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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jane Clinton (now), Matthew Weaver (earlier)

Passports ‘needed to keep England venues open’ – as it happened

A pedestrian walks past a poster advertising in-store vaccinations at Primark on Oxford Street, London.
A pedestrian walks past a poster advertising in-store vaccinations at Primark on Oxford Street, London. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

This blog is now closed – thanks for following along. We’ll launch a new blog in a few hours’ time. In the meantime, you can find all our coronavirus coverage here.

Two flights from London carrying 164,970 and 292,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine landed in Sydney on Sunday evening.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced the four million dose deal with the UK last week.

A World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil was abandoned amid farcical, confused scenes after four Premier League players apparently violated Brazilian regulations designed to contain a Covid outbreak that has killed more than 580,000 Brazilians.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso were on all the pitch at São Paulo’s Neo Química Arena on Sunday afternoon when federal police and officials from Brazil’s health agency, Anvisa, took to the field to halt play after just seven minutes.

Furniture store Ikea has said it is struggling to supply 1,000 product lines including mattresses because of Covid-19 and Brexit, reports the BBC.

Ikea said: “Like many retailers, we are experiencing ongoing challenges with our supply chains due to Covid-19 and labour shortages, with transport, raw materials and sourcing all impacted. In addition, we are seeing higher customer demand as more people are spending more time at home.

“As a result, we are experiencing low availability in some of our ranges, including mattresses.”

The retailer said it hoped the situation would improvise “in the coming weeks and months”.

“What we are seeing is a perfect storm of issues, including the disruption of global trade flows and a shortage of drivers, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic and Brexit,” it said.

Updated

Sir Keir Starmer said he would give his 12-year-old son the Covid-19 vaccine

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has said he would give his 12-year-old son a Covid jab if the vaccine for younger children gets the go-ahead, reports the Mirror.

The government’s scientific advisers will soon make a decision on jabs for 12- to 15-year-olds.

He also backs the rollout of Covid jabs to all secondary school children.

He told the publication:

Only one of children falls into that bracket but I am in favour of everybody having the vaccine if they possibly can. Therefore, if the advice is for that age children to have it, we would follow that advice.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer would give the vaccine to his 12-year-old if it is made available to that age group.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer would give the vaccine to his 12-year-old if it is made available to that age group. Photograph: Beresford Hodge/Reuters

Updated

Tennis player Andy Murray spoke with UK nurse May Parsons, the first person in the world to administer the Covid-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials.

From one champion to another.

AP reports on Mississippi, whose low vaccinated rate, with about 38% of the state’s three million people fully inoculated against Covid-19, is driving a surge in cases and hospitalisations and overwhelming medical workers.

Dr Risa Moriarity, executive vice-chair of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s emergency department:

There’s no point in being judgmental in that situation. There’s no point in telling them: ‘you should have gotten the vaccine or you wouldn’t be here’. We don’t do that. We try not to preach and lecture them. Some of them are so sick they can barely even speak to us.

Nearly 50 shops closed a day in the first half of the year, a survey conducted for accountancy firm PwC found.

PA reports that figures collected by the Local Data Company showed 8,739 shops shut across Britain in the first half of the year. With 3,488 opening in the same period, this reflected a net decrease of 5,251.

In the first half of last year as the Covid crisis began to bite, 11,120 shops closed for a net decrease of 6,001 - 750 more net closures than in the first six months of this year.

Paddy Lillis, general secretary of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw), said: “The UK retail sector has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic on an unprecedented scale, as the staggering number of shop closures demonstrates.

“With over 180,000 jobs lost across the industry last year and 200,000 predicted for this year, we need immediate action from the Government to reduce rents and rates for high street retailers, alongside levelling the playing field with an online sales tax.

“The coronavirus pandemic has pushed many retailers and retail workers to breaking point, so we need government measures to be equally significant.

“Retailers need urgent measures to deal with the immediate crisis and a longer-term strategy to deal with some of the more fundamental structural issues facing the industry. Usdaw is calling for the government to adopt an urgent recovery plan for the retail sector.”

Updated

The New York Times reflects on the surge in Covid-19 deaths in the US.

Iraq said they will allow only 40,000 foreigners, 30,000 from Iran, to attend the Arbaeen pilgrimage later this month in Karbala because of the pandemic, AFP reports.

The annual pilgrimage usually sees millions of worshippers, mostly Iraqis and Iranians, converge on the central city of Karbala on foot.

According to official figures, around 14 million attended in 2019 - a third of them were foreigners arriving mostly from Iran, the Gulf, Pakistan and Lebanon.

Iraq’s health and security committee said foreign pilgrims would be allowed to arrive only by air.

France has recorded 10,410 new coronavirus cases, Reuters reports.

Updated

Israel says it will soon be reopening its gates to foreign tour groups - despite battling one of the world’s highest rates of coronavirus infections, reports AP.

The tourism ministry said it will begin allowing organised tour groups into the country on 19 September.

Tourists will have to be vaccinated against coronavirus, present a negative PCR test before their flight and undergo both PCR and serological testing upon arrival. Visitors would then have to quarantine in their hotels until the test results come back - a process expected to take no more than 24 hours.

But tourists from a handful of “red” countries with high infection rates - including Turkey and Brazil - will not be permitted to visit for the time being.

In recent weeks, the country has begun administering booster shots to anyone who was vaccinated more than five months ago.

Updated

The BBC reports that Scottish Labour will not support the Scottish government’s plans to introduce vaccine passports.

Anas Sarwar told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show:

This is not opposition for opposition’s sake. Neither is this an ideological opposition to the principle of vaccine passports. This is about what works, and what’s going to make a meaningful difference. We all agree the vaccine is working in helping reduce hospitalisations and reduce deaths but there is a fear that using vaccine passports might actually entrench vaccine hesitancy rather than encourage uptake.

Updated

US officials have expressed optimism that Covid-19 booster shot delivery can start for all adults on 20 September, the goal set by President Joe Biden, as cases continue to rage across the country fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The officials insist, however, that boosters will not be rolled out without US health agencies’ authorisation, leaving open the possibility of delays.

MPs and their staff are buckling under the strain of a “phenomenal” rise in appeals for help from constituents, with some reporting a 12-fold increase in casework fuelled in part by an “absolute crisis” in mental health issues.

Parliamentary aides said they were becoming burnt out and struggling to help people in desperate need, because of a “massive backlog” of issues caused by the Covid pandemic.

Data shared with the Guardian by Labour and Conservative MPs shows that some are dealing with an average of 12 times more casework than before 2020, while many have seen the number of cases at least double.

AP reports that the Italian health minister, Roberto Speranza, has indicated a meeting of his G20 counterparts could yield a pledge about ensuring Covid-19 vaccines reach everyone in poor countries.

He said he hopes the two-day gathering in Rome which began today would result in a “pact ... so that the vaccine is the right of everybody and not just a privilege for few”.

Updated

Government data up to 4 September shows that of the 91,623,530 Covid jabs given in the UK, 48,245,337 were first doses. This is a rise of 39,752 on the previous day. 43,378,193 were second doses – an increase of 127,156, PA reports.

Updated

UK records 68 new Covid deaths

The government said a further 68 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to 133,229.

Yesterday 120 Covid deaths were reported.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 157,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

As of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 37,011 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, the government said.

Updated

Italy reported 5,315 new Covid cases on Sunday following an increase of 6,157 cases on Saturday. It also recorded a further 49 deaths after 56 new deaths from the virus announced on Saturday.

Summary

Here’s a roundup of the latest developments:

  • Vaccine passports will be required for nightclubs, mass events and large venues in England by the end of September, the vaccines minister has confirmed. Nadhim Zahawi said: “The best thing to do then is to work with the industry to make sure that they can open safely and sustainably in the long term, and the best way to do that is to check vaccine status.”
  • Zahawi also appeared to confirm reports that the government is considering making vaccination a requirement of working for the NHS. He said it “right and responsible” to consider such a move. The NHS Confederation said such a move was “unnecessary” because the overwhelming majority of NHS staff have been vaccinated.
  • Children will be able to overrule parental objections to them having Covid jabs if they are deemed to be able make competent decisions, according to Zahawi. “If they are then deemed to be able to make a decision that is competent, then that decision will will go in the favour of what the teenager decides to do,” he said.
  • Several prominent doctors and health experts have criticised the Speaker for allowing the Commons to open next week without Covid restrictions. They include Sage member Susan Michie and Professor Azeem Majeed head of primary Care and public health at Imperial College London.
  • The Vietnamese government has set a deadline of 15 September for everyone in its main cities to have at least one jab. Vietnam has one of the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates in the region, with only 3.3% of the country’s 98 million people fully vaccinated with two shots, and 15.4% with one shot.
  • Russia’s coronavirus cases have surpassed 7 million, with the country reporting 18,645 new infections in the past 24 hours and 793 more deaths. The latest figures took the total number of cases to 7,012,599, with the overall death toll at 187,200.
  • Iran has announced a further 610 deaths from Covid taking its total death toll from the virus to 110,674. Its highest daily increase in Covid deaths of 709 was on 24 August.
  • Almost 50 chain stores per day closed down on British high streets, retail parks and shopping centres in the first half of the year, according to research. But the rate of closures slowed compared with the first six months of 2020, a survey conducted for accountancy firm PwC found.
  • Brazil’s federal health regulator has suspended the use of over 12 million doses of vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac firm. The regulator said in a statement on Saturday that doses that were suspended were produced in an unauthorized plant.
  • Germany reported 10,453 new cases of the virus and 21 more deaths on Sunday. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 4,005,641 and deaths at 92,346.

