Covid live news: scientists warn UK may have worst to come; New Zealand widens lockdown as Delta spreads

World no2 woman tennis player, Aryna Sabalenka has pulled out of the Indian Wells tennis tournament in the US after testing positive for Covid-19.

Sabalenka, who lost to Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez in the US Open semi-final last month, was the top seed in the women’s draw at the Indian Wells after world No 1 Ash Barty pulled out.

“Unfortunately I’ve tested positive at Indian Wells and won’t be able to compete,” the 23-year-old Belarusian wrote on her Instagram story.

Three construction workers at the Expo 2020 world fair in Dubai have died from Covid-19, according to its organiser.

A spokesperson said the deaths were over the course of the pandemic, and was in addition to 72 serious injuries among 2000,000 workers during construction on the site, according to Reuters.

“Unfortunately we had three worker related deaths due to Covid. That was during the course of the pandemic,” Expo representative Sconaid McGeachin told a daily briefing.

Overcrowding in worker accommodation was one of the main factors in a surge of infections in the United Arab Emirates at the start of the pandemic. Expo 2020 says worker accommodation is audited to ensure conditions are not cramped. It defended the figure and said it was less than half of that of building work in the UK.

The UAE does not give a breakdown for cases and deaths for each emirate region, including Dubai. More than 80% of its 10 million citizens have been vaccinated.

China has now given out 2.213 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, Reuters reports.

Data from the National Health Commission reported that another 755,000 jabs were administered on Saturday, raising the total.

Good morning from London, I’m Harry Taylor and I’ll be bringing you the latest Covid-19 news and developments from around the world.

Scientists in the UK have warned that the country may still have worse to come during the pandemic, as winter approaches.

They fear that more people will begin socialising inside as the weather gets colder, which increases the chance of transmitting the virus. At the same time many workers have begun returning to offices for the first time in 18 months.

Meanwhile New Zealand has widened its lockdown as the Delta variant has started to spread outside Auckland.

A “short and sharp” lockdown was introduced in mid-August to counter rising cases, but 32 new cases were confirmed in the country’s largest city on Sunday, with two new cases in the Waikato region 147km (91 miles) south of Auckland.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed parts of the region would go into a five-day lockdown.