UK coronavirus live: beauty salons, outdoor theatres, gyms and pools to reopen in England – as it happened

Indoor gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres will open on 25 July with new guidance on spacing out and cleaning equipment, limiting the number of people in facilities and smaller class sizes.

Outdoor pools can reopen from 11 July, while certain team sports such as cricket will also be able to return from this weekend.

Outdoor performances of theatre, opera, dance and music with social distancing will resume from 11 July. Outdoor opera at Glyndebourne, Sussex, and plays at Cornwall’s Minack Theatre, are examples of what can now take place.

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said care homes will open up to visitors “in the next few days”.

Boots announced that it expects 4,000 jobs to be lost through store closures, while John Lewis also announced the closure of two full-size department stores in Birmingham and Watford, four At Home shops as well as two travel hub outlets putting 1300 jobs at risk.

Britain’s leading tax and spending thinktank has criticised the flagship policies in Rishi Sunak’s £30bn summer statement as badly timed, poorly targeted and likely to do little to stop unemployment from rising.

Beauty businesses, including tattoo studios, nail bars and spas, will be allowed to reopen for some services from 13 July.

A further 85 people have died with coronavirus in the UK, bringing the official total number of deaths to 44,602

Confirmed infections in England have fallen by 25% in the week to 5 July, data from Public Health England shows.

Leicester’s Covid-19 case rate has declined slightly, but remains the highest in England, according to new figures from Public Health England.

All state school pupils in Wales are set to return to classrooms on 1 September and will be taught within “contact groups” of about 30 children with only limited social distancing.

Boris Johnson failed to meet his target of having all coronavirus tests completed within 24 hours by the end of June, newly released data shows.

Scots can meet people from other households indoors from tomorrow for the first time in over three months, as the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, confirmed that the country was now ready to enter phase 3 of her government’s route map to reopening.

Gym, spa and salon owners have reacted with delight and relief at the government’s latest rollback on lockdown restrictions. PA Media reports.

Richard Darwin, the chief executive of the Gym Group, which runs 179 gyms across the UK, said he was “delighted” by the announcement:

Reopening gyms is an important step forward for the physical and mental wellbeing of our members and millions of other gym goers, and we can’t wait to welcome them all back.

We are really confident our new procedures will ensure that we can operate safely, with distanced equipment, enhanced cleaning and our busyness tracker to help manage the number of people in the gym.

Duncan Bannatyne, the owner of the health club and spa firm Bannatyne Group and former star of Dragon’s Den, said:

I am incredibly pleased that we have a definite date for reopening our 57 health clubs in England.

The fitness sector is vitally important, both for the nation’s health and the economy.

In my discussions with ministers over the last week or so, I was gratified that they understood that the majority of health clubs could reopen safely and that it was essential to do so.

The Feel Good Group, which runs 90 tanning salons across the UK, welcomed the government’s decision to allow its shops to reopen on 13 July, but said they should be able to reopen immediately. Adam Mooney, the founder and chief executive, said:

While we welcome the decision to finally allow us to reopen, the Government could have allowed us to open last week, when hairdressers reopened.

We are ready to reopen today, not next week.

More than 90% of our staff are women, and most in the 18 to 25-year-old age group, which is the demographic which has been worst hit financially by the pandemic, and they are very keen to get back to work.

Mike Cherry, the national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said:

It’s good news to see the Government announce the reopening of thousands more small firms across England.

Beauticians, nail salons, gyms and the wider fitness sector have faced months without customers, and they’ll be pleased to see that they can finally get back to business.

9 Jul 202012.59 EDT

Sally Weale

An autumn series of exams for pupils in England who want to try to improve on the calculated grades they receive in the summer for their GCSEs and A-levels will be held over six weeks beginning in October, it has been confirmed.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents the exam boards, said AS and A-levels would be held first, beginning on 5 October. GCSEs will follow, starting on 2 November, running for three weeks. Exams will be available in all subjects.

The summer exams were cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic and pupils will instead receive grades based on teacher assessment, a pupil’s ranking within their class in a particular subject, and prior attainment of both the individual and the school, among other measures.

Headteachers have expressed concern about hosting an entire series of exams just as pupils are settling back into school after months of disruption due to the pandemic.

Announcing the dates of the autumn series, the JCQ director general, Dr Philip Wright, said:

In August, we will be celebrating the success of young people and their progression to the next stage of learning or move into a career. The grades will be reflective of what they might have achieved had they been able to sit their exams and will enable them to move on to the next phase in their lives.

The autumn series will be available for young people for whom it was not possible to issue a grade or who wish to improve their grades based on taking an exam. Full details on the autumn series will be available shortly from the exam boards.

ITV has interviewed the health secretary Matt Hancock, who has said care homes will open up to visitors “in the next few days”.

A further 85 people have died with coronavirus in the UK, bringing the official total number of deaths to 44,602

Hancock said:

In a few days we will be setting out how Covid secure visiting can happen in care homes. How we can have more visits of loved ones in a way that is very careful and in a way that keeps care homes safe.

Confirmed infections in England have fallen by 25% in the week to 5 July, data from Public Health England shows.

There were just over 3,300 positive tests in the week to 5 July, compared with 4,400 positive tests in the week to 28 June.

The incidence of confirmed cases in Leicester, which is still in local lockdown, has fallen to about 120 per 100,000, compared with about 140 per 100,000 last week.

