3 august the month-long "eat out to help out" scheme begins, offering a 50% discount on meals at indoor venues, three days per week, with the remainder of the cost picked up by the government. restaurants, pubs and hairdressers in leicester are allowed to reopen as lockdown restrictions are eased in the city. 4 august scientists warn that test and trace provisions are inadequate to prevent a second wave of covid-19 once schools reopen in september. 5 august a report by the home affairs committee concludes that the spread of covid-19 could have been slowed by an earlier implementation of quarantine restrictions on people arriving into the uk. bank of ireland announces plans for 1,400 job losses collectively from its uk and ireland operations. 6 august quarantine restrictions are placed on travellers arriving into the uk from belgium, the bahamas and andorra, with the new rules coming into effect from midnight in wales, and 4am on 8 august in the rest of the uk. the bank of england predicts that the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic will be less severe than previously thought, but the economy will take much longer than anticipated to recover. organisers of the 2020 london marathon, scheduled for 4 october, announce it is to be an elite athletes only event due to the covid-19 pandemic, with the race taking place on a bio-secure course. 7 august the r number for the uk rises to between 0.8 and 1.0, up from the previous week's number of 0.8–0.9, but is believed to be above 1.0 in three parts of england – london, the south west and the north west. itv confirms that the 2020 series of its reality programme i'm a celebrity...get me out of here! will be relocated from its usual venue in the australian jungle to a ruined castle in the uk. 8 august 750,000 covid-19 test kits manufactured by randox are being recalled due to safety concerns. the british antarctic survey announces it is scaling back its research operations because of the covid-19 pandemic. the use of face coverings is extended to more indoor venues in england and scotland. 9 august the daily figure of confirmed new covid-19 infections exceeds 1,000 for the first time since june, rising by 1,062 to 310,825, but it is unclear whether the rise is down to a higher infection rate or a greater volume of testing. sandwich chain pret a manger confirms it has asked thousands of members of its staff to work fewer hours as part of its plans for post-pandemic restructuring. 11 august office for national statistics figures reveal that the number of people in work fell by 220,000 between april and june, the largest drop in employment in a decade. prime minister boris johnson warns there is a "long, long way to go" before the economy begins to improve. after the scottish government announces upgrades for thousands of higher results that were marked down to take account of teachers' assessments, the national union of students calls for the same rules to be applied to a level results for the rest of the uk. 12 august figures show the uk economy shrunk by 20.4% between april and june when compared to the first quarter of the year, making it the largest slump on record and pushing the country into recession for the first time in eleven years. chancellor rishi sunak describes the situation as "unprecedented". the department for education announces that students' gcse and a level results will be no lower than the results of their mock exams, with the introduction of a "triple lock" system whereby the highest grade is awarded from a choice of mock exams, teachers' assessment or exams taken during the autumn term. following a review of the way covid-19 deaths are recorded by public health england, the cumulative number for the uk is reduced by 5,377 from 46,706 to 41,329. england has previously been the only part of the uk to record a death as covid-related no matter how long it occurred after a positive result, whereas the other constituent countries have a 28-day cut-off, which england will also now use. 13 august a level grades are published for england, wales and northern ireland. school and college leaders call for an urgent review after 36% of results in england are lower than teachers predicted, while 3% are two grades lower. the art fund charity awards £630,000 to eighteen museums around the uk to support projects designed to reach the public during the pandemic. they include a pop-up museum in a shopping centre, actor-guides to control social distancing and exhibit boxes that can be posted to schools. france, the netherlands, monaco, malta, turks and caicos, and aruba are added to the quarantine list, requiring travellers arriving in the uk from these countries to quarantine for 14 days as of 4.00am on 15 august. 14 august the uk government signs deals for 90 million doses of potential vaccines being developed by belgian pharmaceutical company janssen pharmaceutica and the us biotech company novavax. extra ferries are laid on between france and the uk as thousands of holidaymakers race to return to the uk from france before quarantine restrictions begin. the uk records its highest daily rate of new covid-19 cases since 14 june, with 1,441 new cases taking the total number to 316,367. 15 august there is confusion as the exam regulator ofqual publishes guidelines on the criteria constituting grounds for a review of results, then withdraws the advice pending a review. the local government association urges parents to keep up-to-date with their children's vaccinations in order to ease pressure on the nhs. some restaurants and pubs report they have dropped out of the eat out to help out scheme because of "hostility towards staff". 16 august the shielding programme ends in wales; it is the last part of the uk to end its shielding programme. 17 august as many as three million self-employed people whose trade has been affected by the pandemic become eligible for a second government grant worth £6,570. following controversy over a level grades, it is confirmed that both a level and gcse results in england, wales and northern ireland will be based on teachers' assessments. a study from the institute of fiscal studies says that the education gap between wealthy and poor children has widened because of the covid-19 pandemic, and quotes a headteacher who says it could take up to two years to get children back to their correct level of education. 