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A trio of astronauts have reached the International Space Station in just three hours by using a new fast-track manoeuvre.
NASA’s Kate Rubins, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchko, blasted off from the Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan early on Wednesday morning.

The launch used a two-orbit, three hour approach for the first time.
Previously, it took twice as long to reach the station.

The trio successfully docked with the ISS at 4.48am ET, tweeted NASA, after launching at 1.45am.

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They will join station commander Chris Cassady, as well as cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, who have been aboard since April and are scheduled to return to Earth next week.

At a news conference before launch, Ms Rubins said the crew had spent weeks in quarantine at the Star City training facility outside Moscow, and then at Baikonur, to ensure they did not have coronavirus.

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They will spend six months at the space station, some 253 miles (408km) above Earth.

Image: They launched on a Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft. Pic: Roscosmos/Reuters
The mission follows the launch earlier in October of a special food delivery to the ISS, including meats, cheeses, oranges, pecans and chocolate-covered cranberries – just in time for the American holiday of Thanksgiving.
The Cygnus capsule contained more fresh food than usual, as the number of people at the space station will increase from six to seven with SpaceX’s second astronaut launch at the end of the month.
It also included pressurised air tanks to help offset a leak at the space station; a new $23m (£18m) titanium toilet designed for women, and a VR-camera which will provide cinematic shots of spacewalks and other outdoor scenes from space.

Facebook is banning adverts that discourage people from having vaccinations, but posts from anti-vaxxers will still be allowed on the platform.
Adverts that perpetuate false information about vaccinations, such as the discredited theory that they give people autism, are already banned by the platform, and the latest move will expand the ban to paid adverts that tell people not to have jabs.

However, Facebook will allow a political exception, and adverts that “advocate for or against legislation or government policies around vaccines”, including those for COVID-19, will still be allowed and have to be approved by the site.

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UK vaccine taskforce ‘optimistic’ on trials

Unpaid posts made by users or groups that discourage vaccinations will still be allowed, with the new ban only reaching to paid adverts.
The social media giant will also run information campaigns to encourage users to get a flu vaccine this year and is working with organisations such as the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to improve vaccination rates.

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Groups and pages that spread false information are already hidden on the platform’s search tool, and since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook has tightened its rules around COVID-related misinformation.

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The platform also steers users away from health-related groups, saying it is important that people get their information from authoritative sources.
It also bans what it defines as “dangerous” misinformation about the pandemic, and has even removed posts by US President Donald Trump as a result of the policy.

This incredible image of a Siberian tiger, a species which has previously been “hunted to the verge of extinction”, has won the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year award for 2020.
Selected from more than 49,000 entries from around the world, Sergey Gorshkov’s photograph was praised as a “scene like no other” by judges of the annual Natural History Museum competition.

Titled The Embrace, it shows an Amur, or Siberian, tigress hugging an ancient Manchurian fir tree in the Russian Far East. It took the photographer 11 months to capture, using hidden cameras.

Image: Liina Heikkinen’s shot of a fox cub earned her the title of this year’s Young Wildife Photographer Of The Year
It was named the overall winner alongside 16 other category winners, including Liina Heikkinen’s Fox That Got The Goose, which earned her the title of Young Wildlife Photographer Of The Year.
Now in its 56th year, the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition attracts entries from around the world and is open to snappers of all ages, nationalities and abilities. This year’s winner was announced by the Duchess of Cambridge, herself a keen photographer.

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Dr Tim Littlewood, the museum’s executive director of science, said Gorshkov’s “emotive” photo of the tigress offered hope.

“Hunted to the verge of extinction in the past century, the Amur population is still threatened by poaching and logging today.
“The remarkable sight of the tigress immersed in her natural environment offers us hope, as recent reports suggest numbers are growing from dedicated conservation efforts. Through the unique emotive power of photography, we are reminded of the beauty of the natural world and our shared responsibility to protect it.”
Here are all the category winners, and the stories behind the striking images.
Perfect Balance by Andres Luis Dominguez Blanco, Spain – winner of the 10 years and under category

This European stonechat bird was captured on camera in a meadow near Andres’ home in Andalucia, Spain. The young photographer asked his dad to drive to the meadow and park so he could use the car as a hide, kneel on the back seat and, with his lens on the window sill, shoot this pretty image through the open window.
A Mean Mouthful by Sam Sloss, Italy/US – winner of the 11-14 category

