Key workers will have to apply for Boris Johnson’s promised exemption from the “pingdemic” because there will be no official list, Downing Street has said.
On Monday, the Prime Minister announced that staff in certain critical industries could soon leave self-isolation to attend their workplaces if they had been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days.
The concession is designed to tackle the crisis of alerts from NHS Test and Trace that are threatening to grind key parts of the economy to a halt, as so many workers are forced to stay at home.
But pressed on how the new rules would work, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: "It's not a blanket exemption and my understanding is we're not going to be producing a list covering individual sectors, these business-critical areas will be able to apply for exemptions to their host departments.
"There won't be a list covering individual sectors... it's important that anyone who feels they're in a critical industry or wants to raise potential issues because of isolation are able to contact departments and get advice and where necessary get exemptions."
No 10 did not rule out fully vaccinated supermarket workers being exempted from isolation as part of the plans, but could not put a figure on how many workers would qualify.
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A major trial to tests China’s Sinopharm vaccine is set to launch in Mozambique, in an attempt to better understand how effective the shot is against the variants circulating in southern Africa, writes Sarah Newey.
The trial, announced on Tuesday by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (Cepi) and the International vaccine Institute (IVI), comes after the Covax vaccine scheme signed an agreement to distribute the shot, which is already in use in 50 countries.
But to date, there have been no trials assessing how well the vaccine works against variants widespread in southern Africa, nor its effectiveness in HIV-infected individuals.
The study - set to begin shortly - will involve volunteers in Beira and Maputo, Mozambique, and is expected to deliver interim results before the end of the year.
A separate phase two trial will also assess whether Sinopharm and AstraZeneca’s vaccines can be used in a “mix and match” regime.
Both shots are set to be widely used across Africa; if they can be used in coordination it could bring far greater flexibility to the rollout in the face of fluctuating supply.
The move to introduce vaccine passports in nightclubs this autumn sets up crunch votes in Parliament, with an unusual coalition of lockdown-septic Tory MPs and liberal Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs expected to oppose it amid fears that it paves the way for ID cards.
Much will depend on whether Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, whips his MPs to oppose the move. Sir Keir told The Telegraph earlier this year that Covid passports went against the "British instinct".
The vice chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, Sir Charles Walker, is among the first out of the blocks vowing to vote against Government proposals for the use of Covid passports in nightclubs.
Asked on the BBC Radio 4 World At One programme if he would back the plans in a vote, he said: "It will be a vote that I will vote against the Government, I've voted against the Government on most things to do with Covid."
He added: "The Government said that it wasn't going to introduce vaccines passports, and is. I think it will start with nightclubs then quickly move on to other venues and parts of the hospitality sector.
"I'm afraid this is just part of the pattern, things are ruled out then a volte-face is done."
The spread of the coronavirus delta variant is surging in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi on the eve of the Eid al Adha Muslim holiday, medical officials have warned.
The Sindh provincial government said on Monday that the Covid-19 situation in the city is becoming serious, and warned people that ignoring precautionary measures during the holiday could make matters worse.
During the past 24 hours, the coronavirus positivity rate in the Sindh capital increased to 25.7 per cent, nearly five times the national rate of 5.25 per cent.
Government hospitals have reached saturation point, something not witnessed during previous waves, and even some private hospitals are refusing patients, said Dr Qaiser Sajjad, of the Pakistan Medical Association.
“God have mercy on us, people are not taking this pandemic seriously. Such irresponsible behavior on the Eid festival will make matters worse,” Sajjad told Reuters.
The Delta variant could spread during the holiday as people travel from cities like Karachi to their home towns.
Ministers have been warned off making Covid vaccine passports a requirement for MPs to attend the House of Commons.
The Government plans to make full vaccination a condition of entry to nightclubs and "other venues where large crowds gather" from the end of September - with proof of a negative test no longer considered sufficient.
But Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he has received no indication that the policy will apply to the Commons, adding he does not believe it applies to MPs.
Asked about the issue by the Tory MP Mark Harper, he said: "I have had no indication that the Government considers the policy he's mentioned should apply to this House.
"There is nothing to stop a member coming in to here, you have the right to come to this House unless this House otherwise says so. The Government's not been in touch, I don't expect them to be in touch because, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't apply to members."
The Commons chamber would regularly accommodate more than half the 650 MPs pre-pandemic, but this has been curtailed by social distancing during the pandemic.
