Coronavirus latest news: Herd immunity not possible without vaccinating children, expert suggests

• Return of holidays abroad for people who are fully vaccinated

• Cummings embarrasses Johnson by revealing text tirade

• Modelling that pushed back June 21 was based on out-of-date data

• Lockdown extension: 49 Tory MPs vote against the Government

• Vaccine doubters more likely to be convinced if offered a choice of jab

Herd immunity from Covid-19 is not possible without vaccinating children, an Israeli health chief has suggested.

Israel began its rollout of the Pfizer vaccine for children a fortnight ago, but England's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) appears to be veering away from jabbing under-18s.

Dr Asher Salmon, who is Deputy Director General at the Israeli health ministry, was asked on the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme if an effective heard immunity is impossible without vaccinating children, he said: "We believe so. Nobody really know what is the exact line of herd immunity regarding Covid-19.

"We don't even know if we could use a term of herd immunity, but under effective level, it seems that we need to vaccinate more than 70 percent of our population to reach this elusive line, and to do so we need our kids to be vaccinated."

​​Follow the latest updates below.

07:46 AM

PM 'firmly behind' Matt Hancock, says minister

Treasury minister Jesse Norman said Boris Johnson is "firmly behind" Matt Hancock after messages emerged of the Prime Minister calling the Health Secretary "hopeless".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think this is some of the biggest nonsense I've heard. 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."

Mr Norman offered the context of the messages as 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.

07:41 AM

Minister: Government has already poured 'enormous amount of money' into arts

Treasury minister Jesse Norman said "an enormous amount of money" has already been poured into the arts during the pandemic, when asked if a Government-backed insurance scheme could be introduced to support festivals.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think the answer to that question is the Government has already poured an enormous amount of money into the arts and culture sector, so it's important to recognise what has already been done."

Pressed if the underwriting insurance will be considered, Mr Norman said: "Of course the Government continues to monitor the way in which restrictions are playing out, and this is a matter for discussion, as the Culture Secretary has said, it's a matter for the sector to address with him."

07:31 AM

Woman festival may have to be cancelled this year, says Peter Gabriel

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

He 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."

07:25 AM

'We don't want to be left behind other countries that are taking a two-jab approach'

Jesse Norman, financial secretary to the Treasury, was asked whether the Government is considering letting fully-vaccinated Britons travel abroad more easily.

He told Sky News: "It's looking at all the options. We don't want to be left behind other countries that are taking a two-jab approach if it's safe to do so.

"I wouldn't write anything off at this point."

07:14 AM

Covid measures should keep people safe without restricting them, expert says

Covid measures should be about keeping people safe without restricting them, an expert has said.

Appearing on LBC radio, Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of the Spi-B group of behavioural scientists advising ministers, said: "Economically it costs us far more to allow the infection to spread than to stop it."

He added: "When people talk about Covid measures, actually people always think it means restrictions, a lot of the Covid measures should be about supporting us to keep us safe without restricting us and that's what we need to be thinking about and we haven't really been doing it."

Prof Reicher continued: "When you look again at the figures overall you find that the countries which have been most robust in dealing with Covid, which have had the strongest public health measures and therefore have saved most lives, are also those who (have) economically done best so have been able to reopen."

07:13 AM

'We shouldn't have been in this position if we'd acted properly'

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.

Prof Reicher said the new Delta variant was "more transmissible in houses", adding: "If you are sick, then to self-isolate in the home is almost impossible if you live in more crowded homes, so we also need to look at accommodation, we need to look at other forms of support."

06:57 AM

'R' number rises but scientists say vaccinating younger people will turn tide

The Covid reproduction ‘R’ number has risen to 1.4, but vaccinating younger people should slow down the exponential rise in cases, scientists believe.

Researchers at Imperial College have been carrying out regular prevalence swab testing on up to 180,000 people in England each month for the React-1 study since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest results show there has been a 50 per cent increase in infections in the two weeks up to June 7 compared to May 3.

The current government estimate suggests the 'R' number is between 1.2 and 1.4, which puts the Imperial figure at the higher end and means every 10 people would go on to infect a further 14.

But the React-1 team discovered there was a five-fold difference in the risk of infection between younger and older groups, suggesting vaccinations are still protecting the most vulnerable.

06:29 AM

Ryanair 'preparing to launch legal action' against Government

Ryanair is reportedly preparing to launch legal action with the owner of Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports against the Government over its international travel traffic light system.

The risk-based system with red, amber and green ratings for different countries, determines the quarantine and coronavirus testing requirements people face when returning to the UK.

The legal action to be brought by Ryanair and the Manchester Airport Group will call for more transparency over how Whitehall decides which countries qualify for the green list, the BBC said.

06:13 AM

Today's front page

Here is your Daily Telegraph on Thursday, Jun 17.

05:53 AM

Outdoor dining and cheaper parking to be used as lures

Cheaper parking and more outdoor dining in cities could be used to encourage people back to work later this year as the Government leans against ordering a return to the office.

Ministers are working on a cities recovery strategy that aims to boost the attractiveness of spending time in city centres, The Telegraph has learned.

It comes after details of Cabinet Office documents examining how life will look after the final step of Boris Johnson's roadmap out of restrictions were leaked on Wednesday.

The papers set out three potential options for work from home messaging: telling the public to go back to work, remaining neutral or encouraging home working, Politico reported.

