Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is holding a press conference with other leaders in the region in which they are expected to comment on the new guidance for areas, including Bolton, which have seen increased cases of the Indian variant.

Bolton recorded 451 overall cases of Covid per 100,000 people in the week to 20 May, the highest in England.

The advice, which includes not travelling to and from the areas unless it is essential, was published online on Friday without an announcement and urges "an extra cautious approach".

Image source, North Tyneside Council

As we have been reporting there is plenty of reaction today to the news that people in eight areas in England are being advised to take an "extra cautious approach" including not travelling in and out of those locations.

The guidance, which was published on Friday online without an announcement, is for Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside - which all have high rates of the new Covid variant first found in India.

Blackburn's Labour MP Kate Hollern says she was "furious" local authorities were not consulted and referred to it as an attempt to introduce new measures "by stealth and without consultation".

Blackburn's director of public health Prof Dominic Harrison says the affected areas "were not consulted with, warned of, notified about, or alerted to this guidance".

North Tyneside's Labour MP Mary Glindon says the move caused "unnecessary panic".

She says officials in the area have been "fully co-operative" with the government since the discovery of the variant.

"Then this little clanger's dropped into the works and nobody has been made aware," she says.

West Yorkshire's Labour mayor Tracy Brabin says the advice is "chaotic and confusing".

"We were only alerted to it by journalists late last night and the restrictions around movement, around getting tested twice a week, around meeting outside - not inside, these new restrictions will have an impact on businesses and the Kirklees population," she says.

Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth challenged Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi over updated government Covid advice, published on Friday without an official announcement, for several areas in England.

Watch what happened:

Image source, PA Media

A hospital in Bolton is taking "urgent actions" to manage demand as it says yesterday was one of its busiest days ever in its emergency department.

Andy Ennis, chief operating officer of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, says they have 41 inpatients with Covid, including eight in critical care.

Bolton has been battling with a spike in cases of the coronavirus variant first identified in India.

• How many cases are there in my area?

"Going into the bank holiday weekend and half-term, which is always a busy time for the NHS, we anticipate this pressure continuing," he says.

"People are presenting with a range of problems and staff are working very hard to ensure they receive all the care they need as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"However, we are also now seeing more people requiring hospital treatment from the effects of Covid-19."

Bolton is one of eight areas where new guidance has been issued, urging people not to travel in or out of the area, meet others outdoors, and keep two metres away from everyone not in your household or bubble.

Read the full story here.

Image source, PA Media

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is urging people not to "lose heart" despite Covid-19 cases continuing to rise in Scotland.

She says cases have doubled in the past fortnight and there has been a "bump in the road" out of lockdown due to the new variant first identified in India.

But there are "some positive signs" that case numbers may be stabilising in areas with outbreaks such as Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.

Here is a reminder of what the rules are and when they are changing in Scotland.

A year of mixed messages, say criticspublished at 13:31 British Summer Time 25 May 2021

13:31 BST 25 May 2021

Dominic Casciani
Home and Legal Correspondent

Ministers can at the stroke of a pen create new legal restrictions to contain the virus. But that law must be published, reviewed by Parliament, and be clear to both us and police officers who must enforce it. You can find the laws here, external.

No new law covering the affected areas has been signed. So that means the advice given to the eight areas is just that: a recommendation of what's in the best interests of the community. That means police officers have no power to break up indoor gatherings that are permitted elsewhere in England - and they can't fine people for taking non-essential journeys out of an area. And that, according to critics, is where the problem lies,

For more than a year, the government has regularly urged people to restrict what they do - but not always made clear that there is no law to back that up.

Examples include the mistaken belief last year that exercise had to be limited - and the confusion in some police forces - including the infamous fining of women who went for a walk equipped with a cup of tea.

The official web page detailing the new advice is headlined "what you can and cannot do, external". It then mixes advice and rules, suggesting the guidance is "underpinned by law". That could be interpreted as a warning of fines for those who ignore the advice - when there is no new power to issue them.

Image source, PA Media

Downing Street says the government has been upfront about the "extra risk" posed by the so-called Indian variant after local authorities said they were not consulted about new guidance for eight hotspot areas in England.

The prime minister's official spokesman says ministers want to move away from "top-down edicts" as lockdown restrictions ease, saying it was for individuals to make a judgment on how to behave.

The new guidance was "not statutory", the spokesman says.

"Throughout we have been clear that people in these areas should recognise the extra risk posed by the variant and exercise their judgement."

Downing Street said there would be no extra financial support for the hospitality sector, local authorities or other businesses in the Covid hotspot areas beyond what is already available.

The spokesman also says posters and social media messaging had been shared with local authority areas impacted by the new guidance.

Lib Dem MP for Twickenham Munira Wilson says that the borough of Hounslow is one of the ares for which there is new advice and borders her own constituency.

She says hundreds if not thousands of people go back and forth for school, work and to buy supplies.

"Can the minister advise my constituents whether they should be getting on buses and trains which go across the borough boundary, whether they should be going to supermarkets and accessing medical appointments over the boundary?" she asks.

Nadhim Zahawi says the government is "turbocharging" the vaccination programme as well as carrying out surge testing in the area.

But he adds that people should be exercising caution and only travelling if it is essential in the area.

Labour MP for Bedford Mohammad Yasin says: "Last evening I learned the government had sneaked Bedford borough into a local lockdown without even bothering to warn the public health team."

