BOOZY BRITS

Thousands of revellers hit bars and clubs last night as they celebrated the first weekend of freedom.

Two men rocked full Homer and Marge Simpson fancy dress costumes while others went as oompa loompas, lifeguards and Tiger King’s Joe Exotic. 

A group of girls served up the Wimbledon spirit in their tennis kits while another copped police outfits for celebrations last night.

They were all taking part in the first Otley Run – a legendary 16-pub crawl in Leeds – since freedom day.

And party-goers across Britain later queued as early as 9pm to get into night clubs.

WATCH: SIX MILLION BRITS FACE SUMMER HOLIDAY CHAOS IF SPAIN AND GREECE SLAPPED ON ‘AMBER PLUS’ LIST

DISCONTENT GROWS OVER ‘PINGDEMIC’ AMID FOOD WARNINGS AND TRANSPORT DISRUPTION

Discontent with the Government’s self-isolation policy is growing as food industry bosses condemned changes to ease the “pingdemic” as “worse than useless”, hospitality leaders warned of a summer of closures and train operators were forced to cut services.

There were increasing calls for Boris Johnson to bring forward his wider relaxation of quarantine rules for the fully vaccinated from August 16 as businesses were hampered by staff being told to isolate as coronavirus cases soar.

In a bid to calm the concerns of industry, ministers published a limited list of sectors whose double-jabbed workers are eligible to avoid isolation if they undergo daily testing before the wider easing of rules for England.

Industry leaders said the move did not include sufficient workers, but doctors warned the problem is that the Prime Minister has let the virus “rip” and not the “pings” being issued by the NHS Covid-19 app to tell coronavirus contacts to isolate.

The mounting criticism came as data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Covid-19 cases continued to rise, with around one in 75 people in England infected.

WATCH: MARTIN LEWIS REVEALS HOW TO CLAIM MONEY IF YOU’RE SELF-ISOLATING

FANS WARN COVID PASSPORTS FOR FOOTBALL MATCHES COULD CAUSE ‘CHAOS’

Football fans have warned that plans to exclude supporters who are not fully vaccinated against coronavirus from attending Premier League matches from October could cause “chaos” at some clubs.

Chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association chairman Malcolm Clarke warned the proposal being considered by the Government to make vaccine passports mandatory for events with more than 20,000 attendees will need to be “managed very carefully”.

Boris Johnson was also facing further criticism from backbench Conservatives who were already opposed to plans to introduce their use for entry into nightclubs this autumn.

Talks are in an early phase with the Premier League to discuss whether supporters who have not been double-jabbed could be barred from entry, the PA news agency understands.

The use of vaccine passports could also be extended to lower divisions and other sports in England as ministers seek to reduce the surge of Covid-19 cases as other restrictions are ended.

SAJID JAVID WAS RIGHT TO APOLOGISE FOR ‘COWERING FROM COVID’ TWEET SAYS LEADER OF BEREAVED FAMILIES GROUP

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, which criticised Sajid Javid’s initial tweet as “deeply insensitive”, said the Health Secretary was right to apologise.

The group also repeated an earlier request for Mr Javid to walk the National Covid Memorial Wall with it “to understand the hurt and insult his poor choice of word still remains”.

GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO ENSURE STOCKPILED PPE ‘NOT BEING WASTED’ SAYS COMMITTEE CHAIR

Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the Government needs to make sure stockpiled PPE is not being wasted.

Speaking on LBC on Sunday about the committee’s report which found there were 10,000 shipping containers of PPE still to be unpacked, Dame Meg said taxpayers’ money is sitting in those containers.

She added: “This is a large amount of expensive kit, we need to make sure it gets to the right place.

“The main thing is what are they [the Government] doing logistically to make sure that stockpile isn’t wasted.”

KARREN BRADY – “I BEGGED MY KIDS TO GET THE COVID JAB AND THEY BOTH SAID: NO”

Karen Brady has admitted that her kids do not want to have the vaccine, joining many of the younger generation that currently refuse the jab. She said, “With three million under-30s still unjabbed, it is pretty clear that young people are hesitant about getting the vaccine. And that includes my own kids.

