Coronavirus live news: Hong Kong to ban flights from ‘high risk’ UK; Portugal to quarantine unvaccinated Britons

Hong Kong to ban flights from the UK from Thursday; small study suggests third Oxford/AstraZeneca dose after six months could act as booster; British travellers to Portugal face 14-day quarantine

• UK and Brussels near deal on Covid passports to boost holiday hopes
• Parts of Australia under new lockdown after cases of Delta variant
• Vaccine inequality: rich countries cut deaths as poorer fall behind
• Third shot of AstraZeneca vaccine could work as booster - study
• South Africa tightens Covid rules as devastating wave' gathers pace

8.52pm BST

AFP has this report on the situation in Italy which is now considered low risk" to coronavirus:

Italians were finally able to go outside without masks Monday after the whole country became a low-risk" zone for coronavirus, a milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020.

In a decree that took effect Monday, the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy's 20 regions as white", the lowest of four categories under a colour-coded classification system that evaluates Covid-19 risk.

8.40pm BST

Covid restrictions in England must come to an end" on 19 July, the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced, saying the public and ministers will have to learn to live" with the virus.

In his first Commons appearance since taking over from Matt Hancock, who quit over the weekend after an affair with an aide broke social distancing rules, Javid said the easing next month would be irreversible". He said 19 July was not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country".

Related: Sajid Javid: Covid restrictions in England must end on 19 July