Coronavirus news – live: Sturgeon confirms Scotland lockdown easing, as vaccine passport ‘ready by Monday’

Most of Scotland will move to Level 2 from 17 May, the First Minister has announced.

The latest easing of lockdown restrictions allows four people from two households to meet indoors, six people from three households to meet in a hospitality venue and eight people from eight houses to meet outdoors.

People will be allowed to hug loved ones again, subject to restrictions, Ms Sturgeon said.

Moray will remain in Level 3 following a surge in cases and an increase in hospital admissions.

Case numbers have fallen from an average of 226 per day to 177 per day, Ms Sturgeon said.

However, mainly due to the outbreak in Moray, a very slight increase across the country has been recorded.

“The situation in Moray, together with the emergence of new variants globally, should be a sharp reminder to all of us that the virus remains a real threat,” the First Minister said.

Read more about the latest easing of restrictions here:

New mothers were twice as likely to suffer post-natal depression during lockdown, a study by University College London has shown.

“We haven’t had anyone come over to give us a break since before lockdown and it’s exhausting,” one mother said.

Dr Sarah Myers, author of the study, said: “It really does take a village to raise a child, especially in a crisis when everyone is dealing with increased demands, stresses and significant life events.”

Our women’s correspondent Maya Oppenheim reports:

Covid-19 will not be circulating in the UK by August, the outgoing vaccine chief has said.

Clive Dix, the interim held of the Vaccine Taskforce, told The Telegraph: ““We’ll be safe over the coming winter.”

Zoe Tidman has the story:

The UK says it will engage “constructively” with other countries on Covid-19 vaccine waivers, a Downing Street spokesperson has said.

This comes the week after US president Joe Biden showed he supported the move.

A No 10 spokesperson told Reuters by email that the intellectual property dicussion could take “a significant amount of time”.

The wrote: “We are engaging with the US and other WTO members constructively on the TRIPS waiver issue, but we need to act now to expand production and distribution worldwide.

“Any negotiations in the WTO on a waiver will require unanimous support, which could take a significant amount of time. So while we will constructively engage in the IP discussions, we must continue to push ahead with action now including voluntary licensing agreements for vaccines.”

A 23-year-old woman in Italy was mistakenly given six doses of the Pfizer vaccine instead of one.

A health worker at a hospital in Tuscany accidentally administered an entire vial of the vaccine rather than a single shot.

After being monitored for 24 hours, she was released after not showing any adverse reaction. “The patient did not have fever and did not have any pain except for pain at the inoculation site, nor any other manifestations,” said Dr Antonella Vicenti.

My colleague Namita Singh reports:

A total of 9,692 people died in England and Wales in the week to 30 April, which is 7.30 per cent lower than the five-year average.

This is the eighth week in a row that deaths have dropped below the 2015-2019 average.

The last time this occurred was in the week to 4 September, before the UK was hit by a second wave of coronavirus.

Taiwan has introduced limits on large gatherings after the island recorded six new coronavirus cases of unknown origin.

The territory closed its borders early last year and has kept case numbers low, with only 1,210 infections and 12 deaths from the virus in total.

Five of the new infections are in Yilan, a northeastern county, while the sixth is in New Taipei near the capital.

Chen Shih-chung, the health minister, said outdoor activities should be limited to 500 people and inside events to fewer than 100. Eating and drinking will be banned on trains as a precaution.

The country could be back to normal by the end of 2021 if there are no “nasty variants”, a government scientific adviser has said.

Professor Graham Medley, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think anyone can give you the complete answer, if vaccines continue to work, and we don’t have some nasty variants, then potentially we could be completely back to normal by the end of the year but, on the other hand, if there are variants, if the vaccines wane, so the impact wanes and we aren’t able to get boosters, then we could have been in a very different position.”

He added that there would “inevitably” be another wave of infection, emphasising that it was “still unceratin” which this would lead to many hospitalisations.

The government has assured holidaymakers that they will be given coronavirus vaccine passports before 17 May.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has more details:

The Philippines has identified two cases of the B.1.617 coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India last year.

The health ministry said on Tuesday that two people who returned from the United Arab Emirates and Oman had tested positive for the variant of global concern.

Alethea De Guzman, director of the Philippines’ epidemiology bureau, said: “We need to continually monitor what other variants we may be able to detect locally, as well as monitor the spread of the variants we have already detected.”

The country has already barred arrivals from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as a safety precaution.