England’s progress to the Euro 2020 final caused a “significant risk to public health across the UK”, according to scientists from Public Health England (PHE).
Data from NHS Test and Trace showed that more than 9,000 COVID cases were linked to Euro 2020 football games.
Wembley hosted eight matches during the month-long tournament and figures indicated there were a total of 3,036 likely infectious cases at the time of those games, with a further combined 6,376 people likely getting infected around the time they took place.
A report on the public health impact of mass events also found that “particularly high numbers were identified” at the Euro 2020 final on 11 July, a match which England lost on penalties to Italy.
Data showed 2,295 people in or around Wembley were likely to have been infectious at the time of the match, with a further 3,404 people in and around the ground potentially being infected around the time of the final.
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England played all but one of their six Euro 2020 games at Wembley, with their quarter-final against Ukraine played in Rome.
The report’s authors concluded that Euro 2020 and England’s progress to the final “generated a significant risk to public health across the UK even when England played overseas”.
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“This risk arose not just from individuals attending the event itself, but included activities undertaken during travel and associated social activities,” they added.
“For the final and semi-final games at Wembley, risk mitigation measures in place were less effective in controlling COVID transmission than was the case for other mass spectator sports events.”
After a summer dominated by criticism over the small boats crisis and asylum hotels, Labour says it’s planning to overhaul the “broken” asylum system.
As MPs return to Westminster today, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will speak about the government’s success in tackling people smugglers and plans for border security reform.
Image: August saw the lowest number of Channel crossings since 2019 – but the last year has the most on record. Pic: Reuters
Labour hopes that the raft of changes being proposed will contribute to ending the use of asylum hotels, an issue which has led to widespread protests over the summer.
Ms Cooper will set out planned changes to the refugee family reunion process to give “greater fairness and balance”, and speak to the government’s promise to “smash the gangs” behind English Channel crossings.
National Crime Agency (NCA) figures show record levels of disruption of immigration crime networks in 2024/25. Officials believe this contributed to the lowest number of boats crossing the Channel in August since 2019.
But, despite the 3,567 arrivals in August being the lowest since 2021, when looking across the whole of 2025, the figure of 29,003 is the highest on record for this point in a year.
Labour says actions to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the asylum system, will result in “putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels”.
In a message to Reform UK, which has promised mass deportations, and the Tories, who want to revive the Rwanda scheme, Ms Cooper will say: “These are complex challenges, and they require sustainable and workable solutions, not fantasy promises which can’t be delivered.”
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While the home secretary will look back at the UK’s “proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution”, she will argue the system “needs to be properly controlled and managed, so the rules are respected and enforced, and so governments, not criminal gangs, decide who comes to the UK”.
She will also give further details around measures announced over the summer, including the UK’s landmark returns deal with France, and update MPs on reforms to the asylum appeals process.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp dismissed Ms Cooper’s intervention as a “desperate distraction tactic”, reiterating record levels of illegal Channel crossings, the rise in the use of asylum hotels and the highest number of asylum claims in history in Labour’s first year.
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Sir Keir Starmer too, says he intends to “deliver change,” using a column in Monday’s Mirror to criticise the Tories and Reform UK for whipping up migrant hatred.
And the prime minister isn’t the only one to hit out at Reform UK’s flagship immigration plan, with the Archbishop of York accusing it of being an “isolationist, short-term kneejerk” approach, with no “long-term solutions”.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal will hand down its full written judgment in the Bell Hotel case today, which saw Epping Forest District Council fail in an attempt to stop asylum seekers from being put up there.
Protests continued in Epping on Sunday night, with police arresting three people.
An anti-asylum demonstration also took place in Canary Wharf on Sunday, which saw a police officer punched in the face and in a separate incident, a child potentially affected by synthetic pepper spray.
A murder investigation has been launched after a man was fatally stabbed in Luton, Bedfordshire, on Sunday.
Police said officers were called to Humberstone Road just after 6pm after reports of an altercation involving two men and a woman.
A man in his 20s was taken to hospital with serious injuries but was pronounced dead shortly after.
Police are appealing for any further information, including doorbell, CCTV, or dashcam footage from the area around the time of the incident.
Superintendent Rachael Glendenning, from Bedfordshire Police, said: “This is an isolated incident, and we would ask the public not to speculate at this time.”
She said officers will be at the scene for a significant period while the investigation continues.
A British woman has been stabbed to death in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, police have said.
Local media have named the victim as 34-year-old Jessica Cariad Hopkins.
Deputy commissioner general and commissioner of Phnom Penh Police Chuon Narin said the victim was found dead with stab wounds near a popular park in the capital’s Chamkarmon district on Friday.
A 33-year-old woman, also believed to be a foreign national, was arrested in connection with the stabbing on Saturday afternoon.
Mr Narin said the motive for the killing was believed to be a love triangle.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office say they are supporting the family of the victim and are in contact with local authorities.