Wales has reported 2,389 new cases of the virus and three more deaths. Until today the seven day average of new cases was running at 2,032 in Wales.

Anti-vax protest in Torun, Poland
Anti-vax protest in Torun, Poland Photograph: Aleksander Kalka/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Hundreds of people joined a far-right organised demonstrations against mandatory vaccines in Poland. Members of the anti-vax militia took part in the demonstration in the city of Torun, north-west of Warsaw, which was led by the far-right Confederation party.

Vietnamese soldiers look out from a truck as they deliver food in strict lockdown areas in Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese soldiers look out from a truck as they deliver food in strict lockdown areas in Ho Chi Minh Photograph: Reuters

Vietnam’s coronavirus hotspots of Ho Chi Minh City, and the capital Hanoi must vaccinate all of their adult residents with at least one shot by 15 September the ministry of health has said.

Vietnam has one of the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates in the region, with only 3.3% of the country’s 98 million people fully vaccinated with two shots, and 15.4% with one shot, Reuters reports.

The country is battling a worsening outbreak that has infected more than 520,000 people and killed 13,000, the vast majority in the past few months.

Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s business hub, accounts for half of the infections and 80% of the fatalities.

The cities must “mobilise all capable forces including private medical facilities, to vaccinate people at full capacity,” the ministry said in an emergency dispatch.

Government data showed 88% of Ho Chi Minh City’s adult population of 6.97 million have been inoculated with at least one shot. The rate is 53% for Hanoi’s adult population of 5.75m.

The ministry also set the 15 September deadline for the southern industrial provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An to vaccinate all of their adult populations.

It said Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Long An have been allocated enough vaccine doses for the vaccination drive.

Vietnam could be facing a lengthy battle against the coronavirus and cannot rely on lockdown and quarantine measures indefinitely, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said last week.

Updated

More expert criticism of the decision to lift Covid restrictions in Commons, this time from Sage adviser Susan Michie, and Stephen Griffin a virologist at the University of Leeds (see earlier).

Northern Ireland has reported seven new Covid deaths and 1,232 new cases.

Scotland has recorded another 6,368 new cases of the virus - which is above the current seven-day average of just over 6,000 new cases per day. Scotland’s highest daily increase in cases (7,104) was recorded just over a week ago on 29 August.

For the fifth Sunday in a row no new Covid deaths were recorded.

Updated

Here’s video of the UK’s vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, confirming government plans for vaccine passports to enter large venues.

Joe Biden’s handling of the pandemic in the US has contributed to a slump in his popularity according to a poll by the Washington Post and ABC News.

His approval rating for handling the pandemic has dropped to 52% from 62% in late June, days before he said the nation was “closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus”, the post reports.

Biden’s overall approval rating fell from 50% to 44% from June, also dragged down by 2-to-1 disapproval for his handling of Afghanistan.

The poll also found a clear partisan divide on the issue of requiring employees to be vaccinated. Overall 52% of Americans support businesses requiring employees who come into work to be vaccinated. But while around 8 in 10 Democrats support vaccine mandates for workers, more than 6 in 10 Republicans are opposed.

A group of men taunt a bull during the first running of the bulls at the Alfarero de Oro fair in the Toledo town of Villaseca de la Sagra, central Spain
A group of men taunt a bull during the first running of the bulls at the Alfarero de Oro fair in the Toledo town of Villaseca de la Sagra, central Spain Photograph: Rodrigo Jimenez/EPA

Ten bulls charged through the streets of Villaseca de la Sagra on Sunday in pursuit of hundreds of runners as the first bull running fiesta was held in Spain since the start of the pandemic, Reuters reports.

