The popular Greek island of Mykonos is pushing back against new lockdown restrictions that see bars and restaurants forced to close at midnight.
“Everyone has come [to Mykonos] to eat their food, to entertain themselves, swim in the sea. At this moment, we are fooling them,” bar owner Stavros Grimplas told the Associated Press. “We told them ‘come to Greece’ and Greece has shut down.”
But businesses on Mykonos say the rules should not target legitimate business but illegal parties instead. Owners have signed an angry letter accusing the government of wanting “to render us mere spectators of the destruction of our businesses."
They also demanded to know the data that prompted that decision and asked why the government is not stopping the "illegal parties ... that will blow up the pandemic." The parties are held in isolated villas around the island; invitation is strictly word-of-mouth.
The government says it won't back down from the measures and has extended them to much of the country. From Monday, the midnight closing hours extend to the capital, Athens.
04:05 PM
What we learnt today
A recap of the main stories:
Croatia passes 'threshold for quarantine'
Coronavirus could travel five metres through air, study finds
UK 'staycations' in huge demand after new quarantine rules
China sees tourism surge as virus recedes
Britons still travelling to France despite quarantine
Save summer, PM told, as Greece teeters on brink
Scroll down for more. Thank you for joining us and see you again tomorrow.
03:53 PM
Airport in Hawaii completes second phase of thermal screening project
Kahului Airport on Maui has completed its second phase of its thermal screening project in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The screening uses facial recognition technology alongside thermal imaging in order to pinpoint passengers who have a temperate of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38C) or higher.
Dual lens cameras have been installed at all arrival gates and TSA checkpoints in the airport.
The project will now move on to its third phase, at which point the cameras will be able to track travellers with high body temperatures so that contact tracers can stop and screen them before they leave the airport.
03:43 PM
France determined to avoid another lockdown amid record number of coronavirus cases
France is pushing for wider use of face masks and tighter protections for migrant workers and in slaughterhouses after recording its highest one-day rise in coronavirus cases since May.
But the country still plans to reopen its schools nationwide in two weeks, with its work minister saying that the government is set on avoiding a new nationwide lockdown which would cause further damage to the economy.
France's infection count has surged in recent weeks, which led to the UK reimposing quarantine measures for Britons returning from France on Saturday.
France reported 3,310 new infections in a single day Saturday, and the rate of positive tests has been growing and is now at 2.6 per cent.
The daily case count was down to several hundred a day for two months, but started rising again in July. Overall France has now reported more than 30,400 virus-related deaths.
paris - reuters
03:33 PM
Germany tracks down most of the Covid-19 positive travellers after testing error
The German state of Bavaria announced today that it has tracked down the majority of the travellers returning from abroad who tested positive for Covid-19 but were not immediately informed.
A total of 903 of the 949 people in question have now been located, after a mistake with data entry left them waiting days for their test results. State premier Markus Soeder apologised for the error and said more staff were being drafted in to aid the process going forward.
It comes as the number of intensive care beds occupied by Covid-19 patients in Germany has hit a new low, despite an uptick in recorded cases in recent weeks.
03:20 PM
The clever festival in Florence that's turning Covid rules into art
Three young British festival producers have managed to pull together an entirely free four-day programme of Covid-compliant concerts and performances taking place in Florence’s Boboli Gardens, to be live-streamed August 26-29.
ReGeneration Festival 2020, run byMax Fane, Roger Granville and Frankie Parham in association with Dr Eike D Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries, is a medley of music, opera and theatre, writes Anna Hart.
Highlights include an innovative production of Rossini’s adaptation of Cinderella – La Cenerentola – in which social distancing rules have been absorbed into Jean-Romain Vesperini direction and choreography, as a dramatic device to emphasise Angelina’s ostracisation. In a similarly playful vein, spectators have been encouraged to reframe compulsory mask-wearing as a form of Renaissance costume. So the artists and performers don’t simply comply with Covid regulations; they go one further, embracing this new Covid code of conduct in a creative response to our strange new reality.
Do I still have to self-isolate if I drive through France or Belgium to reach the UK?
Belgium and France are officially off the FCO’s ‘green list’, meaning anyone arriving into the UK from the country will have to self-isolate for 14 days.
However, there is an exception for travellers who drive through Belgium or France, as many do from much of western and central Europe, to reach the UK.
With the weather not cooperating today in Essex, there was plenty of space on the beach compared to Sunday two weeks ago, as the following comparison shows:
beach - PA
02:16 PM
Comment: My dispatch from Denmark – a lesson on living with risk
Having been corona-cautious for most of the pandemic, Zoe Strimpel has been appreciating a new approach while on holiday in Denmark. She writes:
The truth is that being away from Blighty in a country of amazing equanimity, as well as one of Europe’s best track records where the virus is concerned, has made me think a bit harder about our attitude to risk. I only noticed the climate of fear I’d grown so used to in England when I finally got out. Being away from the UK has felt like a great unclenching.
