Delta variant accounts for 96 per cent of new cases, warns Matt Hancock

• The number of new Covid-19 cases reported each day in the UK topped 9,000 for the first time since February

• Professor Sir Andrew Pollard said that Covid variants will continue to happen, but we must learn to live with them

• British tourists face continued restrictions on travelling to the EU, despite the bloc opening up for other countries, including the US

• Vaccines will become mandatory for care home staff, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced

• Dominic Cummings released a bombshell text

Amid bans on mass gatherings last summer, most universities have postponed graduation ceremonies indefinitely. This year, the hope was that the classes of 2020 and 2021 would finally get their big day.

But an ever-longer lockdown, cemented by Prime Minister Boris Johnson delaying the June 21 lifting of all restrictions by a month, has prompted many universities, including Oxbridge, to kibosh this year’s ceremonies too. Graduates and their families feel cheated.

• Read the full story here: ‘All that debt and no photo to show for it’: Why the class of 2021 won't even get a graduation

Ursula von der Leyen today signed off on the first plans by EU member states to spend Brussels’ €800 billion Covid-19 recovery fund, as she sought to reverse the reputational damage inflicted on the bloc by the pandemic during a visit to Portugal and Spain.

Speaking in Lisbon, the European Commission president said she believed the Next Generation EU fund, which has been weighed to prioritise digital and green projects, would be a “European success”.

Canada could be facing a boom in fake Covid-19 vaccine documentation, as a survey shows one in five people in the country who do not want to be vaccinated would lie about their status in order to travel.

According to a survey reported by CTV News, around 14 per cent of Canadians do not intend to be vaccinated. Of those, 20 per cent would lie about their status if vaccines were a requirement for travel or entry into large events.

Will McAleer, spokesperson for the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA), which conducted the research, said that the finding was expected, given the numbers already caught faking documentation to travel during the pandemic. 

Thirty-one per cent of unvaccinated Canadians would take the vaccine if it was required for international travel, the survey found. McAleer said this could give the government a “good carrot approach” to persuading people to get vaccinated.

Romania’s health ministry said it will give more than 150,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to neighbouring countries Ukraine and Serbia, and partially suspend some imports for June, because it has a “surplus”.

In addition to sending 108,000 doses to Ukraine and 50,400 to Serbia as ‘humanitarian aid’, the government plans to resell some doses, said Monica Althamer, a state secretary in the health ministry.

If our life has been put on hold, it’s not as if for many of us it was going anywhere fast. We have less to complain of than people of working age, far less than those whose education has suffered or been stalled, far less than students whom the measures deemed necessary to combat the pandemic have cheated of the non-academic parts of university or college life which we ourselves may remember as not only enjoyable but valuable: sport, theatre, debating, societies, new friends, conversation till dawn was breaking.

• Read the full story here: I'm a pensioner - but even I can see that the triple-lock has become hideously unfair on the young

The number of new cases of Covid-19 reported each day in the UK has surpassed 9,000 for the first time since February.

A total of 9,055 cases were reported by the Government on June 16.

This is the highest number since February 25, which was also the last time daily cases topped 9,000.

Of the 380 local authority areas in the UK, 60 are now recording Covid-19 rates greater than 100 cases per 100,000 people.

This is the highest proportion of areas above this level since the beginning of March.

North-west England continues to be the main hotspot of the new wave of cases, accounting for 20 of the top 25 highest local rates in the UK.

‘I can't see a way out of this now,’ said one leading expert

Nine doctors have died of Covid-19 in Uganda in the last fortnight, as the country is swept with a devastating new wave of coronavirus infections. 

New cases have risen by 49 per cent in the last week in the country, by 8,574, or 18.7 per 100,000, according to the World Health Organization’s weekly epidemiological report – one of the highest figures in Africa, the only part of the world currently reporting rising infections. It comes on top of a 131 per cent increase in cases last week, too. 

• Read the full story here: Uganda seeks oxygen donations after nine doctors die in ‘India-like’ coronavirus surge

The Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to an increase in anti-migrant rhetoric in many different countries, says the Global Detention Project.

In a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, GDP said that blame for spreading Covid-19 was being laid on refugees and migrants.

Using data compiled by its Covid-19 Global Immigration Detention Platform, the NGO concluded that some states had been reluctant to “establish firewalls between health and immigration authorities, resulting in many non-nationals fearing arrest and detention should they seek Covid-19 testing, treatment, and vaccination.”

Among the states highlighted was the UK.

