Coronavirus: Lockdown to ease further in England from Saturday - BBC News

More beauty treatments, small wedding receptions and live indoor performances will be able to resume in England from Saturday, as lockdown rules are eased.

Bowling alleys, casinos and soft play centres will also be able to reopen, PM Boris Johnson has announced.

It comes as the government introduces tough new measures targeting breaches of social distancing restrictions.

Fines for refusing to wear a mask could reach a maximum of £3,200 and illegal rave organisers face a £10,000 penalty.

"Most people in this country are following the rules and doing their bit to control the virus, but we must remain focused and we cannot be complacent," Mr Johnson said.

"That is why we are strengthening the enforcement powers available to use against those who repeatedly flout the rules."

The changes coincide with new quarantine measures for people coming to the UK from several countries including France and the Netherlands, which mean travellers must self-isolate for 14 days from Saturday.

The prime minister said that plans to open up more of the economy this weekend "will allow more people to return to work and the public to get back to more of the things they have missed".

But Mr Johnson reiterated a warning that the government "will not hesitate to put on the brakes if required, or to continue to implement local measures to help to control the spread of the virus".

Under changes coming into force from 15 August:

• Indoor theatre, music and performance venues will be able to reopen with socially distanced audiences
• Wedding receptions in the form of a sit-down meal for up to 30 guests will be permitted
• The piloting of a small number of sporting events to test the safe return of spectators will resume, commencing with the final of the World Snooker Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre over the weekend
• Casinos, bowling alleys, skating rinks and soft play centres will be allowed to reopen
• "Close contact" beauty services such as facials, eyebrow threading, eyelash treatments, make up application and microblading will resume
• Pilots will take place at conference venues ahead of the expected resumption of business events from 1 October at the earliest

The new guidance will not apply in areas where local lockdown measures are in place, the government said.

Lockdown restrictions were last week introduced in Preston and kept in place in 18 other areas to control outbreaks.

Devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the power to set their own timings for the easing of restrictions.

The latest easing of England's lockdown was due to take place on 1 August, however this was postponed after the ONS expressed concerns about a slight increase in the number of people in England testing positive for coronavirus.

Last week, ONS figures showed this may be levelling off.

New guidance will also mean that staff offering "close contact" services, including hairdressers, will now have to wear a face mask as well as a clear visor.

The government said the move, which follows new evidence from the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) is aimed at protecting customers and staff from respiratory droplets caused by sneezing, coughing, or speaking.

It also applies to businesses that operate remotely, such as massage therapists working in people's homes, and those learning in vocational training environments.

Nightclubs, dance halls and discotheques are among venues that remain closed in law.

Tougher enforcement measures

Under current guidance, people who refuse to wear a face covering where it is required face a £100 fine, which can be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.

The new enforcement measures will see that penalty repeatedly doubled for subsequent offences, up to a maximum of £3,200.

In England, face coverings are mandatory in many indoor settings, including public transport, shops and museums, with some exemptions for children or on medical grounds.

Transport for London and British Transport Police have already made 91,501 interventions based on present face coverings guidance, the government said - preventing 4,397 from boarding, asking 3,030 to leave the network and issuing 341 penalty notices.

There will also be a clampdown on illegal gatherings of more than 30 people, which could see those responsible hit with spot fines of up to £10,000.

According to the government, forces across England and Wales have already stepped up patrols to prevent illegal gatherings in areas of concern, such as Leicester and Greater Manchester, where it said deployments have sometimes been larger than on New Year's Eve.

Last weekend, West Midlands Police shut down 125 parties and raves - and closed a pub - taking action to stop illegal gatherings and anti-social behaviour across the region.

Further detail on the new enforcement measures is to be set out in the coming week.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she would not allow progress against the virus to be undermined by "a small minority of senseless individuals".

"These measures send a clear message - if you don't cooperate with the police and if you put our health at risk, action will follow."

