We're pausing our live coverage of the global coronavirus pandemic for today. We will be back with more updates tomorrow morning.

Here's a final round-up of the main headlines:

• The UK is experiencing a marked increase in new Covid cases, with one in every 160 people infected according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). For England, it is the highest level since mid February
• Downing Street has urged people to continue to use the NHS Covid contact tracing app in England and Wales and isolate when asked to do so. It comes amid a huge rise in alerts as infections surge
• Heart inflammation has been found to be a "very rare" side-effect of the Covid vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, according to the European Medicines Agency. It said the side-effects were more common in younger men and that anyone with symptoms of heart inflammation, including chest pain, breathlessness and a pounding or fluttering heartbeat should see a doctor
• Malta will ban all unvaccinated visitors from Wednesday, its health minister has announced, saying it will be the first EU country to do so
• Covid vaccines are highly effective in people with underlying health conditions who were advised to shield earlier in the pandemic, real-world UK data reveals. The study , externalof more than a million people in at-risk groups shows two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines are needed for this protection

Today's coverage was brought to you by Hamish Mackay, Mary O'Connor, Jo Couzens, Jen Meierhans. The live page was edited by Hugo Bachega.

Image source, Getty Images

Last year, the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the UK's summer festival season. Only a handful of shows were able to take place, and most of them were in car parks or socially-distanced green field sites.

But the Reading Festival has now come one step closer to going ahead this summer after the local council granted its event licence.

It comes after the government confirmed Covid restrictions would end on 19 July, meaning large events like festivals could run.

Reading Borough Council said there would need to be "detailed consideration" on how to minimise the risk of coronavirus.

The festival - which was cancelled last year due to the pandemic - is expected to take place from 27 to 29 August this year.

The line-up for this year's event is set to include Stormzy, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Post Malone, Disclosure, Liam Gallagher and Queens of the Stone Age.

James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News

Heart inflammation has been found to be a "very rare" side-effect of the coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, according to the European Medicines Agency.

Europe's watchdog said the side-effects were more common in younger men. It added that the benefits of Covid-19 vaccines continue to far outweigh any risks but advised doctors and patients to be aware of the symptoms of heart inflammation.

These include chest pain, a feeling of breathlessness and a pounding or fluttering heartbeat. Anyone with these symptoms should see a doctor.

Two conditions were linked to the vaccines - inflammation of the heart muscle itself, known as myocarditis, and inflammation of the fluid-filled sac the heart sits in, known as pericarditis.

Five people died. The review said they were all either elderly or had other health conditions.

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has also been investigating the link.

Myocarditis and pericarditis will be officially listed as side-effects in the UK and Europe, mirroring a move by the regulators in the US last month.

Peter Mwai
BBC Reality Check

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that a third wave of Covid-19 cases in Africa could get worse as new and faster spreading variants like Delta drive infections.

New weekly cases have now overtaken the weekly numbers recorded at the height of the second wave in January this year and less than 2% of the continent has been fully vaccinated.

"The worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground," says Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.

More than 251,000 new cases were recorded in the week ending 4 July, making it the "worst pandemic week ever", he says.

The WHO believes the spread of the Delta variant - which is more transmissible - has contributed to an increase in both cases and deaths across the continent.

Covid vaccines are highly effective in people with underlying health conditions who were advised to shield earlier in the pandemic, real-world UK data reveals.

The study , externalof more than a million people in at-risk groups shows two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines are needed for this protection.

Being double-jabbed reduced the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 by around 90%. One dose cut it by about 60%, says Public Health England (PHE).

Protection against hospitalisation and death in at-risk groups is expected to be greater than protection against symptomatic disease, as has been seen in studies of the general population, although more data is needed to confirm this.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said: "This real-world data shows for the first time that most people who are clinically vulnerable to Covid-19 still receive high levels of protection after two doses of vaccine."

Image source, Getty Images

US swimmer Michael Andrew, a gold medal favourite at the Olympics, said he has not been vaccinated and has no plans to do so before the Tokyo Games, which begin on 23 July.

Andrew, 22, told reporters he did not want to risk taking time off training because of any vaccine side effects.

"I didn't want to put anything in my body that I didn't know how I would potentially react to," he said.

Andrew is the most prominent US athlete so far to reveal vaccine hesitancy. There is no provision demanding Olympic athletes to be vaccinated, even amid concerns about the pandemic-era games.

Instead, the 11,500 athletes competing this year will be subject to routine Covid-19 testing and strict social distancing guidelines while there.

Of the more than 80 million Covid vaccinations given in the UK as of Thursday, 45,697,875 were first doses - a rise of 96,430 on the previous day.

Meanwhile, 34,374,246 were second doses, an increase of 175,467.

Jerome Wirawan and Liza Tambunan
BBC Indonesia

Health workers in Indonesia are set to receive a third dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, in a government bid to boost their immunity against new variants of the virus.

Moderna doses will arrive in the country on Sunday, with plans to begin vaccinations as soon as next week, Health Minister Budi Sadikin said.

Between January and 9 July, 210 doctors died with Covid, according to the Indonesian Doctors Association. Twenty of them had been vaccinated using Sinovac, raising concerns over the efficacy of the Chinese-developed vaccine.

Indonesia is currently experiencing a surge of cases linked to the highly infectious Delta variant.

The government has put in place emergency restrictions on the islands of Java and Bali to drive down the infection rate, which has continued to break records in recent days.

On Thursday, the country recorded more than 38,000 new cases, bringing the official tally to more than 2.4 million cases. More than 63.700 deaths have been recorded so far.

The UK recorded another 35,707 new Covid-19 infections on Friday, the highest number of daily cases since 22 January.

The government's coronavirus dashboard , externalalso recorded a further 29 deaths within 28 days of a positive test bringing the total so far to 128,365.

Image source, Getty Images

The US state of Tennessee has halted vaccine outreach efforts to adolescents and teenagers after pressure from conservative lawmakers, according to The Tennessean, external.

The state's top health official told colleagues last week they should no longer advertise vaccine sites to anyone beyond the "general population" and should halt pop-up events for adolescents, the newspaper said.

The move comes two weeks after Republican state lawmakers criticised health officials for recommending the Covid-19 jabs to minors. In May, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorised in the US for adolescents as young as 12.

US vaccination rates have slowed in recent weeks, in part due to lower turnout in southern states.

Less than half of Tennessee’s residents aged 18 and older have been fully vaccinated - trailing behind states like Vermont where more than 76% have been fully vaccinated.

About 67% of American adults have received at least one shot.

Malta is to ban all visitors from Wednesday unless they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the health minister has announced.

"We will be the first EU country to do so, but we need to protect our society," Chris Fearne told a news conference, as the country reports a surge in cases.

Malta is among a handful of countries on the UK's travel green list, meaning travellers returning from these countries to England do not need to quarantine.

All UK passengers have had to present proof of full vaccination since 30 June, according to Foreign Office travel advice, external.

Image source, Getty Images

A group of top holiday firms including Ryanair, BA, tour operator Tui and Manchester Airports Group have launched legal action against the UK government over its Covid travel restrictions.

They want more transparency over how the government takes decisions on its travel rules, including how it assesses the Covid threat in destination countries.

The legal action is going ahead despite an easing of travel rules that will allow, from 19 July, fully vaccinated UK residents to return to England from an amber-list country without having to quarantine.

Their case, which is against Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, was heard at London's High Court on Friday.

The traffic light system rates countries green, amber or red based on their Covid risk.

Red-list countries have the strictest rules, with only UK or Irish nationals, or UK residents, allowed to return - and they must pay for a 10-day stay in a government quarantine hotel.

There are still just a handful of "green" destinations, which tend to be smaller islands, for example, Malta.

Major holiday destinations, such as Spain, Greece, France and the US, remain amber.

The Department for Transport spokesperson said its traffic light system was intended to manage the risk of new variants, and added that the department could not comment on legal proceedings.

Image source, EPA

Yes, there's another final happening.

Brazil and Argentina will decide the Copa America at Rio's Maracanã stadium on Saturday, and it will be invitation only.

The city's mayor said only 6,500 spectators - 10% of the famous stadium's capacity - invited by the South American football federation, Conmebol, will allowed in.

Everyone attending the event in the Brazilian city will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test before entering.

For tomorrow's final, attendees will be spread throughout the entire stadium, instead of concentrated in one section, the mayor's office confirmed.

The Brazilian government has drawn widespread criticism among public health experts and the public for hosting the Copa America, even as the country has yet to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.

Some 140 people associated with the tournament had tested positive for the virus by late June, said Reuters.