Lockdown-sceptic Conservative MPs criticised the Government during today's Commons debate on the delay to lockdown easing, saying that people must be free to decide their own level of risk from Covid-19.

Sir Desmond Swayne said he never thought the Government's Covid restrictions were proportionate, even when we were in an emergency. Sir Desmond added that lockdown has set a disastrous precedent that is more expected from the Communist Party than the 'party of Margaret Thatcher'.

Charles Walker said Sage members should be banned from giving media interviews and should have to disclose their salaries.

Mark Harper said on Twitter that once people who want to be vaccinated are so, we "must have an open society" and allow people to balance their own risks.

Care home staff will be required to have Covid-19 vaccinations "to protect residents", while making jabs compulsory for people in the NHS is also being considered.

Matt Hancock confirmed the move on care homes in England despite strong concerns expressed by sector leaders around the impact it could have on already-stretched staffing levels.

The Health Secretary told MPs that "after careful consultation we've decided to take this proposal forward to protect residents".

He said a consultation will be had on the same approach in the NHS "to save lives and protect patients from disease".

Speaking in the Commons, he said: "The vast majority of staff in care homes are already vaccinated but not all, and we know that the vaccine not only protects you but protects those around you.

"Therefore we will be taking forward the measures to ensure the mandation as a condition of deployment for staff in care homes and we will consult on the same approach in the NHS in order to save lives and protect patients from disease."

The UK was not prepared for the pandemic, partly down to a decade of spending cuts, austerity and under investment in public services, said a union leader.

Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said: "Covid's shone a spotlight on inequality at home and around the world. It's highlighted the racism and discrimination all around us.

"It's had a disproportionate impact on black people, women, disabled people and those on low incomes.

"It's because they're more likely to be in jobs that can't be done from home. Whether it's cleaners and catering staff, bus and delivery drivers, care and health workers, or those who empty our bins and bury the dead.

"These people and many others still had to go to work throughout each lockdown, however bad things were. That meant using public transport and perhaps working closely with people who don't understand self-isolation or social distancing.

"Lessons must be learned from this crisis, so we're better prepared for the next one. There's no hiding from the fact the UK has one of the worst Covid death rates in the world."

Matt Hancock told MPs during a debate on the delay to the coronavirus roadmap that although "eradicating" the virus is "not possible" we must aim to live with the virus, like we do with flu.

Responding to an intervention that people with flu do not have to self-isolate, Mr Hancock said that with flu, "people do tend to stay at home".

The Health Secretary said he would also characterise the 19 July terminus date like the Prime Minister described in his announcement on Monday, and said that based on current evidence "we will not need more than the four weeks to get this job done."

He said the Delta variant is now the dominant strain in the UK and although hospitalisations are rising, deaths remain low.

A total of 60,862,273 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and June 15, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 330,350 on the previous day.

NHS England said 35,120,392 were first doses, a rise of 154,647 on the previous day, while 25,741,881 were second doses, an increase of 175,703.

Football clubs across London are offering Covid-19 vaccine slots this weekend - with one south-east club even throwing in free tickets for the first 1,000 people to get jabbed.

• North London: At Spurs’ stadium in Tottenham, anyone aged 21 and over will be eligible to receive a vaccine on 20 June between 10am and 6pm. They are open for walk-in and pre-booked appointments.

• North-east London: Over 18s are invited to get their first dose on 19 June at West Ham’s London Stadium. They are open for pre-booked appointments between 10am and 6pm.

• South-west London: Chelsea’s ground will offer Pfizer jabs to anyone eligible on 19 June between 10am and 7.30pm.

• South-east London: At Charlton’s ground, AstraZeneca doses will be on offer on 19 June between 8am and 8pm. They will be open for walk-ins and the club said that the first 1,000 people to get vaccinated there would get a free ticket to a game.

India’s government defended its decision to double the gap between the two doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine by up to 16 weeks, after three scientific advisers said there was no agreement reached on such a wide interval.

Reuters reported yesterday that the government increased the gap last month without approval from the scientific group that it said had recommended the move. 

The Indian government said in a statement on Wednesday that “as per the Covid-19 working group recommendation, a dosing interval of a minimum three months between two doses of Covishield vaccine was recommended”.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is made locally and branded Covishield in the country, and accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the 259 million doses administered.

Experts have reacted to reports about proposals to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for frontline care home workers.

Professor Helen Bedford from UCL and the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health said: “Encouraging vaccination is always preferable to a mandatory requirement. Indeed, evidence from a recent study of health and care workers suggests that where they felt pressured to have the vaccine, they were less likely to do so.”