There were two cases in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, this week, down from 108 the preceding week when there was a spike due to testing following an outbreak at the Kepak meat plant.

The top 10 local authorities in the UK, after Leicester, all recorded fewer than 30 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 5 July.

Julian Bird, the chief executive of the Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre, has reacted to the news, saying the publication of guidance was welcome, but asking for more clarity regarding indoor performances.

• Outdoor performances will be able to be held with socially distanced audiences from July 11.
• Beauticians, tattooists and tanning salons can open from 13 July.
• Outdoor pools and water parks can open from 11 July.
• Indoor gyms, pools and sports facilities can reopen on 25 July, with the public told to “work out to help out”. Reduced class sizes and booking systems will be put in place.
• All measures are conditional and reversible.

Dowden is asked about train travel, which is still restricted. If people can go to the pub, shouldn’t they be able to get on a train?

Dowden says in London lots of people use public transport, but outside of London most people use cars.

He says the position remains that people should continue to avoid public transport where necessary.

Dowden is asked if face coverings will be required in gyms.

He says that in gyms there are a lot of measures set out. The government has not taken the decision to require the wearing of face masks.

Dowden says he went to the Royal Academy and wore a face covering.

He adds that face covering are context specific, and that is the right way rather than enforcing the wearing of them.

Dowden is asked how the government is going to persuade people that it’s worth going back to gyms and swimming pools with all the added regulations (like no butterfly stroke).

Dowden says it is better to reopen with restrictions than not to reopen, but says it will take a little time for confidence to come back.

He was also asked – by the Express reporter – if the government can force the BBC not to extend the licence fee to over-75s.

He says the government regrets the fact the BBC has not kept the licence fee free for the over-75s.

Dowden is asked, how are these decisions still based on the science? What data have you seen since Saturday’s reopening to suggest it’s safe to reopen gyms?

Dowden says we continue to be informed by the science and gives an example of ensuring social distancing and ventilation.

He says there is a rolling programme of reopening, and the government continues to analyse data – which is one reason why the opening of gyms has been delayed.

He is asked if the government is confident it is safe according to the data, after a Sage scientist said it might take weeks for the data to emerge.

Dowden says all of the data is continuing to move in the right direction.

Sky News’s Sam Coates asks if testing people without symptoms is a government goal.

Dowden says the government continues to massively “ramp up” testing.

He said tens of thousands of people who had been in contact with people who had tested positive for coronavirus are self-isolating as a result of test and trace.

Coates repeats the question, which Dowden avoids and says: “We have an effective regime.”

Dowden also announced that beauticians, spas, tattooists, and tanning salons can reopen from Monday with “some restrictions” on particularly high risk services.

Dowden asked what precautions will be taken in schools in September.

We all want to do the best for our children, he says. He said the education secretary and the prime minister would not open if it were not safe.

There will be extra cleaning and distancing were possible.

Testing will be available for those who have symptoms he says.

Dowden is urging British people to “make the most of this summer safely” adding: “We need them to support the places we love.”

Dowden has also said that local sports teams can reopen this weekend.

Outdoor pools and water parks will open this weekend.

But gyms and indoor pools will only be allowed to open from 25 July.

Gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres will open later this month in England with social distancing measures after growing unhappiness from the health and fitness sector that pub and restaurant reopening had been prioritised.

Our full story is here:

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden is now taking the Downing Street briefing.

Dowden announces that as of this weekend artists musicians and artists can perform live outside to a outdoor socially distanced audience.

Outdoor swimming pools will also be opened from 11 July.

Dowden says it’s an important milestone.

From the 11 July theatres, opera houses, dance venues and music venues can put on performances for socially distanced performances.

9 Jul 202011.41 EDT

Jennifer Rankin

British companies will face new barriers selling their products in the European Union, while UK nationals will face “thorough checks” when travelling to the continent even if there is a Brexit trade deal, the European commission has said.

In a document warning businesses to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period, the EU executive said many changes were “inevitable” even if the two sides reached an agreement by the end of the year.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier released the document, after three days of talks with his counterpart David Frost in London, where he said “significant divergences” remained between the two sides.

The 35-page document contained a thinly-veiled criticism of the UK government’s decision not to opt for a one or two-year extension of the Brexit transition period.

The choices made by the United Kingdom’s government on the future relationship and on not extending the transition period mean that these inevitable disruptions will occur as of 1 January 2021 and risk compounding the pressure that businesses are already under due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

It also underscores that Brussels has no intention of phasing in border controls, an approach favoured by the British government. From 1 January 2021, customs officers in EU member states are expected to carry out full controls, which are “ likely to lead to increased administrative burdens for businesses and longer delivery times in logistical supply chains” the commission said. These controls will apply even if the EU and UK are successful in agreeing a trade deal that sets tariffs at zero, with no limits on quantities of exports and imports.

As Barnier has long trailed, British financial firms in the City of London will lose the “passports” that allow them to sell services in the rest of the union.

As well as losing their right to live, work and travel freely in the 27-country zone, British nationals will also face “thorough checks” at the border and cannot stay for more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

Travellers will no longer be assured protection under EU passenger rights law that guarantees some compensation, nor will they have sure access to reduced roaming rates, while cats, dogs and other domestic animals will be stripped of the EU pet passport.