Covid UK news — live: ‘Pingdemic’ u-turn as limited number of workers to skip self-isolation

India’s health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has informed the Parliament that a total of 45,432 cases of mucormycosis, or black fungus, were reported in the country till 15 July. Of these, 4,252 died due to the infection, he said.

At least 84 per cent of the black fungus patients were infected with Covid-19.

Mucormycosis is a rare but serious fungal infection that is caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. It mostly affects individuals with low immunity or increased blood sugar level.

Authorities in Australia have warned that the number of Covid-19 cases in the country would see a spike and take a toll on the economy despite a lockdown in some states to curb the spread of the virus.

Cases have been increasing in Australia, driven by the Delta variant of Covid-19 which was first detected in India.

New South Wales reported 124 new infections on Thursday, a record for this year and the highest in 16 months. Victoria state logged 26 new cases.

As many as 119,000 children in India and over 1 million globally lost their primary caregiver due to Covid-19 between 1 March, 2020 and 30 April this year, according to a new study published in The Lancet.

The Indian government had last month announced a number of schemes to support children who lost their parents to the virus. This included creating a corpus of Rs 10 lakh (£9,800) for each child when they reach the age of 18.

The Indian cricketer who had tested positive for Covid-19 during the team’s England tour has recovered from the virus.

Rishabh Pant has completed 10 days of isolation and has joined the Indian team in a “bio-bubble” in Durham, according to India Today.

India and England begin a five-match Test series starting 4 August.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that the government is “very concerned” about the situation around Covid self-isolation following reports of shortages on supermarket shelves.

Mr Kwarteng told Sky News on Thursday that a list of critical workers who would be eligible for looser isolation rules if alerted by the NHS Covid app would be drawn up “very soon”.

“We’re going to announce a list of exempt workers. The list of exemptions will be quite narrow because, obviously, you have to draw the line somewhere,” the minister said.

However, Mr Kwarteng refused to be drawn on who would be on the list or whether it would be released this week.

You can find his comments in full below:

The epidemiologist behind the popular ZOE Covid symptoms study has suggested that the NHS app for tracking close contacts of cases may no longer be useful and potentially should be stopped.

Professor Tim Spector told Sky News on Wednesday evening that staff should still stay at home if they have “cold-like symptoms” but the scientist did not think that “saying that someone might have passed them by in a supermarket is actually that useful anymore”.

“It doesn’t seem to be appropriate at the moment… it seems to be overkill,” Professor Spector said.

He added that experts were looking at how many people who were “pinged” by the app went on to catch Covid but said he thought the research was likely to show that the app is “not effective and should be stopped”.

“Money and tests could be spent better elsewhere, that’s my gut feeling,” he said.

A spike in the number of food supply workers being forced to self-isolate due to close contact with a Covid-19 case is being blamed for empty supermarket shelves this week.

Shoppers across the UK have been alarmed to find shelves and fridges empty following a surge in workers being alerted by the NHS Covid app.

Our reporter, Jane Dalton, has the full story below:

A food distribution company struggling with staff shortages has advised workers who are “pinged” by the NHS app to follow a testing regime and continue working, instead of self-isolating.

“We know that they’re critical workers as part of the food supply chain, so if people are obviously positive or contacted by Test and Trace then they will have to isolate,” Bidfood chief executive Andrew Selley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“If they are pinged we ask them to take a PCR test, if that’s positive then clearly they’ll isolate, but if it’s negative we ask them to come back to work and we have a process of doing lateral flow tests daily away from their workplace, and if that’s negative they can proceed with their work.”

When told that this would be a breach of government advice, Mr Selley added: “We think that’s appropriate and safe. The ping is advisory.

“We operate in Covid-safe workplaces and we’re absolutely key workers in terms of the supply chain to hospitals, care homes, prisons, and therefore it’s important for us to be able to keep offering that service to our customers.”

A pledge to lift self-isolation rules for double-vaccinated people who are close contacts of a Covid case on 16 August may not go ahead, a minister has admitted.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Thursday morning that no final decision would be taken until a week before the date but he insisted that he was keeping his “fingers crossed” that the policy change would be introduced.

Our deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, has the full story below: