hello, you're watching bbc news. our headlines. britain's health secretary says the decision on easing lockdown restrictions on the zist easing lockdown restrictions on the 21st ofjune has become more difficult because the delta mutation which originated in india is 40% more transmissible than the canned variant. ., ., , .,~ ., variant. that does make life more challenging _ variant. that does make life more challenging for— variant. that does make life more challenging for everybody, - variant. that does make life more challenging for everybody, and i challenging for everybody, and you've seen that the case rates have risen a little, but the good news is that hospitalisations, the number of people arriving at hospital is broadly flat.— people arriving at hospital is broadl flat. broadly flat. boris johnson will tell global _ broadly flat. boris johnson will tell global leaders _ broadly flat. boris johnson will tell global leaders he - broadly flat. boris johnson will tell global leaders he wants i broadly flat. boris johnson will tell global leaders he wants a l broadly flat. boris johnson will - tell global leaders he wants a whole world to be vaccinated against coronavirus by the end of next year. a two minute silence has been held at the normandy memorial to honour more than 22,000 members of the

british armed forces who died after the d—day landings. el salvador says it wants to be the first country to adopt bitcoin as an official currency. charities are warning that cuts to foreign aid are casting a shadow over the uk's influence and the g7 summit. i'll be back at midday with the latest news. right now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london. this week we are asking should the uk unlock from covid restrictions or not?

should the rich nations provide excess vaccines to poorer countries, and what can we expect from forthcoming global summits? the g7 here in the uk and president biden and vladimir putin meeting in geneva. joining me we have got foreign correspondent thomas and stephanie baker of bloomberg news. and joining me here in studio is the bbc�*s esteemed health editor hugh pym. welcome to you all. thank you very much for being with us. freedom from covid restrictions in england onjune 2i, that is what borisjohnson is hoping will still happen. scientists fear another wave, despite the success of the uk's vaccination programme. let's start off with you, ben. let's start off with you, ——hugh. during the 21st, will restrictions be lifted in england? borisjohnson says, you know, the data is looking pretty good but actually, a lot of the figures are going in the wrong direction at the moment.

yes, i think this one will go right to the wire, possibly up until the 14th ofjune because the government has made it clear that, for england, a week's notice will be given of any lifting of restrictions planned for the 21st. the first possible date. but they will be watching data throughout the week leading up to the 14th and right now, the situation across the uk is not looking quite as bright as it might have been. and of course, all of the uk's four nations looking very closely at all the stats because they are making decisions themselves throughout the uk about to when to lift restrictions in different ways. so the latest data on infections across the uk suggests quite a big increase in the week leading up to may the 29th — that is based on community infections picked up by the office for national statistics,

and the daily reported case numbers, which are just people who have gone for testing. that actually shows a pretty big increase as well. more than 6000 in the uk for the first time since the end of march. but what the ministers and officials have to do making these decisions is say, yes, we expected cases to go up because we opened up a bit in may. how many people are actually going to hospital? how many, sadly, don't survive? how effective is the vaccine, actually, in this situation? of course, we have got this delta variant first identified in india which we now know is more transmissible and increasing cases and is actually now the dominant variant in the uk. it has been described as a race between the vaccine and the variant but there are some people saying, actually, a huge proportion of adults in the uk have now been vaccinated and rich countries should start giving away their excess vaccines to the poorer countries. we have heard from nepal and other countries pleading for more vaccines

because they are so short of them. the argument in the uk in different nations is you do need to get down to the 30—year—olds and below that to those aged over 18 because there is still a vulnerability getting sick and then transmitting quite a lot of cases are amongst lower age groups who haven't been vaccinated so they could spread it to the vulnerable who had not been vaccinated. in other words, you do need to push on with the vaccine programme here. that is contested by some who say that once you get to people in their 20s you need to prioritise may be sending vaccines to other countries more in need, so it is quite delicately poised to debate. the argument in the uk is that the oxford vaccine, developed in the uk and has been provided at cost only, not profit.

that is part of the uk's contribution, they argue, to the global effort. stephanie, do you think the richer nations should be doing more and giving away more of their vaccines? they all talk about, we are not vaccinated until the whole world is vaccinated, but on the whole, they seem to be wanting to vaccinate their adult population first before they get away too much more. no, absolutely. i think wealthy countries with advanced vaccination programmes are in a position to start sharing a lot more doses than they have so far. i mean, in the us they are now vaccinating 12—year—olds where in low—income countries, i think less than 1% of people have gotten one dose. the fact of the matter is, you know, we have seen the virus, you know, surge in places with low vaccination with very little access to vaccines. take argentina, nepal, thailand and, you know,

so far the us has promised to provide about 25 million doses, sharing most through global alliance of covax which was set up last year to provide vaccines to low—income countries, and so far it is way behind on its targets. it is about 190 million doses short of where it was hoping to be by the end ofjune and it is kind of outmanoeuvred and outbid by wealthy countries that have blocked up vaccine supplies with deals with the most promising vaccine developers, but the reality is, the us in particular, i would say, is in a position to be sharing more doses than it is. at the current rate it is going, i think it is delivering about 70 million doses more than has been administered, so they are really looking at a glut in vaccine

supply and, you know, i think rich countries should be realising it is in the self interest now to be sharing this vaccines more widely in order to contain the virus as well as slow the spread of these variants that are developing and seem to be boomeranging back to rich countries. thomas, i mean, some people watching this might say charity begins at home, vaccination begins at home. we need to look after our own country first before we start after the rest of the world. i don't want to be devil's advocate, but i will admit that this _ i new pandemic that hit the world. globally at a moment when nobody was prepared for it and as you say, |all these governments are elected| into power by the electorate, have to mind and consider. their own population. but at the same time, they also have to be . understanding of the fact that_

you don't save your own country - and your own population if you don't make sure that the rest of the world will participate in the general- saving effort. and so we have learned, all the while, and, - yes, i agree with you, - you have to mind the store. your own store. you have to be generous, as it were, to your own population. _ to show that you care for them, but you also have to educate - everyone in your own country that you cannot buy safety— by isolating yourself - against the rest of the world. this is a global pandemic- and if there is a pandemic of this kind in future, hopefully we will all learn from iti and we will start right from the beginning to spread . the available medicine and help in as wide a way as possible. we have learned that _ from what we have experienced in the last 18 months. there is this question, this ethical issue about, you know, should the richer countries be vaccinating their children? it is now becoming possible.

when adults in some of the poorer countries around the world have not been vaccinated. this is becoming a key question, isn't it? it is. certainly on the back of news that the medical regulator in the uk given the go—ahead and said it is safe to vaccinate children of 12 and over following the ema for europe also has given the green light to that and in the us the fda, and in fact, the us has started vaccinating children aged 12 or over and it is planned in france as well. it is not definitely going to go ahead in the uk. thejcvi, expert committee on vaccinations which advises the government, will give a view on whether it should happen. no doubt some of these ethical issues will come into play. it has been indicated by ministers that there is enough to go through with pfeizer to i2—year—olds.

children certainly don't get seriously ill based on the data but they can transmit it around communities and therefore you would want to vaccinate but it is a delicate issue. the us and france with a lot lower levels of uptake, then there is more of an argument for getting the vaccine into children. but certainly, it is a very topical issue right now, as you say. some of these richer countries do have huge stockpiles of vaccines. the uk has millions and millions, either in its hand or on order. yes, i think that the vaccines currently being used in the uk, a lot was ordered and alsojohnson and johnson, the doses which are due to come through there. the single—dose vaccine. and others which have not yet been formally approved, and the argument of british ministers is, well, we moved quickly to secure these and we do need to act for the benefit of tax payers,

