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COMMENT 25
LETTERS 28
LEADING ARTICLES 29WORLD 40
BUSINESS 47
REGISTER 78Global
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CORONAVIRUS SUMMARY
CROSSWORD 83
TV & RADIO
SATURDAY REVIEWWeddings in tatters
The government has been
criticised over its announcements
on weddings, schools and
shielding. Brides and grooms with
weddings planned over the next
fortnight were left distraught
when the government said that
receptions would no longer be
allowed to go ahead. Heads said
that ministers should be drawing
up nationwide strategies for pupils
returning, rather than leaving it to
their schools, and charities were
concerned about shielding pausing
from today even as virus cases
appear to be rising. Page 9Be ready to call in army
The military should be on standby
to intervene as local lockdowns
compound tensions, threatening
disorder not seen since the 2011
riots, the government’s scientific
advisers warn. Mass protests,
illegal raves and increases in
racism, inequality and
unemployment are among the
issues combining to raise the risk
of disorder and the police are ill
equipped to cope, according to a
report by Sage. It also said that the
Muslim festival Eid al-Adha could
be “problematic in the context of a
localised lockdown”. Page 1117,106,007 668,303,181 46,Feuding French doctors
Two distinguished French medical
figures are in an acrimonious row
over whether it is better to catch
coronavirus in Paris or Marseilles,
where some patients have been
treated with hydroxychloroquine.
Didier Raoult, a specialist from
Marseilles, told a parliamentary
committee that his patients were
more likely to live than those
treated in the capital. Martin
Hirsch, from Paris, responded by
accusing him of perjury. Page 14Crisis ‘worst in history’
The boss of the company that
owns British Airways has warned
that the airline is facing an
“unprecedented crisis” as it
revealed plans to raise €2.75 billion
to bolster its finances and reported
a record loss of €4 billion in the
first half of this year. Willie Walsh,
chief executive of IAG, said that
the airline industry was
facing a crisis far worse than the
9/11 terrorist attacks and the
financial crash of 2009. Page 47Anti-vaxxers under fire
Social media influencers have
been accused of boosting the anti-
vaccination movement. Damian
Collins, former chairman of the
digital, media, culture and sport
select committee, said: “We now
face an unthinkable crisis where
31 per cent of Britons could refuse
to be vaccinated. This is pure and
simple negligence from the
platforms and requires urgent
‘online harms’ legislation.”
Madonna and Lewis Hamilton
have taken down Instagram posts
with inaccurate claims. Page 12Loss of sport hits BT
The disruption to televised sport
and reduced demand from
struggling small business
customers has hit quarterly profits
and revenue at BT. The group
posted revenues of £5.2 billion,
down 7 per cent, in the three
months to June 30, its first quarter.
BT shares were down 9¼p, or
8.6 per cent, at 98½p, closing
below 100p for the first time since- The shares were trading at
about 500p five years ago. Page 50
Global deathsUK deathsCOMMENT
The cocktail of winter weather, mass
unemployment and lockdown could be toxic
JAMES FORSYTH, PAGE 25Testing times for F
Formula One is being urged to
consider keeping team members
within their social bubbles for the
rest of the season after Sergio
Pérez, the Racing Point driver,
tested positive. Officials said that
he did not break any rules by
travelling to see family in his
home country of Mexico before
tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at
Silverstone. Pérez is now isolating
and has been replaced by Nico
Hülkenberg. Sport, page 10Italy’s warm welcome
British tourists should not be
afraid of coming to Italy, the
country’s foreign minister has said.
Luigi Di Maio said: “Britons who
decide to spend their holiday in
Italy will find not just the beautiful
country that we all know but the
enthusiasm and energy of a people
who are getting going again.”
Tourists are required to respect
rules on masks and social
distancing and are likely to have
their temperature read. “The
epidemiological situation is under
control,” Mr Di Maio said. Page 14Hospitals will face financial penalties if
they are not performing at 90 per cent
of their usual levels of planned care by
October.
A letter from Sir Simon Stevens,
NHS England chief executive, to health
service managers sets out plans to tack-
le as much of the waiting list as possible
between now and winter, reducing the
NHS alert level from four to three.
It says that they will retain access to
“most independent hospital capacity”
until March, but must aim to deliver a
huge increase in care “through their
own local NHS capacity”.
Hospitals are thought to be running
at about 60 per cent of normal activity
levels after much routine care was
paused in the face of the pandemic. The
letter says that they should aim for at
least 80 per cent of last year’s activity in
September for both overnight and day-
case procedures, rising to 90 per cent in
October. For outpatient first appoint-
ments and follow-ups, whether virtual-
ly or in person, the target is 100 per cent
from September.
The letter, co-signed by Amanda
Pritchard, chief operating officer, adds:
“Block payments will flex meaningfullyHospitals told to be at 90%
of usual levels or risk fine
Kat Lay Health Correspondent to reflect delivery (or otherwise)
against these important patient treat-
ment goals.” Hospitals have been told to
prioritise “clinically urgent patients”,
then those who have waited longest.
Neil Mortensen, president of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England,
said: “It is right that the system pulls out
all the stops to get planned surgery
going again.
“There are thousands of patients on a
‘hidden waiting list’, waiting to be
referred into the system, and thousands
who had already been waiting some
time at the start of the crisis.”
Professor Mortensen said that it may
be necessary to extend the use of pri-
vate hospitals beyond March 2021 “to
ensure patients get the treatment they
need”. The letter also calls for GPs and
opticians to get back to normal levels of
activity, with “rapid progress” tackling a
backlog of childhood immunisations
and smear tests.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the
NHS Confederation, which represents
organisations in the healthcare sector,
said: “We all want to restore services as
quickly as possible but we need to
manage expectations. A full return to
pre-Covid-19 levels of activity by
October may not be possible.”Johnson ‘must
be bolder than
predecessors’
Steven Swinford, Oliver WrightBoris Johnson must create a new social
contract with the people and go further
than his manifesto pledges to win a
second term in office, the Conserva-
tives’ election guru says.
Isaac Levido, who masterminded the
prime minister’s “Get Brexit done”
campaign in December, said that Mr
Johnson had four years to prove he was
different from previous Tory leaders.
He also revealed his role behind the
scenes in Downing Street mastermind-
ing the government’s coronavirus mes-
saging after he was brought back in by
the prime minister.
Speaking to The Times Mr Levido
said: “If the PM and party can... deliver
on their manifesto pledges, but also
seize on the opportunity of this tragedy
to go further and fix things for the long
term, that is where they have a real op-
portunity to be successful.”
Mr Levido helped to come up with
the slogan “Stay at home, protect the
NHS, save lives” and said that it was “so
effective because it was basically short-
hand for the government strategy”.
Saturday interview, page 36Hundreds of thousands of tenants in
rent arrears because of the lockdown
risk being made homeless when a
temporary ban on evictions ends in
three weeks.
Campaign groups have blamed min-
isters for failing to act to prevent a pre-
dictable “social disaster” and breaking a
promise that no one left in financial dif-
ficulties owing to the pandemic would
be forced out of their homes.
The courts are braced for a flood of
possession applications when the evic-
tion ban ends on August 23.
Shelter, the housing charity, esti-
mates that almost a quarter of a million
private renters have fallen into arrears
since the start of the pandemic.
A YouGov poll for the charity re-
vealed that 174,000 private tenants had
already been threatened with eviction
by their landlord or letting agent.
Under the law, anyone who accrues
rent arrears of eight weeks or more can
be automatically evicted.
Landlords can also seek mandatory
“no-fault” evictions, in which they give
two months’ notice to tenants whoseHundreds of thousands facing
eviction when embargo ends
Catherine Baksi
Jonathan Ames Legal Editorfixed-term contracts have ended.
Because of the coronavirus crisis, the
government extended the notice
period for both actions to three months
in England and six months in Wales.
To restart evictions halted by the cri-
sis, landlords must issue a reinstate-
ment notice before proceedings are be-
gun. For new possession applications,
the government has introduced a re-
quirement for landlords to provide the
court with information about the effect
that the pandemic has had on their ten-
ant. Whatever renters’ circumstances,
judges will be powerless to prevent
them from losing their homes.
In a report published in May the
housing, communities and local gov-
ernment committee warned of a “cliff
edge of evictions” as tenants who lost
their jobs or suffered a significant loss in
income found themselves unable to pay
their rent. The committee called on
ministers to prevent the “looming cri-
sis” by giving judges temporary discre-
tionary powers not to order evictions
and to compel landlords and tenants to
work together to find a solution.
It also asked the government to act
on its manifesto commitment — first
made by Theresa May and adopted byBoris Johnson — to abolish “no-fault
evictions”. Robert Jenrick, the housing
secretary, announcing the possession
ban in March, said: “The government is
clear: no renter who has lost income
due to coronavirus will be forced out of
their home.”
Simon Mullings, co-chairman of the
Housing Law Practitioners Associa-
tion, told The Times that Mr Jenrick’s
statement was “untrue”. He added:
“Local authorities will be hit by a tidal
wave of homelessness that they will
not be able to cope with. It is a social
disaster waiting to happen.”
Sir Terence Etherton, the master of
the rolls and the most senior civil law
judge in England and Wales, has set up
a working group looking for solutions
to the evictions crisis.
Polly Neate, chief executive of the
housing charity Shelter, said: “The gov-
ernment had months to come up with a
solution to protect struggling renters.
But instead they’ve abandoned them.”
A spokesman at the Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Gov-
ernment said: “We are working to pro-
vide appropriate support to those who
have been particularly affected by coro-
navirus when proceedings start again.”rise in infections so soon after the rules
were relaxed on July 4 to allow two
households to meet indoors. It fears
that in the autumn and winter, when
people spend much more time indoors,
infections will run out of control during
the busiest period for the NHS.
The Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies (Sage) said that it could
not be sure the reproductive rate of the
virus, or R, was below the danger level
of one, limiting room for further easing.
Minutes show that three weeks ago
Sage insisted that “it is important to
ensure that there will be enough ‘room’
in terms of the epidemic to open
schools in September”. It had stated inJune: “There may be a need to change
measures at the end of the summer in
order to be able to keep R below one
whilst proceeding with the planned
reopening of schools.”
A Downing Street source said:
“There is not much evidence that re-
opening schools will make a big differ-
ence [to the infection rate] and it obvi-
ously helps people to go to work. But
that is not the case with groups of
people socialising. You need to be care-
ful that you protect the economy
because it has already taken a huge hit.”
Mr Johnson said that while he was
sorry not to be able to go ahead with the
next stage of opening up the economy,
he would not allow the virus to “cause
more pain and more heartache”.
He also used the conference to drumhome a new “hands, face, space” slogan
designed to reinforce Britain’s faltering
adherence to advice on hygiene, masks
and social distancing.
His announcement that he would
“squeeze the brake pedal” came after
ministers reimposed the lockdown for
four million people across large parts of
the north. People from different house-
holds are barred from meeting indoors
in Greater Manchester, east Lancashire
and parts of West Yorkshire.
Mr Johnson said that he knew “how
hard it is to have restrictions like this
imposed on seeing your family and
your friends” but added: “We have
to act rapidly in order to protect those
we love.”
Reports, pages 8-
Leading article, page 29continued from page 1
PM slams on brakes