ANYONE fancying a pint on Monday may have to wear a mask when they visit their local's beer garden.
Government guidance states that face coverings must be worn when inside but some councils across England are enforcing even stricter rules.
Landlords in a few boroughs of England are being told to ensure customers wear face masks when moving around beer gardens.
It means in some boozers, customers will only be allowed to take them off when sitting at a table to eat and drink.
The UK recorded another 60 coronavirus-related deaths and 3,150 cases in the latest 24-hour period up to Friday – three days before Britain's pubs and shops are unlocked for the first time since January.
Meanwhile, transport secretary Grant Shapps has insisted foreign holidays will be able to resume "safely and sustainably" under new Government plans.
But travel firms have slammed measures to force holidaymakers returning from low-risk destinations to take an "expensive and unnecessary" type of coronavirus test.
Mr Shapps announced a "framework" for resuming overseas leisure travel which includes requiring all arrivals to take pre-departure and post-arrival coronavirus tests.
Post-arrival tests must be the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) type which cost around £120, he revealed.
This is despite pleas from the travel sector to allow travellers returning from countries on the "green" list under the new risk-based traffic light system to take lateral flow tests, which are cheaper and quicker.
Mr Shapps said: "The framework announced today will help allow us to reopen travel safely and sustainably, ensure we protect our hard-won achievements on the vaccine rollout and offer peace of mind to both passengers and industry as we begin to take trips abroad once again."
How the traffic light system will work:
* Green: Passengers will not need to quarantine on return, but must take a pre-departure test, as well as a PCR test on return to the UK
* Amber: Travellers will need to quarantine for 10 days, as well as taking a pre-departure test and two PCR tests
* Red: Passengers will have to pay for a 10-day stay in a managed quarantine hotel, as well as a pre-departure test and two PCR tests
Read our coronavirus live blog below for the very latest news and updates on the pandemic…
- Jon Rogers
ROMANIA PASSES ONE MILLION CONFIRMED COVID CASES
Romania passed one million confirmed COVID-19 infections since its first recorded case in February last year.
The bleak milestone comes as hospital intensive care units (ICU) in the country which has a population of more than 19 million are struggling to cope with record numbers of ICU patients, currently just short of 1,500. Another 12,000 COVID-19 patients are receiving hospital care.
Its a situation we havent encountered until now in Romania, Beatrice Mahler, the manager at the Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumology, told The Associated Press. Extremely ill patients who arrive with low (oxygen) saturation levels and need an ICU bed but the number of beds is really limited.
Romania has administered more than 3.5 million vaccine doses. There have been more than 25,000 total confirmed coronavirus deaths.
- Jon Rogers
PUBGOERS COULD BE FORCED TO WEAR MASKS OUTSIDE
PUNTERS could be forced to wear face masks outside when they return to pubs gardens on Monday.
Government guidance states that face coverings must be worn when inside but some councils across England are enforcing even stricter rules, reports The Telegraph.
Landlords in a few boroughs of England are being told to ensure customers wear face masks when moving around beer gardens.
It means in some boozers, customers will only be allowed to take them off when sitting at a table to eat and drink.
In these areas, councils have set up enforcement teams to patrol pubs for rule-breakers leaving landlords fearful they face fines.
Read the full story here.
- Jon Rogers
GRAND NATIONAL TO GO AHEAD WITHOUT RACEGOERS
For the first time in the great race's history, it will take place without crowds as coronavirus restrictions continue to limit on-course attendance to essential staff and a maximum of six owners per horse.
Following the death on Friday of the Duke of Edinburgh, Aintree's flags are being flown at half-mast and a two-minute silence will take place.
The Randox Grand National is scheduled to be run at 5.15, with the seven-race card getting under way at 1.45.
- Jon Rogers
DUKE OF EDINBURGH PUBS UNABLE TO GIVE PHILIP A PROPER SEND-OFF
Two proprietors of pubs named the Duke of Edinburgh have expressed their sadness at not being able to do more to mourn his death.
Annie Andrews, landlady of the Duke of Edinburgh in Winkfield in Windsor, said events to mark the duke's death would have to be limited because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Ms Andrews had been searching for the bunting the pub uses for royal events when she spoke to the PA news agency.
"We will be doing toasts to him in the garden and things like that but we have to try and keep the space between people," she said.
"We had a big celebration for Harry and Meghan's wedding and when William and Kate got married, and when the Queen had her jubilee.
"We were planning a big do for Philip's 100th birthday."
- Jon Rogers
REVEALED: WHO IS AT GREATEST RISK OF COVID VACCINE SIDE EFFECTS
Women and those under 40 are more likely to suffer side effects from Covid vaccines including "aches and pains", according to an expert.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist based at Nashville's Vanderbilt University, revealed experts are now trying to work out why.