Villages and towns across Spain hold the fiestas but they were prohibited last year as the country brought in tough health restrictions. Opposition to them has increased in recent years as Spanish society remains divided over the controversial issue of using bulls for sport.

No-one was injured during the country’s first run, in this village of 1,700 inhabitants which is 65 km (41 miles) south of Madrid.

In order to comply with health restrictions, up to 900 runners were allowed to run ahead of the bulls each day during the festival, the council said, while the crowd was limited to 1,300 people per run.

A 2020 poll, published by the survey company Electomania, found that 47% Spaniards backed banning bullfighting while 18.6% opposed prohibition and 37% opposed bullfighting but did not want it to be banned.

Anti-government protest in BangkokDemonstrators take part in a protest over the Thai government’s handling of the pandemic and to demand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s resignation
Anti-government protest in Bangkok
Demonstrators take part in a protest over the Thai government’s handling of the pandemic and to demand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s resignation Photograph: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

Pro-democracy protesters in Thailand have continued to vent their anger at the government’s handling of the pandemic after the prime minister, Prayut Chan-O-cha, survived a no-confidence vote in parliament.

Hundreds of demonstrators staged a sit-in in central Bangkok on Sunday, following similar scene on Saturday.

Last week Thai lawmakers debated an opposition-instigated censure motion about the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and economic management.

The sluggish rollout of Thailand’s vaccination programme and financial pain from restrictions has heaped political pressure on Prayut’s government.

Beyond the orbit of Westminster, the idea that normality can simply be willed back into existence seems absurd, writes John Harris.

Malaysia has reported a further 336 new deaths from Covid pushings its seven-day average above 300 for the first time. On Saturday the seven-day average stood at 297 deaths, with the highest daily figure of 339 reported on 27 August.

Malaysia also reported 20,396 new cases following a peak of more than 22,000 on 27 August.

'Foolish' - health experts condemn decision to lift Commons restrictions

Several UK doctors and leading health experts have criticised a decision by the Speaker to lift Covid restrictions in House of Commons and resume “pre-pandemic” procedures.

But Tory MPs are delighted:

There’s been some fierce reaction to Zahawi’s suggestion that children will be able to overrule parents on whether they have the vaccine:

Iran records 610 new Covid deaths

Iran has announced a further 610 deaths from Covid taking its total death toll from the virus to 110,674. Iran’s daily average has been at more than 600 for more than week, following its highest daily increase in Covid deaths of 709 on 24 August.

It also recorded 25,870 new cases - down from a peak of 50,228 on 17 August.

Updated

Summary

Here’s a roundup of the main developments so far:

  • Vaccine passports will be required for nightclubs, mass events and large venues in England by the end of September, the vaccines minister has confirmed. Nadhim Zahawi said: “The best thing to do then is to work with the industry to make sure that they can open safely and sustainably in the long term, and the best way to do that is to check vaccine status.”
  • Zahawi also appeared to confirm reports that the government is considering making vaccination a requirement of working for the NHS. He said it “right and responsible” to consider such a move. The NHS Confederation said such a move was “unnecessary” because the overwhelming majority of NHS staff have been vaccinated.
  • Children will be able to overrule parental objections to them having Covid jabs if they are deemed to be able make competent decisions, according to Zahawi. “If they are then deemed to be able to make a decision that is competent, then that decision will will go in the favour of what the teenager decides to do,” he said.
  • Russia’s coronavirus cases have surpassed 7 million, with the country reporting 18,645 new infections in the past 24 hours and 793 more deaths. The latest figures took the total number of cases to 7,012,599, with the overall death toll at 187,200.
  • Almost 50 chain stores per day closed down on British high streets, retail parks and shopping centres in the first half of the year, according to research. But the rate of closures slowed compared with the first six months of 2020, a survey conducted for accountancy firm PwC found.
  • Brazil’s federal health regulator has suspended the use of over 12 million doses of vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac firm. The regulator said in a statement on Saturday that doses that were suspended were produced in an unauthorized plant.
  • Germany reported 10,453 new cases of the virus and 21 more deaths on Sunday. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 4,005,641 and deaths at 92,346.

Vaccine passports will be required for nightclubs, mass events and large venues in England by the end of September, the vaccines minister has confirmed, saying that would allow businesses to stay open during the winter months if Covid-19 surges.

