Matt Hancock calls for ‘urgent review’ into England coronavirus deaths tally July 17, 2020 Health secretary Matt Hancock has called for an “urgent” review into an official tally of coronavirus deaths that has been revealed to include people dying of other causes. Public Health England (PHE) included people who tested positive for Covid-19 but died from other causes in its stats of coronavirus deaths in the country, the Evening [...]
London’s R rate could be as high as 1.1 July 17, 2020 London’s R rate could be as high as 1.1, according to the government’s Sage advisory group. The R rate – the reproduction rate of the virus – is between 0.8 and 1.1 in the capital as the government continues to ease lockdown measures. It stands at 0.7 and 0.9 in the rest of the UK, [...]
British Airways retires entire fleet of Boeing 747 jumbo jets July 17, 2020 British Airways marked the end of an era today as the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747s said it will retire its entire fleet of jumbo jets with immediate effect due to the coronavirus pandemic. Global travel bans imposed to stem the spread of the virus has put the future of many airline companies in [...]
Twitter bitcoin scam: Blue tick accounts blocked after massive data breach July 16, 2020 Hackers managed to infiltrate Twitter’s most notable blue tick accounts last night and send scam tweets supporting bitcoin before the social network clamped down on the breach. Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were three such accounts hackers managed to compromise. Others included Apple’s official Twitter account, with tweets typically promising to double people’s [...]
Ladbrokes owner GVC’s veteran CEO to retire July 16, 2020 Ladbrokes and Coral owner GVC’s chief executive announced his retirement today as the firm revealed coronavirus lockdowns have knocked first-half revenue by 11 per cent. Kenneth Alexander will leave the board and company tomorrow, when chief operating officer Shay Segev will replace him. The long-time CEO spent 13 years at the helm of GVC, during [...]
Dixons Carphone kills dividend as mobile pushes it to loss July 15, 2020 Dixons Carphone has cancelled its dividend as poor mobile sales during lockdown pushed it to another annual loss, prompting its share price to sink today. Shares sank 7.8 per cent in early trading as a jump in online sales failed to offset a 20 per cent plunge in mobile sales during lockdown. The figures Dixons [...]
R rate could be as high as 1 in London and England July 10, 2020 England’s R rate could be as high as one, according to new government data published today. The UK’s R rate is estimated at between 0.7 and 0.9 but England’s rate stands higher, between 0.8 and one, according to Sage. The government’s group of science advisers estimated that London’s R rate is somewhere between 0.7 and [...]
IEA raises oil demand forecast but warns of coronavirus threat July 10, 2020 The International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its 2020 oil demand forecast today but warned the ongoing spread of coronavirus could cause more disruption. The organisation raised its oil demand forecast to 92.1m barrels per day, 400,000 higher than its prediction last month as the virus-struck second quarter suffered a smaller decline than expected. But the [...]
UK quarantine ends for 59 countries July 10, 2020 Passengers from abroad landing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland no longer have to self-isolate for two weeks as the government relaxed quarantine rules. Travellers from 59 countries and 14 overseas British territories are now exempt from the ban, although people from the US – where cases are still spiking – and Canada must still [...]
FTSE 100 falls as coronavirus cases overshadow Sunak stimulus July 9, 2020 The FTSE 100 lost one and a half per cent today as fears over a continued rise in coronavirus cases offset chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £30bn of extra financial firepower. The UK index initially barely moved after yesterday’s 0.55 per cent drop, which left it at 6,156 points. By 4pm today the FTSE 100 had fallen [...]