Morning update as millions of people can form social bubbles

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak this Saturday morning. We’ll have another update for you on Sunday morning.

There is good news for the millions of people who live alone in England and NI this morning – they will be allowed to see some loved ones for the first time since the lockdown began. New rules mean people who live alone – or, in England, single parents living with children – can form a support bubble with one other household, allowing them to hug, visit someone’s home and even stay overnight.

At the end of April, NHS England recommended that ethnic minority healthcare workers should be risk-assessed for the virus, with similar guidance issued in the other nations. But now, the doctors’ union the British Medical Association is warning that doctors from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups feel that some assessments have been delayed. The BBC found that hundreds of doctors still have not had a risk assessment.

There’s more here about coronavirus and the BAME community:

The reduced face-to-face contact among teenagers and their friends during the coronavirus pandemic could have damaging long-term consequences to their brain development, behaviour and mental health could suffer, neuroscientists have warned. The scientists say social media might make up for some of the negative effects, but they call for schools to reopen when it’s safe.

British Airways’ treatment of staff during the coronavirus crisis has been criticised by MPs, after the airline announced it was cutting thousands of jobs and downgrading terms and conditions. A report from MPs in the Transport Select Committee accuses BA of a “calculated attempt to take advantage” of the pandemic. But BA says it was doing all it could to keep “the maximum number of jobs”.

The BBC’s chief environment correspondent has been speaking to the leader of Tibetan Buddhism over video call about the coronavirus pandemic among other things. “When we face some tragic situation, it reveals the deeper human values of compassion,” he says. “Usually people don’t think about these deeper human values, but when they see their human brothers and sisters suffering the response comes automatically.” Read more here.

…non-essential shops are allowed to reopen in England from Monday – find out more and the rules in the different nations here.

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