7:22 am, May 10, 2020
- Here’s your business, motoring and news round-up for May 10
Government unveils new Covid-19 slogan
The government’s new slogan for the next phase in the fight against coronavirus has been unveiled as ‘stay alert, control the virus, save lives’.
It comes as prime minister Boris Johnson is set to lay out his plan to restart the economy at 7pm tonight. Changes to the lockdown are expected to be very slight with an increase in exercise and garden centres allowed to reopen.
A 50-page document on the economic restart will be published on Monday. The PM is planning to urge staff who cannot do their jobs from home to begin returning to work while following social-distancing rules.
[London lockdown slips over weekend, 45s video]
Musk threatens to move Tesla factory
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has threatened to pull the company’s factory and headquarters out of California in a spat with local officials who have stopped the company from reopening.
In a tweet, Musk also threatened to sue over Alameda County Health Department coronavirus restrictions that have stopped Tesla from restarting production at its factory in Fremont, south of San Francisco.
Musk has been ranting about the stay-at-home order since the company’s April 29 first-quarter earnings were released, calling the restrictions fascist and urging governments to stop taking people’s freedom.
Greggs reopens small number of shops
First they were opening, then they weren’t, now Greggs has decided (again) to trial opening a number of its stores.
The sausage-roll baker has revealed it has been testing reopening stores in the Tyneside area with staff trying out working practices behind closed doors.
Greggs originally planned to reopen earlier this month but reversed plans over fears queuing would breach social distancing. Greggs received a £150m government loan when the lockdown began.
Superdry sales plunge amid store closures
Superdry has said it is exploring financing options as it revealed sales plunged over the past three months.
The fashion brand said total sales dived by 36.9 per cent to £118.5m in the quarter to the end of April, compared to last year.
The retailer, which has 740 branded stores globally, has continued to sell online and said this has offset lost shop sales by a third. Some 88 per cent of its staff are furloughed.
Biggest monthly fall in house prices in two years
The average house price fell by 0.6 per cent in April as market activity was held almost at a complete standstill.
It was the biggest month-on-month fall in two years – since March 2018, the index from Halifax found. Across the UK, the average house price stood at £238,511.
Despite prices having fallen month-on-month in April, and by 0.3 per cent in March, the average UK house price in April was still 2.7 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Increase in driving blamed on lockdown fatigue
The number of miles being driven on UK roads has increased by more than a fifth since the second week of the lockdown, figures indicate – with experts blaming ‘boredom’.
RAC data shows that drivers clocked up 23 per cent more miles per day last week compared with four weeks earlier.
The figure is based on analysis of hundreds of thousands of trips taken by insurance customers with telematics units fitted to their vehicles. The firm also recorded an 11 per cent rise in the number of cars on the road over the same period, and an 18 per cent increase in breakdowns.
Researchers to look at options for opening pubs, clubs and restaurants
Options for how to reopen pubs, clubs and restaurants while minimising the risk of coronavirus and the impact on the emergency services are to be studied by researchers.
Scientists from the University of Stirling will look at how the easing of the lockdown could work for licensed premises, if they could have a phased re-opening and how staff can reduce the chance of infection.
The Scottish Government-funded project will consider the way in which consumers and venues might respond to any easing of restrictions, in terms of alcohol consumption, intoxication, violence, sales and promotions.
South Korea calls for calm amid concerns over new virus surge
South Korea’s president said there is no reason to be panicked about a new surge in coronavirus in the country.
President Moon Jae-in made the comments in a speech on Sunday as his health authorities detected a slew of new cases linked to nightclubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district.
Officials on Friday said they detected at least 15 infections linked to a 29-year-old man who had visited three Itaewon clubs before testing positive on Wednesday. Seoul has now shut down more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars and discos as a result.
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