As we mentioned earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron has taken to Instagram and TikTok to answer people's questions about the pandemic and vaccines, while on holiday in the south of the country.

Looking tanned and wearing a T-shirt, he urged people to ask him questions directly, in a low-key video filmed in selfie mode.

"Since the beginning of the summer, we have heard a lot about the fourth wave and about the only weapon to deal with it: vaccines," he said.

"I know that many of you are still asking themselves questions, are afraid; many are hearing false information, false rumours, which sometimes don't amount to much, it has to be said. So I decided to answer your questions directly. Come on, ask me, and I will try to be as direct and clear as possible."

He said 42 million French people had now received a first dose of the vaccine, and some 35 million had received two doses.

Meanwhile, people have been taking to the streets for the third weekend running to protest against the controversial Covid passport which is now required to gain access to a number of facilities.

On Saturday, about 200,000 demonstrated against it - with some clashing with police.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us on your lunchbreak, here's a chance to catch up with some of the main headlines today:

• Families have been reunited after months apart as the UK relaxed its quarantine rules for people who have been fully vaccinated in the US or EU and arrive from a country on the amber list

• A fresh outbreak in China, considered to be the largest in months, has spread to more locations, leading to new travel restrictions
• Tests at major UK railway stations and on intercity trains have found no traces of coronavirus on frequently touched surfaces or in the air during hour-long sampling, Network Rail has said
• Nearly 300 fraudulent applications for Covid passports for international travel have been rejected in Northern Ireland

• A lockdown in Brisbane and other parts of South East Queensland in Australia has been extended as the number of cases there continue to rise
• Portugal's bars and clubs are staying open late into the night for the first time since March last year

Image source, Getty Images

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! will return to North Wales for the second year running this November, ITV has confirmed.

The programme-makers abandoned plans to return to Australia and will once again challenge famous faces to gruelling trials with weird bugs at the ruined Gwrych Castle.

Last year's show was filmed at the same location after the pandemic forced the producers to seek an alternative to their usual Australian base.

ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall had said in March that the show would return Down Under if possible, but with Australia still under strict travel restrictions, the production faced too many logistical problems.

Host Ant McPartlin has previously told Digital Spy he and fellow host Declan Donnelly would be happy to return to North Wales, saying they had been made very welcome.

“There were cardboard cutouts of me and Dec in the butcher’s, and the local school did a tribute. We’d happily go back there. We’d miss the sunshine, mind," he said.

Image source, Getty Images

Caroline Davies
Transport correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The scene at Heathrow was of plenty of smiles, quite a few tears as well, and a lot of relief that people had finally arrived and got into the country.

Of course for many people the fact that quarantine has now been removed if you’ve been jabbed in the US or Europe is a fantastic thing - but there are plenty of people who’ve been double jabbed in countries around the rest of the world who are feeling a little bit left out at the moment.

We are expecting an announcement about the traffic light system. We’ve obviously got green, amber and red, but there are a few more bands to bear in mind.

We’re already had the "green watchlist", which refers to countries that are currently green but could potentially tip into amber.

But what we’ve also got is the amber-plus list - which France is on at the moment - meaning that you still have to quarantine at home even if you’ve been double jabbed.

What some MPs are concerned about is the introduction of an "amber watchlist", consisting of countries that could go from amber into red.

They say that instead of having a traffic light system, it’s almost a rainbow band of plentiful different things the government could do - and this is getting very complicated.

The government has already emphasised that this is important to help people understand how international travel could change and give people the most information they can before they decide to book.

Image source, EPA

China is the latest place to record rising numbers of the Delta coronavirus variant. With 300 cases in 10 days, it's the largest outbreak in months for the country.

The government is testing millions of people and imposing travel restrictions in an effort to contain the virus. But why is the Delta variant causing so much concern in a nation that has been mostly successful in suppressing earlier waves of Covid-19?

The big concern about Delta is not that it causes more severe illness for most people or that vaccines are less effective against it - UK officials say there is no evidence for that. But it does have mutations which appear to help it spread more easily.

And if a variant is more infectious, it is likely to lead to more deaths in an unvaccinated population.

Chinese authorities say they have administered 1.6 billion doses of their own vaccines, but it's not known how many of the 1.4 billion people are fully vaccinated.

Current vaccines were designed for earlier variants, but Public Health England found two doses of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca were 90% effective at preventing admission to hospital due to Delta.

Read more about Delta and other variants

Image source, PA Media

Many families are seeing each other for the first time since the start of the pandemic, after travel rules changed to allow people fully vaccinated in the US and EU to avoid quarantine.

One woman from Boston, in the US, said it was "really emotional" to see her mother and sister in the UK again for the first time in more than 18 months.

Michelle Bolger, 50, landed in Glasgow Airport with her two sons to visit her sister, Elaine Burt, 55, and her mother, Jean, who has been unwell.

"It's been so long ... it's been really hard, but we're here, we made it," she said.

"It's been a rollercoaster trying to get here."

Ms Burt told reporters: "We never thought it was going to happen with all of the different restrictions but we left it to the last minute to see what was possible."

Image source, Getty Images

The Delta variant is continuing to push infection rates up in much of Europe, though in most countries the burden on hospitals is below last year's crisis levels.

• The Berlin authorities have banned three demonstrations planned for today by opponents of vaccination and Covid restrictions. Several thousand protested in Berlin on Sunday, defying a ban, and about 600 were detained during scuffles with police
• The German health minister says the rate of people receiving a first jab has dropped to February’s rate. But 52% of the population is now fully vaccinated. Infections have been growing for four weeks, though the official rate is relatively low – about 1,800 new cases daily
• In France, the number of Covid patients in hospital has risen above 7,500 again. President Emmanuel Macron – on holiday on the French Riviera - took to Instagram and TikTok on Monday to urge more citizens to get the jab. Those fully vaccinated account for 53% of the population, Ouest-France reports
• Portugal's bars and clubs are staying open late into the night for the first time since March last year. But customers can only enjoy the revelry sitting down - dancing will be allowed in October if the vaccination campaign continues successfully.

Stephen McDonell
BBC News, China correspondent

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, China has imposed strict new restrictions on people's movements in the hope of bringing a fresh outbreak under control.

Apart from not being able to travel internationally, people here had become accustomed to life without many Covid restrictions.

Now a fresh outbreak of the Delta variant is changing that very quickly.

All train services into Beijing from newly designated high-risk areas have been suspended. All flight connections with the eastern city of Yangzhou have also been halted.

For the moment, official statistics don't show huge numbers of infections, but there is a wide spread of cases right across the country, including in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people which had the world's first coronavirus lockdown.

Using tracing apps, officials are trying to map the outbreak trajectory and, as people test positive, their housing compounds are being locked down to prevent exposure to others.

Image source, Barcroft Media/Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Young people could be put off getting the Covid vaccine because of messaging implying that "infections don't matter", according to one scientist advising the government.

More than 68% of 18 to 29-year-olds in England have had a first jab, while 88.6% of all UK adults have had one.

Behavioural psychologist Prof Stephen Reicher, who sits on the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B), told Times Radio: "If the health secretary can say 'we're going to have 100,000 cases a day, that doesn't matter, we're still going ahead with our policy', and when you see reopening everywhere, it does begin to send the message that infections don't matter."

He added: "In fact there's some evidence that the young people are beginning to say 'well, why should I get vaccinated if it doesn't really matter, if infection doesn't matter, why should I do things to avoid infection?'"

He stressed that messaging should be "consistent" and "clear" with an emphasis on "social responsibility".

Prof Reicher's comments come after the government said young people will be offered discounted takeaways and car travel to get their Covid jabs in a bid to boost vaccine uptake.

Food delivery and ride-hailing firms including Uber, Bolt and Deliveroo will offer incentives to people to get vaccinated.

You can read more about the planned incentives here.

Image source, Reuters

Some 60% of people would like to see a lockdown imposed in Tokyo, where the Olympic Games are currently taking place amid a rise in cases numbers, local media report.

People feel the current state of emergency is no longer effective - although the name sounds serious, it is not a strict lockdown, there is no penalty, and people feel the government needs to do more, reports the BBC's Mariko Oi in the Japanese capital.

However, it is not clear what the government can do because the country's constitution doesn't allow Tokyo to impose a strict lockdown, our correspondent adds. Government critics say they should have changed the law to be able to impose a strict lockdown now.

On Friday, Japan extended its state of emergency for Tokyo to three prefectures near Tokyo and the western prefecture of Osaka, in light of the recent spike in infections.

For Tokyo, there are specific measures in place such as limits on opening hours for bars and restaurants, and restrictions on serving alcohol.

Residents of the capital have also been advised to avoid non-essential journeys, wear masks and work from home.

Read more about what is happening with Covid cases in Japan.

Almost 300 "fraudulent applications" for Covid-19 vaccine certificates for international travel have been rejected in Northern Ireland, the head of the programme says.

Dr Eddie O'Neill says: "We've rejected 294 applications where people have fraudulently tried to claim a certificate, we had three individuals who made 38 applications between them, putting in different vaccination dates every time."

People can currently apply through the NI Direct Website, external if they are travelling abroad up to and including 10 August.

Dr O'Neill says he hopes to open the process "without restriction" - but that depends on how stable the system is.

The system was offline for several days having been dogged by technical problems but resumed on Saturday night and Dr O'Neill says it is now "stable and running well".

Alison Roberts
Portugal Correspondent, Lisbon

Image source, Getty Images

In Portugal, nightlife establishments have been able to reopen for the first time since the pandemic took hold in the country last year, though with clients still not allowed to dance or enjoy a drink at the bar.

The change, which came in on Sunday, is part of a gradual easing of restrictions.

Bars and clubs across Portugal have been welcoming back punters, with some proprietors determined to stay open until 02:00 (01:00 GMT) despite its being a Sunday.

Until now cafes, restaurants and other establishments in areas with high coronavirus incidence have had to close by 22:30; this week's lifting of that restriction makes nightlife possible again for the first time.

For now, customers must remain seated, but if vaccination progresses as expected and around 80% of people are fully inoculated by October, then dancing is once more to be allowed.

Image source, PA Media

Cleaners, porters, catering assistants, security guards and other health staff employed by private companies should receive the same pay rise as NHS staff, union leaders have said.

The government has announced a 3% pay rise for most NHS workers in England.

But Unison said those working in the NHS but employed by private contractors were at risk of missing out.

The union has written to the largest private employers in the health service saying their staff "have worked hard and under incredibly challenging circumstances across the NHS throughout the pandemic".

It said private firms and subsidiary companies owned by individual NHS trusts should increase hourly pay to at least match new NHS rates.

You can read more about the calls for a pay rise here.

As we've been reporting, people who have been fully vaccinated in the US or European Union no longer have to isolate when arriving in the UK from an amber list country.

A passenger who arrived at London's Heathrow airport from Washington DC told the BBC the new rule gives him "more time to spend with family".

Image source, Getty Images

While the rules for double-jabbed people coming to England from the EU and US changed today, those arriving from France still need to quarantine due to concerns over the Beta variant first identified in South Africa.

The UK government is concerned jabs may not work as well against the variant.

France is reimposing lockdown rules in two overseas territories – Martinique in the Caribbean and La Réunion in the Indian Ocean – where infection rates are much higher that in mainland France.

Martinique’s rate is 995 per 100,000 of the population, and La Reunion, a Beta (South African) variant hotspot, has a rate of 350. The mainland rate is 189, French media reported last week.

A total of 19,600 new cases and 3,531 new hospitalisations were recorded in France in the last 24 hours, according to the latest public health figures., external

You can read more on the rules for arrivals from France in England and Wales here.

Simon Atkinson
BBC News, Sydney

Image source, EPA

A lockdown in Brisbane and other parts of South East Queensland in Australia has been extended as the number of cases there continue to rise.

The state government says it is clear the current restrictions - scheduled to end on Tuesday - are insufficient. The lockdown will now run until at least Sunday.

The decision comes as 13 new community cases are announced - all with the Delta variant.

Many of these are linked to local schools with students among those infected.

The lockdown is the strictest the state has introduced during the pandemic.

It applies to millions of people living in 11 local government areas around Brisbane - Australia’s third largest city - the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

The state’s chief medical officer has urged people to stay at home unless absolutely essential.

Many have praised the state for its rapid response - after questions were raised over how long it took officials in New South Wales to react to Sydney’s outbreak.

Image source, Gemma Appleton

As we've been reporting, changes to travel rules mean that people who have been fully vaccinated in the US no longer have to isolate when arriving in the UK from the US and other amber list countries.

Gemma Appleton, who lives in Los Angeles, is flying back to the UK in a few weeks with her wife and young baby so he can meet his grandparents for the first time.

"The minute I heard the announcement I just burst into to tears, we have been waiting for this," Gemma tells the BBC.

"When my son was born my mum was supposed to fly out to LA to spend some time with us and show us how to be new mums and that didn't happen, she had to cancel her flight. We've just had very limited family time. It's not what I expected."

She adds: "The minute that we land I just know that I am going to run into M&S and buy a cheese and pickle sandwich. It's the first thing that I am going to do, I have been craving that for a while now, and then I am going to hug my parents.

"It has just been a moment that we have been waiting for for such a long time, being able to celebrate together. We have all been through a lot in the last 18 months and knowing that we are all going to be together in the same house is just going to be awesome."

Image source, Getty Images

As we just mentioned, a fresh Covid outbreak in China has spread to more locations, raising concerns in local media over the country's vulnerability to the highly contagious Delta variant.

More than 300 cases have been detected within 10 days.

Local headlines have been dominated by news of the outbreak, and the country's top respiratory diseases specialist has expressed "grave concern"., external

The government has imposed fresh travel restrictions and is testing millions of people.

It is unclear how many in China are fully vaccinated, although authorities say more than 1.6 billion doses have been administered so far.

At least 12 provinces and cities are now dealing with infections.

Although case numbers are considerably lower than in other places, it is considered the largest outbreak in months in China, a country that was largely successful in controlling the virus within its borders last year.

Read more here.

If you're just joining us, here are the main headlines from outside of the UK:

• A fresh outbreak in China, considered to be the largest in months, has spread to more locations, raising concerns about how vulnerable the country is to the Delta variant
• A lockdown in Brisbane and other parts of Southeast Queensland in Australia has been extended as the number of cases continues to rise
• In Portugal, bars and clubs have been able to reopen for the first time since the pandemic took hold in the country last year, though for now clients must remain seated and no dancing is allowed

Reality Check

With the Tokyo Olympics in full swing, new cases of Covid continue to be identified at the Games - and across Japan.

Infection numbers have been climbing for some weeks, with authorities announcing a state of emergency in Tokyo and five other areas until 31 August.

As of 2 August, a total of 281 Covid cases have been linked to the Olympics since 1 July, external, according to data collected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Half of these cases were among contractors providing services at the Olympic venues, and the majority of the cases were Japanese.

Here's a look at Covid cases at the Tokyo Olymipics, the rest of Japan, and the measures being taken.