Here are the coronavirus headlines for Tuesday, February 15, as tennis champion Novak Djokovic has spoken about his decision not to have the coronavirus vaccination and has said he will not compete at Wimbledon if it is mandatory that he has one.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, has said he would rather miss out on future tennis trophies than be forced to have the vaccine and said people should have a right to choose.
The 20-times Grand Slam winner was speaking for the first time since being deported from Australia, just days before the start of the Australian Open.
Read more: The country that didn't bring in a strict lockdown and had fewer Covid deaths than the UK
He was asked if he would sacrifice taking part in competitions such as Wimbledon and the French Open over his stance on the vaccine, and replied: "That is the price that I'm willing to pay".
Speaking to reporter Amol Rajan, he said: "I was never against vaccination, but I've always supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body."
"The principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else. I'm trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can." You can read more here about experts explaining the main reasons behind Covid vaccine hesitancy.
Djokovic said he had "always been a great student of wellness, wellbeing, health, nutrition," and that his decision had been partly influenced by the positive impact that factors such as changing his diet and his sleeping patterns, had had on his abilities as an athlete.
He said he was "keeping [his] mind open" about the possibility of being vaccinated in the future, "because we are all trying to find collectively, a best possible solution to end Covid".
"I was never against vaccination. I understand that globally, everyone is trying to put a big effort into handling this virus and seeing, hopefully, an end soon to this virus."
Latest infection rate for Wales
The infection rate in Wales has fallen again according to the latest figures published by Public Health Wales.
New data released on Monday, February 14, and covering a 48-hour period shows 2,122 new positive cases, bringing the total to 802,438.
The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales now stands at 6,923.
The latest infection rate based on PCR tests, for the seven days up to February 9, now stands at 339.1 cases for every 100,000 people – a reduction from the 379.0 cases recorded on Sunday.
The infection rate based on PCR tests is only a guide to the spread of Covid in Wales as it does not include lateral flow test results, which are reported weekly in Wales. People with no symptoms who test positive on an LFT no longer need a confirmatory PCR test.
The latest data on lateral flow tests, published on Thursday for the week to February 6, show there have been a further 18,690 positive test results reported. That's down from 23,066 the previous week. Positivity also decreased from 11.87% to 10.24%. The highest incidence rate was in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area with 680.2 positive tests for every 100,000 people.
The area of Wales with the highest infection rate for the seven days up to February 9 was Carmarthenshire with 486.8 followed by Cardiff with 393.8 and Torfaen with 382.1. Cases for your area.
Northern Ireland's remaining Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted
All remaining Covid-19 legal restrictions in Northern Ireland are to be lifted and replaced by guidance today.
Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann confirmed on Monday that all legal restrictions in the region would be replaced by guidance from February 15.
He will make an order revoking the remaining rules on Tuesday.
Under current Covid-19 regulations, people are still required to wear face coverings in public places and Covid certificates are needed for nightclubs.
Read more: The pockets of Wales where vaccination takeup has been lower than expected
Mr Swann, who tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, was advised last week on the potential legal complications of him replacing Covid regulations with guidance, without the wider endorsement of an executive.
He wrote to other ministers asking for their input.
The present Covid-19 regulations in Northern Ireland were not due to expire until March 24, but had been reviewed by the executive every three weeks.
In Wales, economy minister Vaughan Gething has suggested that Covid isolation rules might become guidance instead of law in Wales from the end of March. Read what he had to say here.
The move to ease restrictions in Northern Ireland has been welcomed by businesses and other political parties.
Mr Swann urged the public to remain cautious and vigilant in the coming weeks.
"It must always be remembered that taking unnecessary risks with Covid may affect people who are particularly vulnerable to the virus.
"So please do not jump the gun and start behaving as if the pandemic is over. That is not the case," he said.
UK ministers press ahead with plan to wind down Covid testing
Ministers are pressing ahead with plans to start winding down Covid testing and payments for isolation in England from next week to save more than £10bn, the Guardian is reporting.
The plans are going ahead despite health chiefs warning it could hamper crucial research into antiviral treatments.
No 10, the Treasury and the health department will decide this week on a “living with Covid strategy” due to be unveiled on Monday (February 21), which will involve phasing out free Covid testing and all but ending the tracing system.
Whitehall sources say the Treasury is driving efforts to reduce costs from an estimated annual £15bn, with an opening suggestion of cutting the budget by more than 90%, to £1.3bn. It is unclear whether the changes will apply to England only or UK-wide.
Under plans for the “living with Covid” strategy, from Monday 21 February people will no longer be advised to test regularly if they are asymptomatic. From this date, the UK Government is also likely to end support payments worth £500 to £750 for people isolating, as well as routine contact tracing.
Boris Johnson previously announced plans to end mandatory isolation for people who test positive from next week.
From 31 March the government is likely to end free PCR testing for people with symptoms, apart from in hospitals and high-risk settings and for more than 1 million of the most vulnerable people.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We’ve previously set out that we’ll keep the provision of free testing under review as the government’s response to Covid-19 changes. No decisions have been made on the provision of free testing. Everyone can continue to get free tests and we are continuing to encourage people to use rapid tests when they need them.
“Testing continues to play an important role in helping people live their day-to-day lives, keep businesses running and keep young people in school.”
British Covid vaccine developer to collect damehood
A British scientist will collect her damehood for helping to create the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine credited with saving millions of lives around the world.
Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert will receive the honour for services to science and public health in Covid vaccine development at a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
The professor of vaccinology at Oxford University co-created the jab which has been used by more than 2.5 billion people in more than 170 countries.
The 59-year-old has previously received massive praise for her work, including being given an impromptu standing ovation from the crowd at Wimbledon when she attended the tournament last summer.
The mother of triplets was also honoured by toymaker Mattel which launched a Barbie doll in her image.
Trudeau invokes emergency powers to end Canada's truck protests
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked emergency powers to end paralysing protests by truckers and other groups angry over Covid-19 restrictions, outlining plans to tow away their rigs and also to strike at their bank accounts and their livelihoods.
"These blockades are illegal, and if you are still participating, the time to go home is now," he said.
In invoking Canada's Emergencies Act, which gives the federal government broad powers to restore order, Mr Trudeau ruled out using the military.
His government instead threatened to tow away vehicles to keep essential services running; freeze truckers' personal and corporate bank accounts; and suspend the insurance on their rigs.
"Consider yourselves warned," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said. "Send your rigs home."
Ms Freeland said the government will also broaden its anti-money-laundering regulations to target crowd-funding sites being used to support the illegal blockades.
Mr Trudeau did not indicate when the new crackdowns would begin, but he gave assurances the emergency measures "will be time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address".
For more than two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles have clogged the streets of the capital, and besieged Parliament Hill, railing against vaccine mandates for truckers and other Covid-19 precautions and condemning Mr Trudeau's Liberal government.
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