Coronavirus latest: Heathrow passenger numbers return to March 2020 level

The number of states on Chicago’s travel advisory list has swelled to more than 30, following the addition of California, New York and North Carolina among others. The advisory requests unvaccinated travellers from so-called “orange list” states to obtain a negative Covid-19 test no more than 72 hours prior to arrival in Chicago or undertake a 10-day quarantine. 

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has warned that the state’s board of education could withhold pay from school leaders who mandate masks for students. Superintendents and school board members who “intentionally defy” DeSantis’s executive order banning mask mandates could face financial penalties, the governor’s spokesperson wrote on Twitter. 

The German government said it would end free coronavirus testing for the unvaccinated this autumn, hoping to push more residents to get the jab. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states agreed to implement the decision starting on October 11 at a meeting to discuss pandemic regulations and the catastrophic July floods. 

Citigroup is the latest bank to require staff in major US cities coming into the office to get vaccinated as it prepares to bring employees back to the office next month. Bank staff in the New York tri-state area, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston and Philadelphia would need to have been vaccinated if they wanted to come into the office, Citi’s head of human resources said in a statement. 

Three-quarters of adults in the UK have now received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the government. Data released on Tuesday showed that more than 86m doses have been administered and more than 39m people have received two jabs of one of the approved vaccines.

The NHS is urging students to sign up for a career in the health service by taking up one of 900 university courses on offer. A £15m package is set to give joiners a fast-track training programme that aims to boost the number of nurses and other medical roles. The scheme comes 18 months into the worst global healthcare crisis in generations and aims to bring in 5,000 more healthcare support workers from those leaving full-time education.

Health authorities in Portugal have recommended that children aged 12 to 15 be vaccinated, beginning shortly before or after they return to school from their summer holidays in mid-September. Portugal, like the UK and Sweden, had previously adopted a more cautious approach, recommending that only children in that age cohort with chronic illnesses received the jabs.

Moderna has agreed a deal with Canada for the development of an mRNA facility. The US pharmaceutical company will build an mRNA plant in Canada over the next few years, from which the country will have access to a range of Moderna’s mRNA vaccines, including Covid-19 booster shots and flu jabs.