Rob Cameron
BBC Prague Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Vaccinated tourists from 13 countries will be allowed to travel to the Czech Republic, the country's health minister Adam Vojtech has announced.

Restrictions on non-essential travel between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia will be lifted from Tuesday, 1 June, for those people who have had their first dose of vaccine in any of those countries, at least 21 days ago.

A similar arrangement should be finalised with Croatia this weekend, according to foreign minister Jakub Kulhanek.

While there have been arrangements in place allowing travel after the first vaccine dose, some countries - including the Czech Republic and Slovakia - still have bans on non-essential travel.

So this ends - at least between the mentioned countries - on 1 June.

Kulhanek says the Czech Republic will also open to fully vaccinated tourists from Israel, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea from Tuesday.

Image source, Dublin airport

The Irish government is to consider easing Covid restrictions on international travel and hospitality.

Ministers will evaluate whether to lift curbs on international travel from 19 July for those deemed eligible under the new EU Digital Green Certificate system, external, and a possible staggered reopening of the hospitality sector.

Restaurants, pubs and hairdressers have been closed in the Republic of Ireland since Christmas Eve.

However, they are expected to be allowed to serve indoors from 5 July.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan hinted last night that international travel will resume from 19 July.

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Working from home has become normal for many people. But, after more than a year, some are asking - understandably - when they can go back into their workplace.

For the time being though, most should expect to carry on working from their kitchen table, sofa or wherever your home office is - at least until the government's review of social distancing is published.

The PM initially said he hoped to give more details on the easing of physical distancing restrictions - originally due to take place on 21 June - by the end of May. But that May date seems to have been delayed, because of concerns about the spread of the variant first detected in India.

The government wants to help companies that have suffered during lockdown, particularly those in city centres which rely on office workers.

It's also keen to cut the cost of paying furloughed staff by encouraging businesses to reopen. More than £100bn has already been spent on support for jobs.

But it's still not clear when the government will decide it is safe to ask those working from home to return to the office - so the daily commute could still be a little way off.

You can read more in our explainer here.

Vaccines seem to be working in an area of the UK hardest hit by the Indian coronavirus variant, a vaccine expert has said.

Dr Helen Wall, senior responsible officer for the Covid vaccine programme in Bolton, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme patients in hospital in the area are not as sick as previous patients with Covid-19 and "vaccines seem to be working".

She says there are "significant numbers of 30 and 40-year-olds" going into hospital in Bolton, adding there are "tens of thousands of young people" who have only just become eligible for the vaccine "that we need to get vaccinated really rapidly now".

But she says there are not as many people as sick as there would have been pre-vaccine.

She says there i only a "handful" of patients in hospital who have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, and some of those who have been double-vaccinated have only had the second dose recently.

And she adds the oldest patient in hospital is 101.

Image source, Reuters

Mary McCool
BBC Scotland News

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While most of the UK is opening up, Glasgow is nearing nine months with some of the strictest Covid restrictions in the country.

People are forbidden from mixing in each other's homes, pubs are closed for indoor drinking and no-one is allowed to visit or leave the city without good reason.

Rising case rates driven by the Indian variant have seen restrictions remain in Glasgow, while rules ease across the rest of Scotland.

However, with signs that case numbers are stabilising, families and business owners now hope an announcement later today will bring an end to their 270-day confinement.

Read more from Mary

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Prof Andrew Hayward, a member of New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that people who have only had one dose of the vaccine could end up in hospital, even if they are young.

He says the country has seen a doubling of cases of the variant first discovered in India every week - with about 7,000 cases last week.

"It only takes five or six doublings for that to get up to, say, a quarter-million cases, and then you could set the pressure on the NHS and avoidable illnesses," he warns.

He says when more restrictions are lifted "instead of doubling every week it's likely to double more frequently than that of course".

Because of this, "there is a good argument for caution until such time as we've got a much higher proportion of the population double vaccinated", Hayward says.

Many people could still work from home "without it having any economic impact", which would reduce transmission, he adds.

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Live music events have been given the green light to return immediately in Wales.

The Welsh government has confirmed performances can begin again, but it says the change does not apply to nightclubs.

Venues will need to limit groups to a maximum of six people from six households, use one-way systems and follow ventilation guidelines.

The change brings live events in line with restaurants and theatres, which were able to open earlier in May.

Read more

Boris Johnson has expressed "full confidence" in Health Secretary Matt Hancock over claims he lied about protecting care homes from Covid.