Downing Street was unable to say how many fully vaccinated workers will experience loosened isolation rules under Boris Johnson's new plans.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "I don't have a specific number for you at the moment. As these discussions proceed we might have a clearer sense of the numbers, but as the Prime Minister set out yesterday it will be a very low number of people."
Asked if it will be on the scale of hundreds or thousands, the spokesman said: "I wouldn't want to set specific numbers on it at this point."
Downing Street has not ruled out extending the mandatory use of vaccine passports to pubs.
Boris Johnson's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister talked about the sort of areas we were considering, and nightclubs are where there is significant evidence we have at the moment.
"But we're going to use the coming weeks to look at the evidence, particularly both in the UK and globally before making a specific decision."
Downing Street also suggested full vaccination will still be mandatory for nightclub entry this autumn regardless of whether uptake among young adults is significantly increased.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "This is the policy that the Prime Minister has set out and this is what we will be introducing by the end of September."
But he added: "We would obviously consider exemptions for those, for example, who can't get vaccines for medical reasons."
A man in the Australian city of Perth escaped mandatory quarantine in a hotel by scaling down a rope made of tied together bedsheets from a fourth-floor window, police said on Tuesday.
After arriving in the West Coast city on an interstate flight from Brisbane, the man had his application for entry refused under the state's tough border entry rules intended to stop the virus entering from elsewhere in the country.
The man was told to leave the state within 48 hours and taken to a hotel for temporary quarantine.
But just before 1am on Tuesday (local time) "he climbed out a window of the fourth-floor room using a rope made of bed sheets and fled the area", Western Australia Police said in a Facebook post.
The PM must start being honest about living with the risks of Covid – the perils of not doing so are worse, says our columnist Sherelle Jacobs.
Boris Johnson has reiterated to ministers that the move to Step 4 of the lifting of coronavirus restrictions did not mean the pandemic was over, during a meeting with his Cabinet on Tuesday.
A readout after the meeting from Downing Street said: "Cabinet concluded with an update on Covid-19. The PM said that on Monday we moved to Step 4 of the road map and lifted many of the remaining restrictions across England.
"However, this is not the end of the pandemic and we must continue to stress the need for caution and gradual behaviour change."
Downing Street also denied Dominic Cummings' claim that Boris Johnson wanted to visit the Queen in person in March last year after coronavirus hit No 10.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "This didn't happen and we've been clear about that."
There's been yet another row over the 'pingdemic' this morning. Catherine Neilan fills you in...
A minister has been slapped down by Number 10 for suggesting people could make their own "informed decisions" about whether to self-isolate after being pinged by the NHS Covid app.
During the media round this morning Paul Scully, the small business minister, stressed that while it was a legal requirement to isolate if you have been contacted by Test and Trace, that same requirement did not apply to those who were alerted via the app.
"The app is there to allow you to make informed decisions," he told Times Radio. "By backing out of mandating a lot of things, we're encouraging people to really get the data in their own hands to be able to make decisions on what's best for them, whether they're employer or an employee."
Asked whether this meant people should or should not self-isolate if 'pinged', he said it was "up to individuals and employers".
But Downing Street subsequently insisted that it was "crucial people isolate when they are told to do so, either by NHS Test and Trace or by the NHS Covid app".
A spokesman said: "Businesses should be supporting employees to isolate, they should not be encouraging them to break isolation."
More than one million state school pupils in England did not attend class last week for Covid-19 related reasons - a new record high since all students returned in March.
An estimated 1.05 million pupils were out of school on July 15, the equivalent of around one in seven (14.3%), according to the Department for Education.
Of this total:
Camilla Turner has more on these alarming figures.
Myanmar politician Nyan Win, a senior adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died in hospital on Tuesday after becoming infected with Covid-19 in jail, his party said, as the Southeast Asian country struggles with an exponential rise in infections.
Nyan Win, 78, who had been held in Yangon's Insein prison after being arrested when the army seized power on Feb. 1, was transferred to hospital last week, the National League for Democracy (NLD) said in a statement.
Reuters was unable to reach the health ministry or a junta spokesman for comment.
India's coronavirus death toll is up to 10 times higher than the nearly 415,000 fatalities reported by authorities, likely making it the country's worst humanitarian disaster since independence, a US research group has said.
The Center for Global Development study's estimate is the highest yet for the country of 1.3 billion people, which was gripped by a delta variant surge in April and May.
