Boris Johnson has signalled that he favours an extension of the school day in England to help pupils catch up after Covid. (See 4.34pm.) He made the comments in evidence to the Commons liaison committee in which he defended the government’s Covid policy, while not totally ruling out bringing forward from 16 August the date at which fully vaccinated people will no longer have to isolate if they have been in contact with someone testing positive. (See 4.20pm.)
The country faces a “summer of chaos and confusion” amid spiralling Covid infection rates because Boris Johnson has buckled to pressure from his MPs and is reopening the economy in a reckless way, Keir Starmer has told MPs. Johnson has declined to apologise to a Labour MP who condemned the “absolute disgrace” of ministers defending Dominic Cummings’ breach of lockdown rules, while other people missed the funerals and last moments of loved ones. Johnson’s decision to lift a vast swath of Covid restrictions on 19 July is “a very dangerous experiment” that will disproportionately affect a host of people already susceptible to coronavirus, according to experts involved in the People’s Covid Inquiry. As England moves towards an anticipated “big bang” lifting of coronavirus restrictions on 19 July, a senior World Health Organization official has warned countries to lift their Covid-19 restrictions slowly so as “not to lose the gains that [they] have made”. Johnson’s plan to scrap most of England’s Covid-19 restrictions has prompted alarm, wariness and perhaps even a hint of envy around the world. England’s current five Covid hotspots are home to some of the largest student populations as the Delta variant rips through young, largely unvaccinated communities. The work and pensions minister, Thérèse Coffey, has confirmed that the pandemic universal credit uplift of £20 a week will be withdrawn as planned at the end of September despite widespread public and cross-party opposition to the move. That’s all from me for today. But our coronavirus coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.