Summary

  • The government may be forced to re-impose coronavirus restrictions in the autumn if cases continue to rise, the former health secretary says

  • Jeremy Hunt says the NHS is facing a very serious situation, with rapidly increasing numbers of hospital admissions

  • With most rules in England ending on Monday, a government scientist says cases will soon hit 100,000 a day - and stay high through autumn

  • The current health secretary, Sajid Javid, has tested positive for Covid - despite being double jabbed

  • Fully vaccinated arrivals to England and Wales from France will still have to quarantine from Monday due to concern over Beta variant cases

  • That is despite it being announced last week that double jabbed people could skip quarantine from amber-list countries

  • Tim Alderslade, CEO of Airlines UK, says the "random rule changes" are making it "impossible for travellers and industry to plan ahead"

  • Six people can meet in homes and a law limiting the number of people meeting outside is being scrapped as Welsh lockdown rules ease further

  • Free flu jabs will be offered to people aged two to 16, over 50 or in "at-risk" groups this winter, amid the double threat of Covid and influenza

  • For the first time since mid-January, more than 50,000 daily coronavirus cases have been reported in the UK

Live Reporting

Edited by Suzanne Leigh

  1. Fully jabbed arrivals from France must still quarantine

    ParisGetty Images

    Fully jabbed travellers returning to England and Wales from France will still have to quarantine from Monday.

    From 19 July, adults who have been double jabbed in the UK arriving from amber list countries will not need to isolate for 10 days. The same applies to under-18s.

    But the government said the easing would not apply to France due to "persistent" cases of the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa.

    There are concerns vaccines may not work as well against the Beta variant.

    Some 3.4% of cases recorded in France in the past four weeks were the Beta variant, according to GISAID, a global open source database.

    The more infectious Delta variant - first identified in India - accounts for almost all new cases in the UK.

    You can read the full story here.

  2. Saturday’s front pages: 'French holiday chaos', and 'world watching' PM

    Daily Mail and i Weekend

    The last minute changes to quarantine advice for travellers arriving from across the Channel features on several of Saturday's front pages.

    "French holiday chaos" is the lead in the Times. It says hundreds of thousands of UK holidaymakers will be hit by the decision to maintain quarantine rules on those arriving from France.

    The Daily Telegraph points out that there is no way for people already in the country to escape the impact of the rules - which come in on Monday - because France is on the amber list, and there is already a requirement to isolate.

    The Daily Mail calls it a "sudden change" - which will be a "huge blow" for fully-vaccinated Britons who have booked trips.

    You can read the full paper review here.

  3. Good morning...

    Welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. We’ll bring you the latest updates from around the world, throughout the day.

    Here are the latest headlines:

    • Fully jabbed travellers returning to England and Wales from France will still have to quarantine from Monday
    • The government says the planned easing of amber quarantine will not apply to France due to "persistent" cases of the Beta variant
    • Tim Alderslade, CEO of Airlines UK, says the "random rule changes" are making it "impossible for travellers and industry to plan ahead"
    • In Wales, six people can meet in homes and a law limiting the number of people meeting outside is being scrapped as rules ease further
    • Free flu jabs will be offered to people aged two to 16, over 50 or in "at-risk" groups in the UK this winter, amid the double threat of Covid and influenza