Skills minister Gillian Keegan has been talking about the scrapping of the amber watchlist proposal this morning.

She tells BBC News the "most important thing" is to try to strike a balance with the travel system.

"We’ve explored a number of options, including the amber watchlist," she says.

"But we’ve looked at all the various options and thought that, on the whole, we need to make sure the system is simple enough for people to understand and if It gets too complicated people can’t really follow it."

Image source, PA Media

Young people will see their careers benefit by working in the office, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.

He's told LinkedIn News he doubts he would have done as well if he had started his working life virtually.

Sunak, who worked in finance, including at banking giant Goldman Sachs, says he still talks to his early mentors.

"I doubt I would have had those strong relationships if I was doing my summer internship or my first bit of my career over Teams and Zoom.

"That's why I think for young people in particular, being able to physically be in an office is valuable," he adds.

Bankers have been among the keenest businesses to encourage staff back into the office after many professionals were forced to work from home by the Covid pandemic.

Image source, Getty Images

France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe will to go into a new partial lockdown for at least three weeks to tackle a surge of Covid-19.

The new measures will start on Wednesday, with the re-introduction of a daily curfew between 20:00 and 05:00. Travel during the day will be restricted to a 10km (six miles) radius.

Bars, gyms, stadiums and swimming pools will be closed but shops will stay open with restaurants being able to serve at lunchtime.

Valerie Denux, director general of Guadeloupe's regional health agency, says the number of cases has multiplied by more than 10 over the past three weeks, to more than 3,000 cases a week.

"We're in a catastrophic situation," she adds.

The news comes as another French Caribbean island, Martinique, returned to lockdown on Friday for at least three weeks. And the French island of Reunion entered a partial two-week lockdown this weekend.

France is facing a fourth wave of the virus with about half of the population fully vaccinated. But the figures are significantly lower in the French overseas territories, according to AFP news agency.

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron went to TikTok and Instagram to try to counter misinformation about vaccines following a third weekend of protests over a controversial Covid health pass.

Will the travel traffic light system be simplified?published at 10:07 British Summer Time 3 August 2021

10:07 BST 3 August 2021

Adam Fleming
Chief political correspondent

The idea of an amber watchlist is something that was proposed to ministers and discussed at a meeting in Whitehall last week.

No decision was made about it, just the pros and cons were discussed, and then yesterday came the point of decision and the prime minister - in the words of one senior Whitehall source - decided to "kill it".

So it’s never been adopted as government policy, but it may have felt that way when you looked at reports in the newspapers.

The reason it’s happening is because we’re getting to one of these regular review points of the traffic light system.

This is when they normally decide on which countries go into which category, although lately new categories have been invented at the last minute.

The word the prime minister used yesterday when talking about this system was: simple.

Now if you take that to its logical conclusion the simplest form of a traffic light system would be red, amber, green.

So by the end of this week, have we returned to a pure red, amber, green system? Or do we still have the green watchlist – for countries that are green but potentially trending towards amber – and do we still have the amber plus list, which at the moment only has one country on it, France?

The travel industry would like it to be streamlined.

The number of deaths involving Covid in the UK has risen 46% in the week ending 23 July, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Some 392 deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, 124 more than were reported in the previous week.

The total number of deaths registered was 11,160, which was 8% above the five-year average.

As we've heard, plans for the addition of an amber watchlist category to the UK government's existing travel traffic light system have been scrapped.

We've got some more reaction here from Tim Hawkins of the Manchester Airports Group, which owns and operates three UK airports - Manchester, London Stansted, and East Midlands.

He tells the BBC: “We already have a hugely complex system, a traffic light system that governs intentional travel, and I think most people are struggling to keep up with those changes.

"To hear that we were about to have another level of complexity added to that I think was concerning for people.

"Whenever those rules change it impacts people’s plans and it dents people’s confidence.

"So the fact that the system will stay the same, I think, is welcome news."

Image source, EPA

Qantas says it will stand down 2,500 staff as a lockdown in Sydney impacts air travel across Australia.

The furlough - affecting pilots, crew and airport workers - will last for at least two months, the airline says.

Qantas says it will pay staff until mid-August, after which they can apply for government support payments.

Since June, fresh Covid outbreaks have forced most Australian states to reimpose restrictions.

The highly contagious Delta variant has forced lockdowns in several cities and some state border closures.

The situation is most severe in Sydney. It is seeing about 200 new infections each day, despite being in lockdown since 26 June.

Nearly all states have banned travellers from Australia's largest city.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says the latest Delta outbreaks have led to thousands of cancelled flights.

Qantas and its budget carrier, Jetstar, have lost about 60% of their domestic business from May to July, he adds.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

With the news that a plan for an addition of an "amber watchlist" to the UK government's traffic light system has been scrapped, here is a reminder of how the existing categories work:

• Green country: When returning from a country on the green list you must take a Covid-19 test before departure and have proof of a negative result. You also need to book a test for day two after your return
• Amber country: A Covid test is needed three days before returning, and a PCR test two days after arriving. People who are not fully vaccinated in the approved countries need to self-isolate for 10 days, although this can be shortened for people in England by using the Test to Release scheme, external - paying for a test on day five
• Red country: Regardless of your vaccination status you must take a test before departure and, on arrival, self-isolate for 10 days in a government-approved quarantine hotel.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

Authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan will begin testing its entire population, after a handful of positive coronavirus cases were detected there.

Wuhan has recorded seven locally transmitted cases - the first local infections in more than a year.

The city of 11 million people shot into the spotlight after the coronavirus was first detected there in 2019.

China is currently seeing one of its biggest outbreaks in months, with 300 cases detected in 10 days.

Some 15 provinces across the country have been affected, which has led to the government rolling out mass testing measures and lockdown restrictions.

Authorities have attributed the spread of the virus to the highly contagious Delta variant and the domestic tourism season.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Several life-saving kidney transplants within the Belfast Health Trust area could not go ahead at the weekend because not enough nurses were available to support surgeons.

The trust was offered healthy kidneys from deceased donors.

But they were turned down as the operations could not be carried out without sufficient staff.

The trust has apologised and blamed the staff shortage on a rise in the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

Read more

A panel convened by the World Health Organization to look at what lessons could be learnt from the pandemic has recommended high-income countries do more to help low-income countries.

Richer countries should give $19bn (£13.6bn) to fund access to vaccines and treatments in poorer countries, and give one billion doses by September, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response has said.

But so far the pledges from richer countries are "not big enough", says the panel's co-chair Helen Clark, and meanwhile undervaccinated countries with Covid outbreaks are seeing spikes in death tolls.

Clark, who is also the former prime minister of New Zealand, was speaking to the BBC's Karishma Vaswani on the Newsday programme.

As we've heard, government sources have told the BBC a proposal to create an "amber watchlist" of countries at risk of moving to red in the travel traffic light system is being scrapped.

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon is calling on the government to publish the data behind its decisions and provide "maximum clarity" to passengers and the travel industry.

He says clear information about what is happening with infections in each country is needed to build confidence about travel.

McMahon says: "Not only have ministers failed to protect our borders, allowing the Delta variant to reach the UK in such force, but time and time again they've refused to be straight with the public and industry."

The idea had also faced opposition from the Conservative benches, with Huw Merriman, chairman of the Commons Transport Committee, telling the BBC an amber watch-list would be a "massive red flag" that would cause travel bookings to collapse.

The next update to the travel list system is due on Thursday.

Image source, PA Media

Nicola Sturgeon is to set out plans for the lifting of most legal Covid-19 restrictions in Scotland, in a statement to MSPs this afternoon.

The whole of Scotland is currently in level zero of the virus alert system, and the first minister says she is hopeful of going further on 9 August.

This could see physical distancing rules relaxed, the return of office working and larger crowds at events.

However, Sturgeon says some measures such as the use of face coverings will remain in place "for some time".

She says people should not take progress for granted due to the faster-spreading Delta variant of the virus, saying "appropriate caution" must be taken.

Read more

The travel industry has reacted with relief at the news that the amber watchlist proposal will not go ahead.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the air travel industry body Airlines UK, says: "This is a victory for common sense. The PM has hit the nail on the head - people want a clear and consistent travel system that they can understand and that is workable."

He urges the government to go further and include more countries on the green list, exempting them from quarantine requirements.

Labour says scrapping the watchlist idea shows the Conservatives are "in total chaos" over their pandemic borders policy.

Image source, Reuters

A proposal to create an "amber watchlist" of countries at risk of moving to red in the travel traffic light system has been abandoned, government sources have told the BBC.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted a "simple" and "balanced approach" to pandemic travel.

Government sources said no new categories would now be added.

Tory MPs and travel industry figures earlier warned a complex system risked putting people off from travelling.

The government had been considering the idea of a new level in the government's traffic light system for overseas travel, ahead of the next review this week.

It would have warned people when a destination was at risk of a sudden shift from amber to red - meaning that travel would be banned for everyone except UK nationals and residents, who would be required to quarantine in a hotel on their return.

Read more here

Welcome to our live page where we’ll bring you the latest coronavirus updates throughout the day.

Here are your main headlines this morning:

• A proposal to create an "amber watch-list" of countries at risk of moving to red in the travel traffic light system has been abandoned, government sources have told the BBC
• Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is set to reveal whether her government will lift most legal Covid restrictions as planned on Monday, in a statement to MSPs this afternoon
• Qantas says it will stand down 2,500 staff as a lockdown in Sydney impacts air travel across Australia
• Authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan will begin testing its entire population, after a handful of positive coronavirus cases were detected there
• A panel convened by the World Health Organization to look at what lessons could be learnt from the Covid pandemic has recommended that high-income countries do more to help low-income countries.