Dr David Elliman, a consultant in community child health, said: “While we would encourage all eligible adults to have the two doses of Covid-19 vaccine, particularly those such as staff in adult care homes and frontline health care staff, there are profound ethical issues in making it compulsory… If it were enforced, it would become a civil liberties issue and people who are hesitant may be persuaded not to have the vaccine for this reason.”

Professor Dominic Wilkinson from the University of Oxford said: “Those who work in the frontline with vulnerable high risk patients have an ethical obligation to take all reasonable measures to prevent spread of the vaccine to those they are caring for… They should be vaccinated.”

The typical symptoms of having Covid-19, such as a loss of smell or taste, a new, persistent cough or a fever, appear to have changed.

The founder of symptom-tracking app ZOE Professor Tim Spector said data collected on the app since May shows these symptoms are now less common, and have been replaced with a headache, sore throat, runny nose and fever.

The ZOE app was launched in 2020 with scientific analysis provided by King's College London.

Health officials said thousands of lives would be saved by the rollout of checks on blood pressure, cholesterol and heart health, at vaccination centres and pharmacies across the country.

The NHS is currently preparing to offer booster jabs against new Covid variants to all over-50s, with the rollout starting this autumn. 

The new checks will be offered alongside the Covid and flu jabs, with local health systems deciding criteria for who should be targeted. 

• Read the full story here: Health MOTs to be offered alongside booster Covid vaccines this autumn

President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the "good news" on Twitter. 

The certificate aims to create safe and free movement within the EU for EU citizens during the pandemic, and will exempt them from restrictions such as quarantine. 

British tourists face continued restrictions on travelling to the EU this summer, even as the bloc opens up to citizens of other countries, including the US.

Eight countries are to be added to a list of nations from where the EU says non-essential travel is safe - but the UK has not been included.

Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Lebanon, the US, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong will join Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and China on a 'white list'.

Thailand will reopen to visitors within 120 days after more than a year of Covid-19 travel restrictions, a "calculated risk" needed to resuscitate its struggling economy, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said.

Prayuth said that the country plans to administer an average of 10 million vaccine doses each month from July, and aims to reopen the tourism-reliant country to fully vaccinated travellers, local and foreign, without a quarantine requirement, Reuters reports.

He said: “Re-opening the country is one of the important ways to start reducing the enormous suffering of people who have lost their ability to earn an income. When we take into consideration the economic needs of people, the time has now come for us to take that calculated risk."

He said he aimed to declare Thailand fully open within 120 days and for tourism centres that are ready “to do so even faster”.

It will start with a pilot reopening from 1 July on its most popular island, Phuket, which has been vaccinating most of its local population. Thailand lost about $50 billion in tourism revenue last year - an 82 per cent plunge.

Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that the G7 had agreed to support a global pandemic radar to spot new viruses before they begin to spread and to develop the ability to make vaccines, treatments and tests in 100 days rather than the 300 days that were required for Covid-19.

The Prime Minister said that the "world's most popular vaccine", the Oxford AstraZeneca jab, was developed in the UK and the agreement was to make it easy to store and quick to distribute for zero-profit to protect as many people as possible.

Over 500 million AstraZeneca jabs have been given to 168 countries, accounting for 96 per cent of the doses distributed to developing countries by global vaccine sharing scheme Covax.

"The G7 will combine our strengths and expertise to defeat Covid, minimise the risk of another pandemic and build back better, fairer and greener for the benefit of all.

"Alongside our partners, the G7 is now engaged in the biggest and fastest vaccination programme in history designed to proect the whole world by the end of next year," he said.

The Taj Mahal reopened to the public on Wednesday, as India attempts to revitalise its economy after its disastrous second wave.

The 17th-century white marble mausoleum, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the northern city of Agra, was closed in early April as India introduced strict lockdown measures in an effort to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Only 650 tourists will be allowed inside the premises of the Taj Mahal at any time, said Prabhu Singh, district magistrate of Agra. The monument normally attracts around 7 to 8 million visitors annually, or over 20,000 people per day.

Melbourne will allow its five million residents to travel more than 15 miles from home and end mandatory mask-wearing outdoors from Friday.

Australia's second largest city exited a two-week hard lockdown late last week after an outbreak that has seen about 100 cases since 24 May.

Public gatherings will be increased to 20 people, and the ban on home gatherings will be lifted. Gyms can reopen across the city but must comply with strict social distancing rules, and salon services can now operate without mask-wearing during services.

Victoria state's acting premier James Merlino said:“Victoria is at its best when we are all together... the state will come back together from tomorrow night."

