COVID BITES

■ ALMOST one in three people arriving in England and Northern Ireland in spring may have broken quarantine rules, the BBC says. Data obtained under Freedom of Information laws show 301,000 cases were passed to investigators to check people were self-isolating between March 17 and May 31, when arrivals from amber list locations had to quarantine ten days and give proof of negative coronavirus tests. Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said it confirmed ‘our worst fears’ over ‘lax border policy’.

■ HOUSEHOLDS cut spending by £109.10 a week during lockdowns, data shows. Families spent 19 per cent less than normal as foreign travel was banned and pubs and restaurants closed during the early stages of the pandemic. And we splurged more on food and non-alcoholic drinks after being ordered to stay at home. The top 40 per cent of UK earners saw their spending drop nearly 21 per cent – a weekly saving of £193.10. The lowest 20 per cent of earners spent 12.5 per cent less, the Office for National Statistics reported.

■ GREECE has ordered mandatory weekly testing for all unvaccinated workers to boost the uptake of jab rates. Public and private sector employees must pay for tests or carry a vaccine certificate to gain access to their place of work. Unvaccinated children at secondary schools, which reopened yesterday, will be given state-funded test kits. Tests or Covid passports are also needed to access public venues in the country. Just 56 per cent of Greeks have been jabbed. The EU average is around 60 per cent.

■ THE head of a London church sold ‘divine plague prevention kits’ as a bogus cure for Covid-19, a court has heard. Bishop Climate Wiseman, head of The Kingdom Church, in Camberwell, south London, is accused of selling packages containing a bottle of oil and a piece of yarn for £91, to ‘treat, prevent or cure’ the virus. Chanting supporters gathered at Inner London crown court as Wiseman, 46, denied fraud and breaching consumer protection laws yesterday. He was bailed ahead of a trial on July 11, 2022.