He told the New York Post: "Women and younger people have more local reactions – a sore arm, a day of not feeling so well, or aches and pains.
“People wonder if it’s because women have more estrogen but that remains to be studied.
“The short answer is there’s got to be reasons for it but we don’t know what they are."
Read the full story here.
- Jon Rogers
AIRLINE TRADE BODY CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO CORONAVIRUS TESTING CHARGES
A travel trade body has called for an investigation into the costs of coronavirus tests for people in the UK wanting to go abroad on holidays this year.
A "framework" for the resumption of overseas leisure travel has been announced by the Transport Secretary, which includes requiring all arrivals to take pre-departure and post-arrival coronavirus tests.
Post-arrival tests must be the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) type which cost about £120, Grant Shapps said.
The requirement has led to a furious backlash from the travel industry, which wants travellers returning from low-risk countries to be allowed to take lateral flow tests, which are cheaper and quicker.
A Government source said identifying coronavirus variants can only be done with PCR tests.
- Jon Rogers
IRAN STARTS 10-DAY LOCKDOWN
Iran imposed a 10-day lockdown across most of the country on Saturday to curb the spread of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported.
The lockdown affects 23 of the countrys 31 provinces, health ministry spokesman Alireza Raisi said. Businesses, schools, theatres and sports facilities have been forced to shut and gatherings are banned during the holy fasting month of Ramadan that begins on Wednesday.
Irans coronavirus cases have surpassed 2 million with a new daily average of over 20,000 infections over the past week, according to the health ministry. It has reported more than 64,000 fatalities.
Unfortunately, today we have entered a fourth wave, President Hassan Rouhani said in televised remarks. He blamed the surge foremost on the variant that first emerged in the UK which spread to Iran earlier this year from neighbouring Iraq.
Other factors included widespread travel, weddings, and celebrations during the Iranian New Year holidays that began on March 20, he said.
- Jon Rogers
INDIA WARNS OF VACCINE SHORTAGE
Multiple Indian states are warning the federal government of COVID-19 vaccine shortages as another spike in cases threatens to overrun the country and its already-feeble medical infrastructure.
Authorities in New Delhi and in Punjab and Rajasthan states said Saturday that they would not be able to continue vaccinations in the coming days unless stocks were replenished. Earlier this week, western Maharashtra state, the epicenter of the countrys outbreak, closed some vaccination centers and turned people away due to inadequate vaccine supplies.
Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said the country has enough doses and urged state governments to put an end to fearmongering.
India, a major vaccine manufacturer, has so far administered 97 million shots but is facing major supply snags as it works to inoculate a huge population of nearly 1.4 billion people. Vaccine shots are currently limited to people over age 45 and frontline workers.
- Jon Rogers
THAILAND TO CREATE 10,000 COVID BEDS AS CASES SPIKE
Thailand plans to install 10,000 field-hospital beds in Bangkok, a health official said on Saturday, as the country strains to cope with a third wave of COVID-19 infections.
At least a dozen hospitals in the capital said they had stopped testing for the coronavirus as of Friday due to a lack of kits or capacity. Hospitals are reluctant to test because they must admit people if they test positive, authorities say.
"We aim to increase (field) hospital beds to 10,000 in no time, which should give the public confidence that we can still contain this round of outbreak," Suksan Kittisupakorn, director-general of Thailand's Medical Service Department, told reporters.
The current surge appeared to be the country's worst yet, he said.
Thailand reported 789 new cases and one death on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 31,658, with 97 deaths.
- Jon Rogers
WELLWISHERS CONTINUE TO LEAVE FLOWERS FOR DUKE DESPITE COVID CONCERNS
Wellwishers are continuing to leave floral tributes to the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, despite calls for them to stay away due to coronavirus concerns.
Young children were among a steady stream of people who arrived at both places throughout Saturday morning to pay their respects.
Crowds were growing outside Cambridge Gate at Windsor Castle, taking pictures and leaving tributes including paper crowns and a union flag.
The public have been told at both Windsor and Buckingham Palace that tributes will be moved elsewhere throughout the day.
The royal family and the Government have both urged people not to leave flowers outside royal residences.
On Friday a Cabinet Office spokesman appealed for people to "continue to follow public health advice, particularly on avoiding meeting in large groups and on minimising travel".
- Jon Rogers
EU'S COVID RECOVERY PLAN IS 'ROBUST,' SAYS COUNCIL BOSS
The European Union's COVID-19 recovery response is robust and does not fall short when compared with the United States' $1.9 trillion recovery plan, European Council President Charles Michel told Les Echos newspaper.
