Top story: Longer isolation for those with symptoms

Hello, Warren Murray with today’s selection of unmissable stories.

Women spent more than twice as much time as men on their children’s home schooling and development during the UK lockdown, according to the first academic study on the subject. Surveys by University College London (UCL) researchers found women across several age groups bore the brunt of childcare and home schooling, while those with primary school-aged children “were considerably more likely” to have given up working than fathers with children of the same age.

People with coronavirus symptoms may be asked to isolate for an extra three days, for a total of 10 days, after government scientists raised concern about a steady rise in the number of cases in the UK, as parts of Europe see significant spikes. The Guardian understands this takes into account developing science on the virus’s incubation period and how long it remains contagious. On Wednesday, the government’s official dashboard showed 83 deaths associated with Covid-19 and 763 newly lab-confirmed infections and there appears to have been a slight rise in infections as lockdown restrictions have eased.

Latest coronavirus developments can be found at our live blog. In the US, the coronavirus death toll has exceeded 150,000 people. Here is what Donald Trump was saying while that happened.

‘Too much power’ – Democrats have grilled big tech CEOs as being out to crush their competition, while Republicans accused them of being out to get Trump. In a historic congressional hearing, bosses from Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple were challenged as having too much power. “Our founders would not bow before a king,” said David Cicilline, the Democratic chair of the session. “Nor should we bow before the emperors of the online economy.” Mark Zuckerberg was repeatedly questioned about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram in 2012, but contended that this had helped its former competitor to grow. Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet/Google also faced accusations of anti-competitive behaviour. Trump has attacked tech companies as Twitter and Facebook have attempted to factcheck the president and remove false statements from his account. Congress is considering rewriting antitrust laws but new legislation is not likely soon.

Mars rover and drone due to launch – Nasa’s most sophisticated rover, Perseverance, is due to blast off for the red planet today seeking to find out whether life ever emerged there. It carries a 1.8kg drone helicopter called Ingenuity which, if it works, will be the first to take to the air on another planet. It will attempt up to five flights over 30 days, battling to stay aloft in the thin Martian atmosphere using four 1.2-metre-long carbon-fibre blades spinning at 2,400rpm.

All going well technically and weather-wise, the Perseverance mission will embark on its half-a-billion-kilometre voyage at 12.50pm BST, launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Row over poverty stats – Boris Johnson repeatedly used inaccurate and misleading figures that exaggerated the government’s record on poverty, the UK statistics watchdog has confirmed. At PMQs and on the BBC, Johnson said the number of families or children in poverty had fallen by 400,000 since 2010 – after the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said child poverty had risen by 600,000. Anna Feuchtwang, the chair of End Child Poverty, said the 600,000 figure was correct and “there are actually 1.5 million children classed as low income and materially deprived”. Our report lists other examples, from Covid-19 to school funding, where the government has been accused by watchdogs of misusing statistics.

Young, British and Black – Our Guardian project introduces the new generation behind the UK’s anti-racism protests. In their own words, these young black activists reveal what inspired them to organise the country’s biggest race equality rallies for centuries.

The Guardian has interviewed 50 of them, aged 13 to 26, to find out how the country has reached this moment. They live across the UK, from Glasgow to Newcastle and Abergavenny to Falmouth.

Alarm over lead levels – One in three children around the world have concentrations of lead in their blood at levels likely to cause significant long-term health damage, new research has found. About 800 million children and young people under the age of 19 are likely to have blood levels of lead at or above 5 micrograms per decilitre (5μg/dl), according to the report. There is no safe level for lead exposure, according to the World Health Organization, but levels above 5μg/dl are regarded by the US Centers for Disease Control as a cause for action. The findings published by Unicef highlight the ongoing dangers to children from lead, which has been phased out of common use in petrol, paints and water pipes over decades.

Try counting pixels – An online self-help programme that helps people sleep better is more effective than face-to-face therapy, a study involving more than 7,000 NHS patients has found. The Sleepio, six-week digital treatment helped 56% beat the condition whereas the success rate in the NHS Improving access to psychological therapy (Iapt) services is 50%. The programme helped insomniacs gain almost six hours more sleep a week, reduced their use of sleeping pills, and cut the number of times they went to the GP or had to take a day off sick from work. It also helped reduce the anxiety and depression that lay behind many participants’ sleeplessness. The study was overseen by Oxford doctors, scientists and academics.

Today in Focus podcast: Britain’s weight problem

As the government launches a newly interventionist strategy to tackle obesity, the Guardian’s Felicity Lawrence looks at whether it goes far enough to take on the might of the food industry.

Lunchtime read: Who is stealing the puppies?

With a single dog being sold for as much as £7,500, a dognapping crime wave has swept the country since the start of lockdown, writes Simon Usborne.

Sport

Exeter Chiefs have been accused of being “tone deaf” and “sticking up two fingers” to all minority groups after resisting calls to drop their name and logo out of respect for the Native American community. Brentford have moved within one win of the Premier League after turning around the Championship play-off semi-final against Swansea in their last-ever match at Griffin Park. World No 1 Ashleigh Barty has become the biggest name yet to opt out of the US Open because of the global health crisis. Andy Murray believes that after nearly five months of inaction, tennis players should prepare for a considerably different tour with ample upsets and opportunities for anyone bold enough to take them.

England begin a three-match ODI series against Ireland today, Eoin Morgan and his team’s first international outing since winning the 2019 World Cup. Manchester City have agreed a deal to sign Ferran Torres from Valencia for £24.5m (€27m) plus add-ons after successful talks on Wednesday. The Newcastle takeover saga has taken a fresh twist after Saudi Arabia formally appealed against a World Trade Organization ruling that it facilitated the piracy of Premier League matches. And Ronnie O’Sullivan claims snooker players are being treated like “lab rats” at this year’s world championship and claims anyone unconcerned by the decision to allow some spectators into the event must have a “death wish”.

Business

Victoria Beckham is to cut staff at her fashion label by nearly a fifth, a loss of around 20 jobs, as the impact of the pandemic continues to hit hard across all echelons of fashion and retail. A decision to furlough 30 staff at the beginning of lockdown met with a backlash against the proposed use of public funds by the pop star turned fashion designer, who has an estimated net worth of £335m. The decision was reversed two weeks later. Ticket resale company StubHub is to close or shrink offices around the world as it reels from the pandemic, which has shut down concert venues and theatres and forced sports events to be held behind closed doors. In an email seen by the Guardian, addressed to staff known as “Stubbers”, the world’s largest ticketing company said it would be shutting its offices in the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. The pound is buying $1.297 and €1.102 while the FTSE is trending 14 points higher at time of writing.

The papers

Our Young, British and Black special coverage strikingly takes over the front page of the Guardian today. The Telegraph leads with “Isolation for Covid to increase by three days” while the Times tells of “Tough new isolation rule to stop virus surge” – here’s that one in our words.

Boosterism in the Express knows no bounds – “Boris vows to fight 2nd wave on all fronts” – while the Mail has “Just 1 in 10 to see GP face to face” as consultations switch to online or the phone. The i says “UK travel chiefs demand help to save industry”.

The FT displays a quartet of “Tech titans” across its top saying they were “grilled on Capitol Hill” – the splash is “Santander retains faith in UK as write-offs fuel record €11bn loss”. Developments in the Madeleine McCann case take over the fronts of the Metro and the Mirror – a cellar was found during excavation of an allotment in Germany used by the main suspect.

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