Coronavirus live news: US nears 25m cases as three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain

US nears 25m cases as one in 13 Americans have been infected; no new local cases in NSW and Victoria; three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain

• Vaccine experts defend UK decision to delay second Pfizer Covid jab
• The new mutants: the Covid variants worrying health officials worldwide
• Three men arrested amid inquiry into £6m Covid loan fraud
• Kenneth Branagh to play Boris Johnson in TV drama about Covid crisis
• See all our coronavirus coverage

4.04am GMT

Boris Johnson has had his first call with Joe Biden since the new US president entered the White House on Wednesday. Downing Street said Johnson congratulated Biden on his inauguration and that the two leaders looked forward to “deepening the close alliance” between their nations.

After the call, the prime minister tweeted: “Great to speak to President Joe Biden this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from Covid-19.”

Great to speak to President @JoeBiden this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/Y4P3G74PPz

Related: President Biden and Boris Johnson share hopes for end to Covid in first phone call

3.41am GMT

In the UK, ministers are at the centre of an explosive row over their failure to protect workers from Covid-19 as the Observer reveals the largest workplace outbreak of the virus has taken place at a top government organisation.

More than 500 cases have been recorded at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s offices in Swansea, where employees claim people with symptoms were encouraged to return to work while vulnerable workers have had requests to work from home turned down.

Related: Grant Shapps faces fury over mass Covid outbreak at DVLA

Walter Bernstein: blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter dies at 101

Writer’s most acclaimed project, the 1976 film The Front, was based on his own experience of Hollywood’s anti-communist blacklist

Screenwriter Walter Bernstein, among the last survivors of Hollywood’s anti-communist blacklist, whose Oscar-nominated script for The Front drew upon his years of being unable to work under his own name, has died, aged 101.

HIs wife, the literary agent Gloria Loomis, said he died of pneumonia.

'Inevitable' Google and Facebook will pay for Australian news, treasurer says

Josh Frydenberg says tech companies’ threats to pull services out of Australia did them a ‘big disservice’

Josh Frydenberg has warned the internet giants it is “inevitable” they will pay for news content and their threats to shut down core functions in Australia do them a “big disservice”.

At a doorstop on Sunday, the treasurer said the Morrison’s government intended to become a “world leader” in regulating social media and search companies, who he accused of shifting the goalposts in their opposition to the proposed bargaining code of conduct.

Gordon Brown: 300,000 UK jobless hidden by official figures

Former prime minister calls for total rethink on support for unemployed and assessment of data after new report

The full scale of Britain’s jobs crisis is being underestimated because hundreds of thousands of people are being missed by official unemployment figures, Gordon Brown has warned.

At least 300,000 out-of-work people across the UK are being missed by official figures, according to a study backed by the former prime minister. He warned that it meant Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was at risk of drawing up a financial rescue package that failed to address the impact of the pandemic’s economic fallout.

Grant Shapps faces fury over mass Covid outbreak at DVLA

Minister under fire for ‘shameful’ virus spread as staff told to work on with more than 500 cases at agency in Swansea

Ministers are at the centre of an explosive row over their failure to protect workers from Covid-19 as the Observer reveals the largest workplace outbreak of the virus has taken place at a top government organisation.

More than 500 cases have been recorded at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s offices in Swansea, where employees claim people with symptoms were encouraged to return to work while vulnerable workers have had requests to work from home turned down.