EU member states agreed last summer on a 750 billion euro ($892.2 billion) recovery fund, but with governments still submitting detailed spending plans, frustration is growing in some capitals at the slow speed of disbursing the money.
Some leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have also questioned whether further stimulus is needed after a second and now a third wave of coronavirus infections swept the continent, prompting further lockdowns.
"I know perfectly well that some judge (the fund) to be insufficient, making a comparison with the U.S. recovery plan. It's not an opinion that I share," Michel was quoted as saying in an interview published by the French newspaper on Saturday.
- Jon Rogers
DAVID CAMERON ACCEPTS MISTAKE OVER LOBBYING CHANCELLOR, ALLIES SAY
David Cameron accepts it was a mistake to lobby Chancellor Rishi Sunak with private text messages over access for his employer to a coronavirus loan scheme, according to allies.
The former prime minister is continuing to face questions over his efforts to secure access for finance company Greensill Capital, the collapse of which has put thousands of UK jobs at risk.
This week it emerged the Chancellor responded to texts from Mr Cameron saying he had "pushed" officials to consider plans that could have helped Greensill in 2020.
Mr Cameron is yet to comment publicly on the controversy or the collapse of the firm last month, but friends of the Conservative former leader have spoken to the Financial Times about his involvement.
"I think he would agree it could be argued that a formal letter would have been more appropriate," one ally told the newspaper.
- Jon Rogers
CUREVAC SAYS ITS VACCINE COULD GET APPROVAL IN MAY
German biotech firm Curevac believes the European Union might give approval for its Covid-19 vaccine in May or June, a spokesman was quoted as saying in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper on Saturday.
"We are already very advanced in Phase Three clinical trials and are expecting the data for the final approval package," spokesman Thorsten Schueller told the paper.
Previously, approval was expected in June.
Curevac still plans to produce up to 300 million vaccine doses this year, the spokesman was quoted as saying.
- Jon Rogers
RISK OF BLOOD CLOT IS 'EXTRAORDINARILY RARE' – GOVT SCIENTIST
Any blot clots associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are "extraordinarily rare events", a scientist advising the Government has said.
The vaccine, also known as Janssen, is yet to be approved for use in the UK, but the Government has ordered 30 million doses.
Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the Covid-19 clinical information network, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We still don't know whether they are directly related and caused by the vaccine but it seems possible that they could be.
"It wouldn't be surprising to find the J&J, the Janssen vaccine, also causes rare blood clots because it's based on an adenovirus technology which is not that far away from the technology being used in the AstraZeneca vaccine."
Asked if he is concerned it could undermine public confidence in coronavirus jabs, Prof Openshaw said: "These are extraordinarily rare events and there is no medicine that is going to be completely free of side effects but this is on the scale of the risk of adverse outcome you would expect if you get into a car and drive 250 miles, and many of us wouldn't blink before taking that risk."
- Jon Rogers
NEW CONCERNS OVER ASTRAZENECA VACCINE
Another potentially dangerous blood condition has been seen in a small number of people given the AstraZeneca jab.
EU vaccines watchdog the European Medicines Authority (EMA) has announced there have been five cases of capillary leak syndrome in patients given a dose on the continent.
The rare condition sees blood leak from tiny vessels into muscles and body cavities.
It results in a sudden drop in blood pressure, and if left untreated, can cause organ failure.
Data suggests the UK's regulator, the MHRA, had spotted three cases of capillary leak syndrome out of 20million people given the AstraZeneca vaccine by late March, MailOnline reports.
Read the full story here.
- Jon Rogers
RUSSIA REPORTS FURTHER 8,700 COVID CASES
Russia reported 8,704 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, including 2,006 in Moscow, taking the national infection tally to 4,632,688 since the start of the pandemic.
The coronavirus crisis center said 402 deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the last 24 hours, which brought the overall death toll to 102,649.
The government Rosstat statistics service has reported a much higher toll of 225,000 from April 2020 to February.
- Jon Rogers
CHINA'S PRODUCTION OF COVID VACCINES COULD HIT 3BN BY END OF 2021
China's output of Covid-19 vaccines could reach more than 3 billion doses by the end of 2021, a National Health Commission official said on Saturday.
Zheng Zhongwei, who also heads a team coordinating the country's Covid-19 vaccine development projects, made the comment during an industry event in the city of Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province.
- Jon Rogers
INDIA'S COVID INFECTIONS HIT RECORD LEVELS
India reported a record 145,384 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday and the highest number of deaths in more than five months, as it grapples with an overwhelming second-wave of infections that has forced the state of Maharashtra to impose a weekend lockdown.
Deaths rose by 794 to a total of 168,436, health ministry data showed.
India's overall case load has swelled to 13.21 million, the third-highest globally, behind the United States and Brazil. India has reported the most number of cases in the world in the past week, breaching the 100,000 mark for the first time on Monday and four times after that.
