Government officials insist the virus is under control and want certain areas to be exempt from the UK self-isolation order, including the Balearic Islands.

About 18 million Britons travelled to Spain in 2019 - almost a quarter of all arrivals in the country.

But junior health minister Helen Whately has defended the quarantine.

Ms Whately told the BBC that after all the "sacrifices" made during the lockdown, the UK could not take the risk of going back to a situation of rising virus rates across the country.

Spain's rate of infection has jumped in recent days. While the outbreak remains under control in many parts of Spain, certain areas - in particular Catalonia in the north-east and the neighbouring region of Aragón - have seen a huge spike in infections.

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An air bridge would mean people arriving from the islands would not have to quarantine for 14 days after rules changed this weekend.

The travel industry is hoping ministers make a decision by Friday.

A government source indicated to the BBC there will not be an immediate decision.

One travel industry source said the government had told them it wanted to study more data from Spain's Islands before making a decision.

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"It's not the right time for that," he said, adding that he would still give a convention speech in a different form.

It comes as the number of cases of Covid-19 in the US passed four million.

Part of the convention will go ahead in North Carolina, where Mr Trump will be formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.

The event, shortened to half a day, will be held on 24 August in the city of Charlotte, the original venue for the convention.

Mr Trump switched the location to Jacksonville, Florida after the Democratic governor of North Carolina insisted in May on limiting the crowd size at the convention, on the grounds of social distancing.

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The men were working for Action Against Hunger, the International Rescue Committee, Rich International and the country's State Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria's president confirmed.

Muhammadu Buhari blamed Boko Haram and vowed to bring the killers to justice.

He also pledged to "wipe out the remaining vestiges" of the Islamist group, which has dominated the region.

The group's decade-long insurgency has left thousands dead, displaced many more and resulted in a humanitarian crisis in north-eastern Nigeria.

Aid workers have frequently been targeted, especially by a Boko Haram splinter group affiliated to the so-called Islamic State group.

In a video released last month the hostages did not name either Islamic State or Boko Haram but referred to their captors as soldiers of the "khalifa".

Previously, captives have used the term to refer to Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap), rather than Boko Haram.

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