Latest updates: UK transport minister urges caution over holiday plans; Japan to give 1m vaccine doses each to Taiwan and Vietnam * ‘We were never a priority’: Zimbabwe hotspots face strict lockdown * Central and eastern Sydney plunged into lockdown after 22 cases * Elation in Spain as Balearic Islands join UK’s Covid green list * Almost 600m NHS home Covid tests unaccounted for, auditors reveal 9.01am BST THE BRITISH OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION IS STILL TRYING TO CONVINCE SOME ATHLETES TO GET VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19 BEFORE NEXT MONTH’S TOKYO OLYMPICS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE ANDY ANSON SAID. “We’re trying to convince them it’s the right thing to do,” Anson told the BBC on Friday. “People have got the right to choose, and we have to respect that. But it’s not necessarily that helpful.” 8.49am BST Never shy, Ryanair chief MICHAEL O’LEARY has been on Sky News criticising the UK government’s new international travel advice on two counts. Firstly he questioned why some destinations with low or similar Covid rates to those on the green list weren’t added, and secondly he said the idea of a “green watch list” added more confusion to the system. He said: This announcement was a step in the right direction, but it creates more confusion. We have to ask, as an industry, why hasn’t Cyprus been added, or the Greek islands been added. Their Covid case rates are as low as they are in Malta and in the Balearics. We’ve had a lot of passenger concern last night about this amendment to the traffic light system which is no longer green, amber and red, it’s now, green, green watch list – whatever the hell that means. So, it’s just Grant Shapps sowing more confusion, trying to do the right thing but making a mess of it. Continue reading...
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