Read more here:

Zahawi: children will be able overrule parental objections to vaccination

Children will be able to overrule parental objections to them having Covid jabs if they are deemed to be able make competent decisions, according to the UK vaccine minster.

Nadhim Zahawi was by Times Radio how family disputes would be resolves if as expected the government goes ahead with a vaccination programme for 12- to 15-year-olds. He said:

The NHS, in terms of the school immunisation programme, is really well practised and versed in dealing with [this], whether it be the teenager, not wanting the jab or the other way around where the parents don’t want their child to receive jab and the teenager wants to receive it.

He was asked what would happen if a teenager wants the jab but their parents object.

Zahawi said:

What you essentially do is make sure that the clinicians discuss this with the parents [and] with the teenager and if they are then deemed to be able to make a decision that is competent, then that decision will will go in the favour of what the teenager decides to do.

Times Radio presenter Tom Newton-Dunn asked: “So the teenager can override the lack of parental consent. If the teacher really wants the jab at only 15 and the parents say ‘no’, the teenager can have it?”

Zahawi replied: “If they’re deemed to be competent to make that decision, with all the information available.”

Updated

Street markets could open all year round under UK government plans to make permanent some of the changes for outdoor hospitality introduced during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pubs, cafes and restaurants would also be able to keep new structures such as marquees and additional seating on their grounds, following a consultation launched on Sunday.

The hospitality sector welcomed the plans, but urged ministers to go further to promote and retain outdoor seating in the streets by restricting traffic in town and city centres.

The consultation will consider only some of the changes introduced during the pandemic in order to promote customers dining outdoors to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

But an announcement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government did not include the al fresco dining on streets, with councils starting to wrap up the relaxations.

UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said:

The proposal to make outdoor measures permanent is a welcome boost for the hospitality sector, its customers and local communities.

It has provided a vital lifeline to venues all over the country during an extraordinarily difficult period and allowing operators to provide extra outside seating has been a key driver of survival and recovery since reopening.


But she added that businesses “face huge hurdles going into the autumn and winter”.

Coronavirus will come back to haunt the west unless vaccination rates in Africa are improved, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has said.

Brown said hundreds of millions of doses are lying in warehouses in Europe and North America, when they could be used in African countries.

The former prime minister discussed the issue on Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday.

He said:

70% of the west has been vaccinated, only 2% in Africa and the other low-income countries of the world. So, 98% are unprotected.

“It’s bad for them, it’s bad for us, because the disease will come back to haunt us from Africa and hurt even the fully vaccinated here with new variants.


He said western countries had enough supplies to vaccinate over-12s and carry out booster shot programmes as well as supply countries with low vaccination rates.

Calling for an urgent G7 meeting to address global vaccination, he said:

You’ll find African leaders will be demanding it too. Faith and church leaders know that this vaccine divide between vaccine-rich and vaccine-poor is really a terrible stain. It’s a moral failure on the part of the whole of the world.

Updated

Russia’s coronavirus cases hit 7 million on Sunday, with the country reporting 18,645 new infections in the past 24 hours and 793 more deaths.

The latest figures took the total number of cases to 7,012,599, with the overall death toll at 187,200, Reuters reports.

Russia’s state statistics service Rosstat keeps a separate count and said in August that 365,000 people died from Covid or related caused between April last year and last July.

The number of excess deaths, which some epidemiologists say is the best way to measure the death toll during a pandemic, reached 528,000 in July, Rosstat data showed.

Zahawi said he will do “everything in my power” to avoid another lockdown and is focused on making sure the booster programme is delivered.

The vaccines minister said he wants to continue the transition of the virus “from pandemic to endemic status” so that people can enjoy what they want to enjoy with the economy fully open and “get life back to as normal as we can make it as quickly as possible”.

He told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday:

Nobody enjoys, by the way, in this government, certainly not this Prime Minister, having restrictions on people’s freedoms. It goes against the DNA of this government to do that.

NHS employers have expressed their opposition to requiring frontline staff to be vaccinated.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the idea was unnecessary.

Speaking to Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday, he said:

The overwhelming majority of NHS staff are choosing to be vaccinated. And the important thing is to support people, to give people the opportunity to be vaccinated.

There is no necessity for compulsion, for surveillance of people at this stage, because the staff themselves are doing the right thing.

