Sweden will ease many of its restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the Covid-19 on 1 July, allowing larger crowds at stadiums and restaurants, the minister of health said on Monday.

Sweden has been an outlier in the fight against the pandemic, relying on mostly voluntary measures. However, there have been curbs on restaurant opening hours and the number of people allowed at sports venues, shopping malls and stores.

“The spread of infection has decreased sharply,” minister of health Lena Hallengren told a news conference. “It has been a long and difficult time, and we have experienced one, two and three waves. But thanks to vaccinations, we see an improved situation.”

Malaysia prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday announced a 150 billion ringgit ($36.22 billion) aid package, including cash aid and wage subsidies, a day after extending a nationwide lockdown indefinitely to tackle a stubborn Covid outbreak.

Lockdown measures originally set to end on Monday would not be eased until daily reported cases fell below 4,000, the state news agency reported on Sunday, citing Muhyiddin.

On Monday, Malaysia reported 5,218 new infections, bringing total cases to 739,266, including 5,001 deaths.

The latest aid package includes a fiscal injection of 10 billion ringgit from the government, Muhyiddin said in a televised address on Monday.

“What I can promise today is that, even within a narrow fiscal space… I will not compromise in the effort to protect the people’s welfare and to fight Covid-19,” he said.

Boris Johnson has said that the government is working towards a “return to pretty much life before Covid” on 19 July, when restrictions in England are due to be lifted.

The prime minister said there was some “positive science” on rates of deaths and hospitalisations from Covid, although cases were rising.

“What is clear is that we have interrupted the link between infection and serious illness and death, and that is very, very important,” Mr Johnson told reporters.

“So that shows that the vaccination programme has been working and I’m very, very encouraged by that.”

He added: “What I think we should do now is continue to take a cautious but irreversible approach and use the next three-and-a-half weeks or so to make sure that we get another five million vaccinations into people’s arms, build up even higher that wall of protection, and then go forward on 19 July as a terminus date when I think that we will be able, really, to return to pretty much life before Covid. That’s what we’re working towards.”

Hong Kong has said it will ban all flights from the UK from 1 July in order to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 to the Chinese region.

The government said on Monday that the UK was now an “extremely high-risk” destination due to rising infections in recent weeks.

Our reporter, Akshita Jain, has the full story below:

Evidence showing that vaccines protect against the current Covid variants for a sustained period of time means that booster jabs may not be needed in the near future, according to the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group.

The government is currently said to be looking at plans for an autumn vaccine booster campaign, with expectations that it will prioritise those over 50 years old and those who are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.

“We do have to be in a position where we could boost if it turned out that was necessary … (but) we don’t have any evidence that that is required,” Andrew Pollard told reporters.

“At this point with a high level of protection in the UK population and no evidence of that being lost, to give third doses now in the UK whilst other countries have zero doses is not acceptable.”

Boris Johnson has said 19 July is very likely to remain the date for ending Covid restrictions in England following talks with health secretary Sajid Javid.

During a campaign visit to Johnstone’s Paints Limited in Batley, Mr Johnson told broadcasters: “I had a good conversation yesterday, a long meeting with Sajid Javid the new health secretary.

“Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths remains low and the number of hospitalisations remains low, though both are going up a bit, we are seeing an increase in cases.”

He added: “So we think it’s sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of that vaccine rollout – another five million jabs we can get into people’s arms by 19 July.

“And then with every day that goes by it’s clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that we’re very likely to be in a position on 19 July to say that really is the terminus and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible.”

Russia reported 21,650 new Covid cases on Monday, including 7,246 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,472,941.

The government coronavirus task force said 611 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 133,893.

The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to Covid from April 2020 to April 2021.

Video footage of health secretary Sajid Javid’s comments on lifting Covid restrictions ealier today can be found below:

A third dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine induces a “strong” immune boost against Covid-19 and its different variants, a new study has found.

Scientists remain unsure if booster jabs are imminently needed to prevent immunity from waning but found that a third jab more than six months after the second shot boosted antibodies back to levels seen after a double-dose vaccination.

Our science correspondent, Samuel Lovett, has the full story below:

Sajid Javid should not “insult nurses” by giving them a 1 per cent pay rise, leaders in the field have said.

NHS staff were due a pay rise in April, but ministers said they would await the recommendations of the body which reviews pay.

Feedback from the NHS Pay Review Body is likely to be in Mr Javid’s in-tray, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said.

The government recommended that certain NHS staff, including nurses, should receive a 1 per cent pay rise.

But Pat Cullen, acting chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, told BBC Breakfast: “We understand that the Pay Review Body – the body that recommends the pay award for health care staff including nurses – may very well be in his in-tray this morning.

“And what we’re saying to him, please don’t insult nurses by awarding them a 1% pay award.

“That just will do nothing to try and hold on to those fantastic nurses that we’ve got in our system, not one of them can we afford to lose, but it also would attract [more nurses], and [attract new] nurses into the system.”