Coronavirus live news: Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial put on hold; England bans gatherings of more than six

Peter Walker and Simon Murphy report:

The UK government has announced emergency action to try and stem a feared autumn resurgence of coronavirus, tightening laws to ban virtually all gatherings of more than six people in England.

Amid concerns that the current rules are both widely misunderstood and too difficult for police to implement, Boris Johnson will hold a hastily-arranged Downing Street press conference on Wednesday to outline the new restrictions.

The dramatic change of approach by No 10 follows a sudden spike in the number of people being infected with the virus, with almost 8,500 positive tests being recorded in England in the last three days:

The Seattle Times reports that drive-through testing centres in a Seattle health district have been closed due to poor air quality caused by the wildfires:

Due to the poor air quality caused by wildfires in the region, the Snohomish Health District has closed its drive-thru testing operations at two sites until Thursday.

The sites are located at the Lynnwood Food Bank and 3900 Broadway.

Staff is notifying all individuals with appointments to reschedule for later this week, and to contact their healthcare provider if symptoms worsen.

The Health District hopes to reopen Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but will continue to monitor air quality over the next 24 to 36 hours.

The District recommends that people monitor the website at www.snohd.org/testing or the Health District’s social media channels for any further changes to the testing schedule.

Here is what we know so far about the vaccine trial being put on hold.

AstraZeneca Plc has put a hold on the late-stage trial of its highly-anticipated Covid-19 vaccine candidate after a suspected serious adverse reaction in a study participant, health news website Stat News reported on Tuesday.

It quoted an AstraZeneca spokesperson as saying in a statement that the “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data.”

The study is testing a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford researchers at sites including the United States and the United Kingdom, where the adverse event was reported.

The nature of the safety issue and when it happened were not immediately known, although the participant is expected to recover, according to Stat News.

The development of a promising Covid-19 vaccine has been put on hold due to an adverse reaction in a trial participant.

A spokesman for AstraZeneca, the company working with a team from Oxford University, told the Guardian the trial has been stopped to review the “potentially unexplained illness” in one of the participants.

The vaccine, which had been expected to be publicly available as early as January 20201, is one of two projects the Australian government plans to spend AI$1.7bn on as part of a deal to ensure free vaccines for all citizens.

On Monday, the Australian government committed to buying 33.8 million doses of the vaccine, if it was successful.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest from around the world for the next few hours. Is there news you’d like to see more of or a major story in a country that we’ve missed? Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com. Questions, comments, frankly embarrassing amounts of praise welcome.

AstraZeneca Plc has put a hold on the late-stage trial of its highly-anticipated Covid-19 vaccine candidate after a suspected serious adverse reaction in a study participant, health news website Stat News reported on Tuesday.

It quoted an AstraZeneca spokesperson as saying in a statement that the “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data.”

The study is testing a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford researchers at sites including the United States and the United Kingdom, where the adverse event was reported.

The nature of the safety issue and when it happened were not immediately known, although the participant is expected to recover, according to Stat News.

BBC Medical editor Fergus Walsh pointed out that this is the “second ‘pause’ in the trial” and that the “investigation should be complete in a few days.”

• Gatherings of more than six people to be banned in England. Social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England from Monday after the number of daily positive Covid-19 cases in the UK rose to almost 3,000.
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• France records 6,544 new daily cases. The number of new, confirmed cases of Covid-19 in France rose by 6,544 over the last 24 hours to stand at a total of 335,524.
• Three migrant camps near Athens placed in quarantine as concerns mount over spread of virus. Three migrant camps near Athens were placed in quarantine on Tuesday as concerns mounted over the spread of Covid-19 among thousands of asylum seekers living in squalid conditions in Greece.
• Spain reports 3,168 new cases in past 24 hours. Spain’s health ministry reported 8,964 new Covid cases on Tuesday, 3,168 of them diagnosed over the past 24 hours.
• Coronavirus bill has cost UK government £210bn, spending watchdog says. The government response to the coronavirus pandemic is on track to cost £210bn for the first six months of the crisis, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has said.
• Hong Kong eases coronavirus curbs. Hong Kong will expand the size of public gatherings to four people and reopen more sports venues from Friday as the Asian financial hub relaxes strict curbs against a third wave of the coronavirus.
• School disruption could have century-long economic impact: OECD. Disruption to schooling stemming from the Covid-19 epidemic will cause a skill loss that could result in a 1.5% drop in global economic output for the rest of this century, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated.