THE VIRUS IN BRIEF
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LUXURY fashion labels Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga are to make surgical masks instead of elegant clothes in their workshops.
Parent company The Kering Group has also pledged to buy three million masks from China for the French health service.
On Monday, French health authorities reported 186 new
Protective mask
deaths from coronavirus, taking the nation’s total to 860.
Paris-based Kering Group said production would get under way “as soon as the manufacturing process and materials have been approved”.
THE region with the population most at risk of the coronavirus is North Norfolk, official data reveals.
Just under a quarter of the coastal county’s population is aged over 70 and nearly one in 20 are over 85.
Prof Malcolm Johnson, from the University of Bath, said: “Those who live where there are very high concentrations of older residents are doubly at risk of being overlooked and unsupported.”
Rother in East Sussex, East Devon and Tendring, Essex, also have high elderly populations. Gerard Barnes, from mental health firm Smart TMS, warned: “These areas are at high risk of widespread mental health challenges from an elderly population left with no social contact.”
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CHEMICALS giant Ineos is to build a hand sanitiser plant to make one million bottles a month. The company said the factory will be operational within 10 days and products will be given to hospitals free of charge.
Teesside-based
Ineos will produce standard and pocket-sized bottles and is looking to target retail outlets across Europe.
It already makes ventilators and a range of health products.
Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: “If we can find other ways to help in the coronavirus battle, we are absolutely committed to playing our part.”
JAPAN yesterday agreed to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for a year because of coronavirus.
The July 24 start date was cancelled and will now take place “no later than summer 2021”, the International Olympic Committee confirmed.The delay also hits the Paralympics.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said: “I proposed to postpone for a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach responded with 100 per cent agreement.”
The event will still be called Tokyo 2020 despite taking place in 2021.
A statement for the organisers said: “The unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating.” SPORT: BACK PAGE