Thursday morning news briefing: Holidays cleared for take-off

UK quarantine rules to be lifted for 75 countries

Foreign holidays are to be cleared for take-off. Individual air bridges will be effectively abandoned by the Government, as it emerged that as many as 75 countries will be on the first quarantine exemption list for British holidaymakers. The list, to be published today or tomorrow, will lift the Foreign Office ban on non-essential travel to nearly all EU destinations, the British territories including Bermuda and Gibraltar - as well as Turkey, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. It means that from Monday, travellers to the countries will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days on their return to the UK. Home Affairs Editor Charles Hymas has more details on the 75 countries. For travel inspiration, try our 1,000 Dream Trips guide for unforgettable adventures, big and small. Planning a staycation? These are 10 of the best British beach holidays.

Infections tumbled after lockdown was relaxed

The rate of Covid-19 cases in England has dropped almost 40 per cent in the past week, according to official figures. The new data - the first available since lockdown restrictions were eased on June 15 - shows a steep decline in positive tests for coronavirus. The figures also suggest other local lockdowns may be unnecessary. Covid-19 rates in towns and cities on the government watch list have notably declined. As Chief Reporter Robert Mendick reports, the data prompted one Oxford University professor to ask why Leicester was put into lockdown. Our data team explains the areas of Britain on local lockdown alert.

Meanwhile, schools have been told to improve online learning amid warnings they could be closed if just two pupils fall ill with coronavirus. If a school has at least two cases within two weeks it will be viewed as a possible outbreak, according to the Government's blueprint for how they will operate from September. Education Editor Camilla Turner has seen a final draft of the full guidelines - which says schools must put pupils in "bubbles", overhaul lessons, rearrange classrooms and ban assemblies. Matt finds humour in new rules for weddings in today's cartoon.

Meghan: Royal 'institution' did not defend me

The Duchess of Sussex was "undefended by the institution" while pregnant and a member of the Royal family, her legal team have said, as they claim her wedding brought £1bn in tourism to the UK. The Duchess has said she was "prohibited from defending herself" against false stories while at the Palace. It came as her husband, the Duke of Sussex, said institutional racism is "endemic" in society. Speaking via video to Diana Award winners, Prince Harry apologised to young people for their elders' lack of progress in righting "wrongs of the past". Meanwhile, the BBC has told staff not to wear Black Lives Matter badges on air.

At a glance: More coronavirus headlines

• Study | 'Significant' numbers may have some natural immunity

• Trump | President 'all for' face masks in softening of position

• PHE | Future in doubt as No 10 warns it must be 'fit to cope'

• Testing | Home results take so long 'they render scheme useless'

• Justice | No-jury trials proposal to be abandoned after objections

Also in the news: Today's other headlines

Seven-year hitch | The accepted wisdom among dog owners is that if you want to know how old your pet is in human terms, simply multiply its age by seven. It can then be decided whether man's best friend is acting up because it is a naughty teenager - or simply poorly trained. But Helena Horton reports research has found that this method is not based on science, and our pets may be far "older" than we previously believed.

• Russia | Dubious voting will keep Putin in office until he is 83

• E-scooters | Call for devices to be limited to speed of milk floats

• 'Horrible tragedy' | MP describes losing his twin baby boys

• Classical music | What aids memory - and what makes it worse

• Discovery | WW2 patient's ode to his Scottish nurse unearthed

Around the world: Hong Kong protests

They had been warned that merely chanting a slogan could risk prosecution under Hong Kong's brutal new security law. But still the protesters came, first in their hundreds, then in thousands. Read Jasmine Leung's dispatch from Hong Kong as locals brave the streets to defy Beijing's "birthday gift". View our gallery of more world pictures.

Comment and analysis

• Allister Heath | Johnson's real philosophy is a popular radicalism

• Malcolm Rifkind | Our best hope of protecting Hong Kong

• Jules White | Ministers must end the schools muddle

• Judith Woods | Anything worse than awayday with Cummings?

• Reader letters | Leicester points to government indecision

Editor's choice: Features and arts

1. Lost boys of lockdown | Why boys have fared much worse than girls

2. 'I worried I would be called racist' | Legacy of one school's experiment

3. Cars and table service | How going to gigs will soon be transformed

Business and money briefing

Stock markets | Investors should look past the alarming number of new coronavirus cases in America and stay invested in the stock market, fund managers are advising. While they concede there is a risk of another stock market crash, Sam Benstead explains that the most likely outcome is markets will continue to tick higher because of stimulus from central banks and generous government spending packages.

• Fantasy fund portfolio | What is the perfect number of stocks?

• Investment tip | This biotech trust will benefit from Covid-19

• Alex cartoon | See our cartoonist's latest work on world of finance

Sport briefing

BLM division grows | Pep Guardiola waded into the row over football's support of Black Lives Matter by implying the authorities were guilty of double standards by banning his yellow ribbon for being too political. Guardiola spoke out over the Football Association fining him for showing support for Catalan political prisoners. And read Chief Sports Feature Writer Oliver Brown on football's Black Lives Matter disarray.

• West Ham 3 Chelsea 2 | Yarmolenko seals Hammers' win

• Arsenal 4 Norwich City 0 | Gunners breeze to big win

• Catching Liverpool | Solskjaer answers key questions

And finally... for this morning's downtime

Bad behaviour in 80s Oxford | Dafydd Jones took pictures of undergraduates from Hugh Grant to Boris Johnson enjoying the carefree days of their youth. Hermione Eyre investigates how today's Establishment lived before they grew up