Read the full story

05:33 AM

SNP accused of catastrophic failure over PPE supplies

NP ministers have been accused of "catastrophic failure" after a damning report found that Scotland's stockpile of PPE at the start of the pandemic was "very low", and a surge in prices cost the NHS tens of millions more than normal for the safety gear.

The long-awaited independent report from Audit Scotland, which looked into how the Scottish Government and NHS managed PPE arrangements, reiterated its earlier finding that SNP ministers did not fully implement recommendations from pandemic preparedness exercises.

It found that centrally-held stocks of certain key items were “very low” in April 2020, with just 0.3 days' worth of long-sleeved gowns stored by NHS National Services Scotland (NSS).

And as global demand for the equipment surged and overseas factories closed, PPE prices doubled in early 2020.

Read the full story

05:00 AM

NZ on track for full vaccination by end of year, says PM

New Zealand will take up to the end of the year to inoculate all those eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday, as she announced details of a vaccine campaign.

The Pacific island nation shut its borders and used tough lockdown measures to become one of the few countries to have virtually eliminated Covid-19, but the government is facing criticism for a slow rollout of vaccines.

About 560,000 people in the country of 5 million have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine while about 325,000 have been given a second dose.

"Based on the delivery and supply of vacancies we are working towards taking to the end of the year for vaccinating all those who are eligible," Ms Ardern told a news conference, adding that the drive was going faster than expected.
Read more: Jacinda Ardern is no hero

04:35 AM

Japan to issue vaccine passport for travel abroad

Japan said on Thursday it will make a vaccine passport available from next month for Japanese travellers, as governments around the world experiment with ways to relaunch tourism and business trips.

The certificate will be paper-based rather than digital and will be issued by local governments from sometime next month, he said.

The European Union is working on a digital vaccine passport for this summer so it can welcome back badly needed tourists, and some EU countries plan to introduce certificates at the national level.

Read more: Europe eases Covid restrictions early

Read more: The most likely contenders for the 'green list' in August

03:29 AM

Experts agree to ease emergency curbs in Tokyo

Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Thursday that a panel of government-appointed experts had approved a plan to downgrade the state of emergency in seven prefectures including Tokyo, which will host the Olympics in just over a month.

Speaking at the end of the meeting, Mr Nishimura, who oversees Japan's coronavirus response, said the latter half of the discussions centred on the wisdom of lifting the emergency state in Tokyo.

With the pace of decline in new infections slowing in recent days, some warned of a likely rebound and stressed the need to respond without hesitation through further curbs or even the reinstatement of a state of emergency, Mr Nishimura said.

Read more: British Olympic team facing the prospect of six days of quarantine

02:53 AM

China disease expert says virus origins probe should shift to US

A senior Chinese expert said the United States should be the priority in the next phase of investigations into the origin of Covid-19 after a study showed the disease could have been circulating there as early as December 2019, state media said on Thursday.

The study, published this week by the US National Institutes for Health, showed that at least seven people in five different US states were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, weeks before the first official cases were reported.

Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state-owned tabloid the Global Times that attention should now shift to the United States, which was slow to test people in the early stages of the outbreak, and is also the home of many biological laboratories.

02:43 AM

Australian panel 'to recommend AstraZeneca only for over- 60s'

Australia's expert immunisation panel would recommend restricting the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine only to people over 60, Australian media reported on Thursday.

Australia's state and territory leaders have been informed about the recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and an emergency national cabinet meeting could be held on Thursday to discuss whether to alter the vaccine rollout, Nine News reported.

Australia in early April recommended people under 50 should get Pfizer's vaccine in preference to AstraZeneca due to concerns of blood clots among recipients.

Australia's health ministry did not immediately respond to request seeking comment.

Read more: Vaccine doubters more likely to be convinced if offered a choice of jab

01:35 AM

Thailand sets mid-October to reopen to vaccinated visitors

Thailand plans to fully reopen to vaccinated foreign visitors by mid-October as the government seeks to restart the crucial coronavirus-devastated tourism industry, the prime minister announced on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said fully inoculated foreign visitors and returning Thai citizens must be allowed entry "without quarantine or other inconvenient restrictions", and that his goal is to open up the country within 120 days.

Mr Prayuth acknowledged that the push to re-open might create problems.

Mr Prayuth said the government would reconsider the reopening only if a serious situation develops.

Read more: Return of holidays abroad for people who are fully vaccinated

11:32 PM

Today's top stories

• Summer holidays abroad will be opened up for vaccinated Britons under plans being considered by the Government, The Telegraph understands.
• Boris Johnson condemned Matt Hancock as “totally f------ hopeless” in an expletive-laden text last year and considered handing some of his responsibilities for the pandemic to Michael Gove.
• On Monday, just hours before PM delayed easing of restrictions by four weeks, the Government published figures to support pushing back ‘Freedom Day’ despite knowing estimates of vaccine effectiveness were incorrect.
• Tory MPs on Wednesday night likened the Government’s decision to delay the final lockdown unlocking to the actions of a “communist party”, as 49 voted against the four-week extension.
• Cheaper parking and more outdoor dining in cities could be used to encourage people back to work later this year as the Government leans against ordering a return to the office.
• Giving people a choice of Covid-19 jabs could be the best way of converting those who are currently unsure about whether to have an injection, according to research.
• Compulsory Covid-19 jabs for NHS and care workers could lead to a staffing crisis, employers say, as it emerged that ministers also hope to enforce flu vaccines.