Sir Keir Starmer asked Boris Johnson at PMQs today if his decision to keep the UK's borders open contributed to the spread of the Delta variant.

The Prime Minister told MPs that "Captain hindsight needs to adjust his retrospectoscope" because India was added to the red list on 23 April, and the Delta variant was only identified as a variant of concern on 7 May.

The Labour leader responded that India was reporting more than 100,000 cases a day weeks before India was added to the red list.

Dr Susan Hopkins told the Science and Technology Committee: "What we are seeing at the moment are about 7,000 to 8,000 infections per day - that's what we're detecting.

"But we know that that is less than half of what the true infections are in the community, and we've measured that a number of ways.

"So the estimate for current infections today is probably in the order of between 15,000 and 25,000 new infections today."

Dr Hopkins added: "So that means that we do need to have some measures in place, both social responsibility measures and the measures that are in place right now, to try and hold that peak down so that we can get as much vaccine into the individuals to reduce symptomatic disease, reduce transmission, and then clearly severity and hospitalisation."

Boris Johnson described Matt Hancock as "f****** hopeless", according to a WhatsApp message published by former aide Dominic Cummings.

Mr Cummings, who left Downing Street in November, published a screenshot purporting to show an exchange between him and the Prime Minister.

It showed Mr Cummings criticising the Health Secretary over testing to which a contact purporting to be the Prime Minister replied: "Totally f****** hopeless." 

Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic response director for Covid-19 at Public Health England, told MPs on the Science and Technology Committee that wearing masks might have to remain compulsory for people travelling on public transport for journeys longer than 15 minutes after July 19 - the date when regulations are supposed to end.

Asked by the Conservative MP Aaron Bell what “non-pharmaceutical interventions” might have to remain in place after July 19, she said that a lot of this would come down to social responsibility.

She said: “This is a balance. In some countries, like Sweden, they have done a lot through social responsibility. In other countries they have legislated heavily.

“So I think there is a middle road, as we have vaccination heavily rolled out, that requires potentially, in some areas where there is higher risk, to look at them [NPIs, or restrictions]. One might consider, for example, transport; for those of us who pack ourselves into the Tube regularly, we may feel more comfortable if everyone else was asked to wear a mask for those very close encounters for potentially periods longer than 15 minutes.

“But in more general societal areas, such as shops, I think it is going to come down to personal opinions and responsibilities, rather than legislation, for the longer term.”

Johnson & Johnson to miss EU vaccine supply target

Johnson & Johnson is expected to miss its Covid-19 vaccine supply target to the EU for the second quarter, after 17 million doses were banned for use in Europe over safety concerns, an EU commission spokesman said.

Reuters reports that the European drugs regulator last week said J&J doses sent to Europe from a factory in the US would not be used as a precaution after a case of contamination. 

“Following the non-release of these batches, the company is not expected to be in a position to deliver 55 million doses by the end of this quarter,” the EU commission spokesman said.

The EU has ordered a total of 200 million doses from J&J, of which 55 million were to be delivered by the end of June. The company has so far delivered around 12 million doses.

“Johnson & Johnson remains committed to supplying 200 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the European Union, Norway and Iceland and will continue to update the European Commission and member states in a timely manner as we refine delivery timelines,” a spokeswoman for J&J said in a statement.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin made vaccinations mandatory for residents of the Russian capital who work in the service industry, citing a "dramatic" rise in Covid-19 cases.

"We simply must do everything to carry out mass vaccinations in the shortest possible time and stop this terrible disease, stop the deaths of thousands of people," he wrote in a blog post.

"The coronavirus situation continues to unfold dramatically," Sobyanin said, as authorities announced 5,782 new infections in the capital and 75 deaths.

"In connection with the extremely difficult epidemiological situation, the Chief State Sanitary Doctor for the city of Moscow today adopted a decree on the compulsory vaccination of workers in the service sector," he said.

Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic response director for Covid-19 at Public Health England, said that "we are living in a world of variants".

She told MPs on the Science and Technology Committee: "We're living in a world of variants now, so everything we see is a variation of the original.

"Actually every (variant) we see that's going to live and not become extinct very rapidly, is either going to have a transmissibility advantage or an immune evading advantage.

"And so the challenge always is trying to understand which one of these is going to do something as it emerges."

She said that at the moment 25 variants were "under monitoring" and eight "under investigation".

"All of them have mutations that we're concerned about, but mutations alone is not enough to predict whether it's really going to impact on our journey through vaccines and impact on the public health risk of hospitalisation," she added.

