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New regulations would compel people to wear a face covering in shops in England from 24 July on pain of a £100 fine. Similar regulations had been imposed in Scotland. A report requested by Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, said that, without lockdowns, treatments or vaccines, in a reasonable worst-case scenario, a second wave of infection could see coronavirus deaths in hospital alone range between 24,500 and 251,000, peaking in January and February. At the beginning of the week, Sunday 12 July, total deaths from Covid-19 stood at 44,798, with a seven-day average of 85 deaths a day; but in the following two days the number of deaths was 21 and 11. About 200 legal migrant fruit-pickers on a farm in Herefordshire were quarantined after 73 of them were found to have Covid-19; but three workers left the farm and were hunted by police. Care workers were excluded from a government points system planned to govern immigration from the end of the year. About 180 migrants crossed the Channel to England last Sunday in 15 boats; another 200 were intercepted by the French authorities and prevented from crossing. Gérald Darmanin, the new French Interior Minister, had dismantled several makeshift camps near Calais. The next day 32 migrants crossed the Channel, bringing the year’s total to 2,660.
The government banned phone providers from buying new Huawei 5G equipment after 31 December; they must also remove it all from their networks by 2027. Oliver Dowden, the Digital Secretary, told the Commons that this would delay provision of 5G capability by a year and cost Britain £2 billion. Customers of the online Smile Bank were unable to get into their accounts for five days running. Jack Charlton, the footballer who played in the England team that won the World Cup in 1966, died aged 85.
The GDP of the United Kingdom increased in May by 1.8
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