The NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales is being tweaked so fewer contacts of a positive case will be advised to self-isolate
Health Secretary Sajid Javid says this will reduce self-isolation disruption and protect those at risk
Travel rule changes mean people fully vaccinated in the US or EU no longer have to isolate when arriving in the UK from an amber list country
However, those coming from France will still have to quarantine due to concerns over the circulation of the Beta variant
Travel bosses and MPs have criticised plans for a so-called amber watchlist of countries, which could then move to the red list at short notice
Network Rail says tests have found no traces of Covid-19 in swabs and air samples of four major railway stations and intercity train services
A fresh Covid outbreak in China has spread to more locations, raising concerns over the country's vulnerability to the Delta variant
The UK reported 21,952 new Covid cases on Monday as well as a further 24 deaths within 28 days of a positive test
That's all from us today. We'll be back with more live news from the pandemic tomorrow morning.
Today's coverage was brought to you by Lauren Turner, George Bowden, Hamish Mackay, Hazel Shearing, Alexandra Fouche, Laurence Peter and Joseph Lee.
Image source, Getty ImagesThere were emotional scenes at Heathrow Airport as travel restrictions were eased and loved ones reunited
We're bringing our live coverage to a close shortly. But before we go, here's a look back at some of today's main stories:
Image source, Getty ImagesA Pfizer vaccination in Madrid
Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have raised the prices of their Covid vaccines delivered to the EU, France says, confirming an earlier Financial Times report.
Europe Minister Clément Beaune said the two pharma firms had had to adapt their vaccines to the new variants, so “not just for the European Union, but for all the buyers it’ll be a bit more expensive”. He was speaking on French radio.
Last week the EU said 57% of the bloc’s adult population had been fully vaccinated. More than 455m doses have been administered in the EU.
The EU is co-ordinating vaccine purchases for the 27 member states. It has not disclosed how much it is paying for the doses.
But the FT said the new price for a Pfizer dose was €19.5 (£17; $23), against €15.5 previously. And a Moderna dose would cost €21.5, against €19 previously.
Contractually they are the biggest vaccine suppliers to the EU: Pfizer has pledged 600m doses and Moderna 460m. The EU is also vaccinating with Oxford-AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).
Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent
There are now clear signs that the number of people being admitted into hospital with Covid has started falling in England following the drop in detected cases.
Infections have been falling for well over a week.
But there is always a lag between a change in cases and hospitalisations as it tends to take a week to 10 days for someone who is infected to become ill enough to require hospital treatment.
On Saturday there were 593 hospitalisations - that followed 650 on Friday and 758 on Thursday.
On the same days the previous week there were 734, 725 and 827 admissions respectively.
Your Questions Answered
Earlier, the BBC News Channel asked viewers for their coronavirus questions.
Annabel asked whether changes to travel rules - meaning people fully vaccinated in the US or EU no longer have to isolate when arriving in the UK from an amber list country - apply to people who are currently quarantining.
Sean Tipton of travel agents' association, Abta, replied: "That must be very frustrating for Annabel but unfortunately as she arrived before the change was made she's going to have to remain and self- isolate."
And viewer Anna wanted to know when the US will lift its ban on people entering from the UK.
Lisa Minot, travel editor for the Sun, replied: "At the moment, the presidential proclamation was put in place by President Trump at the start of the pandemic remains in place and we don't yet have a date for that to be lifted."
She said there are "serious concerns" about the Delta variant, with rising cases in places like Florida - especially with vaccine take-up low in some parts of the country.
Alan asked if there are any updates for people who received the Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine, which some countries in the EU were refusing to accept for travel.
Sean Tipton replied there is good news for people caught in this bureaucratic mishap, caused because the Indian-made vaccine has a different name despite being identical.
He said "it shouldn’t be problem" and the issue has been resolved. Countries such as Spain said "from day one they didn't mind where it was made", he added.
And Leo said he's planning to travel from Brussels to London on the Eurostar, which passes through France. Will he have to quarantine?