Hywel Griffith
BBC Wales correspondent

The Welsh government has announced that the use of face coverings will no longer be required in classrooms in Wales from September, and entire contact groups or so-called bubbles will no longer have to self-isolate as the result of a positive test in the next academic year.

Schools, colleges and universities will take a track-and-trace approach instead, following the announcement last month that institutions would be allowed to choose their own rules - though teaching unions said this would be confusing.

Education Minister Jeremy Miles has written to headteachers and principals to issue new guidance, saying that many young people had told him the current system was not proportionate.

The new guidance, which comes into force on 1 September, says social distancing should be maintained where possible in secondary schools, including staff keeping two metres from each other.

We have more on the guidance here.

Image source, Reuters

In France, nightclubs will be allowed to reopen on Friday for the first time in nearly 18 months as coronavirus restrictions meant they had to remain shut.

Venues' capacity will be capped at 75% of normal, masks are recommended but not mandatory and clubbers will need to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid test to gain entry, the AFP news agency reports.

But not all clubs will be opening their doors as the Delta Covid variant continues to spread. It's believed only around a quarter of clubs will actually reopen - and only then with reduced capacity.

The trade body that represents the industry says around 400 nightclubs have been forced to close permanently or are in deep financial trouble.

Health Minister Olivier Veran was quoted by AFP as saying: "We'll remain very vigilant, and obviously if we have to reverse course because things are going badly, we'll do what we have to."

He added that Delta infections now account for nearly 50% of the total new cases, and "will soon account for the majority, probably this weekend."

The first music festival to be held in Northern Ireland since the start of the pandemic is under way.

Stendhal Festival - based in Limavady, County Londonderry - is welcoming back fewer numbers than previous years.

The festival, established in 2011, attracted a 10,000-strong crowd in 2019 - but this year about 2,500 visitors are expected.

It follows Stormont's announcement that live music in Northern Ireland could resume from 5 July, as part of further relaxations to Covid-19 rules.

While music performed indoors is restricted to an "ambient sound level" with screens placed in front of musicians, no volume restrictions apply to live music at outdoor events.

Celia Hatton
BBC Asia Pacific regional editor

North Korea has reportedly rejected donations of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine due to concerns over potential side effects, according to a South Korean think tank.

The country has yet to confirm a single case of Covid-19, a claim long-questioned by analysts.

Last week, its leader, Kim Jong-un, punished several officials after referring to an unspecified Covid-related incident, according to a North Korean state media report.

But still, North Korea appears to be in no rush to procure vaccines.

The Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) in Seoul, which is linked to South Korea's spy agency, said Pyongyang had rejected donations of AstraZeneca on fears of its potential side effects.

The Covax global vaccine distribution scheme allocated almost two million AstraZeneca shots to North Korea in February, but the shipments were delayed following extended consultations.

The INSS said the country also refused Chinese vaccines in the belief they are not effective.

The North Korean leadership reportedly favours Russian vaccines.

Image source, EPA

Downing Street has defended Boris Johnson after he was seen leaving England's Euro 2020 semi-final in his official car without wearing a face covering

A No 10 spokesman confirmed that ministers are supposed to wear masks while travelling in their government cars.

However, the spokesman insisted the prime minister had put his mask on "shortly after" he got in the vehicle.

Johnson had been at Wembley with his wife, Carrie, to cheer on England in their 2-1 victory over Denmark on Wednesday evening.

Photographs of their departure in the PM's ministerial Range Rover in The Mirror, external showed that while his wife, his driver and his security detail were all masked, Johnson's face was uncovered.

The spokesman says: "He was getting into the car and, in line with the guidance, put his mask on very shortly afterwards."

Image source, Reuters

With the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics fast approaching, the Japanese authorities have decided to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo.

The Olympics begin on 23 July while the Paralympics start on 24 August, but events in the capital will take place without any spectators.

So, what is the situation with infections in Japan, and how many people have been vaccinated?

Our Reality Check team has answered those questions and others.

The coronavirus reproduction number, or R value, in England has increased slightly to between 1.2 and 1.5, according to the latest government figures.

This is up from last week, when it was 1.1 to 1.3.

The R value represents the average number of people each person with Covid-19 goes on to infect.

When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially. When it's below 1, it means the epidemic is shrinking.

An R number between 1.2 and 1.5 means, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 15 other people.

The growth rate is 3% to 7%, which means the number of new infections is growing by 3% to 7% every day.