Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Six 20200717

Plans, and asking how realistic is a return to normality by the end of the year . Also on the programme. A new, quicker test for the coronavirus, using saliva, goes on trial, in southampton. Now, its captain sir tom moore, knighted by the queen, for his remarkable charity work, for the nhs. And 176 for englands ben stokes, as the hosts dominate the west indies in the second test at old trafford. Coming up on bbc news the green light for spectators back at Sports Events with sheffields crucible planned for a pilot event of the new planned for a pilot event after new government plans for england. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. Borisjohnson has announced further steps to ease the coronavirus lockdown in england, offering a road map of measures that he says he sincerely hopes will return the country to significa nt normality, possibly in time for christmas. From the beginning of next month, employers will have the power to decide whether they want workers to return to the office, and those heading back to work can use public transport as needed. Another £3 billion has been pledged for the nhs, ahead of the winter flu season and a possible rise in Coronavirus Infections. The funds will also maintain the Nightingale Hospitals, and further expand the coronavirus test and trace programme. Meanwhile local authorities have been given the power to introduce their own regional lockdowns from tomorrow, if infection rates rise. Ourfirst report this evening, is from our chief political correspondent, vicki young. The vicki young. Journey out of lockdown has been slow the journey out of lockdown has been slow and cautious. Now the government is mapping out the next stage for england, hoping to encourage us stage for england, hoping to encourage us back on public transport. Back to the office. And back to the shops. But even after all these months its impossible to say whether life will be normal by november. Even as we plan for the worst, i strongly believe we should also hope for the best. That means looking ahead with optimism. Now, extending our plan to lift the remaining national measures. The Prime Ministers next steps for easing the lockdown in england include from august more people can return to the workplace, facial beauty treatments and indoor shows can resume and casinos can reopen. In september schools, nurseries and colleges will reopen on a full time basis. From october, subject to successful pilots, stadium events with audiences and other business events could be allowed. Today we are publishing. There will be more cash for the nhs and councils will have extra powers to deal with coronavirus outbreaks in their area. Guidance that people should work from home if they can will change from home if they can will change from the beginning of august. We are going to give employers more discretion and ask them to make decisions about how their staff can work safely. Whatever employers decide, they should consult closely with their employees, and only ask people to return to their place of work if it is safe. Some companies have said to their workers that they dont need to be back in the office untiljanuary. Dont need to be back in the office until january. Are you dont need to be back in the office untiljanuary. Are you now saying that employers should be doing more to encourage workers back in august . Obviously it is not for government to decide how employers should run their companies. What we are seeing now is that if employers think it would be better and more productive for their employees to come into the office and they can work in a safe way then there should be discussions between the employers and employees. City centres like birmingham have been badly hit. Fewer workers going to the office has left businesses struggling for custom. It is weird because birmingham, as we know, you come to birmingham and it is a vibrant place, everyone is crowded, hustle and bustle, knock into people and go, sorry, hustle and bustle, knock into people and go, sorry, and then carry on. It will take a bit of time for peoplemy confidence to come back and peoplemy confidence to come back and people understanding you can come, it is ok to come to town but you have to be cautious. If you rush it too much we go back to where we were before and there will be spikes in infection because a lot of people think everything is finished and we have to be mindful of that. Scotland and wales are following a more cautious timetable than england. Our advice is that you should stay at home and work at home if you are able to do so. I positively dont wa nt able to do so. I positively dont want people to be returning to offices in the way that we did before coronavirus happened. This pandemic has left leaders treading a precarious path between controlling the virus and kick starting economic activity. Boris johnson the virus and kick starting economic activity. Borisjohnson always prefers an optimistic message. Today he held out the possibility of life being normal by christmas, but even he warned several times that restrictions would be back in place if people didnt behave sensibly. The rules in england are relaxing again but there is no guarantee that eve ryo ne again but there is no guarantee that everyone will feel confident about going back to the way things were. Vicki young, bbc news, westminster. Despite the Prime Ministers hopes for a return to normality by the end of the year, businesses remain cautious