“I have begged them both to get the jab, but neither of them will. 

“They flatly refuse and cannot be persuaded.

“They believe that the risks of taking it are greater than the benefits.”

WATCH: HEALTH SECRETARY SAJID JAVID APOLOGISES FOR SUGGESTING BRITS SHOULD NOT ‘COWER’ FROM COVID

PIERS MORGAN FEARED HE’D GIVEN COVID TO AMANDA HOLDEN AND SIMON COWELL AT A PARTY BEFORE TESTING POSITIVE

The star, 56, decided to contact his showbiz pals as part of Test & Trace after testing positive for the potentially deadly illness.

Piers believes he caught Covid-19 while watching the Euro 2020 finals at Wembley Stadium but had seen Simon and Amanda several days beforehand.

Amanda had thrown a belated 50th birthday party for herself at a posh London hotel and Piers had attended, along with Simon and his partner Lauren Silverman.

He also sat with Leigh Francis – aka Keith Lemon – and his wife, so made a series of phone calls to alert them to his diagnosis.

Writing in The Mail On Sunday, Piers said: “I’d been at Amanda Holden’s 50th birthday dinner party on an outside terrace at the Rosewood London hotel with the likes of Simon Cowell, Alan Carr and the ghastly David Walliams.

WATCH: CAN FLATULENCE TRANSMIT COVID-19?

TAXPAYERS TO FACE COVID BILL FOR DECADES TO COME, MPS WARN

Taxpayers will be facing the costs of Covid for decades while an inquiry will not come quickly enough to learn the lessons needed from the pandemic, MPs have said.

Two reports from the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released on Sunday slammed the Government’s spending on unusable personal protective equipment (PPE) and said a public inquiry expected next year was not soon enough to fix some issues.

The PAC said the taxpayer would be exposed to “significant financial risks for decades to come”, and already the estimated cost of the Government measures had reached £372 billion.

While the committee also “remains concerned that despite spending over £10 billion on supplies, the PPE stockpile is not fit for purpose”.

The PAC said that as of May this year, out of 32 billion items of PPE ordered by the Department of Health and Social Care, some 11 billion had been distributed, while 12.6 billion are stored in the UK as central stock. Some 8.4 billion on order from other parts of the world have still not arrived in the UK.

THOUSANDS RUN THROUGH LONDON IN FIRST MASS 10K SINCE LOCKDOWN WAS LIFTED

Thousands of runners have taken to the streets of London for their first mass 10k since lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Roads across central London were closed as the runners in the Asics London 10k swept past views of landmarks to the sound of cheering crowds and entertainers who lined the streets.

Race director Ian Allerton described it as “an important day for the mass participation industry” as many runners helped raise funds for more than 200 charities in what he hoped would be the start of “a new season of safe running events in 2021”.

TV presenter and activist Katie Piper, who was the victim of an acid attack in 2008, officially started the race before stepping out to become one of up to 14,000 runners on the course.

Her run was to raise funds for a rehabilitation centre and she later said she had “such an amazing day”.

Ms Piper said it had been “really powerful” to see the benefit the race had on her mental wellbeing and on others who took part.

SAJID JAVID APOLOGISES FOR ‘COWERING FROM COVID’ TWEET

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has apologised for a tweet which suggested the nation needs to not “cower” from coronavirus.

He said this morning: “I was expressing gratitude that the vaccines help us fight back as a society, but it was a poor choice of word and I sincerely apologise.”

PM TRIES TO SHIFT FOCUS TO CRIME AFTER PRITI PATEL REBUKE AND ‘PINGDEMIC’ ROW

Boris Johnson will seek to shift the focus on to tackling crime when he re-emerges from isolation to counter criticism over the “pingdemic” and police anger at Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The Prime Minister is expected to unveil his new “beating crime plan” on Tuesday after leaving quarantine at his Chequers country retreat following a coronavirus contact.

As he began his third year in No 10, Mr Johnson vowed to ensure that every victim of crime has “a named officer to call – someone who is immediately on your side”.