but it is certainly leaving governments like that open to suggestion, you have ordered far too many, can you not release at this stage? thank you for that. later this month there are two important summit meetings coming up. the first is the g7 and it is being hosted here in the uk and in fact, i will be in cornwall covering that for bbc news next weekend. the second is the first face—to—face meeting between presidentjoe biden and russia's vladimir putin in geneva. thomas, it is summit season. sketch out for us what you think will be the importance of those two summits. well, it is a pretty tall order- to be summarising the summits in such a short time. let me start with the second one. the dialogue, as it were, between president bideni and president putin. i am reminded of what happened exactly 60 years ago in june 1961

when kennedy and khrushchev met and it was considered to be - a summit where the mettle - of the young american president. will putin do the same? i hope not. biden is the most experienced - politician in america at the moment and he does not need - the russian president trying to find him out, so they are having lto work for a stable relationship. i the problem with russia is the main bone of contention is ukraine. - a democratic, hopefully western . country which russia cannot accept close in the proximity. they consider ukraine to be a threat to their authoritarian rule. _ that is why president putin has leaned on this other dictator. in his neighbourhood in belarus. and supported him in an act of air- piracy where a plane was forced down and a dissident was apprehended

and so forth _ i such events cannot be tolerated, i and we need to unite to make sure |that won't happen, but on the other| hand, there is a mixed signal coming from the biden administration. he's shown himself willing to reconsider some of- the approaches towards russia. for example, he has waived sanctions against the company which built - in germany the gas pipeline, which was a very big - issue in the beginning. of the biden presidency. and so that has been moved off the table, and their meeting, . which is a way to recognise russia as an important ally, _ and they can talk about common problems like covid, _ probably even the middle east . and other issues the world over. so there is a reason for trying to work a relationship. -

now, that said, i am not very- hopeful it will happen straightaway. earlier, president biden . was asked in an interview, do you think that president putin is a killer and he said yes. - and when they met for the first time ten years ago when they were both i vice president at the time, biden looked into the eyes of putin and said, i don't think you have a soul. i so there is no real sort of national. rapprochement between them and no natural understanding. and they will have to work on it to try to mediate. - the ukraine issue, as i said before, is a difficult one for putin _ who cannot accept a democratic, - western country in the neighbourhood that threatens his own authoritarian rule. - it seems to be an intractable - situation and we will need to wait and see what comes of it. now, in cornwall, it is- an equally intractable event because the several issues

which are on the table, - each of them takes a whole conference to solve. - there is the question of global trade. - britain is very much - in the forefront, as a global nation, now having left the eu, l to want to expand trade relations with the world and they also i want to work on taxing big tech companies, which so far has been |a bone of contention but overall, | which will absolutely outshine all these other issues will bel the issue of how to deal- with another global pandemic if the world is hit by it. we are coming together- here at an important moment and i said before the world at large has to recognise this _ as a global problem. we have to forget all our own individual nations i which we have to serve. we have to think globally. gordon brown has published

a new book, seven ways - 0f saving the world, _ and he said how shocked he was that global cooperation was lacking. in the beginning of the pandemic when isolationism ruled supreme. so the cornwall gathering will have to unite behind a common - approach toward global pandemics. let me ask you how important is all of this forjoe biden, do you think? it is his first overseas trip as president and, you know, some people are saying, actually, he should not be seeing putin at all. he is rewarding putin by even having that face—to—face meeting with him. yes, absolutely. many are questioning what he is hoping to achieve by meeting him. for putin, the meeting itself is a victory. it signals his acceptance on the global stage, you know, and as thomas pointed out, there is no love lost between the two of them. there is no personal chemistry,

you know, and there is a very long list of issues that biden will no doubt raise and admonish putin for. everything from the poisoning and jailing of the russian opposition activist navalny, the spate of cyber attacks that have happened in the us emanating from hackers in russia. now, we don't know to what extent that is sanctioned by the russian government but that is certainly another bone of contention between the two but, you know, i think it kind of reflects biden's worldview that he tends to want to engage with adversaries in the hopes of trying to, diplomatically, so to speak, as a way of trying to find some common ground, figure out whether you can get certain issues forward and i think some of those issues will be perhaps iran's nuclear programme with a shared interest. possibly a new arms control treaty,

syria, what have you. so there is a long list of things that they do need to discuss. all i can say is it will certainly be a very different summit to the one in 2018 between trump and putin which was, as you may remember, a disaster. trump was trying to curry favour with putin, said he believed him when he said that russia had nothing to do with election meddling in 2016. and it was by and large seen as an embarrassment. you know, so this will have a very different tone to it and we will wait to see how much of the sort of clash that might happen behind the scenes we get a view on the kind ofjoint statement that they might put together at the end. let me just ask you about the g7 summit in cornwall because the pandemic of course is going to feature very heavily. and it is a chance, really, for more co—operation

between the big nations of the world. yes, and as we have been hearing, there have been calls coming in from diplomats and former leaders and others putting pressure on the g7 to really come up with a big financial contribution to vaccine roll—outs in developing nations. gordon brown, the former british prime minister being one of them. saying that the g7 collectively has got the fire power to make much bigger contribution at the moment financially. they help ministers of the g7 have been meeting in oxford. they've come out with a communique, one bit of which includes a push to speed up and harmonise drug development so that drug trials can happen a lot more quickly, and there are standards for doing it, because one thing learned in this pandemic is the normal rather ponderous way that drugs are approved had to be thrown out of the window to get to treatments

and vaccines to the patient as quickly as possible and then there are moves to boost international agreements on certification so that vaccine passports and certificates could be more easily available. but of course this is all talk at the moment. at the end of the day, summits are about talk. whether any action follows is another matter. we are talking about talking. 0k. before we go, i want to ask each of you to tell us something that has caught your eye, maybe a story or event we ought to be covering. let's start with you, thomas. there have been a number of cases lately of compatriots of mine - from germany and other eu citizens. who came to heathrow airport and had problems being accepted _ by the border forces, either as some of them who had settled status - and were allowed to stay in britain, but the documents were not recognising and had to be i verified, first of all. and others who thought. they wanted to try to work and the border force said no,

this is not possible _ and they were put in detention. and straightaway asked to fly back home. - there has been a general sort of breakdown in good - spirits and good vibes, _ as it were, between the forces that be at the border and visitors. i think all these problems - are causing a lot of reputational damage to britain in europe, because these stories - about what you envisagej and what you experience when you try to enter britain, they spread like brushfire, i they are all over the media in europe and they lead - to an increased ill. will towards britain. and i think we need to study what happens at the british border. and whether or not a new sense of xenophobia is taking hold - of those officials and we need j to really fight it tooth and nail to not allow this to happen. thank you for that. stephanie, what has caught your eye? well, you know, two cases

of pro—democracy activists being arrested i think i would love to highlight. 0ne, obviously, today is the anniversary of the tiananmen square massacre and a pro—democracy activist there was detained. can i pronounce her name right? chow hang tung. just a very sad moment. and in belarus, i think we have moved on and forgotten about roman protasevich, who remains injail and he appeared in a one hour tv interview in belarus where he pledged his support for the belarusian president and, you know, confessed to alleged crimes and some of his supporters noted that, you know, he had marks on his wrist which indicated that, you know, he had been tortured. so here you have a case of two pro—democracy activists, you know,

campaigning against authoritarian regimes who are now sitting in prison and it isjust a sad state of the world that they are just two of many other activists in similar situations. do you think the world, the democratic world, if you like, does enough? there are a lot of protests and strong words about those things that you are talking about, but is there enough action? well, you know, not enough. we are confronting these authoritarian regimes that are routinelyjailing activists. and it pops up in the news and then we all forget about it, which is why i wanted to highlight the plight in belarus because it is easy to move on in the cycle and forget that these people are still sitting injail. so i don't actually think there was enough that is done

