Covid news live: Latest updates as young people drive ‘exponential rise’ in cases

Millions of UK workers could be given the right to work from home permanently, under reported government plans to introduce legislation that would bar many bosses from forcing employees into the workplace.

The proposals, which are being considered by ministers, would mean employers have to prove it is essential for staff to be in the workplace if they are to require them to physically attend, according to a report in The Daily Mail.

The government is said to be planning on consulting on the plan during the summer, with a view to potentially introducing legislation later in the year, writes The Independent’s Clea Skopeliti.

Writing in The Independent, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Niki Ashton, a member of the Canadian House of Commons, say that the plan to donate one billion doses of the vaccine “is both too slow and too paltry to halt the vicious spread of the virus.”

They add that to stop the spread of Covid-19 and save lives, the UK and Canada must sign up to waive vaccine intellectual property rights.

Boris Johnson is a “massive supporter” of Health Secretary Matt Hancock and “firmly behind him” despite calling him “hopeless” in messages revealed by Dominic Cummings on Wednesday, a Government minister said.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman said the prime minister is “firmly behind” Mr Hancock following the extraordinary revelation of private WhatsApps from his former chief aide.

No 10 has not disputed the authenticity of the messages from the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic but insisted Mr Johnson has full confidence in his Health Secretary.

Mr Cummings published one screenshot in which the Prime Minister described Mr Hancock as “totally f****** hopeless” in an exchange about testing.

Mr Norman began his broadcast round on Thursday by saying he had “no idea” what Mr Johnson thinks about the subject but strengthened his message throughout the morning.

“I think this is some of the biggest nonsense I’ve heard,” he later told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The Prime Minister obviously, as anybody would detect, is a massive supporter of the Health Secretary, he’s coming firmly behind him. There can be no question of loss of confidence.”

The minister offered the context to the messages of being “in the middle of the biggest economic and public health catastrophe for a century”.

“What you’re alluding to is a tiny snapshot of one side of the story without any context or without hearing from the other side,” he said.

Covid-19 cases are “rising exponentially” across England – driven by younger and mostly unvaccinated age groups, according to scientists tracking the epidemic.

A study commissioned by the government found that infections have increased 50 per cent between 3 May and 7 June, as the country struggles to combat the rise of the Delta variant first detected in India.

The Imperial College London’s React study shows the bulk of infections is being driven by children aged between five and 12, as well as younger adults aged between 18 and 24, writes The Independent’s Adam Forrest.

The Jeremy Vine Show received hundreds of Ofcom complaints over a rant about the coronavirus vaccine.

During TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner’s appearance on the show on Monday, she supported people who refused to take the vaccine.

Ofcom has said that the majority of the 125 complaints about the show concerned her comments, writes Samuel Osborne.

Coronavirus case numbers in the UK borough hardest hit by the new Delta variant appear to have “peaked” and are now falling, the director of public health there has said.

Infection rates in Blackburn with Darwen look to have topped out on 7 June and have been in decline in the 10 days since, Dominic Harrison tweeted.

“Good news,” he wrote. “Increasingly strong signal that the BwD case rate may have peaked on 7 June (at 667) and that the fall in daily case numbers will be sustained for at least seven days.”

The Independent’s North of England correspondent Colin Drury reports.

Womad festival co-founder Peter Gabriel said the event may have to be cancelled this year without support from the Government.

A number of prominent festivals, such as Glastonbury and Boomtown, have already been cancelled, with many events citing the lack of a Covid-specific insurance scheme underwritten by the Government.

Mr Gabriel told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If we’re trying to restore cultural life and normality then we do need a bit of help here.

“It’s a huge industry now and we would like to get some confidence and security from something like an insurance scheme, some sort of underwriting scheme.”

Asked if festivals should become part of the pilot scheme on large events, he said: “It’s very difficult and obviously we want to be included, the vaccine programme has been amazing.

“If we can just lock those in and get some support for independent festivals particularly, but all the festival sector, then I think we can have a great summer.”

Asked whether organisers will have to cancel the festival this year without support, he said: “I think we have to. We’ve been faced with bankruptcy on two occasions previous to that and if we’re trying to secure the future of the festival… we can’t risk sinking it this year.”

Football fans who do not have tickets for Euro 2020 games should not travel to London due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions, a senior Met officer has advised.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor told LBC: “We’re asking people to work with us.

“We know people want to come and enjoy it, but all the events in London are ticketed only and, with the current Covid restrictions, spaces in pubs and bars will be limited. So if people don’t have tickets, we would ask them not to come to London.”

His comments came ahead of England facing off against Scotland at Wembley Stadium on Friday night.

Asked about fans potentially gathering in the capital, such as the scenes seen in Trafalgar Square in previous years, he said: “The fan zone is a ticketed event only and is only available for a small number of people to ensure that it is Covid-compliant and works within its risk assessment.

“People gathering around in larger groups outside of Covid restrictions can expect to be policed.”

Rishi Sunak says he is ready to hand £4bn to pensioners next year to keep his “triple lock” pledge, despite rejecting a Covid catch-up plan for schools as too expensive.

The bounce-back from the pandemic has pushed average wage rises close to 6 per cent – which, under the controversial rule, would then become the increase in the state pension.

Asked if he was willing to pay that bill – put at around £4bn by economists – the chancellor replied: “That’s how the triple lock works. That is government policy.”

The Independent’s deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports

England would not be in the position of extending coronavirus restrictions if it had “acted properly”, an expert has said.

Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of the Spi-B group of behavioural scientists advising ministers, rejected a suggestion by LBC radio that scientists were “delighted” that they had “won the argument” over a four-week delay to the end of lockdown measures in the country.

He told LBC: “All of us were distraught. I personally was distraught, none of us want those restrictions.

“And we shouldn’t have been in this position if we’d acted properly and if we’d had proper safeguards to our borders, if we’d had proper support for people to self-isolate, and so on, I don’t think we would have been in this position.”

Commenting on support for people, he said “sick pay” in the UK was, apart from the United States, “virtually the worst in the world” and that “only about 50% of people are self-isolating”.

“It’s not only about payment, it’s also about other forms of support,” he said.