• ALHAN'S WORLD: Health tips to keep you in good shape in these socially distanced times
• WAKE UP TO MONEY: Bracing for the Covid recession

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2020-08-13 21:33:51Z
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Coronavirus: Lockdown to ease further in England from Saturday - BBC News

More beauty treatments, small wedding receptions and live indoor performances will be able to resume in England from Saturday, as lockdown rules are eased.

Bowling alleys, casinos and soft play centres will also be able to reopen, PM Boris Johnson has announced.

It comes as the government introduces tough new measures targeting breaches of social distancing restrictions.

Fines for refusing to wear a mask could reach a maximum of £3,200 and illegal rave organisers face a £10,000 penalty.

"Most people in this country are following the rules and doing their bit to control the virus, but we must remain focused and we cannot be complacent," Mr Johnson said.

"That is why we are strengthening the enforcement powers available to use against those who repeatedly flout the rules."

The changes coincide with new quarantine measures for people coming to the UK from several countries including France and the Netherlands, which mean travellers must self-isolate for 14 days from Saturday.

The prime minister said that plans to open up more of the economy this weekend "will allow more people to return to work and the public to get back to more of the things they have missed".

But Mr Johnson reiterated a warning that the government "will not hesitate to put on the brakes if required, or to continue to implement local measures to help to control the spread of the virus".

Under changes coming into force from 15 August:

• Indoor theatre, music and performance venues will be able to reopen with socially distanced audiences
• Wedding receptions in the form of a sit-down meal for up to 30 guests will be permitted
• The piloting of a small number of sporting events to test the safe return of spectators will resume, commencing with the final of the World Snooker Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre over the weekend
• Casinos, bowling alleys, skating rinks and soft play centres will be allowed to reopen
• "Close contact" beauty services such as facials, eyebrow threading, eyelash treatments, make up application and microblading will resume
• Pilots will take place at conference venues ahead of the expected resumption of business events from 1 October at the earliest

The new guidance will not apply in areas where local lockdown measures are in place, the government said.

Lockdown restrictions were last week introduced in Preston and kept in place in 18 other areas to control outbreaks.

Devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the power to set their own timings for the easing of restrictions.

The latest easing of England's lockdown was due to take place on 1 August, however this was postponed after the ONS expressed concerns about a slight increase in the number of people in England testing positive for coronavirus.

Last week, ONS figures showed this may be levelling off.

New guidance will also mean that staff offering "close contact" services, including hairdressers, will now have to wear a face mask as well as a clear visor.

The government said the move, which follows new evidence from the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) is aimed at protecting customers and staff from respiratory droplets caused by sneezing, coughing, or speaking.

It also applies to businesses that operate remotely, such as massage therapists working in people's homes, and those learning in vocational training environments.

Nightclubs, dance halls and discotheques are among venues that remain closed in law.

Tougher enforcement measures

Under current guidance, people who refuse to wear a face covering where it is required face a £100 fine, which can be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.

The new enforcement measures will see that penalty repeatedly doubled for subsequent offences, up to a maximum of £3,200.

In England, face coverings are mandatory in many indoor settings, including public transport, shops and museums, with some exemptions for children or on medical grounds.

Transport for London and British Transport Police have already made 91,501 interventions based on present face coverings guidance, the government said - preventing 4,397 from boarding, asking 3,030 to leave the network and issuing 341 penalty notices.

There will also be a clampdown on illegal gatherings of more than 30 people, which could see those responsible hit with spot fines of up to £10,000.

According to the government, forces across England and Wales have already stepped up patrols to prevent illegal gatherings in areas of concern, such as Leicester and Greater Manchester, where it said deployments have sometimes been larger than on New Year's Eve.

Last weekend, West Midlands Police shut down 125 parties and raves - and closed a pub - taking action to stop illegal gatherings and anti-social behaviour across the region.

Further detail on the new enforcement measures is to be set out in the coming week.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she would not allow progress against the virus to be undermined by "a small minority of senseless individuals".