about the latest easing of lockdown measures for england, and warn that any mass return to work immediately is unlikely. The british chambers of commerce says Companies Still need Crystal Clear official guidance on safety. From the beginning of next month, employers will have discretion to ask employees to continue working at home, or ask them, to return to the office. Heres our Business Editor simonjack. Remember this . The daily commute, a fa ct of life remember this . The daily commute, a fact of life for millions before lockdown. Work from home if possible was the message until today. From august the ist employers will decide who needs to come in. Are we ready to return . I walk to the office, i dont have to commute, take public transport, and the Safety Measures they have implement it, i feel co mforta ble they have implement it, i feel comfortable with. I do feel comfortable with. I do feel comfortable going back to work and actually i signed up to it because im living alone, i have really wanted to go back to work. So yeah, im excited. Im eager to go back to work because i miss the people and going on the tube when it is so crowded and during rush hour, thats not something im looking forward to. The employers group, the cbi, said this will be a delicate moment but a really important one for the economy. Its going to rely on confidence and health measures, so the Huge Investment that so many businesses have been made in being covid secure, the conversations ive had with employers to ensure they are comfortable, transport, testing, it is not legs switching on a light switch, but it could mark the gradual return to work that prevent mass unemployment. As you can see we are sitting quite closely together. Business attempts to be covid safe will make a full return to work impossible. This was an office in march. And this is it now. We have 28 members of staff in there before and the way that we have set the office space up now we can have nine asa office space up now we can have nine as a maximum at any one period of time. It has been drastically reduced and it will be a phased return so that we can maintain that social distancing and keep everybody safe. Todays announcement appears to put the responsibility, and some would say the power, back in the hands of the employers. But there will be a lot of questions from workers. What about public transport . What about childcare . Some will want to come back, some wont and some might not be able to. Todays announcement, therefore, is a step towards normality but not a step change. Many businesses depend on the Office Worker and their travel. Upper crust, caffe ritazza, pret a manger and whsmith have to get a cut thousands of jobs. Pret a manger and whsmith have to get a cut thousands ofjobs. Unions today accused the government of lacking leadership and passing the buck. But without a return to work, there may be precious few bucks to pass. Simonjack, there may be precious few bucks to pass. Simon jack, bbc there may be precious few bucks to pass. Simonjack, bbc news. The Prime Minister has promised an extra £3 billion of funding for the nhs, saying the Health Service needs to be prepared for a possible fresh coronavirus outbreak in the winter. Borisjohnson has also pledged to provide more ventilators and more protective equipment, as well as a bigger flu vaccination programme. Heres our health editor, hugh pym. At the peak when covid i9 was surging through hospitals there were fears the system would be overrun. But after a huge effort it coped. The big question now, could it handle a second peak next winter at the same time as a flu outbreak . Thats what the Prime Minister was addressing today, first with more nhs funding for england, which will mean extra for the rest of the uk too. Some of the money will be used too. Some of the money will be used to keep the Nightingale Hospital is open right through until next march. Thats four covid cases and other nhs work if needed. And there is a deal with private hospitals to help clear the backlog of nonurgent hospitals operations cancelled during the first months of the crisis. Im glad you felt safe to come into the hospital today. Crisis. Im glad you felt safe to come into the hospitaltoday. Here at londons Royal Free Hospital more patients are coming back in for cancer clinics and being reassured there are strict Infection Control measures and it is both safe and essential they come in if required. But the chief executive told me that getting through the workload would bea getting through the workload would be a major challenge. Its one of the biggest worries we have in the nhs of how we make sure the patients who have been waiting a long time get treated as quickly as we can. And of course we are bringing patients back for their treatment according to their clinical need. But there will be an awful lot of patients who are still waiting. So the capacity is really important. There will also be an expansion of virus testing. This is seen as essential for finding out those who have the virus and then tracing the recent contacts to ensure they self isolate. Borisjohnson says he wa nts self isolate. Borisjohnson says he wants uk Testing Capacity to be 500,000 a day by october. Right now it is around 3a0,000. But 203,000 tests are actually provided daily to be carried out. Increasing capacity is clearly important but the capacity alone is nowhere near enough to ensure that we can stay on top of this virus, so what we are seeing with the track and trace system, for example, is