Of course health service workers, like anybody else, needs to take responsibility for the decisions they make and implications, but I think what we should focus on is the fact that overwhelmingly NHS staff are doing the right thing.

Earlier Zahawi said 94% of frontline NHS staff had been vaccinated but that it was “responsible” of the government to consider making vaccination a requirement of employment.

Zahawi appears to confirm compulsory jabs for NHS workers

Zahawi also appeared to confirm plans to require frontline NHS workers to be vaccinated.

Asked about reports that the health secretary, Sajid Javid, is determined to push ahead making jabs a condition of employment in the NHS, Zahawi said:

I think it’s only right and responsible, that we look at the duty of care for healthcare workers on the frontline and across the NHS to looking after people who, when they enter hospital are vulnerable to infection, and that we consult and we will come back publish that consultation in due course.

Zahawi also confirmed plans to introduce vaccine passports from October for entry to large venues.

He said:

We are looking at, by the end of September when everyone has had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated, for the large venues, venues that could end up causing a real spike in infections, where we need to use the certification process.

If you look at what the FA have done in terms of checking vaccine status to reopen football, that is the sort of right thing to do. We are absolutely on track to continue to make sure that we do that.

If people are in enclosed spaces in large numbers we see spikes appearing. The best thing to do is work with the industry to make sure that they can open safely sustainably in the long term. And the best way to do that is to check vaccine status.

Updated

Zahawi: parental consent required to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds

The UK’s vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has confirmed that parents will be asked for consent if 12 to 15 year olds are to be vaccinated.

Asked by Sky News Trevor Phillips on Sunday to “assure parents that if there is a decision to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds, it will require parental consent.”

Zahawi said: “I can give that assurance absolutely.”

He insisted the government had not decided whether to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds and that it was a following a recommendation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to refer the issue to UK’s four chief medical officers.

Zahawi said:

It’s worth just reiterating that the JCVI have said that it is marginally more beneficial to vaccinate than not to vaccinate but not enough to make a national recommendation, but they’ve also been very clear to say that their decision is based on things that they are qualified to look at. And they recognise that there are other factors that could harm the futures of children. And that is why they recommended that medical officers look at this.

Updated

Almost 50 chain stores per day closed down on British high streets, retail parks and shopping centres in the first half of the year, according to research PA Media reports.

But the rate of closures slowed compared with the first six months of 2020, a survey conducted for accountancy firm PwC found.

Figures collected by the Local Data Company showed 8,739 shops shut across Britain in the first half of the year. With 3,488 opening in the same period, this reflected a net decrease of 5,251.

In the first half of last year as the Covid crisis began to bite, 11,120 shops closed for a net decrease of 6,001 - 750 more net closures than in the first six months of this year.

PwC said government pandemic supports such as the extended furlough scheme, business rates relief and government-underwritten loans have played major roles in helping operators stay afloat, along with the impact of the rent moratorium.

But the firm warned the second half of this year will be “make or break” for many outlets as Government assistance is wound down.

Lisa Hooker, leader of industry for consumer markets at PwC UK, said:

After an acceleration in store closures last year coupled with last-minute Christmas tier restrictions and lockdowns extending into 2021, we might have expected a higher number of store closures this year. Government support has proved to be a lifeline.

However, the next six months will be make or break for many, particularly with the reinstatement of business rates, the winding down of furlough and the need for agreement on rent arrears, as well as uncertainty for hospitality businesses around further lockdowns, vaccine passports and other operating restrictions.

The study surveyed more than 200,000 outlets operated by businesses with more than five branches across Britain, including retail, restaurants, banks, cafes and gyms.

Fashion retailers were worst affected, with 1,063 stores closing in the first half of the year, ahead of charity shops with 452 closures, car and motorbike outlets (428) and betting shops (337).

Welcome to live updates on the latest news about the pandemic in the UK and across the world.

  • Brazil has suspended the use of over 12m doses China’s Sinovac firm.
  • Germany has reported 10,453 new cases of the virus and 21 more deaths. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 4,005,641 and deaths at 92,346.
  • The UK’s is pushing ahead ahead with plans to require NHS workers to be vaccinated, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
  • Almost 50 chain stores per day closed down on British high streets in the first half of the year, according to research by PwC.
  • Parents should choose whether they allow their children to be vaccinated if UK ministers overrule scientific advice against mass vaccination of healthy 12- to 15-year-olds, the government’s independent vaccine advisers have said.
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