Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 11 Apr 2020

1. Social distancing ‘could remain in place indefinitely’

Social distancing measures may need to remain in place “indefinitely”, according to experts. The Daily Telegraph says that under plans being drawn up by the government, Britain could begin to emerge from lockdown next month but with distancing remaining. Officials are reportedly considering a plan to lift the lockdown “in reverse” with schools opening as early as June, followed by all shops and then larger social gatherings.

2. UK scientist says Covid-19 vaccine could be ready by September

A vaccine against coronavirus could be ready by September, a British scientist has told The Times. Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, said she was “80 per cent confident” that a vaccine being developed by her team would work, with human trials due to begin within weeks. The government has hinted that it would fund the manufacture of millions of doses in advance if results looked optimistic.

3. Covid-19: US death toll passes 2,000 in a single day

The United States has become the first country to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day. New data shows 2,108 people died in the past 24 hours. The US could soon surpass Italy as the country with the most coronavirus deaths worldwide. There are now more than half a million confirmed infections.

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4. Doctors angry with Matt Hancock over PPE shortages

Doctors’ lives are at risk over PPE shortages, says the British Medical Association. Supplies of personal protective equipment are at “dangerously low levels,” according to the doctors’ union. NHS workers are also angry at Matt Hancock's warning not to overuse PPE. The health secretary had said: “Everyone should use the equipment they clinically need, in line with the guidelines: no more and no less.”

5. Football's Kenny Dalglish tests positive for coronavirus

Liverpool and Celtic legend Sir Kenny Dalglish has tested positive for coronavirus and is in hospital but showing no symptoms. His family has announced that Dalglish was admitted to hospital on Wednesday for treatment of an infection when he was routinely tested for coronavirus. He won titles with Celtic, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers.

6. Apple and Google join forces to develop Covid-19 technology

Apple and Google have announced they have teamed up to create contact tracing technology aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus. The two companies plan to add new software to devices to make it easier to track down people who may have been infected with Covid-19. Between them, the two firms power 99% of the world's smartphones.

7. Iceland's volcanoes could cause centuries of disruption

Scientists are warning of centuries of disruption as volcanic activity escalates in a region of Iceland that has not erupted for 800 years. The Reykjanes peninsula south-west of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, has experienced more than 8,000 earthquakes and about 10cm of land uplift in recent months. “It seems that after being relatively inactive for many centuries, this region is waking up,” said a volcanologist at Lancaster University.

8. Jailed Harvey Weinstein faces a new sexual assault charge

Prosecutors in LA have filed a new sexual assault charge against Harvey Weinstein, the film producer serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for rape. The district attorney’s office says Weinstein is facing a new felony charge of sexual battery by restraint, stemming from an incident at a Beverly Hills hotel on 11 May 2010.

9. Government repeats warning to public to stay home

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the Easter weekend will be a “test of the nation’s resolve” as he issued another warning to the public to “stay at home”. The Met Office said London could see highs of 25C or 26C, while much of England and Wales was expected to record temperatures of 18C to 24C. The UK recorded 980 hospital coronavirus deaths on Thursday, bringing the total to 8,958.

10. Hey Jude lyrics sheet goes for $910,000 at auction

Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to The Beatles’ song Hey Jude has sold for $910,000 at auction house Julien’s Auctions - nine times its original estimate. A drawing by John Lennon and Yoko Ono called Bagism, a term they coined to satirise stereotyping, went for $93,750, while an ashtray used by drummer Ringo Starr at the Abbey Road recording studios in London fetched $32,500.