Coronavirus latest: More than 500,000 people pinged by Covid app as NHS warned of winter triple virus threat

Cases of Covid-19 in Tokyo have surged to the highest number in six months just one week before the Olympics.

Some 1,300 infections have been reported in the city and there are concerns a dramatic increase could flood hospitals during the Olympics, which start on July 23.

Since Monday the city has been under a fourth state of emergency, which requires bars and restaurants to close early.

A ban on alcohol sales is also in place throughout the Olympics, which end in early August.

New daily cases have been steadily climbing since mid-June. Health experts say cases could hit several thousand during the games. Last week, organisers banned local fans from most Olympic events.

Maternity experts have warned that more needs to be done to encourage pregnant women to get the Covid-19 vaccination.

Doctors have warned “confusion” around the jab’s safety has resulted in almost 60 per cent of pregnant women refusing to take up it up.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said they were concerned about the hesitancy amid infections rising across England.

The RCOG added that around 58 per cent are refusing the vaccine, according to its internal data.

Dr Mary Ross-Davie, director for professional midwifery at the RCM, said: “The delay to getting official information and advice out to pregnant women, as well as to healthcare staff delivering the vaccine, has undoubtedly caused further confusion among pregnant women.

“But we can’t turn back the clock, we can only look to providing the right support and guidance to women who are pregnant now.

“We would of course have liked to have seen a widespread Government public information campaign about the vaccine in pregnancy to address the misinformation that is out there.

“We urge women to speak to their midwife or doctor to get clear and factual information, or to go to the official government website.”

Heathrow Airport has confirmed masks will be mandatory for travellers after Monday.

A spokesman for the airport told Sky News: “Airports are unique environments with an international passenger profile.

“This is why face coverings were mandatory at Heathrow before the government made them a legal requirement and they will continue to be mandatory at the airport after July 19 as part of a multi-layered array of Covid-secure measures to ensure we protect our passengers, our colleagues and rebuild confidence in travel.”

Tesco has said it will encourage its customers and staff to continue wearing face coverings in stores.

It follows the supermarket completing a review of its mask-wearing policies ahead of the latest easing of restrictions in England on Monday.

The firm said it will also continue to have capacity limits in its stores, protective screens at checkouts, hand sanitiser stations and regular cleaning after speaking with customers and colleagues.

Boris Johnson said businesses were “perfectly capable” of understanding new guidance on face masks which comes into force on Monday.

“We are moving away from legal but sadly the pandemic is not over and people must remain cautious,” he said speaking at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry.

More than half a million people in England were pinged by the NHS Covid Test and Trace app in a week.

There were 520,194 alerts sent out by the app in the week ending July 7 – the highest figure recorded since the data began being published in January.

Housing and communities secretary Robert Jenrick said the government is “concerned” about the number of people missing work and self-isolating because of the alerts.

He told LBC radio: “That is one of the reasons why we do need to move to a more proportionate approach.”

There is no legal obligation to self-isolate if alerted by the app. Sajid Javid is understood to have asked officials to look at reducing the sensitivity of the app .

It comes as Boris Johnson said it is “highly probable” that the worst of the pandemic is over provided people are careful when restrictions lift in England on Monday.

In a speech in Coventry, the Prime Minister said: “I wish I could say that this pandemic that we have been going through is over and I wish I could say that from Monday we could simply throw caution to the winds and behave exactly as we did before we’d ever heard of Covid.

“But what I can say is that if we are careful and if we continue to respect this disease and its continuing menace then it is highly probable – almost all the scientists are agreed on this – the worst of the pandemic is behind us.”

Barts, London’s largest health trust, is now treating 19 Covid patients in intensive care compared to seven at the end of June.

Yesterday 67 inpatients across its five hospitals had tested positive for the virus, with 13 newly diagnosed on Tuesday.

Anaesthetist Parjam Zolfaghari tweeted: “On the eve of reopening the Royal London Hospital Covid ICU, we thank the 1000+ staff who came and worked alongside [the Adult Critical Care Unit] to look after our patients. Next wave is arriving, protect yourselves and those around you.”

The Covid-19 vaccination programme has led to “a high proportion of individuals” in England having detectable antibodies, new research has found.

However scientists tracking the epidemic have expressed concerns about a lower uptake of the jab among people who have been previously infected with the virus.

A government commissioned study found that antibody prevalence in England was 61 per cent.

Some 200,000 people took the self-testing finger prick antibody test between May 12 and May 25.

But experts warned that there were some key groups with a lower prevalence of antibodies – particularly unvaccinated younger people, certain minority ethnic groups, those living in deprived areas and workers in some public facing employment such as hospitality and retail.

Their findings also showed an almost 40 per cent lower vaccine uptake amongst people who reported a previous Covid-19 infection.

Helen Ward, professor of public health at Imperial College London, said: “There are a number of people who have said that they are happy with natural immunity (from Covid-19 infection).

“So I think that we have to put the right messages out there to say, ‘Actually, we know that immunity following infection does wane over time’.”

Care homes are struggling to find staff as pandemic restrictions ease, the chair of the National Care Association has warned.

Nadra Ahmed said recruiting staff was an “enormous challenge” and many workers were still being ‘pinged’ by the NHS to self isolate.

“It’s the management of all of this that’s going to be a challenge because recruitment of staff is an enormous challenge for us at the moment, and we’ve also got the pings going off for isolation, so I’ve got real staffing issues about how we manage this,” she told Sky News.

She added that the government needs to clarify issues around visitors wearing masks to care homes and whether they can refuse.

“On the one hand we’ve been told mask-wearing will become optional, for people to make up their own minds,” she said.

“So, if we’ve got people who are coming in to take their loved ones out, we need to make sure that we understand what the rules will be for them.

“If they’re taking them to a local pub or local cafe, how do we work with that and how do we actually monitor that, because all the responsibility in any guidance that has come through rests completely on the provider.”

Ms Ahmed added that the sector also expects to lose staff once mandatory vaccination comes in.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has confirmed face coverings will remain mandatory on the capital’s transport services after Freedom Day in a revolt against Boris Johnson.

Almost all pandemic restriction are due to be dropped in England on Monday, including face coverings in public places.

But local government leaders across England have hit out at the government’s decision and joined London in keeping mask wearing compulsory in areas of local transport under their control.

The regions which have defied the government advice on masks include:

• Greater Manchester
• Liverpool City Region
• West of England
• North of Tyne
• South Yorkshire
• West Yorkshire

First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford today said people should not take foreign holidays over the summer.

“Our advice to people in Wales hasn’t changed. This is the year to take your holiday at home,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Visiting other countries, even on the amber list, will pose risks to you and to others.

“Risks of re-importing the virus into Wales, risks of new variants that are occurring in other parts of the world could make their way back to the UK.

“Unless you have a compelling reason to travel abroad, surely this year is the year to enjoy everything that Wales has to offer.

“That’s been our message to people in Wales throughout.”