I have not become a lockdown sceptic, or a mask-benefit denier, but experiencing a culture that is relaxed, and in full summer bloom, out and about spending money, eating and drinking, museum-going and attending concerts, has been extraordinary.
Coronavirus could travel five metres through air, study finds
Coronavirus could travel as far as five metres through the air, a study has revealed for the first time.
Tiny droplets of saliva containing Covid-19 could remain in the air for prolonged periods and increase the likelihood of more people contracting it, US researchers found.
The scientists were able to isolate infectious particles of the virus at a distance of up to 4.8 metres from patients being treated at the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital.
This is significantly further than the advised two metre social distancing rule, which the researchers say provides a "false sense of security" and could lead to many more people being exposed.
Debate has been brewing among scientists for months about how much of a role saliva droplets hanging in the air play in the spread of coronavirus.
Croatia could be the next country added to the UK's quarantine list, according to new data.
Using the cumulative seven day average of new cases, which the Foreign Office is understood to watch closely, Croatia has now passed the threshold of 20.
On Saturday Grant Shapps revealed the benchmark for closing the travel corridor: when a foreign destination hits an infection rate of 20 cases out of 100,000
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the country is now at 21.5, whereas France is 26.3.
France 26.3
Croatia 21.5
Denmark 17.9
Switzerland 17.2
Czech Republic 15.5
01:20 PM
'Why can't the UK replicate Iceland's five-day test and quarantine?'
The UK should introduce a testing process similar to that of Iceland, which cuts quarantine down to five days.
This is the view of Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency and former spokesperson of the Quash Quarantine group.
Iceland will this week, from Wednesday, extend its testing protocol - test, five days of quarantine and test again - to all international arrivals. It currently applies to residents and long-stay visitors.
Charles says there is no reason the UK could not offer the same.
"The UK quarantine policy is scarring the economy," he said. "It puts off people from travelling and booking ahead, or forces them to consider flouting the law in order to simply go back to work and earn money.
"Let’s see fresh thinking and do what other countries, like Iceland, are doing – a swab test on arrival at the airport at just £50, a mandatory 5-day quarantine only, and then a second test free of charge which, if negative, means tourists and business travellers can then continue with their freedom to roam. What is the hurdle to doing that in the UK, with its far bigger infrastructure and testing capability than Iceland?”
Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir told a press conference on Friday: "We’re not promising a virus-free society. We see that no one can make that promise. But we’re trying to minimise the risk here in Iceland such that disruptions are as negligible as possible.”
12:55 PM
In the footsteps of Wordsworth
Micheal Kerr visits the poet's favourite place on his 250th birthday.
He writes:
As I walked to his grave behind St Oswald’s church in Grasmere, rain dripping on my head from yew trees he had planted, I heard the words of William Wordsworth in my head. No, nothing about daffodils; nothing from “The Prelude”.
The lines weren’t those of the young radical who had cheered on the French Revolution, but of a more conservative man in his 60s, writing in 1844 to The Morning Post (a paper absorbed later into The Daily Telegraph). In a sonnet (“Is then no nook of English ground secure/From rash assault?…”) and, subsequently, in two letters, he let loose at plans to push a railway line into the Lake District.
In the first letter, he declared that this landscape could be profitably enjoyed only by those with “a mind disposed to peace”, who should be spared “the molestation of cheap trains pouring out their hundreds at a time along the margin of Windermere…”
Grasmere, from Silver Howe, the Lake District - istock
12:46 PM
In pictures: Whitley's giant kite festival
On the home front, a kite festival. Of course.
And the turbulent weather in North Tyneside gave the event a lift.
Giant kites are flown by experts during the Whitley Bay Kite Festival in North Tyneside - PA kites - PA
12:28 PM
'Cruise will not come back all at once'
The heads of some of the world’s biggest cruise lines have stressed that cruises won’t make a rapid return, reports Benjamin Parker.
Instead, those desperate to get back on the water will see a “gradual ramp-up of sailings”, according to Frank Del Rio, the president of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
This echoes the plan for Carnival Corporation, the world’s biggest cruise operator. Chief executive Arnold Donald said that “clearly cruise will not come back all at once”, confirming that they intend to resume operations with a small percentage of the fleet”. Among Carnival Corp’s brands are P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises and Seabourn.
Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, Richard Fain, said: “We will not rush to return to service.”
At present the Foreign Office is advising against all travel on ocean-going ships, although river cruises are exempt. In America, a non-sail order is in place for ships with a combined capacity of 250 or more passengers and crew.