"These measures send a clear message - if you don't cooperate with the police and if you put our health at risk, action will follow."

• ALHAN'S WORLD: Health tips to keep you in good shape in these socially distanced times
• WAKE UP TO MONEY: Bracing for the Covid recession

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2020-08-13 21:12:10Z
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A-Level results: These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos - Sky News

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. A-Level results: These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos  Sky News
2. Exam results: Pupils get results based on predicted grades  BBC News
3. Mixed emotions for A-level students with almost 40 per cent of results downgraded  The Telegraph
4. As an A-level student, I am furious that the government has set us up to fail  The Independent
5. Letting teachers award exam results without supervision is grossly unfair to all students  The Independent
6. View Full coverage on Google News

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiiwFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9hLWxldmVsLXJlc3VsdHMtdGhlc2Utc3R1ZGVudHMtd2VyZS1wcmVkaWN0ZWQtdG8tZ2V0LWFzLWJ1dC1hbi1hbGdvcml0aG0tdGhyZXctdGhlaXItZnV0dXJlcy1pbnRvLWNoYW9zLTEyMDQ4MzY50gGPAWh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9hLWxldmVsLXJlc3VsdHMtdGhlc2Utc3R1ZGVudHMtd2VyZS1wcmVkaWN0ZWQtdG8tZ2V0LWFzLWJ1dC1hbi1hbGdvcml0aG0tdGhyZXctdGhlaXItZnV0dXJlcy1pbnRvLWNoYW9zLTEyMDQ4MzY5?oc=5

2020-08-13 18:11:15Z
52780988294208

A-Level results: These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos - Sky News

Some A-level students say moderators have "ruined their results" as almost 40% of grades were downgraded in England after exams were cancelled due to coronavirus.

Nearly two in five (39.1%) of teachers' estimates for pupils were adjusted down by one grade or more by an assessor's algorithm, which amounts to around 280,000 entries.

There have been accusations the predictive computer programme designed by exam regulator Ofqual bakes-in social inequality by assuming that pupils in disadvantaged, low-performing schools will do worse than others.

It's not quite as simple as that, but here is how the algorithm works:

First the students are ranked and given a grade by their teachers. The programme uses this, but then applies other factors.

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So a low ranked A grade could slip to a B if the student's cohort performed less well in previous years. The classmates' average GCSE results and key stage 2 assessments appear to be a factor in the algorithm.

The teachers' grades are also set against the school's performance in previous years.

So, if the algorithm sees too many As and Bs given by the school - it will adjust the lower ranked students downwards. In the worst-case scenario, the A grade student is downgraded even further to a C.

Also, if a school has only one high achiever every four years, and it has not been four years since their last high achiever, then most likely pupils in 2020 will not get high grades.

Here, students tell Sky News how the controversial grading method affected their results.

Holly Barber, 18, from Woodhouse Grove School, Bradford

Image: Holly Barber said 'the government have completely ruined a lot of kids' futures'

I feel a bit embarrassed that I've been wrongly graded for all my efforts at school.

I've spent two years trying to get the best results possible and this looks like I've not even tried at all at school. I feel it's completely unfair.

I went into school this morning and they told us they'd spent hours in meetings, going through everything carefully to get us the right grades.

So then to be dropped from a predicted A to an E in physics for no reason at all... it's just demoralising.

This will have a big impact on my future.

The government have completely ruined a lot of kids' futures.

Every single person I've talked to has been downgraded. I feel like we've been screwed over. I've messaged so many people in my year and they've all been screwed over.

Shakeel Sooki, 18, Bexleyheath Academy, south London

Image: Shakeel Sooki got an A in his last two mocks

I feel a bit betrayed. My teachers did their upmost best to help me and gave me all the support possible to do all my work.

My mocks in Year 12 weren't particularly good, but with all the extra help, they were improving.

