Covid UK news – live: Just 28 in 58,000 test positive at event pilots as Delta cases rise by 46% in a week

The UK’s rapidly rising cases means it should be “a time for caution”, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said, urging organisers to limit crowding at large-scale events.

Prof Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol told Sky News: “If there is a lot of virus around and larger numbers of cases, then putting a lot of people in one place will certainly result in others acquiring the infection, so it’s a very context-specific thing, and, right at this moment in time, we’re seeing rapid rises in the number of cases in the UK because of this more infectious variant, so I think it should be a time for caution.”

Specifically on the British Grand Prix next month, he said he thinks “it would be a good idea to try and limit the degree of crowding and particularly how closely people sit together who wouldn’t normally be in contact with each other”.

“We have what happened in the beginning of the pandemic, where large numbers of people went to race meetings and Cheltenham so on and, as a result, lots of people got infected and died...” he said.

He said fully vaccinated people should continue to be careful, underlining: “Vaccines are very important... they definitely reduce your risk of both infection and passing it on but they don’t eliminate it entirely.”

The government should simplify its travel lists in order to avoid “drama” this summer, shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon has said.

The Labour MP told BBC Breakfast: “What the green watchlist doesn’t say is whether they are on the watchlist currently because they have high rates of concern but overall is heading in the right direction, or is it that they previously had reasonable levels but is now heading in the wrong direction?

“So what we have been calling for is a more simplified list.

“Either it is not safe to go or it is safe to go, and then have a country-by-country assessment so passengers know, is that country heading in the right direction or the wrong direction, because if you’re booking a holiday in two or three weeks’ time, you are going to want to know if the country is heading in the right or the wrong direction.”

Mr McMahon said the lack of information about the criteria the government is using to move countries onto the different lists “doesn’t instil consumer confidence”.

“People need to know that, when they are making that booking, when they are taking that holiday that many have looked forward to, that the holiday will go ahead and without drama – and that’s frankly not a lot to ask,” he added.

There should be a “harmonised” approach to travel rules across the European Union and “third countries” such as the UK, French MEP Veronique Trillet-Lenoir has said.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The European Union is concerned by the Delta variant and wants to act in a united and co-ordinated manner as much as possible.”

She said discussions are ongoing over decisions regarding “third countries” such as the UK.

“Clearly Germany, France and Portugal have already said that they needed a quarantine; what I really would like is a harmonised and co-ordinated manner, although I understand that the vision is not the same for southern and northern countries in Europe,” she added.

Asked if she thinks all EU countries might have to impose quarantine for UK travellers, Ms Trillet-Lenoir said: “It is necessary to have harmonised measure in order to prioritise the sanitary issues.

“I’m very well aware of the economical issues, but until now both the EU and the UK have prioritised the sanitary aspect of the crisis and that’s the way to do it.”

The UK currently poses more of a risk to some other countries than the other way round, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said.

Discussing the newly updated green list, Prof Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol, told Sky News that as the destinations on the list have extremely low levels of virus, British holidaymakers are unlikely to bring back cases.

He said: “I think these islands, where they’ve been added to the green list, have been added because there are very low, almost absent levels of virus there, so they pose very limited risk to the UK, particularly if people coming back are being tested on the way.

“So I think the risk actually is greater for those places – that people coming from this country at this point in time may take the virus with them and infect other people there, but of course that decision lies with them and these are countries that depend on tourism income for their livelihood. So, again, a balance of risk and benefit.”

He said it is a “theoretical possibility” that Britons mingling with people from other countries could cause a mutation that could be brought back to the UK.

“Because we’ve got this more infectious variant circulating in the UK, I think we actually pose more of a risk to most other places than they do to us, at least if you’re talking about these kind of tourist destinations at this point in time,” he said.

“But you’re quite right that that can change and the virus has the capacity to evolve further, and we could once again import another virus at some point in time if a lot of us go travelling, so there is always a risk involved in this, until the pandemic is brought under control globally.”

