Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Sunday morning.
Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Sunday morning. We’ll have another update for you tomorrow.
Antibody tests, which check the immune system’s response to Covid-19, are to be made widely available to the UK public for the first time. Anyone over 18 will be able to opt in when having a PCR test from Tuesday. People taking part will be given two finger-prick tests, one to be taken as soon as possible after infection and the other to be taken after 28 days. The government says the tests will help our understanding of antibody protection.
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Police have clashed with thousands of people protesting against Covid lockdowns in Australia. In Melbourne more than 218 people were arrested and at least seven officers injured during a 4,000-strong rally. Meanwhile in Sydney, where lockdown restrictions have been extended for another month, more than 1,000 officers dispersed protests.
image sourceEPA
Wales’ largest music festival has been held for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic. Green Man returned with 25,000 people in attendance for its 19th year. Tickets sold out within minutes when they were released in May despite organisers not knowing if it would be able to go ahead. Mass gatherings had been banned in Wales since March 2020.
When Kieran Wilson lost his job at the start of the first lockdown he found himself with time on his hands and so began to paint Warhammer miniatures. The former car salesman says the hobby was his “saving grace” and described the process of building the figurines as “very therapeutic”. He is not the only one who embraced the hobby with games companies doing good business over the last year. You can read more from tabletop gamers here.
image sourceMantic Games
This time last year the UK was taking its first small steps into what became the second wave of Covid. The case numbers now are more than 30 times higher than at the same point last year. While the numbers of people admitted to hospital or dying are also higher than this time last year, had there been 37,000 cases a day last summer those figures would have been much higher. You can read more from health reporter Laura Foster.
With the UK vaccination programme now reaching younger age groups here is a guide to what under-30s need to know about getting the jab.
Find further information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.
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