On a diving holiday in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Sam spotted this clownfish whose mouth was constantly open – but it was only when he downloaded the photos that he saw tiny eyes peeping out of its mouth. The eyes belong to a “tongue-eating louse”, a parasitic ispod that swims in through the gills as a male, changes sex and attaches itself to the base of the tongue, sucking blood. When the tongue withers and drops off, the isopod takes its place.
The Pose by Mogens Trolle, Denmark – winner of the Animal Portraits category

This young male proboscis monkey was a wild visitor to a feeding station at the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sabah, Borneo. Trolle, who has been photographing primates around the world for five years, described him as “the most laidback character”.
Life In The Balance by Jaime Culebras, Spain – winner of the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category

After walking for four hours in heavy rain, Culebras captured this image of a glass frog eating a spider in the foothills of the Andes, northwestern Ecuador – and found out it was a newly discovered species, distinguished by yellow spots on its back and a lack of webbing between its fingers. Named the Manduriacu glass frog, this is the first ever picture of this species feeding.
Great Crested Sunrise by Jose Luis Ruiz Jimenez, Spain – winner of the Behaviour: Birds category

After several hours chest-deep in water near Brozas, in the west of Spain, Luis managed to capture this great crested grebe family. On this particular morning, he got the shot as the parent on breakfast duty emerged from the water with a meal for the chicks.
A Tale Of Two Wasps by Frank Deschandol, France – winner of the Behaviour: Invertebrates category

This image, showing a red-banded sand wasp and a cuckoo wasp, is the result of painstaking preparation. Deschandol positioned his camera next to a sandy bank near his home in Normandy, northern France, setting up an infrared beam. When broken, this triggered a super-fast shutter system he had built using an old hard drive and positioned in front of the lens, as the camera’s own shutter would have been too slow. Despite his tiny subjects and complex technical set-up, he captured the perfect shot.
When Mother Says Run by Shanyuan Li, China – winner of the Behaviour: Mammals category

This is a rare picture of a family of Pallas’s cats, or manuls, in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in northwest China, the result of six years’ work at high altitude. The cats are normally solitary, mostly active at dawn and dusk and usually very hard to find. After long-term observation, Li tracked the family as they descended to about 3,800 metres (12,500 feet) and set up a hide on the hill opposite their lair, an old marmot hole. Hours of patience were rewarded when the three kittens came out to play, while their mother kept her eye on a Tibetan fox lurking nearby.
Out Of The Blue by Gabriel Eisenband, Colombia – winner of the Plants and Fungi category

Eisenband set out to photograph Ritak’ Uwa Blanco, the highest peak in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes. But in the end, it was the foreground of flowers, known as white arnica, that captured his attention. After sunset, a “blue hour” drenched the scene in an ethereal light.
The Golden Moment by Songda Cai, China – winner of the Under Water category

This image of a tiny diamondback squid paralarva (the stage between hatchling and sub-adult) was taken on a night dive far off the coast of Anilao, in the Philippines. Cai caught the transparent squid in a light beam, turning it to gold.
Watching You Watching Them by Alex Badyaev, Russia/US – winner of the Urban Wildlife category

Cordilleran flycatchers usually nest in crevices and on canyon shelves. However, this pair picked this remote research cabin in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front instead – and happened to be the exact species being studied by biologists there. So as not to disturb them, Badyaev hid his camera behind a large piece of bark on an ancient tree leaning against the cabin and operated the set-up remotely. He captured his shot as the female paused to check on her four nestlings, recording his observations behind her.
Etna’s River Of Fire by Luciano Gaudenzio, Italy – winner of the Earth’s Environments category

To witness lava flowing on the slope of Mount Etna, Gaudenzio and his colleagues trekked for several hours up the north side of the volcano. Luciano describes the scene as “hypnotic”, the vent resembling “an open wound on the rough and wrinkled skin of a huge dinosaur”. Taken in 2017, he had been on the nearby island of Stromboli to photograph eruptions there when he heard news of the new vent on Europe’s largest volcano, and took the very next ferry over in the hope of getting his shot.
Show Business by Kirsten Luce, US – winner of the Wildlife Photojournalism: Single Image category

