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End In Tiers?
The Times reports that there are fears that the spread of the new Indian coronavirus variant could "end in tiers", forcing ministers to re-impose local lockdowns.
While Boris Johnson considers this a "last resort", it says, officials have drawn up plans modelled on the Tier Four restrictions introduced in England last year.
The paper reports Mr Johnson has rowed back from the "maximalist" approach he had been considering, which would have dropped the need for face masks in most public places, along with the one-metre plus social distancing rule.
The Daily Express says we are "so close" to freedom, while the Daily Mail accuses so-called "jab refuseniks" of threatening it.
Tory MPs, it reports, are urging the prime minister not to slow down his unlocking plan just for the sake of what it calls a "small band of anti-vaxxers".
The Mail quotes an unnamed cabinet minister who says that 21 June has become the "freedom date...burned on people's brains". But "at last, they get the point", reads the main headline in the Metro, which says even vaccine sceptics are now taking up the jab, including 10,000 people last week in Bolton.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-57152399
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The Prime Minister stressed that roadmap out of lockdown is currently unchanged with the government sifting through emerging data about the fast-spreading strain. But he appeared to shift his language slightly by saying there is not yet 'conclusive' evidence that the roadmap will need to be altered and said things would be clearer within days. Analysis of samples from people infected with Covid has revealed that the Indian variant was present in 127 out of 314 local areas in England in the week to May 8, compared to 71 the week before. Since it was discovered it has been found in 162 areas and Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday said there had been five or more cases in at least 86 places. Figures from the Wellcome Sanger Institute also revealed the mutant strain had become dominant in 23 parts of the country by last week after cases almost doubled in a week. Nationally, there have been 2,323 cases of the variant - four times the 520 ten days ago - and the strain now makes up at least one in five of all new infections.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9590927/Indian-variant-dominant-23-parts-England.html
https://video.dailymail.co.uk/preview/mol/2021/05/24/730222027835392395/636x382_MP4_730222027835392395.mp4
The couple - known only as Rakesh and Dakshina - got married on board a SpiceJet plane with friends and family on Sunday (pictured), after booking a chartered flight from the city of Madurai, India. More than 160 guests were on board the Boeing 737 to attend the ceremony and video footage showed them all packed onto the hired jet as India's official death toll topped 300,000 today. The state of Tamil Nadu, where the flight set off from, is currently under lockdown restrictions where weddings are limited to 50 guests.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9614071/Indian-couple-hold-mid-air-wedding-160-guests-board-plane-avoid-lockdown-rules.html