"That component takes time, in being able to deliver that science accurately and allow us to develop accurate risk assessments."

“Encouragement, not compulsion” in regards to vaccination against Covid-19 for health and social care staff is the best approach, Unite the Union said today.

Unite, which has 100,000 members in the health service, was commenting on reports that the Government is set to announce that care staff are to be given 16 weeks to receive the jab - or face being redeployed away from frontline care, or even face losing their jobs.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “Unite strongly opposes forcing any health and social care workers to have a vaccine or risk sacrificing their job. Encouragement, not compulsion is the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the very good reason that such an approach is shown to work.”

Unite has already submitted its response to the Department of Health and Social Care consultation on making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes.

In the submission, the union said: “Unite believes all Covid-19 vaccination and Covid-19 testing regimes in the UK should be voluntary and not mandatory. Compulsion is a very bad way to achieve a high level response, will lead to increased resistance, a worsening staffing crisis and is embroiled with issues such as equalities, human rights, privacy, and ethical breaches.

“Social care workers are some of the most exploited and vulnerable in the economy, with many working on precarious contracts such as through agencies or zero hours arrangements that mean many have no access to basic workplace health protections such as sick pay or sufficient PPE.”

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard told MPs on the Science and Technology Committee that the public crisis would be "over" if the vaccines continued to protect against hospital admissions in the future.

He said: "What we've been waiting for over the last month with the Delta variant is to find out whether with two doses of the vaccine we have good protection against hospitalisation.

"And the data that came out on Monday from Public Health England that show over 90% protection against hospitalisation is incredibly reassuring in that regard.

"That's the key bit that we have to look at with future variants, if that very high protection against hospitalisation continues, despite spread in the community, then the public health crisis is over.

"And so far, up to Delta, we're in a very good position, as long as we've got people vaccinated."

But he added: "Of course the World Health Organisation (WHO), with its variants under investigation, we are up to Kappa, there are a lot more Greek alphabet letters still to go through.

"And hopefully, we'll still be in a good position when we get to Omega, but we have to keep monitoring it, we don't know yet, we've only got up to Delta."

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the UK would need to learn to live with Covid-19 in communities.

He told the Science and Technology Committee: "We're talking about variants and they're emergence - this will happen, is going to continue to happen.

"But in the end, we're going to have to come back to focusing on the really important public health issue, which is the hospitalisation and the death.

"And if those are disconnected - if transmission is disconnected by vaccine immunity from the severe disease to a large extent - then we'll need to monitor new variants perhaps if we need to find new vaccines and so on, but we are going to have to live with it being in in our communities and transmitting."

Workers scaled a giant statue of a Buddhist goddess in Japan on Tuesday to place a custom-made mask on her face, an act meant to be a prayer for the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

It took four workers three hours to carry the massive mask on ropes up the 57 m-high (187 ft) white statue of the Buddhist goddess Kannon - the Goddess of Mercy - at the Houkokuji Aizu Betsuin temple in Fukushima Prefecture.

They then unfurled the mask made with pink net fabric, measuring 4.1 m by 5.3 m and weighing 35 kg (77 pounds), across the lower half of the statue's face.

The statue, built 33 years ago, is hollow with a spiral staircase that can be climbed to the height of the goddess' shoulder. People visit the statue, which is holding a baby, to pray for the safe delivery of babies and to ask for blessings for their newborns.

Temple manager Takaomi Horigane said workers came up with the idea for the face mask in discussions on the restoration of the statue after it was damaged in an earthquake in February.

Horigane said they plan to keep the mask on the statue until the Covid-19 situation is under control in Japan.

A deaf woman is preparing to mount a High Court challenge after complaining about a lack of British Sign Language interpreters at Government Covid briefings.

Katie Rowley, 36, from Leeds, is taking legal action against the Cabinet Office, a lawyer representing her said.

Solicitor Chris Fry said a judge will oversee an online hearing on Wednesday.

He said Government lawyers are expected to dispute the claim.

Mr Justice Fordham, who is based in London, is scheduled to begin hearing argument at 10.30am.

European Union governments agreed on Wednesday to add the United States to their list of countries from which they will allow non-essential travel, EU diplomats said.

Ambassadors from the EU's 27 countries approved the addition of the United States and five other countries at a meeting on Wednesday, with the change to take effect in the coming days.

Albania, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Serbia and Taiwan will be added, while Chinese administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau will be included with a requirement for reciprocity removed.

EU countries are recommended gradually to lift travel restrictions for the current eight countries on the list - Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.