The study - which analysed data from the start of the pandemic to June this year - suggested that between 3.4 million and 4.7 million people had died from the virus.
"True deaths are likely to be in the several millions, not hundreds of thousands, making this arguably India's worst human tragedy since partition and independence," the researchers said.
India's official death toll of just over 414,000 is the world's third-highest, after 609,000 fatalities in the US and Brazil's 542,000.
Experts have been casting doubt on India's toll for months, blaming the already overstretched health service.
The number of deaths involving coronavirus registered each week in England and Wales has climbed to its highest level since the end of April.
A total of 183 deaths registered in the week ending July 9 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is up 68 per cent on the previous week, and is the highest number since 205 deaths were registered in the week to April 30.
Deaths had dipped as low as 84 in the week to June 11.
The number of deaths is still well below the level seen at the peak of the second wave, however - some 8,433 deaths involving Covid-19 were registered in England and Wales in the week to January 29.
The total number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to July 9 was 6.2 per cent above the pre-pandemic five-year average, the ONS said, for the first time since the week to February 26.
John Edmunds, professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of Sage, disagreed with business minister Paul Scully's comment that self-isolating should now be up to individuals.
Speaking on Times Radio, Professor Edmunds said: "Contact tracing and self-isolation play an important role in stopping cases getting out of control and preventing deaths. It's important we maintain these measures as stringently as we can.
"We have one of the highest rates of cases in the world right now. The NHS has been under strain for a long time and they are busy trying to catch up on operations and are very, very busy. So to put them under more pressure now is going to be awkward."
Shadow health minister Justin Madders said: "The Government making it up as they go along.
"Ministers mix messages, change approach and water down proposals when the public and businesses need clarity and certainty.
"If this is a true change in approach on the app, why didn't the Prime Minister set this out last night?
"Yet again there is more confusion and incompetence from the heart of government at the expense of public health. They need to get a grip."
Downing Street slapped down business minister Paul Scully after he suggested that self-isolating when pinged by the Covid-19 app should be a matter for individuals and employers to decide.
It was "crucial" to self-isolate when told and business should be supporting employees to do so, Downing Street said.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: "Isolation remains the most important action people can take to stop the spread of the virus.
"Given the risk of having and spreading the virus when people have been in contact with someone with Covid it is crucial people isolate when they are told to do so, either by NHS Test and Trace or by the NHS covid app.
"Businesses should be supporting employees to isolate, they should not be encouraging them to break isolation"
But not everybody is on board with the tighter restrictions in Australia...
A man in Perth escaped mandatory quarantine in a hotel by scaling down a rope made of tied together bedsheets from a fourth-floor window, police said on Tuesday.
After arriving in the West Coast city on an interstate flight from Brisbane, the man had his application for entry refused under the state's tough border entry rules intended to stop the virus entering from elsewhere in the country.
The man was told to leave the state within 48 hours and taken to a hotel for temporary quarantine, but just before 1am on Tuesday "he climbed out a window of the fourth floor room using a rope made of bed sheets and fled the area", Western Australia Police said in a Facebook post.
They also posted photos the makeshift rope hanging from a window on the brick building's top floor down to the street.
Police arrested the man across town about 8 hours later, and charged him with failing to comply with a direction and providing "false/misleading information". They did not disclose the man's identity except to say that he was aged 39 and tested negative to the virus, nor did they give a reason for his alleged actions.
More than half of Australia's 25 million population is under lockdown after a third state imposed movement restrictions on Tuesday to contain the spread of the highly contagious Covid-19 delta variant.
Australia's coronavirus case numbers and deaths are well below other developed nations, but the country's use of lockdowns due to a sluggish vaccination rollout is putting pressure on the national government with polls at their lowest in a year and just months before elections are due to be held.
South Australia, a state of 1.8 million people, imposed a seven day lockdown after detecting five infections linked to a returned traveller, just as neighbouring Victoria state extended a five-day lockdown by a week after it failed to stop new cases.
"We hate putting these restrictions in place but we believe we have one chance to get this right," South Australia premier Steven Marshall told reporters.
Sydney, the country's largest city and where the latest Delta outbreak started before spreading to other states, is in its fourth week of a five week lockdown.
New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, logged 78 new cases on Tuesday, from 98 a day earlier, its biggest daily dip since Sydney went into lockdown.
On Monday we asked you, the Telegraph reader, if you would be ditching your face masks.
More than 3,000 votes were registered, and the results are in:
You can still have your say below.