The government blames the resurgence mainly on crowding and a reluctance to wear masks as businesses have nearly fully reopened since February, only to be partially shut again to control the current surge.
Maharashtra, the Indian state with the most cases, has already shut down restaurants, malls and places of worship and barred the movement of most people to control the outbreak that has threatened to overrun medical facilities and created vaccine shortages, officials said. Its weekend lockdown will end on early Monday.
- Joseph Gamp
IRELAND: CASES IN CHILDREN 'DUE TO INCREASE IN TESTING'
A slight rise of Covid-19 cases reported in children is due to an increase in testing and not the reopening of schools, a senior health expert has said.
Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said that data shows schools remain a low-risk environment.
Prof Nolan said that a public health investigation looked at incidence of coronavirus infection in children in recent weeks, to assess the impact of the phased return of schoolchildren to the classroom.
He said that schools are low risk because of the mitigation and protection measures put in place by teachers, principals, families, general practitioners and public health doctors.
Schools will reopen to all students on Monday, marking the final phase of the Government's plan to have all pupils back in the classroom.
- Joseph Gamp
WHO CHIEF DR TEDROS CRITICISES NATIONS PLANNING TO DISTRIBUTE GLOBAL VACCINES OUTSIDE OF COVAX SCHEME
The head of the World Health Organization said that over 87% of the more than 700 million doses of coronavirus vaccine that have been administered worldwide have been given in wealthier countries.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that on average, one in four people in rich countries have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, compared to only one in 500 people in low-income countries.
There remains a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines, Tedros said during a media briefing Friday.
He called COVAX, the U.N.-backed initiative to distribute vaccines fairly, a strong mechanism that can deliver vaccines faster and more efficiently than any other mechanism. He noted that COVAX so far has delivered about 38 million doses worldwide, or enough to cover about 0.25% of the global population.
Tedros criticised countries that plan to donate vaccines directly to other nations instead of going through COVAX.
- Niamh Cavanagh
HAIR SALONS WILL BE OPEN FOR 18 HOURS A DAY TO TACKLE COVID BACKLOG FOR 'DESPERATE' CLIENTS
Hair salons will be open for up to 18 hours a day as millions of Brits rush to get haircuts on April 12.
Customers have booked out barbers and salons for the coming months – forcing shops to open their doors for longer in order to fit appointments in and beat the Covid backlog.
Monday marks the next phase of lockdown easing – meaning Brits can finally go to the pub again, get haircuts, and go shopping.
This week, salons have been putting the final touches on their preparations to welcome customers back.
Brits are set to flock to get their new trims after three months without professional haircuts.
- Joseph Gamp
ITALY RECORDED IT'S HIGHEST DAILY COVID DEATH TOLL IN MONTHS ON FRIDAY
Italy recorded 718 COVID deaths on Friday, the highest in months, but health officials say the spike from 487 a day earlier is due to a backlog of deaths being reported in Sicily.
Italys death toll has remained stubbornly high as the very contagious British variant became prevalent and as the vaccination campaign for the most vulnerable population has lagged.
Italy has recorded 113,579 deaths in the pandemic, second in Europe to Britains 127,233, where the vaccine campaign is much more advanced.
The president of Italys National Health Institute, Silvio Brusaferro, told reporters that the new contagion has reached a plateau in Italy, with 18,938 new cases on Friday. They began dipping below 20,000 last week.
- Joseph Gamp
BATH RUGBY CLUB REPORT LOSS OF £2.7MILLION AMID CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Bath have reported a loss of £2.7million to reflect the financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The club's figures for the year ending June 2020 saw a 16 per cent reduction in turnover to £16.8million with an overall deficit of £3.5million reduced by £800,000 through the use of government support.
Having posted a loss of £1.2million in 2019, it marks a £1.5million increase in loss year-on-year.
Bath's bleak financial results have been published in the same week that double winners Exeter reported a loss of £2.26million.
- Joseph Gamp
PRINCE PHILIP TO GET HIS DYING WISH OF A ‘NO-FUSS’ FUNERAL THANKS TO COVID RESTRICTIONS
Prince Philip to get his dying wish of a ‘no-fuss’ funeral thanks to Covid restrictions
- Joseph Gamp
US ADMINISTERS 178.8 MLN DOSES OF COVID-19 VACCINES
The United States had administered 178,837,781 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 233,591,955 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Those figures are up from the 174,879,716 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by April 8 out of 229,398,685 doses delivered.
The agency said 114,436,039 people had received at least one dose, while 68,202,458 people had been fully vaccinated as of Friday.
The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech , as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday.
A total of 7,759,386 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
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