gradual improvements in the number of cases that are reached and not much improvement in the number of contacts that are reached. Widespread testing is vital for local outbreaks to be spotted. Today Public Health england set out areas of concern. Leicester and oadby and wigston are listed as areas of National Intervention at next blackburn and darwen and pendle of areas for enhanced support and then come seven others. A pop up centre has been set up in barnsley to help monitor the spread of the virus. |j think it is important for everybody to get tested if they can do because if you have the virus you shouldnt spread it around, you should keep yourself away. I think there will be a lot more local lockdowns, you know . I dont think its ever going to go away. The government hopes new powers for local authorities in england to impose their own restrictions will remove the need for any further national lockdown. Hugh pym, bbc news. The latest figures from the department of health show that in the last 24 hour period the deaths of another 114 people were recorded in the uk after testing positive for covid i9, bringing the total number of people whove died to 45,233. On average in the last week, 83 people died every day, from coronavirus. Our health editor, high pym is here. There is confusion about how these death, mortality figures, are calculated. Yes, real confusion tonight because it turns out they are calculated in different ways in different parts of the uk. In scotland, wales and Northern Ireland they report deaths which have happened within 28 days of an individual testing positive for the virus. But it has emerged today that in england somebody could have tested positive several months before their death but they are still reported as a coronavirus death by Public Health england. The World Health Organization does not have a standard way of doing it but it throws a lot of question marks over the figures that have been reported daily. In the grand scheme of things it might not make a huge difference if they are recalculated but the existing figures probably overstated whats been happening in england. And in terms of transparency and integrity and trust, it seems vitally important that they are put on the same level right across the uk, particularly going into winter when data is going to be so important to see whats happening with the virus. Thats why the Health Secretary for england matt hancock has called for an urgent review of the way the figures in england are compiled. Hugh pym, many thanks. Globally, the rate of Coronavirus Infections continues to rise in some of the worlds most populous countries. In the last 24 hour reporting period, america, saw its biggest dailyjump to more than 77,000. Overall the us has more than 3. 5 million cases. Theres also been a record daily number of infections in india, with 35,000 new cases reported in the last 2a hours. Its only the third country to record one million overall, along with the us and brazil, where infections there have passed two million, and where more than 16,000 people tested positive, in the last 2a hours. A quicker, less invasive test for the coronavirus, is being piloted in southampton. Thousands of people are having samples of their saliva analysed, rather than swab tests which many can find uncomfortable. If the four week trial goes well, the entire city of more than 250,000 people, could be offered weekly tests. Our medical correspondent, fergus walsh has the full details. Right, so, take your pots, take the lid off. Never has testing cup double for coronavirus been so simple. Never has testing for coronavirus been so simple. Lean your head forward is to get some saliva in the front of your mouth and then a spit. Jane, who is a nurse at a gp surgery and her three teenage children, are part of a trial in southampton involving weekly testing of saliva. Its an alternative to nose and throat swab tests, which many find unpleasant. The swab test is quite invasive, especially if youre not feeling very well. If youve got a cough, it can really trigger a cough by putting something in the back of your throat, and so it is much, much easier to do. Most people with coronavirus have no symptoms on the day they are tested. So, regular saliva sampling could be a way of detecting cases earlier. After months of home schooling and lockdown, it might allow a return to normal life. Yeah, very sensible. Just to help get it over with, the pandemic, overand done with, to change lives. If the four week trial is successful, then the whole of southampton more than 250,000 people could be offered weekly saliva tests, in a bid to prevent infections from spreading. It does seem that people become positive in their saliva before they even become positive in the rest of their breathing tubes, the respiratory tract. So, if were seeking to pick up this early spread, this may be the way forwards. If the trial here in southampton goes well, saliva testing could play an increasingly Important Role in controlling the coronavirus epidemic. Weekly testing could be done in schools, care homes, or in hotspot areas to try to prevent outbreaks from getting out of control. Another advantage of saliva sampling is speed. It takes just 20 minutes for this laboratory in surrey to get a result. Compared to hours for a swab test. The key remaining question is whether the saliva test is Accurate Enough to be rolled out widely. Even potentially nationwide, as a way of trying to end the epidemic here altogether. So, this saliva test has got the