Millions of Britons go under lockdown

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted calls for a nationwide “circuit breaker” lockdown. But his government on Wednesday put an additional 1.4 million people under the country’s tightest coronavirus restrictions level. In the highest-risk areas, pubs have to close and people are barred from mixing with members of other households. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have issued their own lockdown plans.

How are things on our side of the pond? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised its definition of “close contact.” Now, it says spending a total of 15 minutes with an infected person over a 24-hour period puts you at risk, even if it isn’t 15 consecutive minutes. Several U.S. states hit record highs in daily cases this week.

Dig deeper: Read Julie Borg’s analysis of ongoing research into the origin of COVID-19.