Dominic Cummings says Hancock misled the PM in March 2020 by promising all residents discharged from hospital would be tested.

The PM's former aide says this led to thousands of needless deaths.

Hancock has denied lying but says he had been clear it would take time to build testing capacity.

"My recollection of events is that I committed to delivering that testing for people going from hospital into care homes when we could do it," he told a Downing Street press conference yesterday.

"I then went away and built the testing capacity… and then delivered on the commitment that I made."

Watch Mr Hancock at yesterday's briefing below and read more on the story here.

The origin of the virus has been in the news again since US President Joe Biden tasked intelligence officials with investigating where it came from.

According to President Biden, there is a split between the US intelligence community as to whether it came from a lab accident or emerged from human contact with an infected animal.

Prof Dale Fisher, of Singapore's National University Hospital, says there is currently little evidence for the lab theory - just that a lab exists.

Asked whether we'll ever get a definitive answer, Prof Fisher says: "I'm not sure we're going to get there the way we're going.

"We do need to be a bit patient but we also need to be diplomatic. We can't do this without support from China. It needs to be a no blame environment.

"You never get to the bottom of an outbreak if your opening line is 'if this is your fault, you're in big trouble'."

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Health officials say they are concerned about a "significant increase" in coronavirus cases in the Dundee area of Scotland.

NHS Tayside says the increase follows the discovery of the virus variant first detected in India circulating in the area.

The health board has urged anyone with symptoms to isolate immediately and for those without symptoms to get tested.

Read more on this story.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

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The Ugandan government is considering a second Covid-19 lockdown to manage a sharp increase in new infections.

Health officials in the East African country say more contagious variants of the virus, especially from India, Nigeria, the UK and South Africa, are to blame for the increase in new cases.

Dr Diana Atwine of the health ministry says “some areas must be locked down unless people get back to observing SOPs (standard operating procedures)”.

“Otherwise, our systems will be overwhelmed and we shall see scenarios we have been seeing in some countries,” she says.

Critics, however, say the government is partly to blame for the high number of cases after it relaxed measures against the virus following January’s general election.

Uganda’s total confirmed cases stand at 44,594, with 361 deaths.

Image source, PA Media

People and businesses in Glasgow are due to find out later whether the city will remain in level three of Scotland's Covid-19 restrictions.

Glasgow has been subject to strict measures for 270 days, while the rest of the country has seen restrictions ease in recent weeks.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says there are "reasons to be optimistic" about the situation in the city.

Glasgow business owners say they need clarity on when they can fully reopen and opposition parties have called for urgent action to get Glasgow back on a level footing with the rest of the country as quickly as possible.

The first minister is expected to announce the result of a review of restrictions in a Covid-19 briefing at 12:15 BST.

Read more.

BBC Breakfast

Dr Mike Tildesley, a scientist on a government advisory body, suggests if England “kicks the can down the road” in regards to the roadmap for easing restrictions, then “we can allow the vaccines to help us and hopefully allow us ultimately to lift restrictions”.

“The important thing for us is given we now have the vaccines we are in a very different place, say, from October when we were starting to see cases rise in a concerning way because hopefully vaccines can help us along the way,” he tells BBC Breakfast.

He says one of the “key things” they need to understand is how transmissible the variant first discovered in India is and scientists “need to gather as much evidence” as they can about it.

He says the “worry is because it’s a bit more transmissible there is a potential for a further wave of infections and potential hospital admission will start to rise again”.

The final stage of the easing of England’s lockdown restrictions is expected on 21 June, when it’s hoped all legal limits on social distancing will be removed.

The UK government says a final decision on the date will be made on 14 June.

Philippa Roxby
Health reporter, BBC News

Image source, PA Media

There are small numbers of cases of the variant first found in India in many parts of the country.

Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn with Darwen are the areas most affected and in some places hospital admissions with Covid are rising, albeit from a very low level.

But most are people who haven’t been vaccinated - and ministers are urging everyone who is eligible to come forward to get a jab.

Scientists are confident that two doses of a Covid vaccine are effective at preventing serious illness from the variant, although perhaps not as well as they protect against the Kent variant.

That is being overtaken by the new variant which appears to spread more quickly.

Health officials are monitoring cases closely. As long as they remain at a manageable level and don’t translate into hospital admissions, the vaccines will have done their job.

