Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has signalled that face masks are likely to remain compulsory on public transport and in shops in Scotland after other restrictions are lifted in August. (See 1.14pm.) At a news conference she said: It’s important I think to remind all of us that a move to level zero does not mean the immediate end of all restrictions. Many of the baseline measures like face coverings, physical distancing, hand hygiene and advising on ventilation, these are going to continue to be important mitigations to protect us and others from the virus for some time yet. Holidaymakers from England travelling to amber list countries will not have to quarantine on return if they are fully vaccinated, but Britons living overseas will not be able to prove their vaccine status if they have been jabbed abroad, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has announced. Ministers are playing with fire if they remove Covid restrictions in England without providing adequate sick pay to help anyone who tests positive for Covid to self-isolate, a leading thinktank has warned. The number of patients waiting for NHS treatment in England broke records for the second month in a row to reach 5.3 million, official figures show, prompting warnings the huge care backlog could exacerbate health service staff burnout. Paul Givan, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has signalled that all Covid restrictions in his region are likely to end in August. These are from Jayne McCormack and Enda McClafferty from the BBC.
Boris Johnson has been cleared by parliament’s committee on standards of wrongly declaring a luxury villa stay in Mustique funded by a Tory donor – but criticised for failing to ascertain the details himself at the time. Johnson has announced the end of Britain’s military mission in Afghanistan following a hasty and secretive exit of the last remaining troops 20 years after the post 9/11 invasion that started the “war on terror”. That’s all from me for today. But our coronavirus coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.