A-level results anger and outbreak at M&S supplier

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak this Thursday evening. We’ll have another update for you tomorrow morning.

Today’s biggest story in the UK is on A-level results, as nearly 300,000 teenagers received grades despite not sitting the exams due to the lockdown. The way results have been decided has been controversial. While there’s been an overall increase in top grades, many pupils (including more than a third of entries in England) have received a lower grade than teachers predicted, after results were moderated by exam boards. Head teachers say some lowered grades seem to be “unfair”, while some pupils say their future has been “set back”. To understand how results were calculated, check this out.

We’ve heard a lot in recent months about the government’s much-delayed coronavirus app which will alert people if they’ve been close to someone with the virus. But from today, people living in the Isle of Wight and Newham in east London are able to try out the app for the first time since it was re-designed. Meanwhile, new figures show that since the NHS test and trace programme was launched 10 weeks ago, a total of 52,735 of people with coronavirus in England were referred to the scheme – and contact tracers reached 78.2% of them.

Almost 300 people have tested positive for the virus following an outbreak at a factory which makes M&S sandwiches. Greencore in Northampton started “proactively testing” workers due to rising numbers of cases in the town. A spokesman for the company, which employs 2,100 people, said the employees who had tested positive were self-isolating.

This year’s travel industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, but holiday firm Tui says data for next year looks “very promising”. It says bookings for next summer are up by 145%. It came as the company posted a €1.1bn (£995m) loss for the three months to June. Some of the new holiday bookings for 2021 are either amended bookings or with a voucher by customers who had cancelled trips.

Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average:

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