The Telegraph
Boris Johnson takes on football giants over new super league plan Priti Patel accuses Facebook of putting profit before children's safety Greensill: Key Starmer ally works for lobbying firm Coronavirus latest news: Indian variant requires action 'sooner rather than later', Sage adviser urges Government Subscribe to The Telegraph for a month-long free trial Boris Johnson has insisted it is not up to him whether to put India on the "red list", after he cancelled his long-awaited visit to the country amid concerns over a record-breaking surge in cases. The trip, which had already been scaled down from four days to just one, was cancelled just moments after Indian officials announced that New Dehli will enter a week-long lockdown from Monday night. During a visit to Gloucestershire, the Prime Minister told broadcasters: "The red list is very much a matter for the independent UK Health Security Agency - they will have to take that decision. "But Narendra Modi and I have basically come to the conclusion that, very sadly, I won't be able to go ahead with the trip. I do think it's only sensible to postpone, given what's happened in India, the shape of the pandemic there." However this morning a Sage scientist said restricting travel to and from countries with concerning Covid outbreaks was a "political decision". Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of both Sage and Nervtag, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "My own preference is to err on side of caution and act sooner rather than later." India recorded 273,810 infections on Monday - the fifth consecutive day of more than 200,000 cases, with 25,500 new cases were reported in Delhi alone. Read the latest updates below.