Coronavirus live news: Trump passes Covid aid package

UK cabinet minister Michael Gove has said that A-Level exams will “absolutely” go ahead next year.

Gove said the exams were “critically important in making sure students have a chance to show what they’ve learnt and what their skills are” and gave them “robust, independently verified qualifications” which were a “passport to a better future”.

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Michael Gove says GCSE and A-Level exams will “absolutely” go ahead in the summer.

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December 28, 2020

This differs dramatically from the rest of the UK:

In Scotland, higher and advanced higher exams will not go ahead, and will be replaced with teacher assessed grades based on evidence of the student’s attainment.

In Wales, there will be no end of year exams for those taking GCSE, AS level and A level qualifications approved by Qualifications Wales and delivered by WJEC in summer 2021.

Northern Ireland is set to reduce their exams, but not cancel them entirely.

It is likely to be summertime before herd immunity is reached through a coronavirus vaccine programme in the UK, respiratory disease expert Professor Calum Semple has said.

Semple said between 70 and 80% of the population needed to be vaccinated before herd immunity could be achieved.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Prof Semple said: “Obviously there is an urgency about this and we know that it is difficult to vaccinate lots of people at the same time – we’ve got a population of just under 70 million people and we’re going to move through them in an orderly fashion vaccinating people most at risk.”

“The people that have been vaccinated will be protected within a matter of weeks and that’s very important,” he added. “On an individual basis these vaccines are so good that they will protect individuals, so we don’t have to wait for this nonsense about herd immunity developing through natural infection, we can start to protect the individuals.

“To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated, and that, I’m afraid, is going to take us right into the summer I expect.”

Donald Trump has signed a $900bn coronavirus relief package to help the US economy recover from the pandemic, after threatening to reject the bill last week.

The aid package was agreed by Democrats and Republicans in Congress late last Sunday, after months of negotiations. But Trump unexpectedly demanded that the package, which had already been passed by the House and Senate and was believed to have Trump’s support, be revised to include larger relief checks and scaled-back spending on foreign aid.

Despite his initial protests, the president released a statement last night saying that he had signed the bill.

You can read the full story here:

What does the bill offer?

The aid package includes $286bn in direct economic relief, with more than half going on payments of $600 to individuals.

The US government will also restart pandemic unemployment benefits at $300 a week, which will last until 14 March. However, this is a drop in the amount offered from the $600 payments that expired in July.

It includes funding for businesses, the arts, and foreign aid.

You can read more about what it offers here: