Latest updates: latest ONS figures suggest rise in cases; Delta variant is ‘an issue’ in northern France, transport secretary says
- Keir Starmer urges No 10 to bring forward Covid isolation end date
- Pregnant women urged to get Covid jab amid rise in hospital admissions
- Ministers under fire for putting France on England’s ‘amber plus’ list
- Global coronavirus updates – live
More from Keir Starmer, who says there needs to be a “distinction” between mass events and “day-to-day needs” on proving Covid status.
The Labour leader told broadcasters:
There is a distinction between those massive events and the day-to-day needs of every day life, and certainly we shouldn’t be going down the road of passports for day-to-day needs, for every day life.
We can’t have a situation where someone can’t have access to a health service or dentistry or supermarkets – that is something I don’t think anybody could seriously countenance, so we have to make this distinction.
One in 65 people in England and Northern Ireland had Covid-19 in the week ending 24 July, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as infection rates in both areas continued to rise.
The rate for England is the highest level since the week to 30 January.
Latest data show #COVID19 infection rates have continued to increase in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and decreased in Scotland in the week ending 24 July 2021.
The Delta variant continues to be the most common in the UK https://t.co/HXYymKxo93 pic.twitter.com/0tUTs957aP
In England, the infection rate increased in all regions except in the East of England and the South West in the week ending 24 July 2021 https://t.co/VqMW2J9odv pic.twitter.com/q5NaOXlLOL
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