While it is a legal requirement to self-isolate if you are contacted directly by the NHS either by text or email to say you have been close contact of a confirmed case, pinging remains murky.
Business minister Paul Scully has said that being 'pinged' by the Covid app meant self-isolating was "up to individuals and employers". So, given that, what would you do?
Labour's shadow economic secretary said Covid certification could have a role to play when combined with testing.
Pat McFadden told Sky News: "We will have to look at this proposal as it comes out because what strikes me most of all over the last 24 hours is the panic and confusion that this shows on the part of the Government."
He said: "I think it could have a role to play if combined with testing, but vaccine passports are not enough on their own when only two-thirds of the population have had a double vaccine. So we've still got about a third of the population who haven't had that.
"They'll also be a proportion of the population who for some medical reason maybe can't have the vaccination. So vaccination on its own can't just be the whole answer, it's got to be something which runs alongside testing."
Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery said the Government needed to give "clearer guidance" to people about whether or not to self-isolate if pinged by the NHS app.
"When we had no protection the risk was the same for everybody. If that risk is now reduced because someone is double vaccinated it feels as though we need more sophisticated advice," Sir Jonathan said.
"If we are visiting an elderly relative or a cancer patient then take the ping seriously but, if you are doing something relatively Covid-friendly then maybe make a different decision.
"The Government needs to do more to help us make better decisions."
The number of excess deaths in India since the onset of the pandemic has crossed four million, according to new research by the US-based Center for Global Development.
India Correspondent Joe Wallen writes although we cannot say for certain that the additional fatalities were all caused by Covid, states across India that have made mortality data available show the gross under-reporting of deaths from the virus, particularly during India's devastating second wave.
India has one of the world's most underfunded and understaffed public healthcare systems and the meagre available resources have been directed to handle Covid-19 over the last 18 months.
Therefore, it is expected that there has also been an uptick in deaths from other chronic diseases like heart disease and malaria, as Indians have had restricted access to usual healthcare support during the pandemic.
India's official death toll from Covid-19 is 414,000 but the researchers from the Center for Global Development used three separate data sets to predict there were between 3.4 million and 4.7 million excess deaths than would normally occur, since February 2020. Meanwhile, India's second wave continues to show signs that it has subsided. On Tuesday, the country reported 30,093 new daily cases - its lowest tally in four months.
Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, who chaired the ethics advisory board for NHSx on its contact tracing app, spoke to Times Radio on Tuesday morning about the Government's plans to introduce mandatory vaccine passports for nightclubs and other venues.
Sir Jonathan said he was concerned about the impact such a requirements would have on personal freedoms.
He said: "We should have a debate about where incentive reaches coercion. Maybe this is more like hanging a carrot out if someone would like to go to a nightclub then they need to get vaccinated.
"But it raises the question about the impact on people who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons, or ethical reasons, or people who just don't want to get vaccinated."
Sir Jonathan said he believed No 10's decision not to allow unvaccinated people to be able to get into venues by providing evidence of a negative Covid-19 test was more about "providing an incentive to get vaccinated rather than public safety".
"The best way to get people to take the vaccine is to communicate that it's safe," he added.
Asked whether Spain was going to be added to the amber plus list of travel restrictions, business minister Paul Scully said the decisions were "taken at Cabinet level".
He told Sky News: "They'll look at the data, and they'll make sure that they can work out what is best to make sure that we keep transmission of the virus low, we keep the transmission of the variants low, because it's the variants that are really key here to work out how they're interacting with our vaccine programme."
Asked whether rates being higher in Spain than in France, where those returning from the country are no longer exempt from quarantine, pointed to Spain being added to the amber list, Mr Scully said: "It's not just about... we try and give people as much data as we can but it's not just about the pure numbers.
"It's also about the variants, and the style of variants, the Beta variant, for example, that's quite prevalent in France at the moment, we're looking at how that interacts with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"And so it's... there's a lot of factors that are involved in the decisions that are taken around travel."
Former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption said people had accepted coronavirus restrictions due to the demand for security and "Government fearmongering".
When asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday why so many people consented to the demands of the state he said: "I think that it is to some extent the demand for security that has been a growing characteristic of human society, especially in the west for quite a number of years, and to some extent it has been stoked up by Government fearmongering.
"After the lockdown was first announced last March the Government resorted to what I regard as an appalling campaign to heighten the risks beyond those which actually existed.
"Of course there are risks, of course this is serious, but the way in which it was portrayed and the unbalanced way in which it was portrayed was appalling and something that we must learn from in future."
Here is Professor Adam Finn.
The State Department has elevated the UK to "do not travel" status amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in Britain.
Following the updated advice from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, Britain has been placed at the highest warning level, meaning Americans should not visit except in an emergency.
The UK recorded more than 48,000 new cases on Monday, and there is concern in Washington that the virus could spread even among the vaccinated.
Former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption said that vaccine passports were now "completely unnecessary".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday: "Getting vaccinated is a choice that people have. "I don't think one should compel them to do it but I think, like most choices in life, you have to accept that they have ups and downs in the way of consequences.
"I don't think vaccine passports imposed by the state are a good idea now.
"Earlier this year when fewer people had been vaccinated I thought that there was something to be said for allowing those who had been to prove the fact and return to normal life.
"But at the moment, with 70% having had both jabs, including all vulnerable groups, I think it is completely unnecessary."
Paul Scully has said that being 'pinged' by the Covid app would "allow you to make informed decisions" but self-isolating was "up to individuals and employers".
The business minister told Times Radio: "Well, I think the exemption is being extended beyond the NHS to critical workers. So critical infrastructure and these kind of things.
"We've seen the Metropolitan line in London close, for example, because of a handful of really crucial signal workers having to self-isolate. So it's those kind of things that we're extending to.
"It's important to understand the rules. You have to legally isolate if you are on the... contacted by Test and Trace, or if you're trying to claim isolation payments.
"The app is there to give... to allow you to make informed decisions. And I think by backing out of mandating a lot of things, we're encouraging people to really get the data in their own hands to be able to make decisions on what's best for them, whether they're employer or an employee."
Asked whether this meant people should or should not self-isolate if 'pinged', he said: "We want to encourage people to still use the app to be able to do the right thing, because we estimate it saves around 8,000 lives."
However, he added that it was "up to individuals and employers".
Former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption said he was "disappointed" by the Government's "two-faced response" to so-called freedom day.
When asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if he was disappointed by the lack of freedoms, he said: "I am disappointed by the Government's two-faced response.
"They have removed legal restrictions but put pressure on employers, venue owners, public transport and so on to maintain them as if nothing had changed.
"The latest statement about nightclubs for example, which is really a threat that unless they voluntarily insist on vaccine passes the Government will force them to do so, is a classic example.
"The age group affected by nightclubs has a negligible chance of getting seriously ill or dying, if they wish to take a risk then why should they not do so?"
Asked whether he was comfortable with the Conservative Party implementing something similar to an ID card, Mr Scully told Sky News: "I'm not comfortable that Government is mandating anything frankly, I'm a very libertarian Conservative, I want to be able to back off, that's why yesterday was an opportunity for Government to back off from so many different things and let people live their lives.
"But what we have to do is make sure that people will also live their lives safely, the NHS can function safely, and these are the challenges that we still have to do.
"So it's incredibly frustrating, it's incredibly complicated to work through the detail, but that's the challenge we have."
He said ministers urged nightclubs to implement the use of Covid-19 passports voluntarily ahead of September.
Business minister Paul Scully told Sky News that "crowded pubs" would not be included in plans to use Covid-19 certification.
He said nightclubs and "larger ticketed events" would be affected and he said "there are a number of sporting venues that are already looking at voluntarily doing this".
He said: "We want to stop the NHS being overwhelmed by cases throughout the winter."
Business minister Paul Scully said the use of Covid passports for nightclubs was not being introduced straight away in order to get the "detail" right.
He told Sky News: "We need to look at the detail behind it."
And he added: "It's got to get through parliamentary scrutiny, so we've got to get it absolutely right, we've got to work with the sectors that are going to be affected, to make sure that we can define this really carefully.
"All we're doing right now is giving an advanced warning of what is coming down the line."
He denied the scheme was a bribe to young people to get their coronavirus vaccinations.
Here is your Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, July 20.
Critical workers will be able to avoid self-isolation if they come near someone with Covid in a bid to keep trains running and avoid food shortages.
On Monday, Boris Johnson expanded the list of sectors whose employees could be exempt from the normal rules as he sought to ease the impact of the "pingdemic".
Train drivers, care home staff, medicine manufactures, border security guards, soldiers and people who work in food, water and electricity supply are among those who could benefit.
Read the full story here.
