Covid news - live: New UK Covid variant under investigation as surge testing rolled out in two more areas

The Welsh Government said first minister Mark Drakeford is self-isolating “as a precaution” after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus.

My colleague Vincent Wood reports:

Weekly coronavirus cases in England have fallen to their lowest levels since September, new figures showed, as Matt Hancock said he was more optimistic than ever for a “great Brtish summer”.

Infection rates are also continuing to fall across all regions and in every age group in the country, according to the latest surveillance report from Public Health England (PHE).

My colleague Samuel Lovett has more details:

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the easing of coronavirus restrictions would be “broadly aligned” across the UK, but Wales could reopen parts of its economy ahead of other nations due to “significantly” lower transmission rates.

He told the Welsh Affairs committee: “I think all four governments will look to reopen parts of society and the economy as conditions allow. Broad alignment, though, does not mean doing everything the same.

“I think there will be some opportunities, because rates in Wales are significantly lower than they are in England, that we may be able to restore some economic activity earlier than the Prime Minister’s road map currently suggests.

“I wouldn’t want to deny businesses in Wales the chance to get back trading because we were waiting for somebody else to arrive at the position that we had already arrived at.”

French prime minister Jean Castex has said that coronavirus weekend lockdowns in the country have been extended to the region around the Channel coast town of Calais.

He added that the Hautes-Alpes, Aisne and Aube would be added to a series of high-alert departments, but there was no need for weekend lockdowns there at this stage.

Mr Castex also said that more than 60 per cent of all new Covid-19 infections registered in France are linked to the variant of the virus first detected in the UK.

Speaking at a weekly news conference, he said: “The circulation of the virus has accelerated over the past two weeks and that is clearly linked to the UK variant.

He said that although cases were not rising exponentially, the health system remains under immense pressure.

The number of young people not in education, employment or training has show its biggest quarterly rise in almost a decade, new figures reveal.

David Freeman, head of labour and market households at the Office for National Statistics, said: “After reaching a record low last quarter, the number of Neets has now seen its largest quarterly increase since its 2011 peak.

“This follows the economic impact of the most recent heavy Covid-19 restrictions, and tallies with other recent data that suggests almost three-fifths of the fall in employees since the onset of the pandemic has been among the under-25s.”

My colleague Ella Glover reports:

A campaign by parents and teachers from boarding schools has persuaded the government to create a loophole in the hotel quarantine rules for international students returning to Britain.

Unlike all other travellers, children who fly back into the UK from a “red list” country will not have to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine, writes Tim Wyatt:

A World Health Organisation (WHO) team investigating the origins of Covid-19 is planning to scrap an interim report on its recent mission to China amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington over the investigation and an appeal from one international group of scientists for a new probe, the Wall Street Journal reports.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in an email: “The full report is expected in coming weeks”.

No further information was immediately available about the reasons for the delay in publishing the findings of the WHO-led mission to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first human cases of Covid-19 were detected in late 2019.

China refused to give raw data on early cases to a WHO-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, Dominic Dwyer, one of the team’s investigators said last month, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began.

Washington has accused China of hiding the extent of the initial outbreak and criticised the terms of the visit, under which Chinese experts conducted the first phase of research.

Hundreds of fake coronavirus vaccines have been seized by police in South Africa and four suspects have been arrested in connection with them, Interpol has said.

The global police coordination agency issued a worldwide alert in December, warning law enforcement in 14 member countries to prepare for organised crime networks targeting the vaccines, both physically and online.

Around 400 ampoules, equivalent to about 2,400 doses, containing the fake vaccine were found at a warehouse in Germiston, east of Johannesburg. Officers also recovered a large number of fake 3M masks, said the agency.

Three Chinese nationals and one Zambian national were arrested.

The operation led to the discovery of a network selling fake vaccines in China, said Interpol. Police in China then raided the manufacturing premises and have arrested some 80 suspects. More than 3,000 fake vaccines were seized on the scene.

Interpol secretary general Jurgen Stock said: “Whilst we welcome this reels, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Covid-19 vaccine related crime.”

Public Health England has announced the identification of 16 cases of a new coronavirus variant in the UK.

Cases of the new variant, referred to as VUI-2021 02/04, were first identified on 15 February through genomic horizon scanning.

All individuals who tested positive and their contacts have been traced and advised to isolate, said PHE.

New variants of Covid-19 can be identifies as “variant under investigation” (VUI) or “variants of concern” (VOC).

The latest variant contains the E484K mutation, which is present in two other VUIs present in the UK, but does not feature the N501Y mutation that is present in all VOCs.

New variants emerge regularly and experts are conducting frequent analysis to see which are of concern and which are not.

Four stillbirths could be linked to coronavirus in Ireland, the country’s deputy chief medical officer has said.

Dr Ronan Glynn said there had been preliminary reports and more work needed to be done to confirm the cases.

He said: “We have been made aware of four preliminary reports of stillbirths potentially associated with a condition called Covid placentitis.

“These reports should be interpreted with caution as the coroners have not yet concluded their findings.

“The HSE’s National Women and Infants Programme is aware of and is monitoring the situation and has issued a related notice to obstetric departments.

“I would ask that the privacy of all of those affected by this disease continue to be respected at all times.”

Ireland recorded a further 39 deaths from Covid-19 and 462 new positive cases on Thursday. Some 460 coronavirus patients were in hospital on Thursday morning, with 107 receiving intensive care.