Luce has spent several years reporting on animal exploitation and abuse, but says this is the most symbolically shocking scene she has photographed. It shows a muzzled polar bear performing in the Circus On Ice in Russia, reportedly the only known circus to use the animals. The polar bear is one of four females, reportedly captured in Russia’s Franz Josef Land when they were two years old – they were “abandoned”, the trainer reportedly said – and still performing 18 years later.
Backroom Business by Paul Hilton, UK/Australia – winner of the Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award

This image was one of a series which won Hilton the photojournalist story prize. It shows a young pig-tailed macaque chained to a wooden cage in Bali’s bird market, Indonesia. Having convinced the trader he was interested in buying the monkey, Hilton was able to take the photograph in the dark backroom.
Eleonora’s Gift by Alberto Fantoni, Italy – winner of the Rising Star Portfolio award

This photo shows a male Eleonora’s falcon bringing his mate food – a small bird, probably a lark – on the steep cliffs of a Sardinian island. Fantoni was watching from a hide on San Pietro Island, photographing the adults on their cliff-top perch. Despite feeding his mate, the male bird always seemed reluctant to give up his catch without a struggle, the photographer said.
The Last Bite by Ripan Biswas, India – winner of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Portfolio award

These are two ferocious predators – a giant riverine tiger beetle and a weaver ant – the Natural History Museum says, and they don’t often meet. These two were captured on a dry riverbed in the Buxa Tiger Reserve, in West Bengal, India, by Biswas as he lay on the sand. “The beetle kept pulling at the ant’s leg, trying to rid itself of the ant’s grip, but it couldn’t quite reach its head,” he said.
The Embrace by Sergey Gorshkov, Russia – winner of the Animals In Their Environment category and the overall grand title winner

This beautiful image was taken in the the Land of the Leopard National Park, in the Russian Far East. The population is threatened by poaching and logging, which also impacts their prey but recent camera-trap surveys are encouraging, the Natural History Museum says, indicating a population of between 500 and 600. Gorshkov said he knew his chances of photographing one of the creatures were slim, but he was determined. He installed his first proper camera trap in January 2019, and captured this winning image in the November.
The Fox That Got The Goose by Liina Heikkinen, Finland – winner of the 15-17 category and young wildlife photographer of the year

Liina was inspired to take this picture after hearing about a large fox family living in the city suburbs on the island of Lehtisaari, Helsinki. She spent a day with her father watching the two adults and their six cubs, with the vixen arriving with this abarnacle goose in the evening. After a fight between the cubs, this one was victorious, dragging the bird away and attempting to eat it while blocking access to its hungry siblings.
Winning images will be showcased at the Natural History Museum from 16 October, with safety measures in place due to coronavirus restrictions, before touring across the UK and internationally

A month after holding its first September event for years without announcing a new iPhone, Apple has released four models in its new iPhone 12 range, all of which are 5G-compatible.
They include a new line for Apple in the iPhone 12 Mini, which measures just 5.4in from corner to corner – making it the smallest 5G device available in the world – and will retail for £699 from 6 November.

At the higher-end, there are two iPhone 12 Pro phones, with a large 6.5in display and a mammoth 6.7in display, will be available for £999 and £1,099 respectively.

Image: The new iPhone 12 range
The launch event: Here are the announcements
The iPhone 12 Pro will be available for pre-order for £799 on 16 October, on the same schedule as the normal iPhone 12, while the Max will go out on the same schedule as the Mini.

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All four of the devices share a new design including a more squared edge, similar to the iPhone 4 and 5, but with edge-to-edge OLED displays and a notch at the top for Face ID.

Both of the the iPhone 12 Pro phones have some of the most advanced features which Apple has designed in a smartphone, with the iPhone Pro Max being able to record video in Dolby Vision HDR, 4K and 60 frames per second.

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Apple is also including a LIDAR system previously used in the iPad Pro to enhance the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s augmented reality features. The laser system measures depth, allowing the phone to calculate the relative size of an environment just by scanning it.
The rear cameras on the Max are a big selling point for Apple, which said they allowed the phone a 5x optical zoom and worked with the device’s A14 bionic chip and LIDAR sensor to make the device suitable for professional photography and cinematography.
The A14 was first released in the iPad Air 4 back in September, when Apple described it as “by far the most advanced we’ve ever made” including transistors so small they “challenge the laws of physics” with about 11.8 billion on a single chip.
“We’re talking about a scale so small, they’re measured in atoms,” Apple said.

