Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference at 5pm alongside NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.
– Almost 20,000 second doses delivered
Nearly 20,000 second doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered between December 29 and January 3, NHS England said.
Some 19,981 second Pfizer jabs were given as of Sunday, which was before the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. All vaccinations given before December 29 were of first doses.
Overall, 308,541 people received a jab in the week ending Sunday January 3, taking the total number vaccinated in England since the rollout began to 1,112,866.
Of those, 661,224 (60%) were given to people aged 80 or over, the health service said.
– Priti Patel backs police to use more ‘stringent measures’ in enforcing new lockdown
Home Secretary Priti Patel backed police in their bid to step up lockdown enforcement measures. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “It’s right that police act robustly.”
“Throughout this coronavirus pandemic, during the last lockdown, the police have been asking individuals why are they out and about and should they be out and about, when the message right now is stay at home.”
She said that 800 fines have been issued over the past two weeks for “egregious” breaches of the new coronavirus lockdown rules.
The Home Secretary added that the state of the “shocking virus” meant it was right to have “stringent measures” in place.
