Delta Covid cases likely to put strain on health services in areas with low vaccination rates, experts say; Australia suffers its worst daily total
- New Zealand records 82 new cases as outbreak worsens
- How the decision not to get the shot is tearing loved ones apart
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In all the change and loss during the pandemic, few have mourned the disappearance of the daily commute. Many rail passengers, battered in preceding years by strikes on Southern, the timetabling fiasco on Northern and technical woes on Great Western, have welcomed a break.
But leisure rail travel is booming again – and with schools set to return next week and many offices expected to fill up again for the first time since Britain lifted Covid restrictions, train operators are anxiously waiting to see whether commuting will follow.
Related: Offices and schools about to reopen – but will commuters return?
US President Joe Biden has accused China of withholding “critical information” on the origins of Covid-19 after the US intelligence community said it did not believe the virus was a bioweapon – but remained split on whether it escaped from a lab.
In a statement on Friday, Biden said:
Critical information about the origins of this pandemic exists in the People’s Republic of China, yet from the beginning, government officials in China have worked to prevent international investigators and members of the global public health community from accessing it.
To this day, the PRC continues to reject calls for transparency and withhold information, even as the toll of this pandemic continues to rise.