Covid UK news live: Delta variant cases rise by a third

Police have issued a £10,000 fine after hundreds gathered in Bristol to celebrate England’s semi-final win on Wednesday night.

More than 200 people had gathered on Gloucester Road in the city’s north as music blared from sound systems in two properties.

Officers from Avon and Somerset Police entered one property and confiscated sound equipment along with handing out the fixed-penalty notice. The force said inquiries were ongoing regarding the second property.

More than three-quarters of under-50s hospitalised in England with the Delta variant of Covid-19 as of 21 June were unvaccinated, Public Health England said.

A total of 1,904 people had been admitted to hospital in England until this date, with 1,283 of the 1,904 people under 50, while 615 were 50 or over.

Of the 1,283 under 50, 987 (77 per cent) were unvaccinated, 106 (8 per cent) were less than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine, 118 (9 per cent) 21 or more days after their first dose of vaccine and 48 (4 per cent) were fully vaccinated.

Of the 615 aged 50 or over, 195 (32 per cent) were unvaccinated, 11 (2 per cent) less than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine, 140 (23 per cent) 21 or more days after their first dose of vaccine and 265 (43 per cent) were fully vaccinated.

Confirmed and probable cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant have risen by 32 per cent over the last week, according to the latest figures from Public Health England, to a total of 216,249.

A total of 161,981 cases had been identified up to the previous week.

Of the 216,249 cases, 180,643 have been in England, 28,559 in Scotland, 3,666 in Wales and 3,381 in Northern Ireland.

The Delta variant currently accounts for approximately 99 per cent of confirmed cases of coronavirus across the UK.

Rishi Sunak has urged workers to return to the office when coronavirus restrictions lift.

But unions warned the government was risking the safety of workers returning after the expected lifting of the order to work from home on 19 July.

The chancellor said he was looking forward to the return and insisted there was a benefit to workers from being with their colleagues, particularly for the young.

Read Liam James’s report here:

The transport secretary has urged people to continue to self-isolate if advised to do so by the NHS Covid app.

There are concerns that people may ignore the notification, or delete the app, if they are ‘pinged’ in the run-up to a holiday, as travel restrictions are due to be eased on 19 July. Fully vaccinated people who come into contact with a Covid case will be required to self-isolate until 16 August.

Grant Shapps stressed that it is important that people continue to use the app, saying “people should want to know if they have been in contact” with an infected person.

“You don’t want to be spreading it around. It can still harm people,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He said that medical experts were advising the government on the “level of of sensitivity” the app should be set at, relative to overall vaccination levels and other metrics.

Britons returning from holidays abroad should expect to queue for longer when checking in at the airport due to enhanced coronavirus checks, the transport secretary has said.

Grant Shapps told BBC Breakfast: “Before you board a plane you would need to show you have completed your passenger locator form, that you have carried out a pre-departure test, that you have got your test booked for day two and all of that needs to be checked by the carrier – the airline usually – before you travel.

He said that “the place to expect queues is the airport you are coming from”, adding that checks at UK airports are “starting to be automated”.

The UK’s economy continues to recover from the shock of coronavirus, but growth slowed in May despite the easing of lockdown restrictions, figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said GDP grew by 0.8 per cent in May following a 2.3-per-cent rise the month before, disappointing analysts who had predicted an increase of 1.5 per cent.

May’s economic growth was largely driven by the services sector, which reported 0.9 per cent growth after restrictions were eased for hospitality, leisure and arts firms on 17 May.

Allowing younger people to get infected as cases rise is a “dangerous experiment” that could have a “devastating long-term effect” in terms of long Covid, a clinical expert has warned.

Dr David Strain, a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter, who has participated in the NHS long Covid taskforce told LBC radio that between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of all people with Covid develop long Covid and what was currently happening was a “dangerous experiment with the next generation”.

He added: “It is a fact that the more Covid, the more long Covid, and the big worry is this is affecting the younger generation that the entire country is dependent on to get the country moving again.”

The risks of severe illness, hospitalisation and death from Covid-19 in children are “extremely low”, according to the largest study of its kind yet.

Analysis of public health data in England, presented in three different, non-peer reviewed papers, has found that just 25 children died as a result of Covid-19 up to February 2021. The absolute risk of death from the virus equates to one in 481,000, the researchers said.