"I've seen grown men cry," says Captain Tejinder Singh, who hasn't set foot on dry land in more than seven months and isn't sure when he'll go home.
It's a plight facing tens of thousands of seafarers like him, stranded at sea as the delta variant wreaks havoc on shore.
"People don't know how their supermarkets are stocked up," he says.
Captain Singh and his 20-strong crew are among about 100,000 seafarers stranded at sea beyond their regular stints of typically 3-9 months, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS); many without even a day's break on land. Another 100,000 are stuck on shore, unable to board the ships they need to earn a living on.
The delta variant devastating parts of Asia - home to many of the world's 1.7 million commercial seafarers - has prompted many nations to cut off land access to visiting crews, in some cases even for medical treatment.
Only 2.5pc of seafarers have been vaccinated.
The United Nations describes the situation as a humanitarian crisis at sea and says governments should class seafarers as essential workers.
Given ships transport around 90pc of the world's trade, the deepening crisis also poses a major threat to the supply chains we rely on for everything from oil and iron to food and electronics.
China on Tuesday reported the highest daily tally of new confirmed Covid cases since January, driven by a surge in imported infections in Yunnan province, where cases are spilling over from an "alarming spike" in neighbouring Myanmar.
Mainland China recorded 65 new confirmed cases for July 19, compared with 31 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said. That was the most since January 30, when 92 cases were reported.
Imported infections accounted for most of the new cases reported for July 19, with Yunnan reporting 41 cases originating from abroad, all of whom were Chinese nationals who recently returned from Myanmar.
A third Australian state announced lockdown rules on Tuesday to combat the delta variant's spread.
South Australia has entered week-long restrictions, joining an extended lockdown in Victoria and a five-week shutdown in Sydney.
New South Wales is battling the worst Covid outbreak of this year, with cases exceeding 1,400 since the first case was reported more than a month ago in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew.
NSW authorities reported a slight slowdown in new cases on Tuesday as infections fell to 78 from 98 a day earlier.
At least 21 of the new cases were infectious while still in the community; a number that authorities said must be close to zero in order for lockdown restrictions to be lifted.
Ninety-five cases are now in hospitals in NSW, with 27 in intensive care, 11 of whom are on ventilators. Five deaths have been reported during the latest outbreak.
The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has been linked to Bell's palsy after a 61-year-old British man suffered facial paralysis after each dose of the vaccine.
In an article in the journal BMJ Case Reports, Dr Abigail Burrows, of Royal Surrey County Hospital, described how the man experienced paralysis to the right side of his face five hours after the first jab.
He attended the emergency department after he was unable to close his left eye properly or move the left side of his forehead and was given a course of steroids. Six weeks later, he suffered paralysis to the left side of his face two days after his second dose, causing him to dribble and have difficulty swallowing.
Although the condition cleared up after a further course of steroids, Dr Burrows advised medics to be on the lookout for the condition in patients who have recently received the jab.
Read the full story here.
The Prime Minister is facing a backlash over plans to make coronavirus vaccination compulsory for nightclubs and other crowded venues.
Venues, backbench Tories and opposition MPs criticised Boris Johnson's announcement on Monday - the day that clubs in England were allowed to open for the first time since March last year.
Speaking from self-isolation on so-called "Freedom Day", Mr Johnson warned venues with large crowds that they must make full vaccination a requirement of entry from the end of September.
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said during the Downing Street press conference that clubs had the potential to cause "super-spreading events".
READ MORE: Vaccine passports to push young into getting Covid jabs
Andrew Lloyd Webber has accused the Government of idiocy after the "blunt instrument" of its self-isolation rules resulted in the cancellation of performances of his West End show Cinderella.
The theatre impresario said the current system is "completely, completely untenable" and his industry has been left "on its knees".
He had earlier announced Cinderella would not be returning to the stage on Monday after a member of the cast tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday.
"I say this from the heart, I am seeing the profession I have loved, I'm seeing musical theatre I think I had a small part in pioneering in this country at a time when frankly the British were not considered to be people who could do musicals," he said.
"And I am just saying it with passion - please, please will this Government for once listen to us.
"Listen. We do know what we're doing, we do. Just listen and knock all these platitudes and endless, endless blunt instruments that don't apply across the board."
He added that "I have tried and I have tried and I have tried" to work with the Government and prove theatres are safe.
READ MORE: 'Theatre is now on its knees, there’s no way forward': Andrew Lloyd Webber begs Government for help after Cinderella is suspended
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