Image: The iPhone 12 compared with the iPhone 12 Mini
The company confirmed that these new iPhones would be shipping without headphones or plug adapters as part of its mission to be 100% carbon neutral across its entire business, instead just including a USB-C to Lightning cable.
Apple claimed the change cuts over two million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, partially due to how much smaller the box is, thus taking up less space when being shipped.
Apple also announced a new HomePod Mini, a smart speaker competitively priced at £99 to compete with the Google Nest Audio device and the Amazon Echo (both £90), which is released alongside the iPhone 12 Mini and Max in November.

The first wave of COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to end the pandemic, the UK vaccines chief has told Sky News.
The UK has 340 million doses of six prototype vaccines in its stockpile – more than any other country.

But Kate Bingham, who heads the Vaccine Taskforce, said uncertainties remain over how much protection they give and for how long. Further candidates, including some in early development, will still be needed.
“We are not done,” she said in an exclusive sit-down interview.
Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around the world

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Image: Two vaccines are expected to release data from key phase 3 clinical trials within weeks
“The reason we’ve gone for a range of vaccines is to maximise our chances that we will have at least one successful vaccine that works in the population who are most vulnerable.

“We are always looking for additional vaccines for delivery at different times or with a different immune profile.”

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Two vaccines, made by Oxford University/AstraZeneca and BioNTech/Pfizer, are expected to release data from key phase 3 clinical trials within weeks.
They should show whether the vaccines stop the virus spreading or just alleviate symptoms.

Coronavirus: Tracking every global effort to find a COVID vaccine

But Ms Bingham said even a vaccine that reduces the severity of disease in vulnerable patients would still be worthwhile.
“A partially effective vaccine is better than no vaccine at all,” she continued.
“Flu vaccines are 50% effective, but they are widely used and have a big impact on reducing the clinical impacts of flu in the population.”
Ms Bingham has joined a trial of the Novavax vaccine at the Royal Free Hospital in London. She does not know whether it was the active vaccine or a saline dummy.
More than 270,000 people have so far signed up to the Vaccine Research Registry in the hope of joining trials. More volunteers from ethnic minorities are needed to test vaccines in a diverse population.

Image: Kate Bingham thinks a partially effective vaccine is better than no vaccine at all
Ms Bingham said the prolonged pause of a US trial of the Oxford vaccine, due to a possible adverse event, should not delay a decision by UK regulators on whether it was safe and effective to roll out on this side of the Atlantic. Trials in the UK and Brazil have already been cleared to continue.
She said she understood the desperation for a vaccine, particularly with the prospect of long local lockdowns over winter.
“The comfort I can give, is we have four of our six vaccines now in phase 3 efficacy clinical trials, so we have vaccines that have progressed rapidly into that final stage of efficacy testing,” she said.
“We haven’t seen any serious safety signals that have stopped these vaccines completely. There will of course be safety issues, but these are carefully monitored.”
Professor Jonathan Ball, a vaccine expert at Nottingham University, said everything rides on good results from the phase 3 trials. Antibody levels fall quickly after real COVID infection. If the same happens with a vaccine it may only protect for a month or two.

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“At the moment we have no protection against COVID-19 at all – and for elderly people, particularly those with diseases like obesity and diabetes, this is a serious illness.
“So if we can give hope to people, that’s important, but it can’t be false hope.
“We have to be assured that those vaccines do what we intend.”

Hackney Council has reported a data breach after being hit by what it described as a “serious cyber attack” on Tuesday morning, which is still affecting many of its services and IT systems.
The council says it is working with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Ministry of Housing to investigate and understand the impact of the incident.

It is not yet clear what type of cyber attack has hit the council, however a spokesperson from the Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed to Sky News that it had received a report of a data breach as a result.
In a statement on the council’s public-facing website, which is still up and running, Mayor Philip Glanville said: “Our focus is on continuing to deliver essential frontline services, especially to our most vulnerable residents, and protecting data, while restoring affected services as soon as possible.
“In the meantime, some council services may be unavailable or slower than normal, and our call centre is extremely busy,” he added.

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“We ask that residents and businesses only contact us if absolutely necessary, and to bear with us while we seek to resolve these issues.”

A spokesperson for the ICO told Sky News: “People should be able to expect that their personal information is handled securely by any organisation. When it isn’t this can cause real distress – especially if it is sensitive information.

