07:50
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07:37
The UK pub chain Wetherspoons sunk to its biggest ever loss last year as Covid-19 rules led to the chain shuting its pubs for 19 weeks.
Pre-tax losses rose from £34.1m to £154.7m in the 12 months to July 25 compared with a year earlier, with sales falling from £1.26bn to £773m, although chairman Tim Martin suggested there were signs of recovery.
Martin said sales in the past nine weeks were just 8.7% lower than the same period before the pandemic and have been improving further in the past four weeks.
However, airport sales remain low – down 47.3% on pre-pandemic levels – and the company is finding it hard to fill job vacancies in “staycation” locations across the country.
Updated
07:29
Hospitality and tourism bosses in the UK are pleading with the government to permanently lower the VAT rate on businesses in their sectors to help safeguard thousands of jobs.
The appeal comes as the tax’s rate for pubs, restaurants, holiday accommodation and admission to certain attractions rises on Friday to 12.5%, following a temporary cut to 5% that was introduced in July 2020 to help businesses struggling in the pandemic.
Under the Treasury’s plans, VAT on hospitality and tourism sector purchases will rise again to the pre-pandemic level of 20% in April next year.
A coalition of the UK’s biggest hospitality and tourism bodies on Friday warned the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that returning the rate to 20% “risks derailing the recovery at a time when businesses are still in survival mode”.
“Businesses are at a perilous stage of their recovery after what’s been a devastating 18 months,” the trade bodies said in their joint letter.
“Costs are increasing and there are numerous operational challenges for them to deal with, specifically around labour and product supply. A reduction in VAT has helped many of our businesses survive to this point and was most welcome.
“However, the return of VAT to its pre-pandemic level next year would curtail investment, restrict growth, set back our tourism recovery and risk yet more painful job losses.”
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Updated
07:19
Romania’s centrist minority government has introduced new progressive restrictions including making mask wearing mandatory outside, but has opted to keep schools open, Reuters reports.
The number of new Covid infections in Romania reached a record 12,032 on Thursday and intensive care units across the country were running out of space as the country has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.
The government made masks mandatory both in indoor and outdoor public spaces in places where the case incidence exceeds six per 1,000 people.
Access to restaurants, gyms, theatres, cinemas and other indoor spaces would be enabled at half of capacity and only for people who were fully vaccinated or have already been infected.
Weekend curfews will be introduced for those who are not vaccinated.
Schools have been uncoupled from the case incidence rate to enable them to remain open unless cases are reported in specific classrooms. School staff and students will undergo regular, non-invasive testing.
Romania is trailing European Union vaccination lists, with just over a third of its adult population fully vaccinated amid distrust in state institutions and misinformation campaigns. About 40% of medical and school staff are not vaccinated.
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07:13
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07:11
All the best Helen and thanks for keeping this blog going for so long.
07:00
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06:54
Malaysia sees record monthly deaths after backlog counted
Malaysia recorded 9,671 deaths due to Covid in September, the deadliest month since the pandemic began, government data showed on Friday, though authorities have said the increase was mostly due to the delayed inclusion of fatalities from previous months.
Reuters: The spike has pushed Malaysia’s death toll to among the highest per capita in Asia, even as new infections have slowed in recent weeks amid a ramped-up vaccination programme.
September’s figure accounted for more than a third of the 26,335 total Covid deaths reported in Malaysia, which has recorded more than 2.2 million infections, the third-highest number in south-east Asia.
Health ministry officials, however, say the reporting of many deaths have been delayed – some up to several months – as rising cases overwhelmed hospitals and testing labs.
The ministry in September began releasing daily data according to the time of deaths, as well as their reporting date, in a bid to improve transparency and clear the backlog.
Although Malaysia reported a daily average of 322 Covid fatalities in September, actual daily deaths fell to 89 as of Thursday based on a seven-day rolling average, the data showed.
Authorities have pledged to reduce the lags by imposing time limits on hospitals to confirm cause of death.
Updated
06:39
UK cases rise after schools return
The number of daily new Covid infections in the UK has risen in the past month after the removal of most pandemic restrictions and as schools and offices reopened, fuelled by the Delta variant. The latest daily figures up to 30 September show that 36,480 people tested positive for Covid-19 across the UK, an increase from the start of the month.
The government said a further 137 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the UK total to 136,662. Almost 49 million people have had a first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, about 90% of the adult population. Almost 45 million – about 83% – have had a second.
06:24
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