His Government has faced anger over the Covid-19 rules causing staff shortages as infections soar during his time in isolation over a contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

And Ms Patel received an extraordinary rebuke from the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers. The body said it no longer has confidence in the Home Secretary after describing a bitterly opposed pay freeze as “the final straw”.

GRAPH: DAILY VENTILATED PATIENTS PER 10,000 COVID-19 CASES

LOCKDOWN TOLL

A woman with a rare muscle-wasting condition will never be able to eat again after a year of shielding caused irreversible damage.

Tiffany Walker, 47, was left unable to do regular exercises and specialist therapies during the Covid lockdown and now she will soon have to be fed through a tube due to her rapid deterioration.

Tiffany, from Bournemouth, has a cruel condition called central core disease which makes her muscles rigid and stiff – and means it’s hard for her to swallow.

Before the pandemic hit, she remained active and would go swimming five days a week to keep her condition at bay and she also had regular face-to-face treatments with specialists.

But this came to an abrupt halt when she was forced to shield.

NISSAN WORKERS FAKED ISOLATION ALERTS TO BLAG TIME OFF WORK IN PINGDEMIC SWIZZ

More than 10 staff at the car giant‘s Sunderland factory were disciplined after they lied about receiving alerts.

Sources reportedly claimed that workers used a screenshot of a colleague’s genuine self-isolation alert on the NHS app to lie to their bosses about needing to quarantine.

A staff member told the Mirror: “Workers have been using other people’s screenshots to get time off work.

“They sent their gaffer a screenshot from the Covid app that wasn’t even from their phone.”

Another reportedly said: “One lad was pinged in the pub to say he had to self-isolate.

“He sent the message to his line manager, it ended up being sent to another 59 employees at Nissan who wanted some time off.”

Nissan bosses are said to be “furious” about the deceit.

FOOTBALL CHAOS

Footie fans say plans to exclude supporters not fully vaccinated from attending Premier League matches in October could cause “chaos”.

Chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association chairman Malcolm Clarke warned the proposal being considered by the Government to make vaccine passports mandatory for events with more than 20,000 attendees will need to be “managed very carefully”.

Boris Johnson was also facing further criticism from backbench Conservatives who were already opposed to plans to introduce their use for entry into nightclubs this autumn.

Talks are in an early phase with the Premier League to discuss whether supporters who have not been double-jabbed could be barred from entry.

Brits are also facing weeks of pandemic chaos with disruptions to transport, bin collections and food supplies due to isolating workers.

Companies and councils have warned the August 16 date to lift quarantine for the double-vaccinated could now be delayed amid fresh concern.

POLICING MINISTER SUGGESTS AIRLINE STAFF COULD BE EXEMPT FROM PINGDEMIC ISOLATION

Policing minister Kit Malthouse has apologised for delays at the borders as he suggested airline staff could also receive isolation exemptions to relieve the “pingdemic”.

He told Times Radio: “I know Border Force are one of the frontline services that will be able to access more of this test and release.

“And I think at Heathrow yesterday we had a technical issue with the e-gates where they went down for 90 minutes or so that caused a problem and I’m very sorry about that and I’m sorry for the people that were inconvenienced.

“Hopefully Border Force will be relieved of some of the aspects of the pingdemic.”

Asked whether airline staff could receive exemptions as well, he said: “Yes, we would be in conversation with employers.”

BOOZY BRITS

Thousands of revellers hit bars and clubs last night as they celebrated the first weekend of freedom.

Two men rocked full Homer and Marge Simpson fancy dress costumes while others went as oompa loompas, lifeguards and Tiger King’s Joe Exotic. 

A group of girls served up the Wimbledon spirit in their tennis kits while another copped police outfits for celebrations last night.

They were all taking part in the first Otley Run – a legendary 16-pub crawl in Leeds – since freedom day.

And party-goers across Britain later queued as early as 9pm to get into night clubs.

WATCH: SIX MILLION BRITS FACE SUMMER HOLIDAY CHAOS IF SPAIN AND GREECE SLAPPED ON ‘AMBER PLUS’ LIST