Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido offers a grim lesson in the next phase of the battle against COVID-19. It acted quickly and contained an early outbreak of the coronavirus with a 3-week lockdown. But, when the governor lifted restrictions, a second wave of infections hit even harder. Twenty-six days later, the island was forced back into lockdown.

People are being urged to employ common sense when it comes to limiting the spread of the virus. Credit: PA

The government will be sending letters to 1.5 million people in England urging them to self-isolate for an extended period amid warnings the coronavirus outbreak is "accelerating”.