The spread of an Indian variant of Covid-19 in the UK has caused growing unease at Downing Street this week, with warnings that the new threat might delay the country’s final step out of lockdown.
Fears that the planned easing might have to be pushed back from 21 June follow sudden increases in reported cases of the variant in pockets of the UK including Bolton and Blackburn. But while despair has turned to cautious optimism as national hospitalisation rates remain low, the government has faced fresh criticism over its response to the health crisis.
A newly published report from the National Audit Office says that a lack of planning left ministers without a “playbook” on how to tackle key challenges triggered by the global pandemic. Coronavirus has “laid bare existing fault lines within society” and “within public service delivery and government itself”, according to the public spending watchdog.
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Need a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?
Downing Street has played down reports of a cabinet rift over whether to sign off on a trade deal with Australia that would grant farmers down under tariff-free access to UK markets.
In international news, Israel and Hamas bowed to international pressure to sign a ceasefire, ending an outbreak of violence in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 200 people, most of them Palestinians. The damage wrought by the aerial bombardment of the Palestinian territory has also triggered fears of a humanitarian crisis.
Political pundits say the instability may help Benjamin Netanyahu hold on to power, however, as he battles for his political future.
Joe Biden backed the ceasefire agreement after facing criticism from US Democrats calling for a strong stance against Israeli aggression.
And the president now faces another political battle over abortion laws, after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the arguments in favour of restrictive legislation that threatens Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established the right of women in the US to have a termination.
Elsewhere, Spain faced a migrant surge on its border with Morocco after Rabat stood down border guards in what analysts suggest was an effort to exert pressure on Madrid over a territorial dispute in the Western Sahara.
Meanwhile, in the world of the super-rich, Bill and Melinda Gates’ multibillion dollar divorce has continued to make headlines following the revelation that the Microsoft founder left the company during an investigation into an “inappropriate” relationship with a female employee.