Individual EU countries can still opt to demand a negative Covid-19 test or a period of quarantine.

A 57-year-old man has been charged after a journalist was confronted and chased by protesters near Downing Street.

Martin Hockridge is accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards another person with the intention to cause them harassment, alarm or distress.

It comes after footage shared on social media showed demonstrators shouting abuse in the face of Newsnight political editor Nicholas Watt.

Mr Watt, who was wearing a BBC lanyard, was forced to run through the mob beyond a line of police officers as people shouted "Traitor" and other slurs at him near Downing Street on Monday.

The Metropolitan Police said they have begun reviewing the footage and identified a number of possible offences and launched an investigation.

Crowds had gathered in Westminster to protest against the Government's extension of coronavirus restrictions in England by four weeks.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group (ICG), which represents care homes in Yorkshire, has said he fears people will be put off entering the social care sector if vaccinations become mandatory for workers.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's not unexpected, I'm disappointed because I think persuasion is the way forward still because those taking the vaccination has gone up but I also say that I do believe people should be vaccinated, every member of staff should take up the vaccine.

"But I just think persuasion rather than coercion or compulsion is the way we have to deal with it.

"The Government could make more effort to encourage workers to take up the vaccine, I think from a social media campaign and actually giving us more time because we can achieve it.

"What I'm worried about is the recruitment crisis already in social care, is that we're frightened that this is going to put more people off coming into social care and that's going to be difficult.

"I'm also worried about any legal action against providers, because if you've only got 16 weeks and you lose your job where does that put people? We're already short of staff."

Cabinet minister Liz Truss said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) was not recommending offering Covid-19 jabs to under-18s.

The International Trade Secretary told BBC Breakfast: "Of course the Government will look very closely at the JCVI's recommendations.

"It is my understanding that they are not recommending the vaccination of under-18s and we will be saying more in due course about that."

Cabinet minister Liz Truss said the Government's decision on mandatory vaccination for care home staff was "very imminent".

Ministers will announce the move in the coming days, the PA news agency has been told, after a consultation was carried out into using staff vaccination in England to protect the most vulnerable from Covid-19.

The International Trade Secretary told BBC Breakfast: "We need to make sure we get the balance right but I'm sure people appreciate that protecting lives is the absolute priority."

Asked when the response to the consultation would be published, she said: "I think it's very imminent."

Covid-19 vaccinations will be made compulsory for NHS and care home workers, ministers are preparing to announce. 

Under the plans, staff working with adults will be given 16 weeks to get vaccinated or face losing their jobs.

It comes as the Government opens a consultation on Thursday into the proposal as a measure to protect the most vulnerable from contracting Covid-19.

According to the latest uptake figures, 16 per cent of care home workers and one in 10 - or 151,000 - NHS workers have yet to receive the vaccine. Health and care workers were among the first to be offered the vaccine.

Care home workers could be deployed elsewhere if they are not vaccinated in 16 weeks, which would be "really challenging" for the sector, the chief executive of the National Care Forum has said.

Vic Rayner told BBC Breakfast: "If there is this 16-week window then that really is a very short period of time for people to make the kind of changes that are needed.

"I think there's a couple of important points in here, so the consultation itself was on vaccination as a condition of deployment rather than employment and I think that's really important to understand.

"Because one of the things I think the consultation, when it comes out, will say - that staff need to be deployed in jobs if they're not vaccinated away from people who are vulnerable older people, people in care homes.

"Clearly if you work in a care home there isn't anywhere else for you to go that isn't involved in working with those individuals so I think the consultation will suggest for people who are unwilling to be vaccinated or don't wish to be vaccinated that they should be deployed somewhere else.

"That's really challenging for a sector that's largely made up of small employers and don't really have anywhere else for people to go, so we need to be really clear that this is potentially about people no longer being able to work in the sector, and that's probably one of the primary concerns."

Liz Truss was questioned about Cabinet colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg's assertion that "you can't run society just to stop the hospitals being full" in a criticism of lockdown policy.

The Commons Leader told his ConservativeHome podcast: "Ultimately, the NHS is there to serve the British people, not the British people there to serve the NHS, and therefore we may need to spend more money on hospitals but you can't run society just to stop the hospitals being full, otherwise you'd never let us get in our cars and drive anywhere or do any of the other things that people want to do, so there has to be some proportionality."

International Trade Secretary Ms Truss told Sky News: "We are taking a pragmatic approach. The key is making sure that everybody gets vaccinated - by July 19 we will have all over-40s vaccinated so we are protected as a society.

