Covid news - live: Single jab cuts elderly hospital admissions by 80% as Hancock defends UK quarantine policy

The red list system for quarantining international arrivals is "inadequate", Scotland’s health secretary has said, following the arrival of the Brazilian Covid-19 variant in the UK.

Six UK cases of the concerning P1 variant, first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus, have been identified: three in England and three in Scotland.

The three Scottish cases were found in asymptomatic passengers who flew into Aberdeen on the BA1312 flight from London Heathrow on Friday.

All international passengers arriving at Scottish airports must enter the hotel quarantine system, whereas the UK government only requires this of those coming from countries on the “red list” - most of which are in South America and Africa.

Scottish government advisor Professor Devi Sridhar, of Edinburgh University, said the arrival of the new variant showed the red list approach “doesn’t work”, as the passengers in question arrived in the UK via Paris.

Ms Freeman said she agreed with Prof Sridhar’s assessment, saying: “That’s why the Scottish government has consistently argued that the red list as the sole means of introducing and providing managed quarantine is inadequate.”

Almost two thirds of Russians believe the coronavirus was created by humans to be used as a bioweapon, the independent Levada Centre polling agency has said.

The results of a poll showed 64 per cent of Russians thought Covid-19 was made as a biological weapon. In comparison, 23 per cent of those polled thought it had emerged naturally.

Eleanor Sly has more details:

Download Festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row.

The rock event, which is held at Donington Park in Leicestershire, was due to take place between June 4 and 6 with headliners Kiss, Biffy Clyro and System Of A Down.

Organisers said that, following the announcement of the road map out of lockdown, it had become clear that going ahead with the event would be impossible.

However, they said Download will return in 2022 with veteran heavy metal band Iron Maiden replacing System Of A Down as headliners.

Health officials are hunting for a person in the UK who is infected with the worrying coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil.

Samuel Lovett takes a look at what’s being done to locate the missing person in rhis piece:

Piers Corbyn faces 10 criminal charges of breaking coronavirus rules over anti-lockdown protests held last year.

The older brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has attended a number of rallies across London during the pandemic.

The rules state anyone caught organising an illegal gathering of more than 30 people could be fined up to £10,000.

The Metropolitan Police has revealed the 73-year-old weather forecaster is charged with 10 offences for alleged breaches of coronavirus rules dating between last August and New Year's Eve. They relate to large gatherings in areas including Hyde Park, Westminster and Trafalgar Square.

The government needs to be able to reserve the right to "hit the brakes" on students returning to campuses in coming weeks, a leading scientist has said.

Dr Mike Tildesley, reader in mathematics at the University of Warwick and member of the SPI-M advisory group, said there needs to be an "opportunity to respond" if there is high prevalence of the virus.

He said the return of some students over the next month should be done "in terms of need for students to be back".

The comments come as a new study suggests students need to be tested every three days for Covid-19 to prevent major outbreaks at university campuses.

The former top diplomat at the Foreign Office has warned it is “vital” for Britain’s reputation that the government ensure a contentious multibillion-pound cut to the overseas aid budget remains a temporary measure - having been cut dramatically last year due to the pandemic.

More below:

We’re about to hear from Matt Hancock, who is due to speak from Downing Street alongside Jonathan Van Tam and PHE’s Susan Hopkins.

He is running a little late - but we’ll have all the updates once it gets going

Matt Hancock begins the briefing praising the scale of the vaccination rollout, which surpassed 20 million jabs over the weekend.

Here is our story from yesterday:

 Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the number of new coronavirus cases was falling but the rate of decline has slowed, urging people to “keep sticking to the rules, let’s not blow it now”.

But the number of admissions to hospital was falling faster than that of cases - particularly among the older age groups who were vaccinated first.

“This is a sign that the vaccine is working,” he said.

There was an even clearer sign in the data on deaths, Mr Hancock told a Downing Street press conference, with the rate of decline in the older groups faster than in the under-80s.

“This shows, in the real world , across the UK right now that the vaccine is helping both to protect the NHS and to save lives.”