and not enough attention paid to these cases. and they are multiplying. thomas, a quick one to you. do you think that the democratic world, if you want to call it that, is doing enough on these things? whatever you do in these instances, you are actually hitting _ against a stone wall. these authoritarian regimes, . dictatorships, why don't we call them by their proper names? will absolutely fight it and move it off the table and not care - a single iota about whatever protest we put forward _ if you want to go further and punish those regimes by sanctions, - then you have a problem in your own country. - will sanctions hurt our own interest? | economic and otherwise? there is a limit to what we can doj if countries behave in a dictatorial sense and reign supreme over the freedom of their subjects. j that is a very hard nut to crack. a minute to tell us

what has caught your eye. not a new story, but a very important one. long covid. the symptoms that can persist for many, many months after somebody has had the virus. figures from the uk say a million people are reporting long covid symptoms and a big increase in people who have had them for more than a year. i interviewed a woman of 26 studying for a phd and keen on outdoor activities like mountaineering and canoeing, she said all of that had to change. it had totally changed her life and her message to other 20—year—olds and anyone else who has not had a vaccine and who is eligible, go get it, because long covid is a very nasty long—lasting condition which there is no cure or remedy at the moment. thank you very much indeed. that is it for this week. my thanks to thomas, stephanie and hugh here in the studio and of course, thanks to you very much for watching. as i mentioned, i will be in cornwall next week for the g7 summit. looking forward to a little

sunshine on the coast. shaun ley will be here next week, same time, same place. dojoin him then. from all of us here, goodbye. hello there. mixed fortunes, really, for today. a change of fortune, really, for scotland and northern ireland where today we have got more broken cloud and that means some spells of sunshine and it's probably going to stay dry. the cloud that we had here yesterday has pushed its way into england and wales and you can see it's been bringing some rain and drizzle already. that lump of cloud stuck across england in particular moving very slowly eastwards. it's a very weak weather front, but that is continuing to bring a lot of cloud around, some rain and drizzle here and there, particularly through the midlands, heading into parts

of northern england. to the south, as it brightens up, that could trigger a few heavy, perhaps even thundery showers as well. the best of the sunshine probably across scotland and northern ireland where it should stay fine and dry. temperatures here 17 or 18 degrees. ahead of this wetter weather that we've got in the midlands, temperatures will be highest of all in the south—east and east anglia but even here there is the threat of some showers. those showers continuing into this evening, pushing their way eastwards, eventually out into the north sea. it does become drier later in the night. again, some mist and fog patches around. the lowest temperatures in scotland, we will have the clearest skies most of the night. some sunshine around on monday. some areas of cloud, too. the mist and fog patches will lift but could trigger a few heavy thundery showers. most likely east anglia through lincolnshire, parts of north—eastern england, the odd shower for eastern areas of scotland. the further west you are, the greater chance you have of staying drier and some spells of sunshine and temperatures tomorrow similar to those of today.

parts of the uk, high pressure dominating more southern and eastern parts of the uk, but coming in from the atlantic with got some more weak weather fronts arriving into north—west and that means a little more breeze, more cloud for northern ireland, western scotland. the odd pocket of light rain or drizzle. england and wales probably dry. some cloud heading into the north of england and wales. sunnier skies for the south and east, and those temperatures are beginning to lift a bit as well. it will feel warm in the sunshine and temperatures rising across many parts of the country on tuesday. it will feel a little more humid as well as we head further into the week. we've got low pressures running to the north—west of the uk, weaker weather fronts as well brushing north—western areas. further south and east, it looks a little different. so for north—western parts of the uk, more cloud over the week ahead, a stronger breeze, maybe a bit of rain, too. south and east, though, it should be turning drier, sunnier and warmer.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the health secretary says thejune 21st decision on easing restrictions has become "more difficult" because the delta variant is 40% more transmissible that does make life more challenging for everybody, and you have seen at the case rates have written a little. but, the good news is that hospitalisations, the number of people arriving in hospital is broadly flat. vaccinations are being opened up to the under—30s this week in the drive to offer covid jabs to all adults in england. borisjohnson will tell global leaders he wants the whole world to be vaccinated against coronavirus, by the end of next year.