"That's what we need to do in order to be able to fully open up the economy."

She added: "Jacob has his views and those are his views. But what I'm telling you is the reason we are doing this, the reason we are taking these measures is to protect lives and that's what's important."

Cabinet minister Liz Truss said it was "incredibly important" for care home staff to be vaccinated but would not confirm the Government has decided to make it mandatory.

"We are currently consulting on this issue. What we do know is that it's incredibly important that staff in care homes are vaccinated," she told Sky News.

"We have got a hugely vulnerable population in our care homes and making sure that staff are vaccinated is a priority."

Asked what her position would be if she had a parent in a home, Ms Truss said: "I would want the staff to be vaccinated, of course I would, because I would want my parent to be protected."

Pressed on whether NHS staff should also be vaccinated, she said: "I think everybody who has the opportunity to have a vaccine should have that vaccine."

Over-21s in England can now book their Covid-19 vaccine.

The NHS National Booking Service has opened up to 21 and 22-year-olds for the first time.

On Tuesday the head of the health service said that it was expected that vaccination appointments would be opened up to all adults by the end of the week.

Here is your Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, June 16. 

India is reopening its famed marvel of love, the Taj Mahal, and several other monuments as the number of new coronavirus infections continues to decline.

District Magistrate Prabhu Narain Singh said 650 tourists with online bookings will be allowed a day to visit the white marble site from Wednesday. Temperatures will be checked at the gates, face masks must be worn and social distancing norms must be observed.

The monument was closed in April amid a surge of new infections in India.

The Health Ministry on Wednesday reported 62,224 new infections in the past 24 hours, which is down from a peak of more than 400,000 new infections a day in April.

China has tripled its daily Covid-19 vaccine rollout in June, inoculating 44 percent of its population with at least one dose, but its health experts warn against a quick border reopening, citing an uneven rollout and the low rate of full vaccinations.

China rolled out 17.3 million doses per day in June on average, up sharply from 4.8 million in April, as it expanded the list of approved vaccines to seven by adding three more locally-developed shots, and continued to boost production.

But the rollout has been uneven. By the first week of June, major cities of Beijing and Shanghai fully inoculated nearly 70 percent and 50 percent of their residents respectively, but the rate in Guangdong and Shandong provinces remained below 20 percent.

Boris Johnson faces the prospect of a Tory rebellion when MPs are asked to approve the extension of coronavirus restrictions in England until July 19.

The House of Commons will vote on Wednesday evening on the four-week delay to the end of lockdown measures, aimed at buying more time for the vaccine programme.

Labour has signalled it will back the extension so the Prime Minister should be spared a defeat, but Conservative lockdown sceptics are likely to express their anger during a debate.

Scientific advisers have said the delay is necessary to prevent a fresh spike in hospital admissions due to the rapidly spreading Delta variant first identified in India.

Australia's second largest city will allow its five million residents to travel more than 25 km (15 miles) from home and end mandatory masks wearing outdoors from Friday, despite the city fighting a stubborn Covid-19 outbreak.

Melbourne exited a two-week hard lockdown late last week, its fourth since the pandemic began, after an outbreak that has seen about 100 cases since May 24.

"Victoria is at its best when we are all together ... the state will come back together from tomorrow night", Victoria Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters on Wednesday.

Although cases linked to a fresh cluster in a residential townhouse complex rose slightly on Wednesday, Melbourne will gradually ease restrictions.

Trade unions warn of a "social tsunami" and left-wing parties of a "massacre for employment" as the imminent end to Italy's coronavirus freeze on layoffs causes tensions in Mario Draghi's national unity government.

Supporters say the freeze, which is unique in Europe, saved thousands of jobs after the pandemic plunged Italy into deep recession - but the European Union has been disparaging, and employers are angling for its end.

Companies were first banned from sacking workers under former premier Giuseppe Conte in February 2020, when a wave of Covid-19 sparked Europe's first nationwide lockdown in Italy. The measure was later extended.

When Mr Draghi took office in February this year, he said the government "should protect workers... but it would be a mistake to protect all economic activities equally", saying there must be a "choice".
Read more: Mario Draghi ushers in the counter-revolution but he can’t save Italy

Brazil plans to buy 60 million doses of the single-shot Covid-19 vaccine developed by China's CanSino Biologics for delivery in the third and fourth quarters of this year, according to a negotiation document reviewed by Reuters.

A ministry official signed a letter of intent on June 4 to buy the doses with a Brazilian pharmaceutical company that represents CanSino in Brazil, Belcher Farmaceutica do Brasil, the document said.

The vaccine, trade-named Convidecia and developed by CanSino together with a research institute linked to the Chinese military, will cost $17 per dose, it said.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga told a Senate commission investigating the handling of the pandemic in Brazil last week that the government is seeking to buy new vaccines to diversify its supply. He cited possible acquisition of the CanSino shot.

A coronavirus treatment made of artificial antibodies reduces the risk of death in the sickest Covid-19 patients by a fifth, an Oxford-led trial has found. 

Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail was tested on almost 10,000 people in the UK by Recovery, the biggest study in the world looking for coronavirus treatments.

It revealed that people in hospital with Covid who are unable to make their own antibodies, known as seronegative, benefit significantly from the treatment.

A person can fail to produce antibodies for various reasons, often they are elderly and frail; have pre-existing health conditions such as cancer and leukemia; or are already taking immunosuppressive medication. 

Read the full story

Japan could allow up to 10,000 fans at sports events ahead of the Olympics, media reported Wednesday, as organisers weigh how many domestic fans can attend the Games.

The measure, intended to come into force after a coronavirus state of emergency ends on June 20, will be discussed by the government's virus taskforce on Wednesday, the Nikkei business daily and Kyodo news agency said.

The plan would limit spectators to 50 percent of a venue's capacity or 10,000 people, whichever is lower.

It could set the boundaries for a decision by Olympic organisers on how many domestic fans, if any, can attend Games events. Overseas spectators have already been banned.

Read more: Doctor warns of new 'Olympic strain' risk if Games go ahead

A significant proportion of doctors in the UK are suffering "distress" because they are unable to give patients the care they would like, leading medics have warned.

The pandemic has exacerbated the feelings of moral distress and moral injury among medics working in the UK, British Medical Association (BMA) said.

Moral distress can be understood as the feeling of unease stemming from being unable to undertake an ethically correct action due to institutional or resource constraints, the BMA said.

Meanwhile, moral injury can arise where sustained moral distress leads to impaired function or longer-term psychological harm.

The death toll from Covid-19 in the United States surpassed 600,000 on Tuesday, although its world-leading vaccination program promises to turn the page on one of the worst health crises in American history.

The United States has racked up by far the largest national death toll - ahead of Brazil and India - after a heavily-criticised early response to the pandemic, but has since organised one of the world's most effective immunization drives.

Progress against the coronavirus was underlined as New York announced more than 70 percent of adults had received at least one vaccine dose and the last of the state's restrictions could be lifted.

"There's still too many lives being lost," President Joe Biden said, noting that despite the daily number of dead dropping sharply, the continuing loss of life was still "a real tragedy".

Care home providers are at risk of collapse due to the impact of Covid-19 and a lack of a long-term funding plan, MPs have warned.

Many care providers in England are “living hand to mouth” and the Government appears “complacent” about the potential for them to fail, according to the latest report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The coronavirus pandemic had highlighted how "care is not properly funded, lacks transparency and urgently needs reform", it said.

The impact of Covid-19 on the social care sector had put many providers at risk of failing, the report added, with care home occupancy having fallen from around 90 per cent at the start of the pandemic to 80 per cent by Feb 2021.

Read more: Covid death figures for every English care home to be published

Treating the fear of needles may reduce Covid vaccine hesitancy, researchers say.

A new study suggests one quarter of the UK adult population screens positive for a potential injection phobia.

Researchers say these people were twice as likely to report being hesitant to getting a Covid-19 vaccine, they would put off getting vaccinated or indeed never get the jab.

But if all injection anxiety in the population was removed then more than 10 percent of instances of vaccine hesitancy might disappear too, the data indicates.

• Shortages of the Pfizer vaccine have forced the NHS to slow the rollout of jabs despite ministers promising to use the delay to the ending of Covid restrictions to vaccinate as many people as possible.
• Ministers will be advised against the mass rollout of Covid vaccinations to children until scientists obtain more data on the risks, The Telegraph understands.
• The Chinese virologist at the centre of a theory that Covid-19 originated in a laboratory in Wuhan has angrily denied the claims as "filth" in a rare interview.
• Vaccine passports on the NHS app will automatically include a user's "natural immunity" to Covid for six months after contracting the virus without the need for an antibody test under a new trial.
• Mainland Scotland will not move down to the lowest level of Covid restrictions for at least five weeks, Nicola Sturgeon has disclosed as she delayed once more the easing of lockdown.
• EasyJet, Britain's biggest budget airline, has moved its planes from the UK to Germany because Europe is opening up to foreign travel faster than the UK.