Unfortunately, yes, Lisa replied. "As much as you might not get off the train, it doesn’t prevent people getting on," she added.
Dr Jenny Harries said the government wants to strike a balance with the changes to the app
Dr Jenny Harries, CEO of the UK Health Security Agency, has been speaking to reporters to explain the decision to make changes to England and Wales' NHS Covid-19 app, which was alerting record numbers of people and asking them to self-isolate.
She says the government has had some "very good data" about the app, showing it has been preventing about 2,000 cases a day, or 50,000 in the month of July.
But she said "we want the public to continue having confidence in the app" so they were changing it so that it contacts fewer people who are close to a person who tests positive during the days when they are less likely to be infectious.
"What we are doing In this new context of opening up is trying to get the balance right between the public health advice and the way people are living their lives and the social and economic factors affecting them," Dr Harries says.
"So we are altering the logic of the app, which will mean that fewer contacts will be advised to isolate. That is because we will only be contacting those at higher risk, who had very close contact in the most infectious period of the positive case."
A further 118,184 people received their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, bringing the proportion of the adult population who are fully vaccinated to 72.7% - nearly 38.5 million people.
But just 21,266 people received first doses, as the numbers coming forward for vaccination continued to slow down. A total of almost 46.9 million people, or 88.6% of adults, have had at least one jab.
Image source, PA MediaAfter complaints about the number of people forced to self-isolate due to alerts from the NHS Covid-19 app, the government says it is updating the software so it will notify fewer people.
It aims to address what became known as the "pingdemic", but the Department of Health urged the public to continue to use the app and to self-isolate if they receive an alert.
Currently the app looks for people who were close contacts of someone who tested positive - but have had no symptoms - in the five days before their test. The updated app will only look back two days instead, "based on public health advice", the department said.
It said the change means the app will focus on the days when the person was at their most infectious. It does not change the sensitivity of the app, or its risk threshold, and will mean the same number of high-risk contacts will be asked to isolate, the department said.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “We want to reduce the disruption that self-isolation can cause for people and businesses, while ensuring we’re protecting those most at risk from this virus. This update to the app will help ensure that we are striking the right balance.
“It’s so important that people isolate when asked to do so in order to stop the spread of the virus and protect their communities.”
The UK has recorded another 21,952 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, as infections appear to be continuing their fall.
It means that during the past seven days the nation has had 27% fewer positive tests than in the previous week.
Another 24 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported, which means deaths have risen 20% week on week.
The delay between infections reaching their peak and the peak of hospital admissions and deaths is the likely explanation for why deaths continue to rise despite the fall in cases.
Image source, GETTY IMAGESA fresh Covid outbreak in China has spread to 15 provinces, raising concerns over the country's vulnerability to the highly contagious Delta variant.
With more than 300 cases detected in 10 days, the government has imposed fresh travel restrictions and is testing millions.
It's the largest outbreak in China for months - the Global Times newspaper has called the outbreak the "most serious since Wuhan", external.
The country was largely successful in controlling the virus within its borders last year, but cases of the Delta variant emerged in July in Nanjing Airport, among workers who had cleaned a plane that arrived from Russia.
Authorities promptly tested 9.2 million residents of Nanjing and imposed lockdown on hundreds of thousands of people.
Health officials have zeroed in on a theatre in Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, where many of the latest cases have been confirmed, and are now trying to track down about 5,000 people who attended performances and then travelled back to their home cities.
The virus has also reached Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid-19 first emerged, with seven people there testing positive for the virus.
The change of rules to allow people fully vaccinated in the US and EU to avoid quarantining when they come to the UK is the latest example of international travel opening up.
But where are cases highest around the world?
Well, Covid-19 is continuing to spread globally, with more than 198 million confirmed cases and more than 4.2 million deaths across nearly 200 countries.
The US, India and Brazil have seen the highest number of confirmed cases, followed by France, Russia, the UK and Turkey.
Our Visual and Data Journalism Team has put together an interactive table that allows you to see countries by deaths, death rate and total cases. Head over here to take a look.
The prime minister said the UK economy was one of the most open in Europe
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been speaking to reporters on a visit to the new Airbus HQ in Stevenage, where he was tackled about the possibility of an "amber watchlist" being added to the traffic light system for travel.
Amid criticism that it would make the system too complicated and hinder the tourist industry's recovery, he said: "I understand people care very much about their holidays, people want to go abroad."
But he said "we’ve also got to remember this is still a dangerous virus" and it was important to "try and stop variants coming into the country".
He said the government was planning to take a "balanced approach" which would be "simple and user-friendly".
"Double vaccinations really do offer the way forward," he added.
Asked whether the UK was "squandering" its progress in vaccinations by being slow to open up, Johnson said the UK economy and society is "just about the most open in Europe".
He said IMF figures showed the UK economy rebounding, but on travel they had to balance the desire to open up with "anxiety" about variants.
Image source, EPAThe MP whose constituency covers Gatwick said the UK risked "squandering" its vaccine success
A Conservative MP who leads the all-party group on the future of aviation has called for the government to think again over plans to add an "amber watchlist" of countries at risk of being downgraded to red in the traffic light system for international travel.
Henry Smith, MP for Crawley where Gatwick Airport is based, told the PA News agency it risked “squandering the successful vaccine rollout”.
Making the system more complex “will just put more people off from booking international travel and will mean that there isn’t an August of meaningful travel to save travel and aviation sector jobs," he said.
Mr Smith said the UK was already at a disadvantage to other places such as the US and some European countries, which had opened up more to international travel.
Diana Holland, from the Unite union which represents air travel workers, said the industry had "haemorrhaged jobs" and needed greater financial support, as in France and Germany.
She said the current traffic light system was not working, there was disagreement about how to proceed and support was needed while the situation remained unclear.
Image source, Calum O'FlynnCalum O'Flynn said hospitality workers faced losing vital income in tips while self-isolating
While exemptions have been arranged for some critical workers at large companies, the record numbers of self-isolation alerts being issued by the NHS Covid-19 app are still hitting small businesses and their workers.
Calum O'Flynn, an assistant bar manager at London's Head + Tails pub in Hampstead, says: "About 25% of my income comes from tips, so if you get pinged on a Thursday or Friday, you're missing a huge amount - it could be two-thirds' rent for most of us."
He said on one shift, three workers were "pinged" by the app just before opening, while another got an alert during the shift. Calum says they were left with half a team working twice as hard - and still not able to serve customers as well as they would want.
"We've had burnout and it's been really stressful, we're all just exhausted," he said.
Mursal Saiq, director of London-based restaurant and BBQ delivery service Cue Point, said he had been forced to employ friends at the last minute to cover gaps in staffing.
"You just can't rely on having staff at the moment. Operationally it's nearly impossible to run events right now," he said.
The government says it is working with hospitality firms to enable safe re-opening, but self-isolation is an essential tool.
Joss Croft said the inbound tourist industry still needed financial support
Joss Croft, CEO of UKinbound, which represents the domestic tourism industry, has been speaking to the BBC News Channel about the impact of today's easing of quarantine for US and EU travellers.
He says: "It's the first piece of good news that the 500,000 people employed in inbound tourism will have had in months."
But he says it's unlikely to help the industry recover much more rapidly, as most of the UK's tourism is very seasonal - only 22% of US visitors come between September and December, he says.
Additional barriers such as the continuing quarantine requirements for France are also keeping visitors away, closing the UK to its second-largest market and also blocking coach trips from other European countries that have to pass through France.
Image source, Thomas WaltersA father and son who live on opposite sides of the Atlantic have been reunited for the first time since February 2020 - as quarantine rules ease for those fully-jabbed in the US.
Thomas Walters, 47, flew from the US to London's Heathrow earlier to surprise his dad Julian ahead of his 70th birthday tomorrow.
“I had tears in my eyes when I clicked purchase and realised I was able to come," he tells the BBC.
“I’ve been grumpy with my family because our family vacation in Michigan was going to fall in the middle of my dad’s 70th. When I realised that the rules had changed I found flights that were reasonable and realised I could actually do this."
Thomas was born in London but now lives in Livonia, New York. Before the pandemic, he would see his dad every two or three months.
Julian says he wasn't expecting Thomas to show up at all.
“I’ve not seen my family for 17 months other than on Zoom, not just my son but his family and my daughter too. It’s nice to have some parts of the family here and be together again," he says.
“I did say no surprises for my birthday but this is a welcome one.”
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she has asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a meeting when he visits Scotland later this week.
"We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can," Sturgeon posted on Twitter, along with an image of the letter she has written to him.
In it, she proposes they meet "for a discussion on the current Covid situation and our respective plans for recovery".
She has invited Johnson to Bute House, her official residence in Edinburgh.
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Image source, Air New ZealandNew Zealand is addressing a shortage of seasonal workers by allowing in some foreign workers who won't have to undergo two weeks in quarantine.
They'll be drawn from the Pacific nations of Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu, which have largely kept the pandemic at bay.
"Our closed border has been critical to keeping Covid out and keeping our economy running but... we know our agriculture sector is experiencing challenges," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.
The arrangement is due to begin in September, external.
New Zealand closed its borders last year, cutting off its traditional source of seasonal workers from small Pacific countries, while island nations have suffered from the drop in workers’ remittances.
New Zealand’s strict quarantine control has seen the country go without any community transmission of the coronavirus since February.
"I don't want to let her go," said Sue, meeting her daughter for the first time in more than 19 months
“Oh my goodness!”
That was the moment Naomi Hooper, who lives with her husband and two children in San Diego, laid eyes on her parents for the first time since December 2019.
She rushed into the arms of mother Sue Johns and father Peter, hugging them tightly as they sobbed behind their masks. Naomi briefly broke off with a laugh to say: "Stiff upper lip!". But the tears soon flowed again.
The BBC had travelled to meet Sue and Peter at Heathrow Airport to catch their reunion as the UK relaxed quarantine rules on people fully vaccinated in the US and EU.
Sue said she hadn't been able to sleep with excitement. She had previously launched a diplomatic campaign to try and visit her grandson and granddaughter in the US, which still bans UK travellers. She wrote to the president and vice-president, along with the governor of California and the UK transport secretary.
"This isn’t tourism, I don’t want to go for a holiday, I want to go and see my family," she said. "We’ll quarantine, we’ll take tests every day, we’ll do whatever we need to do. And I know I’m not alone."
"Thank goodness for the masks," said Naomi Hooper. "Not too much ugly crying."
Peter said it had been "torturous" missing key moments in their grandchildren's lives. "The granddaughter just lost her first tooth and I think last time we saw her she had gained her first tooth," he said.
Naomi said: "I really didn’t think it was possible to come home until I stepped off the plane, I didn’t think it was going to happen."
She said she hoped the US would open up travel for vaccinated British travellers so her parents could spend time with her son and daughter, who had to stay home with her husband.
In the meantime, she was looking forward to hugging her grandmother and meeting her niece, who is almost two years old, for the first time.
"I probably won’t want to leave in eight days," she said. Her father replied: "It’s quite cold, so you might."
Sue and Peter Johns said they hope the US opens up to vaccinated UK travellers
Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News
Image source, AFPThe north African country is struggling to cope with a spike in cases
Algerian students in France have raised more than €600,000 ($713,000; £513,000) to buy medical equipment and supplies for hospitals battling coronavirus in their home country.
The Algerian Medical Network launched a fundraiser on 20 July to help save lives as the health system in the north African country struggled to cope with a rapid spike in infections.
The campaign has been supported by celebrities including actress Leila Bekhti and former footballer Frank Ribéry. By the end of the month, they were able to raise €627,900.
The money will be used to buy oxygen concentrators and medicines.
The network intends to launch a new fundraiser in a few days to collect more money and send more medical equipment to the country.