing permafrost to melt, buildings to collapse, and sparking an unusually early and intense start to the forest fires season. On 20 June, a monitoring station in Verkhoyansk registered a record high of 38C. Continue reading...

Tensions over how to quell outbreak in Catalan capital as cases flare up around the world

Scientists ‘disappointed’ app has not been deployed since first one was scrapped

Bob Hamblett suspects Dominic Cummings had an economic reason for the U-turn. Simon Fairlie worries about the psychological implications. Plus letters from Jonathan Myerson, Andrew Firth, and Margaret DeighanMarina Hyde (Johnson has seen the light on ‘face coverings’. Just not the toxic mask-ulinity, 14 July) takes the PM at his word that it’s “the scientific evidence” that has brought about his very late conversion. Until recently his government was quoting experts who said face coverings would give the public a false sense of security. One can imagine the lightbulb moment in the office of his special adviser: if the public are too scared to come out and spend to rescue the economy, give them what they apparently want – a false sense of security. Classic Dom.

Separate study shows rate of Covid-19 infection halved every eight to nine days during May

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2015: A series of experiments has produced incredible results by giving young blood to old mice. Now the findings are being tested on humans. Ian Sample meets the scientists whose research could transform our lives

More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccineResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

Authorities distributed an arrival form with outdated questions about coronavirus hotspot countries, inquiry toldNew South Wales Health made a “serious mistake” in using an out-of-date arrival form template for the Ruby Princess when it docked in Sydney, the special inquiry into the cruise ship that resulted in a Covid-19 cluster has heard.Commissioner Bret Walker SC on Wednesday heard the first of two days of closing submissions that come after more than a dozen days of hearings since April. Continue reading...

Global cases rise by 1m in five days; Hong Kong tightens social distancing; 6,000 new cases in Russia. This blog is now closed

A maximum of 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes is possible, says sports science studyThe four-minute mile and the two-hour marathon were once believed impossible: now a new gauntlet has been thrown down for the world of elite competition. A scientific analysis suggests competitive eaters have come within nine hotdogs of the limits of human performance.The theoretical ceiling has been set at 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes. The current world record, set by Joey “Jaws” Chestnut earlier this month, stands at 75. Continue reading...

People will have to book to visit V&A, Science Museum and Natural History Museum

An ingredient in its bark led to aspirin, now researchers are looking into the properties of another compound in the treeWillow trees are a pharmaceutical treasure trove. The ancient Egyptians used its bark for relieving pain, inflammation and fevers, and science has since shown these medical powers came from an ingredient called salicin, named after salix, the Latin name for the tree. That discovery eventually led to the manufacture of aspirin, one of the most widely used medicines in the world.

Eight-metre statue built in 5th century BC had been buried among ancient ruinsA colossal statue of Atlas, buried for centuries among ancient ruins, will soon take its rightful place among the ancient Greek temples of Agrigento on Sicily.The city’s archaeological park announced that the artwork, one of the most celebrated sculptures on the island, will be raised upright in front of the Temple of Zeus. Continue reading...

Exclusive: likelihood of UK homes being infected triples with every additional 20 beds

Public urged to send in snaps of paintings to help unpick how produce has evolvedFrom the juicy grapes depicted by Clara Peeters to Cézanne’s colourful apples, fruit and vegetables have appeared on myriad canvases over the centuries. Now researchers want the public to send in their snaps of such paintings to help unpick how our produce has evolved.The duo behind the idea say harvesting such images could help shed light on the shapes and colours fruit and vegetables have taken over the years, as well as when and where such forms cropped up. They add it could even offer information on factors such as trade routes and food habits. Continue reading...

Wind-borne microplastics are a bigger source of ocean pollution than rivers, say scientists

Retail workers up to 75% more likely to die from virus than rest of population, says health secretary

Boris Johnson announces face coverings are to be mandatory in shops from 24 July with £100 fines for non-compliance

My friend and colleague Sheila Youngson, who has died aged 65 from a stroke, was a clinical psychologist in the NHS from 1981, focusing on children and young people.Her final clinical post, from 1998 to 2010, was as consultant clinical psychologist at St James’ hospital, in Leeds, where she was based at the paediatric renal unit. Within the medicalised environment of the hospital, she worked with persistence and sensitivity to introduce her child-centred approach to the emotional needs of the young patients. Continue reading...

Some scientists believe there is growing evidence of airborne transmission of Covid-19

Premier Gladys Berejiklian details stricter regime for pubs as cluster linked to the Crossroads Hotel grows to 30 casesNew South Wales is on “extra high alert” for a widespread Covid-19 resurgence and will require so-called hygiene marshals to enforce social distancing at every pub in the state.The crackdown comes after patrons who visited a Sydney hotel at the centre of the state’s largest outbreak expressed concern over relaxed safety practices and the pub’s manager conceded more could have been done to record visitors’ contact details. Continue reading...

Officers say law to make coverings compulsory in stores will be unenforceable