Avoid travel and ‘holiday at home'

The UK Government has encouraged Britons to holiday within the UK and avoid travelling abroad. The government's website adds: "The Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect international travel. No travel is risk-free, and many countries have closed their borders or restricted entry to UK travellers. Any country may further restrict travel or bring in new rules at short notice, for example, due to a new Covid-19 variant." It comes a week after the government announced no new countries were being added to the UK's green travel list while the popular destination of Portugal moved to amber. The Labour Party had called for tougher border controls with Thailand and Vietnam amid growing evidence they are breeding grounds for new more virulent variants of Covid-19. New research released by Public Health England shows that the C.36.3 variant linked to Thailand was designated a Variant Under Investigation on 24 May, with 117 cases identified in Britain, over 37 per cent of which originate from returning travellers. Meanwhile, within the UK, Nottingham, Luton, Sunderland, Oldham, Tameside, Edinburgh, South Ayrshire and Wrexham have increasing numbers of people reporting Covid disease.