Portrait of the week: Channel crossings, chain-gangs for criminals and Tesco Bank shuts up shop

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The daily number of coronavirus cases detected by tests fell from 54,674 on 17 July to 23,511 by 27 July. About 92 per cent of adults in England and Wales had coronavirus antibodies at the beginning of July, according to an estimate by the Office for National Statistics. In the seven days up to the beginning of the week, 447 people had died with coronavirus, bringing the total of deaths (within 28 days of testing positive) to 129,130. (In the previous week deaths had numbered 284.) In a week, numbers remaining in hospital rose from 4,121 to 5,238. By the beginning of the week, 88 per cent of adults had accepted a first vaccination; 70.3 per cent had received two doses. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said that students might have to prove vaccination to be let into lectures; Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘We need to be extremely careful that we don’t go from a Brussels-type democracy to a Beijing-type democracy.’