TO MASK OR NOT TO MASK, THAT IS THE VEXED QUESTION FOR A NATION WITH A DEATH TALLY OF MORE THAN 17,000

TALK of vaccines, masks, PPE and a plethora of studies have hogged the headlines on coronavirus in the last 24 hours.

Later this week will see the start of human trials for a potential Covid-19 vaccine being developed in the UK.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement, saying he is "throwing everything" at the country's efforts to create a virus vaccine.

There are two projects on the go – at Imperial College London which will receive £22.5 million to support its clinical trials, and Oxford University, granted £20 million.

Oxford researchers will begin trials on Thursday, the Health Secretary said.

Dozens of hospitals in Australia and New Zealand will trial a HIV treatment and an anti-malarial touted by US President Donald Trump on patients infected with Covid-19.

The AustralaSian Covid-19 Trial has begun treating patients infected with the virus at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

The trial plans to recruit about 2,000 patients from more than 70 Australian hospitals and from 12 hospitals in New Zealand.

The trial will test Lopinavir/ritonavir, which is currently authorised in the UK as an anti-HIV medicine, as well as hydroxychloroquine, also approved at a national level to treat malaria and certain autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The UK has been dubbed Zorronation Street. A Masks4All campaign saw 100 leading doctors calling for everyone to wear a homemade mask when out in public while the World Health Organisation recommended the reverse – claiming it led to a false sense of security.

Their letter has been signed by several leading medics, including John Ashton, a former president of the Faculty of Public Health, and Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Vital personal protection equipment including 400,000 gowns – promised by the UK Government originally on Saturday – is still held up in Turkey as the NHS could face a reported shortage of face masks if the public are told to wear them too.

NHS staff have been told 140,000 gowns arrived from Myanmar today. But it has come too late for at least 65 NHS workers who are now confirmed to have died during the coronavirus pandemic since March 25. The Department of Health has identified 43 NHS workers in England who have died after contracting Covid-19. However, this is only a partial picture, with the true total thought to be significantly greater, as local NHS trusts and loved ones pay tribute to healthcare workers. Higher air pollution could be linked to increased deaths and cases of coronavirus in England, a preliminary study suggests. An analysis by the Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit at Cambridge University compared regional data on total Covid-19 cases and deaths, against levels of three major air pollutants. The study used data from seven regions in England, where a minimum of 2,000 infections and 200 deaths are reported from February to April 8, 2020, and air pollution records from more than 120 sites in 2018 and 2019. Levels of pollutants nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide, much of which comes from traffic fumes, were highest in London, the Midlands and the North West and lowest in southern regions of England. Fatalities of people with the coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, followed the same trend, the study found, suggesting the higher the pollution levels, the greater number of Covid-19 cases and deaths. The researchers said their study provided evidence that higher levels of some air pollutants correlate with increased Covid-19 mortality and spread in England. But other experts warned that the results did not show a causal link between poor air quality and worse Covid-19, adding disease transmission and death would be expected to be higher in highly-populated areas such as London, which also have higher air pollution. Though most people with the virus have a mild illness, some patients go on to develop severe respiratory conditions, and scientists are trying to work out why some sufferers are more at risk of a serious response than others. Previous studies have pointed to a higher risk for older people or those with underlying health conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer. Skipping ahead, cautious optimism has broken out in various parts of the globe. Government officials in Chile move ahead with plans to issue the world's first "immunity passports," cards that would allow people who have recovered from the novel coronavirus to return to work. Against this, doctors have warned that much about Covid-19 immunity remains unknown. In South Korea – with just 237 deaths in more than 10,000 cases – the Government has opted to lift closure advisories related to high-risk venues such as churches, bars and sporting facilities. The nine new infections in South Korea was below 100 for the 20th day in a row on Monday. On Monday night, Donald Trump was talking up a "temporary" immigration ban for the US s a move intended to fight the "invisible enemy" of coronavirus. But the US President must take some responsibility for "encouraging" protest movements against lockdown as demonstrations under the banner 'Operation Gridlock' have broken out in state capitals around the country. Protesters have created traffic jams – blocking even emergency services' vehicles – to demand that governors reopen, even though thousands of Americans continue to die every day. US confirmed cases have now gone past the 800,000 mark with deaths heading towards 45,000. Spain has seen 200,000 of its population testing positive while Germany is closing in on 150,000. In the UK, Imperial College scientist Robin Shattock has warned a second wave of Covid-19 is highly probable in the UK when the lockdown is eventually relaxed. His big worry is virus cases next winter – at the same time as seasonal flu. The UK continues to talk of a being "past the peak" and slowing infection rates – but its daily increase in deaths of 828 was second only to the US in global terms today. Its case fatality rate of 13.43 per cent – with 17,377 deaths out of 129,044 cases – is second only to Belgium which has reported almost 6,000 deaths in 40,956 people testing positive. Its CFR is 14.64 per cent. Italy is third in the CFR stakes at 13.39 with 24,648 deaths in 183,957 confirmed cases, while France is next on 13.15 per cent – 20,796 deaths in 158,050 cases. At the other end of the scale Germany has recorded 4,948 deaths out of 148,024 cases – a CFR of 3.43 per cent. New Zealand can basically track its fatality path with just 13 deaths in 1,445 cases, insisting its CFR of 0.90 per cent is attributed to an early and total lockdown. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, however, is not relaxing. She has extended a lockdown but did so amid mounting hopes that her country can eliminate the coronavirus by tracing transmissions and preventing new infections. In Germany, some scientists have argued that the country should ramp up restrictions until new infections reach a rate that makes tracking and contact tracing more easy, a strategy they say will allow for a greater degree of freedom in the long run. Midland towns, cities and counties in the UK saw smaller increases over the last 24 hours. While Kent retains the 'hot spot' for coronavirus in the upper tier local authority table with 2,597 people testing positive for the virus – Birmingham saw 49 new cases and remains in second spot with 2,361. Warwickshire has 884 confirmed case (42 up on yesterday), Coventry is on 536 – Atherstone's neighbouring county Staffordshire has 1,287 cases and Leicestershire 731. By region, London now has 22,072 cases, East and West Midlands is 15,488 combined, the North West 14,788 and the South East 13,656. Across the world, the cases now have now passed 2.5 million with deaths at 175,000. The recovered – a reported 686,000 – is now more than a quarter of the overall case total.