potential to be done on a very large scale, in multiple locations, and can be done at speed. So, the sort of setting this could be done in could be almost like for a drive through, you take the sample, you run the test, you have a result. So, this could revolutionise the way you actually carry out and do surveillance. Its negative. Could, then, this be the way forward for us all, to have regular testing like jane and family . And perhaps a means of allowing us to abandon social distancing. Fergus walsh, bbc news. The time is 6 18. Our top story this evening Boris Johnson announces further easing of the coronavirus lockdown in england, saying he hopes the country will return to normality by christmas. And coming up, this record breaking yachtswomans mission to save her Sailing Charity for girls. Coming up on sportsday on bbc news wet weather causes a few headaches for f1 champion Lewis Hamilton in practice in hungary, as Sebastian Vettel dominates the second session. Captain sir tom moore, the centenarian whos raised more than £32 million for nhs charities, has been knighted by the queen. He received the honour in an outdoor ceremony at windsor castle. He said it had been an absolutely outstanding day. Our royal correspondent, sarah campbell, watched the ceremony at windsor. Sarah. In the midst of the pandemic, during some very difficult times, captain sir tom moore provided some hope, positivity when there was not much around. The honour conferred on him today behind windsor castles walls really felt like a personal thank you from the queen. For such an inspiring individual, it seemed appropriate that he should be given a uniquely special investiture. Bagpipes play a uniquely special investiture. This was the first face to face engagement with a member of the public the queen had taken part in since lockdown began. Beneath brilliant blue skies, and adhering to socially distant guidelines, she used the sword which had belonged to herfather, george vi, to knight captain sir thomas moore. To meet the queen was more than anyone could expect. I mean, it was. Never, ever, ever did i imagine that i could get so close to the queen and have such a kind message from her. That was really outstanding. It really was truly outstanding. And can you explain the message, what did she say . No thats between you and her majesty . Thats between the queen and i, yes. Ive been really honoured that this should happen and im thrilled that it did happen. And thank you everybody who subscribed to the funds. I really appreciate it. And thank you all very much. It all started with a family challenge to walk 100 lengths of the garden, to mark his upcoming 100th birthday. Sir toms journey captured the imagination of people around the world. The original target was to raise £1,000 for nhs charities. The final amount topped 32 million. Of course, his family including his daughter and two grandchildren were here to support sir tom, and joined him as her majesty expressed her thanks for theirfundraising efforts. Her majesty was truly interested. She asked to see us as a family. And to know that she is interested in what weve achieved together, its memorable. I mean, well never forget it. I cant believe were actually here weve come and visited sometimes, but now, its. Oh, im speechless this was a ceremony involving two people one aged 94, the other 100 years old. Both can be said to have helped keep peoples spirits up during the darkest of days. Sarah campbell, bbc news, windsor castle. Police and trading standards officers have told the bbc that some high profile social media users may be unwittingly helping to fuel the trade in counterfeit goods. With millions of followers, theyre often paid to promote clothing on their accounts. But sometimes, theyre unknowingly advertising fakes, at a cost of billions of pounds to the economy. Heres angus crawford. When is fashion just fashion . So, this says its from paris but, actually, its from liverpool nine. Yeah, thats correct. People just think, its a nice jumper, i like that. Its, like, £40, instead of £4,000. And when is it a crime . They are selling clothing bearing Yves Saint Laurent and other brands. An unwelcome visit. By trading standards officers in liverpool. Take that camera. Dont film that in here. Bagged and confiscated. Low cost tops, using designer brand names on the front. Thats a breach of trademark. So, the main brands weve got are balmain, Yves Saint Laurent, dior. The shop advertises these designs on instagram. Well, one of thems got two million followers. Yeah. Using some of social medias superstars. Obviously, influencers that are advertising these products really need to sort of take a hard look, to recognise what they are wearing and what they are advertising. She was on love island this year. Oh, really . Yeah, and you can see, that was one of the ones that we. And shes wearing one of the shirts in here. Yeah. Sophie kasaei, two million followers, in prada. Only, she isnt. Charlotte dawson, from mtvs ex on the beach, wears ysl. But its not. And love islands tyne lexy clarson sports gucci. Except, its not real gucci. Do you remember this one . I do remember promoting that brand, yeah. I do love thejumper, though. Youve showed me that and you do think twice about it but, obviously, when youre in a group of, like, a community where you see other people doing it, it can slip your mind. And sometimes, yourejust, youre looking at, well, that is something my followers would love because i love it, and youre not actually thinking. Because i