A total of 111,157 confirmed and probable cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant have now been identified in the UK, Public Health England said - an increase of 35,204, or 46 per cent, on the previous week.

The previous week’s increase was 80 per cent.

Of the 111,157, 102,019 have been in England, 7,738 in Scotland, 788 in Wales and 612 in Northern Ireland.

The most recent data shows that approximately 95 per cent of confirmed cases of coronavirus across the UK are the Delta variant.

A further 514 people were admitted to hospital in England with the Delta variant of Covid-19 in the week to 21 June, according to the latest figures from Public Health England, taking the total to 1,320.

Some 902 of the 1,320 people were under the age of 50 while 418 were over 50.

Of the 902 under 50, 695 (77 per cent) were unvaccinated, 79 (9 per cent) within 21 days of their first dose of vaccine, and 85 (9 per cent) more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine. There were 27 (3 per cent) fully vaccinated people admitted.

Of the 418 over 50, 136 (33 per cent) were unvaccinated, nine (2 per cent) within 21 days of their first dose of vaccine, 104 (25 per cent) more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine and 163 (39 per cent) were fully vaccinated.

There have been 117 deaths from the Delta variant in England – a rise from 73 deaths the previous week.

Of the 117, eight were under the age of 50 and 109 were over 50.

Of the 109 over 50, 38 were unvaccinated, one was within 21 days of a first dose of vaccine, 17 more than 21 days after one dose of vaccine and 50 had received both doses.

Of the eight under 50, two were more than 21 days after a first dose of vaccine and six were unvaccinated.

Matt Hancock is facing allegations he had an affair with his close aide Gina Coladangelo, a friend from university.

The health secretary was pictured embracing the 43-year-old consultant at the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) London headquarters last month, as reported by The Sun.

Mr Hancock led the government response to the pandemic and on multiple occasions has urged the British public to abide by strict lockdown rules.

Last year he said he was left “speechless” after government adviser Professor Neil Ferguson allowed his lover Antonia Staats to visit his home, in breach of social distancing rules at the time.

Joe Middleton takes a look at what the rules were at the time of Matt Hancock’s ‘embrace’:

The UK population grew by the smallest percentage in almost two decades in the year to June 2020, reflecting the impact of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The population rose by an estimated 0.4 per cent – around 284,000 – in this period, the smallest rise since the 12 months to mid-2001.

A total of 67.1 million people are likely to have been living in the UK in the middle of last year, up from an estimated 66.8 million in mid-2019.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show the year to mid-2020 saw the highest number of deaths in the UK since the year to mid-1986. The first wave of Covid-19 accounted for more than 55,000 of these deaths.

Neil Park, of the ONS population estimates unit, said: “The 12 months to June 2020 can be broken into two clear parts: the first eight months, when births, deaths and migration patterns were similar to trends seen in recent years; and the four months from March, when the first wave of coronavirus hit.

“Some of the clearest impacts of the pandemic can be seen in the increase in the number of deaths and reduction in the number of moves made within the UK.”

There were a total of 700,700 births in the UK in year to mid-2020, the ONS said - the fewest in any year since 2003 - while the number of deaths in the same period was 669,200.

Following the German chancellor’s call for European nations to impose quarantine orders on British tourists, here’s The Independent’s view on Angela Merkel’s bid for EU-wide travel restrictions:

When Boris Johnson declares that this will not be a normal summer for travellers, no one, for a change, is able to accuse him of dissembling. Whereas even a few months ago, boosterish voices, not least Mr Johnson, were making optimistic noises about the formidably vaccinated British enjoying the freedom of the skies once again; today the options are severely limited – and narrowing almost by the day.

Malta, Madeira, the Balearic Islands and Barbados are among the destinations that are to be added to number of “green list” destinations. However, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has openly offered her influential opinion – and been backed by President Emmanuel Macron of France – that all European Union countries demand that British visitors quarantine on arrival in the union.