Coronavirus live news: UK public to be offered antibody tests for first time

Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 6,747,087.

Of this total, 1,661 were recorded in Moscow and 1,481 in St. Petersburg, according to Reuters.

A further 762 deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, the Russian coronavirus task force said, taking the official death toll to 176,044.

A separate count by Rosstat, the government statistics agency, has tallied about 315,000 deaths related to Covid-19 between last April and June this year.

Calculations by Reuters based on the latest Rosstat data show that there have been around 463,000 excess deaths between April 2020 and June 2021. Some epidemiologists say excess deaths are the most accurate way to measure the pandemic’s real death toll.

Following two months of rising coronavirus cases, Thailand‘s daily infections have begun to fall as the country registered a a 19-day low of 19,014 cases.

A further 233 deaths were also reported on Sunday, the Public Health Ministry said.

According to the Bangkok Post, the capital registered 71 deaths, while a further 83 were in its adjacent provinces.

It comes as the Department of Health recommended that 12 to 18-year-olds with underlying illnesses get vaccinated amid concern over rising infections in young people.

Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, according to a statement Saturday.

Jackson, 79, has been vaccinated against Covid-19 and received his initial dose in January. He and his wife, 77, are being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

“Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” according to the statement from Jackson’s nonprofit, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. “There are no further updates at this time,” the statement said. “We will provide updates as they become available.”

Jackson was key in guiding the modern civil rights movement on numerous issues, including voting rights.

Hello and welcome to today’s global coronavirus coverage.

People in the UK will be able to receive Covid-19 antibody tests for the first time next week as part of a new government programme.

From Tuesday, anyone aged 18 or over in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, will be able to enrol to the programme when receiving a PCR test, Sky News reports. Up to 8,000 people will be able to take part in the scheme.

The results will be used to monitor antibody levels in coronavirus cases, with those who test positive sent two finger-prick antibody tests which measure their body’s response to different virus variants. The first should be taken immediately following a positive result, while the second should be 28 days later.

It will be the first time antibody tests have been offered to the general public, and comes amid discussions over the rollout of vaccine third doses in the UK. Some experts have said more time is needed to decided whether they are required.

I’ll be updating the blog for the next few hours – you can reach me on Twitter if you’d like to flag a story I’ve missed. Thanks in advance.