UK reports 89,176 new cases and 277 deaths – as it happened

UK cases and deaths fall day-on-day; Hong Kong government to compensate pet shops affected by culling of hamsters for Covid reasons

• European Commission guilty of maladministration' over Pfizer texts
• Canada truckers' vaccine protest spirals into calls to repeal all rules
• Is it time to ditch cloth face masks for FFP2 or alternatives?
• UK Downing Street parties investigation - live

Nightclubs will be allowed to reopen in Wales from today as Covid restrictions are eased further and alert level zero" came into effect from 6am this morning.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said in a statement overnight:

We have passed the peak of this omicron wave and there are encouraging signs that cases of coronavirus may be starting to stabilise. But we all need to continue taking steps to stay safe - unfortunately the pandemic is not over yet.

We are moving to alert level zero and we will retain some important protections, such as face coverings in most indoor public places and risk assessments.

For the events the Met is investigating, we asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report.

The Met did not ask for any limitations on other events in the report, or for the report to be delayed, but we have had ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office, including on the content of the report, to avoid any prejudice to our investigation.