Coronavirus latest: Singapore cases leap as city-state learns to live with Covid

More US employers are relying on financial incentives to attract employees than in any other country, according to a survey from ManpowerGroup. Forty-two per cent of employers in the US need financial incentives to draw workers and address talent shortages, compared with the worldwide average of 31 per cent, according to the global survey of 45,000 employers in 43 countries, including 6,000 employers in the US.

Connecticut and Washington DC have become the first US jurisdictions to be removed from Chicago’s travel advisory since the latest wave of Covid-19 to sweep across the country during summer. The extent of the summer surge in the US was reflected in last week’s update to Chicago’s travel advisory, when every state and territory was on the list.

The head of the UK’s biggest rapid Covid test supplier expects the government to end the provision of free kits to the public by spring 2022. Dan Elliott, chief executive of Innova, said he would be “surprised” if free lateral flow testing were still available beyond early next year.

Seven in 10 UK travel companies plan to cut staff once the government’s job retention scheme ends, the body that represents the industry has found, prompting the association to urge the government to overhaul its test demands for those arriving into England. The Travel Association said new summer international holiday bookings for this year are down 83 per cent from pre-pandemic levels. 

The UK’s health secretary said it is “highly likely” that England will mandate vaccination for frontline healthcare workers, after similar rules were introduced for adult care homes. The UK government is consulting on whether to introduce compulsory vaccines for healthcare staff, Sajid Javid told the House of Commons in a statement on Tuesday.

Investors have pared their expectations for the global economy to grow considerably a Bank of America fund manager survey has found, with inflation fears overriding concern about the Delta variant as the catalyst for pessimism. A net 13 per cent of the study’s 258 asset managers, who had a total of $859bn under management, expect global economic growth to accelerate, the lowest number since spring last year.