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“We have received a data breach report from the London Borough of Hackney and will be making enquiries.
“If anyone is concerned about their personal information they should contact the council first, if they are not satisfied, they can bring their concerns to us,” the spokesperson added.
The impact of the incident is still not completely clear. Sky News understands that the G Suite services the council use are still working, and staff calling the council’s IT support hotline are being instructed to follow the guidance and information in their inboxes.
A spokesperson for NCSC confirmed that it was “aware of an incident affecting Hackney Borough Council” and said the agency was “supporting the organisation and working with partners to understand the impact of this incident.”
If you would like to contact Alexander Martin, you can reach him securely using the private messaging app Signal on +44 (0)7970 376 704 or at [email protected]

Receiving an unexpected knock on the front door in the early hours of the morning does not usually bring good news – but it is how one man found out he had won a Nobel Prize. 
Economist Paul Milgrom won the prize for economics, alongside his colleague Robert Wilson.

But the prize’s organisers had been unable to reach Mr Milgrom, so Mr Wilson took it upon himself to let his colleague know about their win.
“You know, I was asleep and my phone is set not to take calls from unknown numbers,” Mr Milgrom said. “So, they never got through to me.
“But there came to be a knock at my door and my co-winner, Bob Wilson, who also lives across the street, came over and was knocking at my door and saying, ‘Paul, wake up! You’ve won the Nobel Prize!'”

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Mr Milgrom stammered for a moment before saying: “Wow.”

Security footage at Mr Milgrom’s home captured the moment he found out in the early hours of the morning.

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Both men are based at Stanford University in the US and won for improving the theory of how auctions work and inventing new and better formats that are now woven into the economy.
Their work has been used to sell radio frequencies, fishing quotas and airport landing slots.
Mr Milgrom remained humble about his win.
“This is economics. It’s not the Nobel Peace Prize or something, it’s not like I’ve gone out there and helped people settle a war,” he said.

Nobel Peace Prize: World Food Programme named this year’s winner

Their win was announced in Stockholm by Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, rounding off a week of Nobel Prizes.
The committee said their work showed “why rational bidders tend to place bids below their own best estimate of the common value,” that is, “the value which is uncertain beforehand but, in the end, is the same for everyone”.
It also featured an explanation of how bidders try to avoid the so-called “winner’s curse” of overpaying.

Facebook has updated its policies to prohibit content that “denies or distorts the Holocaust” – just two years after Mark Zuckerberg suggested such posts were permissible under freedom of speech.
The social network says it will also re-direct anyone who searches for Holocaust denial to “credible information” on another page.

Both updates will begin later this year.

Image: Founder Mark Zuckerberg says his thinking has ‘evolved’
This follows a clampdown on other forms of hate speech – including banning white supremacist groups and militia groups.
These changes have been introduced to help combat misinformation on the site ahead of the US presidential election in November.

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The social network’s head of content policy, Monika Bickert, said these moves mark “another step” in Facebook’s efforts to combat hate on its platform.

“Our decision is supported by the well-documented rise in anti-semitism globally and the alarming level of ignorance about the Holocaust, especially among young people”, Ms Bickert said.

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“According to a recent survey of adults in the US aged 18-39, almost a quarter said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, that it had been exaggerated or they weren’t sure.”
She added that the company had made a “major change” since Mr Zuckerberg’s comments in 2018.

Image: Facebook has updated its policies to prohibit content that ‘denies or distorts the Holocaust’
The Facebook boss had argued that Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories, while “deeply offensive” should not be removed as those posting may not be “intentionally getting it wrong”.
However, two years on, Mr Zuckerberg says his thinking on the matter has “evolved”.
He said: “I’ve struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust.”
“My own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen data showing an increase in antisemitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech.
“Drawing the right lines between what is and isn’t acceptable speech isn’t straightforward, but with the current state of the world, I believe this is the right balance.”
However Facebook has warned these new changes will take time to implement – and “cannot happen overnight”.
Ms Bickert said: “There is a range of content that can violate these policies, and it will take some time to train our reviewers and systems on enforcement.

