Here are the key coronavirus updates from the last 24-hours. 

  • Firms which have furloughed staff will be given a £1,000 bonus to keep workers in jobs, diners will get a discount to support pubs and restaurants, and stamp duty is to be cut under plans to protect the economy from the coronavirus recession. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the jobs retention bonus could cost up to £9 billion if all furloughed workers are retained. He unveiled the measure as part of an emergency package of support to help keep people in work as the coronavirus economic crisis hits.
  • The Government has outlined a plan to provide additional help for longer-term unemployed, with details set to be announced later. Ministers said that in addition to the policies announced in the Chancellor's "plan for jobs" on Wednesday, the Government intends to support those who are out of work for a longer period with a new, large-scale employment support offer. Employment measures announced in the package include expansion of support to young jobseekers, with £895 million to enhance work-search support by doubling the number of work coaches in jobcentres before the end of the financial year across Britain.
  • A further person has died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the North-East. The County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust recorded one further Covid-19 death since figures were last reported. Latest figures published on Wednesday afternoon confirmed a total of 1,733 people have now died in hospitals across the North-East and Yorkshire. 
  • 42 more people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 28,969, NHS England said. Patients were aged between 22 and 100 years old and six people aged between 60 and 94 had no known underlying health conditions. NHS England also confirmed it had reduced the total number of confirmed deaths in English hospitals by 12 to remove deaths previously reported twice in error.
  • The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 44,517 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Tuesday - up by 126 from 44,391 the previous day. The Government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which are thought to have passed 55,000. The DHSC also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Wednesday, there were 630 positive test results. Overall, a total of 286,979 cases have been confirmed.
  • A hospital serving Boris Johnson's constituency has closed to emergency admissions due to a coronavirus outbreak. Some 70 staff members are isolating after the outbreak at Hillingdon Hospital. A spokesman for Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "An outbreak of Covid-19 was declared on Friday, July 3, 2020. As of Tuesday, July 7, 70 members of staff are now isolating, a number of whom have tested positive for Covid-19. As a result, the trust has taken the precautionary decision to close Hillingdon Hospital to emergency ambulances and emergency admissions. The trust is managing the outbreak in line with Public Health England guidance."