18 august education secretary gavin williamson says he is "incredibly sorry" for the distress caused to students over their grades. 19 august after france makes the wearing of face coverings compulsory for most work places, health secretary matt hancock says there are no plans to do the same in the uk. pearson education delays the release of half a million btec qualifications, due tomorrow, in order to regrade them. the uk government announces plans to expand the office for national statistics' infection survey, which tests people fortnightly for covid-19; tests will increase from 28,000 people in england to 150,000 by october. 20 august portugal is added to the quarantine exemption list, while croatia, austria and trinidad and tobago are taken off it; scotland also removes switzerland from its own quarantine exemption list. 21 august booking a driving test resumes in england and wales, but the website through which bookings are made crashes due to excessive demand. figures released by the government office for science and the scientific advisory group for emergencies show the r number to be between 0.9 and 1.1, up from between 0.8 and 1.0 the previous week. sta travel, a firm with 50 high street outlets and specialising in trips for students and young people, becomes the latest business to cease trading because of the covid-19 pandemic. 22 august sir mark walpole, a member of the government's scientific advisory group for emergencies (sage) suggests that covid-19 will be present "forever in some form or another", and not eliminated by vaccine as in the case of diseases such as smallpox. 23 august the uk's chief medical officer, dr chris whitty, says that children are more likely to be harmed by not returning to school in september than by contracting covid-19. the national education union, the uk's largest teaching union, calls for more staff, extra teaching space and greater clarity on how to deal with a spike in covid-19 cases in order for schools to safely reopen again. 24 august as schools in northern ireland return for the autumn term, prime minister boris johnson releases a message to parents telling them it is "vitally important" children go back to school, with the life chances of a generation at stake. a university of bristol study finds that young teenagers aged 13 and 14 experienced less anxiety during lockdown than they did in october 2019. tesco announces the creation of 16,000 new jobs following an "exceptional growth" in its online business during lockdown. 25 august scientists at the university of nottingham have identified a 75-year-old woman from nottinghamshire who they believe to be the first person to catch covid-19 through transmission within the uk; she tested positive on 21 february. virgin atlantic receives £1.2bn backing from its creditors to keep operating for at least another 18 months, and save 6,500 jobs. figures produced by the treasury show that the eat out to help out scheme has been used 64 million times during the first three weeks of august. 26 august a bbc survey of the uk's largest employers identifies fifty that say they have no immediate plans to return all their staff to the office. research carried out by the defence science and technology laboratory suggests that insect repellent that contains citriodiol could be used to kill a strain of covid-19 that triggers covid-19. restaurant chains, including prezzo, harvester and pizza pilgrims, announce plans to extend the eat out to help out scheme into september due to its success, saying they will fund it themselves once the government backed scheme ends. prime minister boris johnson blames a "mutant algorithm" for the exam grades chaos. jonathan slater, the chief civil servant at the department of education, is dismissed from his position over the exams controversy. 27 august the number of new daily covid cases rises by 1,522, the highest number since mid-june. the delayed liberal democrats leadership election sees sir ed davey elected to lead the party. switzerland, jamaica and czech republic are removed from the quarantine exemption list effective from 4am on 29 august, while cuba is added to it as a destination from where travellers will not need to quarantine. sandwich chain pret a manger announces the loss of 3,000 jobs in a bid to save the business. the royal shakespeare company cancels its theatre productions until 2021 because of the pandemic. a yougov poll suggests support for the full-time reopening of schools in england and wales has risen from 57% to 65% over a three-week period. 28 august the uk government announces the launch of another drive to encourage people to return to their workplaces, starting in the first week of september. the bbc two's current affairs programme newsnight is given access to a sage document that suggests a "reasonable worst case scenario" may be to expect 85,000 covid deaths over the coming winter. 29 august the first football match with spectators takes place in brighton, with 2,500 people allowed in to watch a pre-season friendly between chelsea and brighton. women's football makes a return for the first time since lockdown, with a community shield match between chelsea and manchester city, the first women's community shield to be held since 2008. 30 august as a million students prepare to go to university, the universities and colleges union urges universities in the uk to delay face-to-face lectures until after christmas amid concerns students could spark a second wave of the covid pandemic. emily eavis, the co-organiser of the glastonbury festival, says the organisers aim to stage glastonbury 2021 in june 2021 as usual. a further 1,715 cases of covid-19 are reported, bringing the total so far to 334,467, and representing the largest daily increase since mid-may. a single death brings the total number of fatalities to 41,499. guernsey's vale earth fair is held as