See our full list of when each cruise line is due to restart sailing, and how to get a refund, here.
12:07 PM
The price of quarantine
A nominated "hero of lockdown" has been forced to pay £300 to fly home from France to avoid a 14-day quarantine.
PA has the details:
Samuel, a homelessness outreach support worker who did not want to give his surname, paid over five times the price of his original plane ticket to return to the UK after it was announced that people arriving in the UK from France after 4am on Saturday will be required to self-isolate.
Samuel, 25, explained that he paid the "astronomical" price as he is unable to work from home.
"As soon as we found out, we were frantically trying to get on to the Ryanair website to get me back to the UK," Samuel told the PA news agency.
"It was a very stressful time from last night trying to get my flight booked because I needed to be home; I can't afford to quarantine for 14 days. There was no option."
Samuel was named a "lockdown hero" by Stroud Town Council for his work with a homelessness charity throughout the lockdown period.
He had originally paid £110 for a return flight to Bristol Airport through Ryanair, with prices surging after the announcement.
Other airlines have seen price hikes, with British Airways selling tickets for a flight from Paris to London Heathrow on Friday night at £452. The same journey on Saturday could be made with the airline for £66.
"By the time I was able to book, it had gone up to £300," Samuel told PA.
"I wasn't expecting it, I knew that the Government were monitoring the situation, but I was under the understanding that they would give us a lot more notice."
11:30 AM
'At Graceland, you're part of something so big and so loving'
Taken to Graceland by her Elvis-fan mother, Sarah Rodrigues was strikingly moved by the King’s eternal appeal.
She writes:
I could sing Blue Suede Shoes before I could tie my own laces; even so, when I woke to find my mother racked with grief on the morning of Aug 16 1977, I feared my father had died in the night. He had not – but the world had lost Elvis.
So it was hardly a surprise when, years later, Mum phoned my London flat from her home in Australia with a proposition.
“Sarah! I’ve got an ide-a! We’re goin-a Graceland! Fer yer birthday!” she sang down the line. Sorry – whose birthday?
To say that my mother is an Elvis fan is an epic understatement, but then, so is saying that I don’t speculatively eye up a mile when offered an inch. We were going to the States anyway, I reasoned, so we could start my “birthday present” in New York before continuing to Memphis, and then on to Vegas and San Francisco. Fair, right?
Elvis Presley's house Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee - GAB Archive
11:07 AM
Where is safe to travel in Europe?
10:52 AM
Time to rethink 'slum tourism', says academic
Restrictions on travel during the coronavirus pandemic should act as a pause to re-evaluate "slum tourism" - a popular option for gap year students, researchers have said.
PA reports:
Analysis of TripAdvisor reviews from tourists visiting impoverished urban areas in South Africa suggests they regularly misrepresent townships as places of great hope, which creates a skewed understanding of poverty.
Researchers at the University of Bath analysed more than 400 reviews for the townships of Langa and Imizamo Yethu, outside Cape Town.
Tourists regularly produced optimistic descriptions, describing townships as productive, vibrant cultural spaces, rich in non-material assets, inhabited by happy and hard-working people.
Typical responses included: "We learned so much, and it was wonderful to be in the community, to experience the friendship, the solidarity, to see a new future being built"; "The level of poverty that these people live in is unbelievable. But everyone here has hope and aspirations of getting a house and work. Truly amazing people"; "There are hardworking people in the township who are making life better for themselves."
Only four reviews remarked on water, sanitation or sewerage and two noted most residents live without toilets or running water in their homes. Overall, reviews represented residents as satisfied with their circumstances, with several reviewers even remarking the children had better lives than those from privileged backgrounds.
Lead researcher Monique Huysamen, from the University of Bath, said: "Over recent years slum tourism has thrived across the world, fuelled by growth in international travel, rapid urbanisation, and of course deepening levels of global inequality.
"This kind of tourism has come under fire for supporting the commoditisation, romanticisation and consumption of poverty, and slum tourists are often are accused of engaging in 'poverty tourism' or a form of 'poverty porn'.
"While township tours, if operated by local residents, may potentially offer certain economic benefits for these communities, we found that tourists' reviews lead to a skewed representation of poverty and its causes, certainly in South African townships.
"Issues like inadequate sanitation - a topic which has been deeply politicised in recent years - are too often glossed over, and the need for radical social and infrastructural change is invisible from their TripAdvisor reviews.
"With much international travel currently on hold due to Covid-19, now is the time to rethink and re-evaluate our own future tourism practices."
10:25 AM
UK 'staycations' in huge demand after new quarantine rules
10:01 AM
China sees tourism surge as virus recedes
China is seeing green shoots in the recovery of its domestic tourism sector as the coronavirus in the country recedes, raising hopes that Europe could soon follow suit.
Locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 fell to a one-month low, according to data released on Sunday by the National Health Commission, with just four infections, all in Xinjiang; the lowest since July 16.
The figure is despite a rise in travel within the country, with tour operators and agencies reporting a surge in interest. Since July 29, the most popular tourist destinations in China have received three times the number of visitors compared to the last quarter, according to China’s major online travel agency Trip.com Group.
As travel experts in the UK have suggested for the British market, China says small, specialised tour operators have seen a rise in popularity.
"People are willing to pay more for quality service and strict health and safety protection measures," said Li Kang, head of a travel agents in Hefei.
The UK Government advises against travel to China, and anyone would returning from the country would be required to quarantine.
09:41 AM
How to get travel insurance should you choose to ignore Foreign Office advice
Contrary to popular belief, you can visit a country to which the Foreign Office (FCO) advises against travel without invalidating your insurance – you just need to contact one of the few providers willing to offer cover. What’s more, it shouldn’t cost much more than an ordinary policy.
My colleague Oliver Smith reports:
The FCO has lifted its blanket travel ban, giving the green light for holidays to most of Europe and a few long-haul countries. But that still leaves the majority of the planet (including, as of August 16, France, Portugal and mainland Spain) off-limits.
Travelling against official government advice is not illegal, but most tour operators will not offer trips to destinations which the FCO deems unsafe – in normal circumstances, that means places like Iraq and Afghanistan; in these strange times, it means just about everywhere – and most travel insurers won’t provide cover.
But a handful of hardy travel firms have been sending intrepid Britons to FCO no-go zones for years. Wild Frontiers, for example, in business since 2002, has the likes of Algeria, Pakistan, Sudan and the DRC on its route map, and the company’s trips often feature regions the FCO would rather you avoided. So how does it find insurance for its clients?
Telegraph Travel's Chris Leadbeater is "working" from Croatia...
Ah, #Croatia. Land of wine, truffles, amazing olive oil and world-class former Spurs midfielders. But, this summer, also Place You Can Actually Go. Ssssssssh. Don’t tell the FCO. pic.twitter.com/2B48rJAaDX
New restrictions announced this week meant arrivals from across the Channel are required to quarantine for two weeks along with travellers from the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos, and Aruba.
Ministers set a deadline for people to return to the UK by 4am on Saturday in order for people to avoid self-isolating, sparking a frantic dash for Britons enjoying holidays on the continent.
Around 160,000 tourists are thought to have got back in time to avoid self-isolation, with 30,000 grabbing the last available seats on the Eurostar but many still set out on journeys to France.
Boris Johnson is being urged by ministers not to add any more countries to the quarantine list in order to save what is left of the summer holidays.
There are fears that ifGreece joined France and Spain on the listit would collapse the "travel corridor" system that has given overseas holidays to hundreds of thousands of Britons during the pandemic.
The status of Greece was uncertain on Saturday with one Cabinet minister saying that "it all depends on the numbers". Transport secretary Grant Shapps will review its figures on Thursday.
One minister said: "We should be wary of doing this too precipitately - I do think that the evidence in France seems clearer cut. I hope that they don't. If we have made a decision to allow people to have holidays then we do need to stand by it.
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
Teams have made their big splashes in free agency and made their draft picks, it's time for you to do the same. It's fantasy football mock draft time. Some call this time of year best ball season, others know it's an opportunity to get a leg up on your competition for when you have to draft in August. The staff at Yahoo Fantasy did their first mock draft of the 2024 season to help you with the latter. Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens are here to break it all down by each round and crush some staff members in the process.
Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab talk about which quarterback rooms concern them and which they find interesting heading into the 2024 NFL season.
It’s key to note that we’re not saying the “best team” or “best roster.” Instead, we’re talking about the best confluence of factors that can outline a path for survival and then success.
With free agency and the draft behind us, what 32 teams look like today will likely be what they look like Week 1 and beyond for the 2024 season. Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski reveal the post-draft fantasy power rankings. The duo break down the rankings in six tiers: Elite offensive ecosystems, teams on the cusp of being complete mixed bag ecosystems, offensive ecosystems with something to prove, offenses that could go either way, and offenses that are best to stay away from in fantasy.
Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman discuss the Padres-Marlins trade that sent Luis Arraez to San Diego, as well as recap all the action from this weekend in baseball and send birthday wishes to hall-of-famer Willie Mays.
In the most anticlimactic way possible, Nintendo on Tuesday confirmed years of rumors: The Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way. "We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year," wrote Shuntaro Furukawa, the president of Nintendo, on X. Rather, Furukawa wanted to warn users not to expect the actual announcement in next month's Nintendo Direct livestream.