Literally, my last mocks in chemistry and biology before we broke up were two As, so I knew that before lockdown happened if I did the exams and kept up with the work I was doing I could easily get an A and meet my offers.

I still had some hope they would see my last mocks and take that into account. Unfortunately they haven't... I can do a lot better.

I don't feel like it's been handled particularly well - not a lot of information has come out, they just abruptly announced some changes because they saw how Scotland handled it and the backlash they received from the way they worked it out.

It seems that students this year have had to take a back seat.

Chloe Pearce, 18, from Northgate Sixth Form College, Ipswich

Image: Chloe Pearce said the grade change impacts if she'll get a bursary

I was very frustrated and rather angry at the whole system, at how the whole thing worked out.

I had been looking forward to results day, I thought: 'I've got these grades in the bag, there's no reason I should be downgraded because there's evidence enough from my mocks and my work throughout the year to show I deserve the grades.'

It's just been a bit of shock to the system, really.

My entire PE class had been downgraded. It's happened to everyone.

I know lots of people in my class had offers for Loughborough, and they needed an A in PE for that. They've all missed out on those offers because it seems the highest offer anyone has got in PE is a B.

It's an absolute shambles. There are a lot of really disappointed students.

I've got an unconditional offer at Suffolk, but this lower grade impacts on whether I can get a bursary. I'm really lucky I've got my uni place so I'm guaranteed that but the extra bursary would have really helped. It's going to be difficult."

At a school in east London, nearly half (47%) of the grades predicted by their teachers were modified downwards.

Image: Wiktoria Sniadowska was planning to study fine art

The overwhelming feeling of many students at Leyton Sixth Form College is that their individual school achievements, recognised by their teachers, have been robbed by the algorithm.

Wiktoria Sniadowska says she was predicted by her teachers to get A, A, A and hoped to study fine art - but the algorithm gave her B, B, C.

She said: "They've ruined my results."

And Shadman Siraz was hoping to get into King's College or Queen Mary University to study economics. He was expecting A*, A, B but ended up getting B, B, C.

He said: "I don't have the grades to go to university. I don't feel I've been fairly marked - my predictions were way higher than this. I could have done better in an actual exam."

Image: Shadman Siraz had all three grades moderated down

Head of maths at Leyton Sixth Form College, Nicholas Moore, said: "What appears to have happened is they've taken the historical results for an institution. They've taken the past results for a cohort of students - so not for the individual - and used that to predict the grades and then used the teachers ranking to generate who gets what grades.

"No account appears to have been taken for the actual centre-assessed grade which we spent hundreds of hours preparing."

He added: "The problem with using ranking is when you rank 100 students what's the difference between 55 and 56 - but it's those students on the borderline that risk being downgraded."

Sally Collier, chief regulator of Ofqual, said: "I'm confident that results from the system that we've put in place are fair for the vast majority of students and I appreciate that there are individual students here with individual grades. No system could have predicted exactly what that student would've got had they taken their exams.

"We're confident that this system is fair, and when it's not been fair - this is new system for five million grades - then there is a process for individuals through their schools to fix these things and fix them quickly."

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2020-08-13 17:29:45Z
52780988294208

A-Level results: These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos - Sky News

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. A-Level results: These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos  Sky News
2. Exam results: Pupils get results based on predicted grades  BBC News
3. Mixed emotions for A-level students with almost 40 per cent of results downgraded  The Telegraph
4. Letting teachers award exam results without supervision is grossly unfair to all students  The Independent
5. As an A-level student, I am furious that the government has set us up to fail  The Independent
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2020-08-13 17:26:15Z
52780988294208

A-level results: 'My future has been set back completely' - BBC News

For students across England, Northern Ireland and Wales the wait is finally over for A-level and vocational qualification results. But with exams cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, many have seen their teacher-predicted grades lowered, leading to disappointment and confusion.

"My future has been set back completely," says Abbi Fitzgerald.

The student at Wilberforce Sixth Form College in Hull got a Distinction* in her engineering BTec - the highest grade possible - but for her A-levels she got Ds in maths and art and an E in physics, after the results predicted by her teachers were downgraded.

"When I opened them I had a bit of a cry," she tells the BBC.

This year, schools submitted predicted grades to exam boards and ranked pupils based on who they thought would do best.

The exam boards then took into account data from previous years to adjust the marks, with the aim of ensuring consistency.

But headteachers have spoken of "volatility" in the results, with some saying lowered grades seem to be unfair.

For Abbi, this means she misses out on a place at Durham University to study engineering, and she says she is now considering sitting her exams later in the year or finding a place at another university through clearing.

"I had my heart set on Durham and it's now not an option for clearing because there's no clearing for my course," she adds.

Abbi says the grading system seems "unfair".

Vocational qualifications like BTecs often have continuous assessments throughout the course, but many A-level subjects rely primarily on exams at the end of the year, making it harder to predict grades.

"It goes to show that the ones I was supposed to do exams in that I didn't get to, I got awful grades, I got downgraded," she says.

"And the one that reflects all the work I've done over the past two years, I got the highest grade that I could possibly get."

She says she is angry her results have been affected by something out of her control, adding: "I would have happily sat the exams but it was up to the government."

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For Maimuna Hassan, from Acton in west London, her results also came as a "complete shock".

After being predicted A*A*A by her teachers, she was only awarded A*AB, meaning she missed her university offers to study engineering at Cambridge and Imperial College London.

Maimuna believes her results were downgraded because of the historically lower grades at her comprehensive school in Chiswick, which has twice been rated as "requires improvement" by Ofsted inspectors.

"They didn't take individual circumstances into account," she adds.

Born in Switzerland and the eldest child of Somali immigrants, English is her third language and Maimuna says she had to work harder than most to achieve top grades throughout her school career.

She now feels "let down" by the system and says she has little faith in the appeals process which could allow her mock results of A*A*A to be used instead.

On Wednesday, the Department for Education announced that for pupils in England, if their results day grades are lower than their mock exams they can appeal - but this will have to be through their school, with the terms for approving appeals to be decided by regulator Ofqual.

They also have the option of taking a written exam in the autumn, giving them the chance to secure a higher grade.

But with just two months to prepare Maimuna worries she would not fulfil her potential.

"I'm going to start revising tomorrow just in case," she adds.

Toby Newton, from Hillingdon in west London, was on track to achieve his dream of studying medicine, with predicted grades of A*A*A.

However, his plans have been put on hold after he was only awarded BBC.

"It was incredibly disheartening," he says, adding that many of his school friends are in a similar situation.

"I feel like the government have let us down and I'm hoping they'll reconsider the points and how they are being rewarded."

Toby now plans to appeal to see if his mock results of ABB can be used instead and is looking at the option of studying at a European university.

"I've always wanted to be a doctor and I still want to be a doctor, so it hasn't put me off," he says.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Not everyone is disappointed, though.

Overall results across England, Northern Ireland and Wales show record highs for A* and A grades at A-level.

Caitlyn Foley, a student at Merthyr College in south Wales, says she is "very pleased" after being awarded an A* and three As.

"It's been a bit weird having to deal with all the changes so last minute," she says.

"I was nervous, just because I knew I worked hard all throughout the year, and I was disappointed because I couldn't perform and do my exams and prove it to myself."

Others have benefitted from the last-minute changes.

Fellow student Tom Bush was awarded an A and two Bs but this will be upgraded to two As and a B, after ministers in Wales promised students' A-level result this year would be no lower than what they achieved at AS-level the previous year.

However, he says he still found the uncertainty leading up to results day "frustrating".

"I know things happen but we've had quite a long time to prepare for this and it seems to just have all gone up in the air a couple of days before."

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2020-08-13 15:24:44Z
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Coronavirus: England's contact tracing app trial gets under way - BBC News

A trial of the English coronavirus app is getting under way.