know for a fact, obviously, i know its not gucci, i would assume that everyone else would, like, know its not gucci and its just a jumper. Influencers may not know clothes are fake, or think theyre doing anything wrong. Sophie kasaei didnt want to comment. Charlotte dawson said she was sent the top as a present and wasnt paid to promote it. The police see it differently. Here, a raid, filmed just before lockdown in manchester. We came here for the purpose of a section 1 warrant. An illegal trade, which costs the economy billions of pounds and thousands of jobs. One increasingly moving online, especially during lockdown. Social media in itself is so wide ranging, so easily accessible, and so many people nowadays are using it from different age ranges that its just so easy to share that information amongst kind of peers or other people, or even people that you dont know, just advertise quite widely. A serious question, then, for influencers getting paid for their posts how much do they really know about the clothes they promote . Angus crawford, bbc news. Lets take a look at some of the days other top stories now, and the metropolitan police has called footage posted on social media showing a man being detained by officers on the ground with a knee across his neck as extremely disturbing. Get off my neck police were called to a fight in islington yesterday, and arrested a man on suspicion of affray and possession of an offensive weapon. One officer has been suspended, and another placed on restricted duties. British airways is retiring its fleet of 31 boeing 747 jumbo jets with immediate effect, because of the coronavirus crisis. An iconic symbol of long haul travel, the aircraft was first used by bas predecessor, boac, back in 1971. Nowadays, airlines are using smaller planes for long haul, that burn less fuel. The number of knife crimes in england and wales has risen to a new record high. The office for National Statistics says there were more than 46,000 offences in the 12 months to the end of march, up 6 from the previous year. However, the ons says theres been a significant reduction in overall offending, falling by 9 . On the ninth day ofjohnnys depp case against the sun newspaper, the court heard evidence from a neighbour stating that he did not see any bruises on amber heards face in the days after an alleged assault. The court saw a photograph which showed her with a bruised faced. Mr depp is suing over an article where he was referred to as a wife beater. The queens granddaughter, princess beatrice, has married the Property Developer Edoardo Mapelli mozzi. A private ceremony took place in windsor this morning. The couples wedding had been due to take place in may, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Now, Tracy Edwards is one of britains leading yachtswomen, having skippered the first all female crew in the whitbread round the world yacht race. Shes also an mbe. But now, to support her own charity during the coronavirus pandemic, shes decided to sell some of her medals. Duncan kennedy has the story. This was the day that created history for sport and women. Tracy edwards, from hampshire, and her all female crew had done it. Skipper Tracy Edwards crosses the line with the first ever all female crew to sail the whitbread round the world yacht race. 30 years on, tracy now uses maiden to inspire girls dreams around the globe. Is this her, is this the actual boat . And i was like, yeah. And they were like, the actual boat . yes itsjust wonderful but covid 19 has hit the funds for her charity, jeopardising the project. So, bold as ever, tracy asked some special friends for help. Im here to welcome you to the maiden crowdfunder. As you know, childrens education has been hard hit by this horrifying virus and it impacted all their futures. What you may not know is that disadvantaged and vulnerable girls are most at risk for not being able to return to their education or having access to it. And its made out of maidens hull. But tracy is also selling her most personal possessions from maiden, including her own medal from the epic voyage. Until, that is, last night. I had an e mailfrom someone, a lady, saying. Oh, i almost cant say this. Sorry. And then i had an e mail from a lady, saying, were donating £10,000 to the crowdfunder. Please, please, dont, dont sell your medal. Maiden isnt the only charity to suffer with the loss of income during covid 19. What tracy hopes is that her message, and the message of helping girls all around the world, will start bringing some of those funds back. It was determination that first propelled tracy and maiden, now its inspiration needed to keep them on course. Duncan kennedy, bbc news, in hamble. A superb batting performance from ben stokes has put england firmly in control of the second test against the west indies on day two. Stokes scored 176 at old trafford. Andy swiss watched the action. He makes the extraordinary scene almost commonplace. For ben stokes, just another day of batting brilliance. He began it in watchful mode. His customary attack mingled with caution. But gradually, he and partner dom sibley wore the west indies down and, soon, sibley had his reward. Dom sibleys got there. Crickets first biosecure centurion, after nearly eight hours of painstaking patience. And then it was his partners turn a more audacious way to reach 100. But this is ben stokes. And after some brief celebrations, it was time for some fun. Lovely shot. The sight of stokes cutting loose is perhaps the most thrilling in cricket