Latest updates: no major opening up expected, with Malta and the Balearic Islands potential destinations that could be added to green list
- More than 2m adults in England have had long Covid for over 12 weeks
- Longest Covid: man who was infected for 10 months
- Row over Scotland non-essential travel ban to Manchester escalates
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In his Sky News interview this morning George Eustice, the environment secretary, said that he hoped all legal Covid restrictions would be removed in England after 19 July. He said:
What we want to do on July 19, and the prime minister said that the data looks good to be able to have that end, is to remove all of the legal restrictions.
That’s all of the legal requirements to do things, to be taken away completely.
I wouldn’t, no. I have to be honest, once I’m told that it’s safe not to, I want to get back to normal. I think a lot of people will want to shed those masks.
A row over Scotland’s ban on non-essential travel to Manchester has escalated after a Scottish government briefing dismissed the explanation of the Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, for protesting against the restrictions as “incoherent and absurd” , my colleague Libby Brooks reports.
Related: Row over Scotland non-essential travel ban to Manchester escalates