It will be limited to residents in the Isle of Wight, the London Borough of Newham and NHS volunteer responders to begin with.

The app will be available in Apple and Google's online stores, but users will need to enter a code to activate it.

The software will tell users to self-isolate for a fortnight if the app detects they have been close to someone else diagnosed with the virus.

Baroness Dido Harding - who heads up the wider Test and Trace initiative - had earlier voiced concern about implementing the automated contact-tracing feature because of fears many people who had been falsely flagged might be told to go into quarantine.

The app has several other functions, including:

• An alert system that informs users of the coronavirus risk level close to their home, with the area defined by the first part of their postcode
• A QR barcode scanner, so users can check in when they visit a venue and be told if others there later tested positive
• A symptom-checking tool, which allows users to book a free test and get the results via the app
• A countdown function that comes into effect if they are told to self-isolate, so users can keep track of how long to stay at home

It initially works in five languages, with plans to add more soon.

The contact-tracing element of the software is based on Google and Apple's privacy-centric system.

The developers acknowledge there are still issues with measuring the distance between handsets, meaning some people will be incorrectly logged as being at high risk.

Official social distancing guidance says that two people should not be within 2m (6.6ft) of each other for 15 minutes or more.

But when trying to detect this, lab tests indicate:

• 31% of cases are missed when the handsets were within range
• 45% of cases are incorrectly flagged when the two handsets were in fact further apart

However, if the boundary is set at 5m, the accuracy rates radically improve.

Then the handsets detect each other in more than 99% of all cases, regardless of whether iPhones or Android devices were involved.

This is not useful in practice, but indicates the flaw that caused the original NHS Covid-19 app to be cancelled has been solved. That product often failed to detect cases involving two iPhones because of restrictions imposed on third-party software by Apple.

The team behind the new app acknowledges more work needs to be done to reduce the number of false positives and false negatives that occur at 2m, but is optimistic they can achieve this.

Part of the problem at present is that Apple and Google refuse to share the raw Bluetooth signal data involved.

While the two show no signs of backing down, they will shortly release a new version of their tool that should improve matters.

This development has also been welcomed by those involved with Switzerland's SwissCovid app.

"While the updated Google/Apple exposure notification API [application programming interface] still aggregates and shuffles data for privacy reasons, it will expose more information needed by the app to compute exposure more precisely," explained Prof Mathias Payer from the EPFL university in Lausanne.

'Battle to persuade'

The pilot comes at time when clusters of people testing positive have led to local lockdowns, and major changes are being made to the way England's manual contact-tracing system is run.

Test and Trace officials say the motivation for the app is to give "maximum freedom at minimum risk", but acknowledge it is not a "silver bullet".

"By launching an app that supports our integrated localised approach to NHS Test and Trace, anyone with a smartphone will be able to find out if they are at risk of having caught the virus, quickly and easily order a test, and access the right guidance and advice," said Baroness Harding.

However, she is not yet ready to say when a national rollout could occur.

An academic who had served as an ethical advisor to the original scrapped app was positive about the fact that the trial was not limited to the Isle of Wight this time.

"This time it's a more diverse area - and not just one full of older white people - because it was clear that before very little could be gained from analysis of the demographics" said Prof Lillian Edwards.

But she added that the government still had a "battle to persuade people" to install the software.

"The evidence from Italy is that people aren't installing their Immuni contact-tracing app, but they might when the number of infections rises again."

Another public health expert was even more sceptical.

"Even if they have got it working, the app is unlikely to make a difference," said Prof Allyson Pollock from Newcastle University.

"The issue is not just the contact tracing but the ability to get people to isolate and quarantine. And that means financial support needs to be provided by the government."

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiLmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3RlY2hub2xvZ3ktNTM3NjUyNDDSATJodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYmMuY28udWsvbmV3cy9hbXAvdGVjaG5vbG9neS01Mzc2NTI0MA?oc=5

2020-08-13 14:56:54Z
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