He says he has been calling for surge vaccines in Bedford for all over-16s for almost two weeks and that the Indian variant had been imported into his constituency due to lax border control.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi replies that giving jabs to those over 16 would be taking the vaccine away from others who need that protection.

He says the strategy the government is taking is to "turbo charge" vaccinations for those already eligible by making jabs more accessible.

Conservative Greg Smith says it is "tremendous news" that the vaccines being rolled out in the UK are "highly effective" against the variant first identified in India and goes on to ask if the minister agrees with him that the evidence backs a complete end to coronavirus restrictions on 21 June.

Nadhim Zahawi agrees it is good news from Public Health England that both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs are "as effective on infection" when it comes to the India variant.

He says the government is pursuing an evidence-led strategy and at the moment he is "cautiously optimistic" ahead of the 21 June date for the final step of the roadmap out of lockdown.

Zahawi says he spoke to the Metro Mayors in areas where coronavirus guidance had changed this morning.

He says they are working together to "take the politics out of this" as "our constituents deserve that".

"Essentially what we are asking people to do is be cautious...meeting indoors is still allowed but meeting outdoors is safer...yes people can visit family in half term if they follow socially distancing guidance."

But he says to avoid travelling in and out of the affected areas "as the Prime Minister said on the 14 May unless it is essential".

Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, asks if it is time to look at vaccinating children over 12s so that when schools come back in the autumn pupils are protected.

Nadhim Zahawi says he is right to focus on the protection of children "but also their families and communities".

He says the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use in the US and Canada and while the UK will be "ready operationally" it will depend on the country's regulator.

"The vaccines have to be incredibly safe before we administer them to children," he adds.

The vaccines minister says the government is "taking rapid action" in places where there are high case numbers of the Indian variant.

The government is urging people in these areas to take extra caution when meeting people outside their households or support bubble, staying 2m apart and avoiding non-essential travel in and out of the areas, he says.

"We want the whole country to move out of these measures together" and are "trusting people to be responsible and act with caution", he says.

"We are always looking to see how we can communicate more effectively with local authorities and of course will take on board the views expressed by the house through this debate."

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth asks if Zahawi understands how insulting it is to have "local lockdown's by stealth, by the backdoor" and the health secretary "doesn't bother to tell us"?

He asks why local authority leaders were not consulted and why MPs were not informed.

"What does it mean for our constituents?" he says and asks what it means for families in those areas who have booked trips or made plans to visit other areas.

"Withdraw this guidance now," he declares, and calls for a meeting to be convened to form a plan.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth asks vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi to update the House of Commons on the coronavirus pandemic.

Zahawi says there are currently 908 people in hospital with Covid, a fall of 9% in the past week.

He says the average number of daily deaths is now six - the lowest since March.

He says 72% of adults in the Uk have had their first doses and 43% have two doses. This weekend the UK reached the 60m vaccine milestone, he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth is in place and MPs are beginning to discuss his urgent question on changes to advice for areas affected by the India variant of Covid-19.

The advice was published online on Friday without an announcement and urges "an extra cautious approach".

Image source, PA Media/HoC

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth is due to ask an urgent question in the Commons shortly about the changes to advice for eight areas which have been hit by rising cases of the Covid variant first identified in India.

The Labour MP says he will ask the government why it is bringing in "local lockdowns by the backdoor".

MPs and mayors are complaining that they were not told about the change and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says it is "utterly shameful" to have done so without informing people.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi is expected to respond for the government.

Read more here.

Austria is again banning direct flights from Britain, Austrian news agency APA reports.

Previous such bans have been put in place because of high numbers of coronavirus infections or cases of a variant of the virus.

Coronavirus cases in the UK remain low, but the variant first identified in India is making up an increasing share of new infections.

Image source, Labour

Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East, says she and her office received "no official correspondence" on the change to the advised coronavirus restrictions in her constituency and found out through a story in the Bolton News.

She tweeted:, external "Last night, like many in Bolton, my office and I found out that Bolton had been placed in a quasi-lockdown state. The restrictions state essential travel only is allowed out of, and into, the borough.

"People are also being told to work from home unless you cannot. I don't know how many times I have to say this - many of my constituents cannot work from home. They work in jobs such as social care, in industry, healthcare, and hospitality.

"Bolton's percentage of people working from home is one of the lowest in the country. There are also significant levels of deprivation, intergenerational households, and only 30% have a car. Until the Government realises this we will go around in circles with local lockdowns."

She says it is "beyond insulting" that Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey's had told Sky news she was "surprised" to hear MPs felt they weren't properly briefed.

The Conservative leader of Bolton Council has described changes to coronavirus guidance in eight areas of England as a "reformatting" of previous advice.

David Greenhalgh told the BBC the government urged caution on 14 May "when we started to see an increase in the variant cases".

"At the end of that guidance there was 'try to avoid non-essential travel in and out of those areas'," he says.

"It appears that on Friday night that advice was reformatted which tended to give a little bit more emphasis on the travel.

"This was not notified to us but I am glad to say with relief that this does not mean in any way that we have additional restrictions."

He says he has received confirmation from Public Health England and goverment that restrictions remain at step three of the roadmap out of lockdown.

Greenhalgh says prior notification of the new publication of guidance on the government's website "would certainly have helped" as it has caused confusion for businesses and residents.