Image source, PA Media

Bolton in Greater Manchester is one town that has seen a sharp spike in infections since mid-April - including cases of the virus variant first found in India. So how concerned should we be?

Like much of north-west England, Bolton saw a rise in coronavirus cases in October, a lull over Christmas, and then another wave in January.

By mid-April, lockdown had forced daily infections back almost to single figures locally. Then something worrying happened.

Read more from our health correspondent Jim Reed here.

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Greece has formally begun its tourist season, with one in five workers dependent on the sector. The first tourist flights will arrive at Greece’s 14 regional airports today. Travel between Greek regions is resuming as the government says “we are putting lockdown behind us”. Greeks no longer have to send text messages before they travel or shop, but plenty of restrictions remain and an average of 2,000 cases a day are being reported. Any Greek wishing to travel has to use a Green pass. Greece isn’t yet on the UK’s list of countries that travellers can visit from 17 May, although officials hope that will soon change, especially for key islands such as Rhodes, Kos, Corfu and Crete.

Tourists hoping to travel to Majorca and the other Balearic Islands this summer will have to content themselves without nightclubs. The head of government Francina Armengol, has told German media the priority now is for families, sport, culture and food tourists. “Nightlife will follow later," she says.

Portugal has extended its state of calamity until 30 May but hasn’t yet decided whether to let in British tourists from Monday. Twelve thousand fans are being allowed in for the Champions League final on 29 May with tight restrictions.

Spanish tourist bosses are hoping for their own nationals to help kickstart the local industry before foreign tourism resumes. Ramón Estalella, head of the confederation of hotels and accommodation, says Spaniards are “more eager to travel than we could possibly imagine”.

More than half of Germany’s 16 states are now reporting seven-day incidence rates below 100 per 100,000 people. Bavaria is the latest state to see a decline, and nationally the incidence rate has gone below 100 for the first time since 20 March. Case numbers in the past 24 hours were still over 11,000.

A survey suggests as many as 38% of French-speaking Belgians are refusing vaccinations, compared with 20% of Flemish Belgians. Covid hospital admissions in Belgium are falling and the number being treated is below 2,000.

The UK government will “flex” its successful vaccine rollout to combat emerging variants, including the one first identified in India and now growing rapidly in parts of England, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi tells the BBC.

The virus variant first detected in India appears to be more infectious but there is no evidence on severity of disease or that it evades the vaccine, Zahawi says.

He tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme 1,400 cases and 14,000 close contacts have so far been traced - as surge testing is launched in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Zahawi says more vaccine doses have been sent to Bolton and the government is working with the local authority there to distribute them. He mentioned a trial in Luton, Beds, that saw multi-generational households vaccinated together.

“We will flex the vaccine programme according to the clinical advice,” he says, but cautions it will take at least two weeks for a first dose to begin to take effect.

“Isolate, isolate, isolate, that is the way we break this cycle,” he adds, saying using free lateral flow tests with PCR confirmation is crucial to reducing infections.

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Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has suggested younger adults in areas where there is a surge of the variant initially identified in India could be vaccinated sooner.

The jab is currently available to those aged 38 and over, and to those over-18 with underlying conditions, as well as health and social care workers.

Zahawi tells Sky News: "The clinicians will look at all of this to see how we can flex the vaccination programme to make it as effective as possible to deal with this surge in this variant.

"They will make those decisions and we will be ready to implement, whether it's vaccinating younger cohorts.

"We have been doing some work on multi-generational households where we vaccinate the whole household, over-18s, and of course the older groups who are already eligible.

"Or, bringing forward the second dose - we look at all of that and be guided by the clinicians as to what we do on that."

It comes after confusion on Thursday as the local authority in Blackburn began offering jab appointments to all over-18s in certain postcodes, before a swift U-turn.

Image source, PA Media

Let’s re-cap the latest headlines in the UK this morning. Second coronavirus jabs could be given to people living in areas with cases of new virus variants sooner than planned.

Amid a steep rise in the number of cases of the virus variant first found in India, door-to-door surge testing begins in Bolton across 22,000 households.

And vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has said the vaccines programme could be "flexed" to ensure enough doses go to affected areas.

It comes as:

• The government says there is currently "no firm evidence yet to show this variant has any greater impact on severity of disease or evades the vaccine"
• The introduction of local economic and social restrictions is not ruled out by ministers
• Zahawi suggests younger people who have yet to be vaccinated could be offered a jab sooner in areas where variants are growing
• Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford says he will delay a small number of further easements from Monday as a result of growing numbers of Indian variant cases
• It comes as people in Wales are advised to hold off foreign holidays for now - with only essential travel abroad permitted from Monday
• Research suggests Covid vaccines have saved 11,700 lives and 33,000 hospital admissions in the UK.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of coronavirus developments this Friday. We’ll bring you all the latest as it happens.