BBC Breakfast

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There has been a massive response from minority communities in coming forward for the vaccine amid a rise in coronavirus cases, the director of public health at a west London council says.

Kelly O'Neill, from Hounslow Council, tells BBC Breakfast 1,300 people came forward for vaccination at a centre set up at a Sikh temple yesterday.

She says in some minority communities in Hounslow, as many as one in five people eligible for a vaccine have not come forward.

But she says she is expecting to see "a massive change" that "really demonstrates that people who should have been vaccinated previously are now coming forward".

"These are groups that we've labelled 'hard to reach', but I think in truth, they have been 'hardly reached', so actually all of this activity around the vaccination programme has allowed us to stop and think and talk to these communities," O'Neill says.

Hounslow is one of five west London boroughs where surge testing has been taking place because of a rise in coronavirus cases linked to the variant first found in India.

Ministers have stepped up calls to all those eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine to get one.

They say the continuing spread of the variant first detected in India - thought to be more transmissible - means the grounds for having the jab have "never been stronger".

Cases of the variant have doubled to almost 7,000 in a week and now account for as many as 75% of all new infections in the UK, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says.

Read more: What is the Indian variant?

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

England's roadmap for the easing of restrictions should be delayed as the variant first found in India is causing concern, a member of Independent Sage says.

When asked whether the final date for easing lockdown should go ahead on 21 June, Prof Christina Pagel tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "So far we've kind of been crossing our fingers a little bit, Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) and Public Health England both say it's a more transmissible variant, we know it has some levels of vaccine escape.

"So we're in a situation where, compared to two months ago, we now have a dominant variant, (it) transmits faster, and our vaccines are less effective against it."

She adds: "If we can just delay international travel, delay stage four of the roadmap until we have a much higher proportion of people vaccinated with two doses, we're in a much, much better position.

"We're only two months away from that, it's not long to wait. What I don't want is for us to have new restrictions."

Image source, EPA

Germany will start giving Covid jabs to over-12s from 7 June, federal and state leaders have agreed. However, Chancellor Angela Merkel says they won’t be compulsory and one survey suggests only 51% of parents want to give their children a Covid jab. The head of Germany’s Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine, Florian Hoffmann, says adults should be prioritised as children often get the virus harmlessly and without symptoms. Germany’s seven-day incidence rate of infections has declined further to 39.8 per 100,000 people.

The EU’s medicines agency EMA is expected to approve the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine for 12-15 year-olds later today.

France has clarified that non-essential travel from the UK will be banned from Monday, due to the spread of the Indian coronavirus variant. France is already on England's "amber" list, meaning the UK government advises against travel there and passengers must quarantine upon return. But now France says travel should only be allowed, for example, for bereavement or childcare, and that includes seven days of self-isolation.

Meanwhile, France has now opened its vaccination appointment system to everyone over 18. Until now it’s adults of 50 and over who have been eligible.

The Dutch cabinet decides today whether to move to the next phase of Covid easing. The original plan is to allow people to have four visitors at home from 5 June and reopen museums and theatres with limited numbers of customers inside cafes and restaurants.

A Spanish indoor test concert for almost 500 people wearing masks in Barcelona last December has reported no cases of virus transmission. Everyone who attended the gig was given a lateral flow test before and afterwards and had to wear an N95 (FFP2 mask) and ventilation was enhanced. The same team held another test event in March with 5,000 and came to the same conclusion.

BBC Breakfast

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tells BBC Breakfast this morning that as far as he can see there is "nothing in the data that will delay" the final date in the roadmap to lift all restrictions in England.

On 21 June, the government hopes to remove all legal limits on social contact, nightclubs would reopen, and restrictions on large events and performances would be lifted.

But Kwarteng says the government has been "very clear" the scientific data will be looked at "before we rush to any conclusions".

He says a final decision on when to reopen will be made on 14 June.

Read more about plans for lifting restrictions across the UK here

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The head of the National Care Association has rejected a claim by the government last year that it had placed a "protective shield" around care homes early in the pandemic.

Nadra Ahmed calls the claim "absolute rubbish".

"There was no shield," she tells the BBC's Question Time. "I think that was an utterance that came about in a form of embarrassment, perhaps, because nothing had been done for social care."

Social care "ended up being that forgotten front line", she adds.

It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock faces growing pressure over the deaths of thousands of care home residents during the pandemic.

Hancock insists ministers and health officials "worked as hard" as they could to protect those most vulnerable to coronavirus.

Read more