Latest updates: infections rise in secondary school-age children and over 50s in England, with increases in Wales and Scotland too
- Wales to require NHS Covid passes to attend nightclubs and events
- UK scientist warns over relaxation of Covid travel rules
- Johnson’s revamped cabinet cram into office – with no masks
- Michael Gove set to pause contentious planning shake-up
- Coronavirus global updates – live
The number of European Union nationals who are living in the UK has fallen, figures show. As PA Media reports, ONS data for 2020 shows that within a year, the population of EU nationals in the UK dropped by 200,000, from 3.7 million to 3.5 million.
At his news conference the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, rejected the idea that his plan to make Covid passes compulsory for some venues (see 12.14pm) was a vaccination passport in all but name, pointing out it was possible to get a pass by taking a lateral flow test. He said:
They are clearly not vaccine passports, you can get a Covid pass without being vaccinated. It avoids those difficult ethical issues of people who cannot be vaccinated.
We will consider over the next few days whether to introduce a special offence of knowingly and deliberately falsifying a Covid pass.
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