Image: Facebook is banning hate speech in the run up to the US presidential election next month
“We are grateful to many partners for their input and candour as we work to keep our platform safe.”
Danny Stone, chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust said he hopes the updates will encourage others in the industry to tackle hate speech the same way.
“We welcome this decision by Facebook to fully ban abuse and denial of the Holocaust, which has so far been allowed to fester on the platform,” he said.
“It finally aligns Facebook’s policies to ban antisemitism and hate speech. Previously, Jew-hatred disguised as Holocaust denial and revisionism was allowed unabated, meaning Jewish users who saw this sort of content could not do anything to combat it.
“In removing it from the platform, Facebook is sending a message that Jewish and other people’s collective memories and experiences of this horror are no longer fair game.
He added: “Denial will no longer be so easy to share or be used to influence others on Facebook.”

The virus that causes COVID-19 can survive on surfaces including mobile phones and banknotes for up to four weeks, according to new research.
Australia’s national science agency CSIRO found that Sars-CoV-2 was “extremely robust” at 20C (68F), or room temperature.

The study also found that the virus survived longer at lower temperatures.
Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around world
Researchers said the virus survived longer on smooth surfaces such as glass and stainless steel compared with porous surfaces such as cotton.

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They also found the virus survived longer on paper banknotes than plastic banknotes.

A previous study in The Lancet in April found that SARS-Cov-2 could not be detected on glass or banknotes after four days or seven days for stainless steel.

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The research from CSIRO found the virus was surviving for 28 days.

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However, the research was conducted in a dark area which negates the effects of UV light, as studies have shown direct sunlight can rapidly inactivate the virus.
Dr Debbie Eagles, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, said: “Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 can remain infectious on surfaces for long periods of time, reinforcing the need for good practices such as regular handwashing and cleaning surfaces.
“At 20 degrees Celsius, which is about room temperature, we found that the virus was extremely robust, surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass found on mobile phone screens and plastic banknotes.
“For context, similar experiments for Influenza A have found that it survived on surfaces for 17 days, which highlights just how resilient SARS-CoV-2 is.”
There is uncertainty about surface transmission of the virus.
The virus is mostly transmitted when a person coughs, sneezes or talks.

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COVID and the conflicting science

Dr Eagles added: “While the precise role of surface transmission, the degree of surface contact and the amount of virus required for infection is yet to be determined, establishing how long this virus remains viable on surfaces is critical for developing risk mitigation strategies in high contact areas.”
CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said its latest research builds on the national science agency’s other COVID-19 work such as vaccine testing.
He said: “Establishing how long the virus really remains viable on surfaces enables us to more accurately predict and mitigate its spread, and do a better job of protecting our people.”

A tuberculosis (TB) vaccine given to more than 100 million babies each year could help adults fight coronavirus, health experts have said, after trials showed it stimulates the immune system.
Some 10,000 people in the UK will be recruited to investigate whether the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine could help people battle coronavirus until more effective vaccines are found.

Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil are involved in the programme, the UK’s arm of which is being led by the University of Exeter.

Professor John Campbell, of the university’s medical school, said: “BCG has been shown to boost immunity in a generalised way, which may offer some protection against COVID-19.”
Researchers are hoping, he said, to confirm whether the BCG vaccine could help protect people who are at risk of COVID-19.

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“If it does, we could save lives by administering or topping up this readily available and cost-effective vaccination,” he added.

Anyone taking part will be given either the BCG vaccine, which is currently given to more than 100 million babies worldwide each year to protect against tuberculosis, or a placebo injection.

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Routine BCG vaccination, which begun in the UK in 1953, was stopped in 2005 because of low rates of TB in the general population.
BCG has previously been shown to reduce susceptibility to a range of diseases caused by viruses.
The vaccine trains the immune system to work harder against other infections and researchers want to find out why.

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Housing secretary denies ‘ducking questions’ on lockdown

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It will be trialled on those working on “the COVID-19 front line, such as healthcare workers and care home workers”, Prof Campbell added.
He said: “Up until now, care home workers have been overlooked by most research.
“The trial provides us with a great opportunity to offer potential help to this important group of individuals who are providing healthcare to some of our most vulnerable citizens in important community settings.”
Bill and Melinda Gates have contributed more than $10m (£7.6m) to the trial, named BRACE, which is being coordinated by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Australia.

More than a million people have died after catching COVID-19 across the world, with well over 33 million people acquiring the disease, sometimes in its severest forms.
In the UK, the number of coronavirus-related deaths stands at more than 42,000, while almost 600,000 people have caught the illness.
The UK reported another 15,166 coronavirus cases and a further 81 deaths in the daily update on Saturday.
Around 10 million people fell ill with TB in 2018 globally and 1.5 million died, according to World Health Organisation figures.