A further easing of lockdown measures in England planned for 1 August was delayed for at least two weeks. In the surprise move for businesses that were planning to reopen tomorrow, Boris Johnson said he was pausing the reopening of higher risk indoor settings including casinos and bowling alleys, and preventing beauty salons resuming close-up treatments, for at least a fortnight. Pilot sports events would be cancelled from 1 August and the move to allow wedding receptions to have up to 30 guests from this weekend was also reversed. However, shielding advice for up to 2.2 million people who were advised to avoid leaving their homes from March would be lifted as planned on Saturday. Sage said it did not have confidence that the reproduction rate was currently below 1 in England. The government postponed the further lockdown easing after new Office for National Statistics data showed infection levels in England were at about 4,200 new cases per day as of 23 July, the highest number since mid-May and, at 31%, the highest week-on-week percentage increase in the same period. England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said the country appears to be “at the outer edge” of how far society can reopen safely amid the continued prevalence of the virus. It comes as large areas in the north of England faced new curbs and restrictions which were hastily announced last night. Rules on the wearing of face coverings will be extended to more indoor settings from 8 August. The prime minister announced that masks should be worn in indoor venues including museums, galleries and cinemas, and that this would be enforceable by law. The Scottish government strongly advised against all but essential travel to parts of northern England which are facing new lockdown restrictions. Following a rise in coronavirus cases in Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire, Nicola Sturgeon urged anyone intending to travel to those areas to cancel their plans. Boris Johnson was accused of “the worst kind of cronyism” after he granted peerages to his brother Jo Johnson, as well as Tory grandees and Brexit allies. Among the list of 36 figures heading to the House of Lords were the ex-England cricket player and Brexit supporter Sir Ian Botham, newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev and numerous former Labour MPs who rebelled against the party’s position to support Brexit, including Kate Hoey, Ian Austin and Gisela Stuart. Philip May, the husband of the former PM Theresa May, will receive a knighthood. The Tory MP Craig Whittaker, was condemned after claiming that the “vast majority” of people breaching coronavirus lockdown rules were from BAME communities, particularly Muslim backgrounds. Labour called the comments “overt racism” and the Muslim Council of Britain said it was a case of “shameless scapegoating of minorities”. But the PM didn’t distance himself from them, saying at his press conference that it was “up to the whole country to get this right”. The UK’s death toll exceeded 46,000 as another 120 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded, bringing the government’s tally to 46,119. That’s it from me on the UK side. Thank you for reading along today. If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture: