04/05/20 COVID-19 Global News Update

HMRC will begin contacting customers who may be eligible for the government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

Nobel scientists warn Britain will lose ‘superpower’ status if access barred to EU €100bn fund. The future of Britain’s world-renowned science sector – and its ability to lead global research into Covid-19 – risks being fatally undermined if the UK crashes out of the EU without a trade deal

More than half of the UK’s top law firms have insufficient cash on their balance sheets to cover one month’s The post Half of top law firms had less than one month’s cash pre-coronavirus crisis appeared first on CityAM .

Airlines have reacted angrily to government suggestions that the UK could implement a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving in the country. Transport secretary Grant Shapps said he was "actively looking at these issues so that when we have infection rates within the country under control we're not importing".

Rolls-Royce could axe up to 8,000 UK jobs after aircraft manufacturers were forced to cut production during the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK-based aeroplane engine maker employs 52,000 people worldwide, with 23,000 in the UK.

Five things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak this morning.

All residents and staff in care homes where someone has coronavirus will be tested, the Welsh Government has said. Until now only those with symptoms, or who were being moved into a care home, were being tested for Covid-19.

A new NHS app to help trace those who have come into contact with coronavirus will be rolled out later this month, the government has said. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Sunday morning that the software will "go into testing this week on the Isle of Wight".

When ministers set out to recruit a 250,000-strong army of NHS volunteers and 750,000 signed up, it generated headlines around the world and was heralded by Boris Johnson as proof, contrary to Thatcher’s famous dictum, that there “was such thing as society”.

Tech firms are in talks with ministers about creating health passports to help Britons return safely to work using coronavirus testing and facial recognition. Facial biometrics could be used to help provide a digital certificate – sometimes known as an immunity passport – proving which workers have had Covid-19

BBC reports it has seen regulations which include staggered shift times and reduced hot-desking Coronavirus latest: at a glance Global Covid-19

PARIS (Reuters) - France’s state-supported “StopCOVID” contact-tracing app should enter its testing phase a week on Monday when the country starts to unwind its lockdown, a government minister said on Sunday.

China has questions to answer over the information it shared about the novel coronavirus outbreak but a post mortem over its role should come later, Britain's defence minister said on Monday.

European leaders have pledged support for a plan to raise €7.5bn (£6.6bn; $8.3bn) to find a coronavirus vaccine in a jointly signed open letter. The Brussels-led initiative was set out by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday.

New Zealand has recorded its first day of no new cases of Covid-19 since a stringent national lockdown began more than one month ago. The public has been engrossed by the daily release of case numbers by the health ministry each afternoon

France, Italy and Spain have registered the lowest daily death tolls for weeks as they prepare to ease restrictions. France reported 135 deaths; Spain's 164 were the lowest since mid-March; and Italy's 174 was a two-month low.

Spain has recorded 164 deaths from the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase since March 18, newspaper El Pais reported on Sunday. That would bring the country’s cumulative death toll from the virus to 25,264.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 679 to 163,175, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

Canada’s daily coronavirus death toll edged up by under 5% on Sunday in another sign the outbreak has peaked and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised additional funding for mental healthcare services. The total number of people killed by the coronavirus rose by 4.6% to 3,606 on Sunday

President Trump also told Fox News a vaccine would be ready by the end of the year.

More than 3.52 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 246,910 have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Monday.

Global coronavirus cases surpassed 3.5 million on Monday, with deaths nearing a quarter of a million, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month, a Reuters tally shows.

Mexico’s health ministry reported 1,383 new coronavirus cases and 93 more deaths on Sunday, bringing the country’s total to 23,471 cases and 2,154 deaths. Of Mexico’s 32 federal entities, only two have registered fewer than 100 cases, deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell told a news conference.

Russia has recorded 10,633 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily rise since the outbreak began in the country. The increase brings Russia's total number of coronavirus cases to 134,686, the seventh highest tally in the world.

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the Netherlands has increased by 445 to 40,236, Dutch health authorities said on Saturday. The National Institute for Public Health reported 94 new deaths, taking total COVID-19 fatalities to 4,987.

Testing for coronavirus fell sharply on Saturday, days after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government had met its daily target of 100,000 tests. In the past 24 hours, ministers said just under 76,500 tests were carried out, a drop of more than a third