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Transcripts For BBCNEWS Coronavirus Update 20210111

the "worst weeks" of the pandemic. i think it's really important that everybody, in every interaction they have, every dayfor the next two weeks, thinks, "do i really need to do this?" on coronavirus at five o'clock, alongside professor stephen powis, the national medical director of nhs england. we'll bring that to you to that live. a stark warning from the chancellor, who says people should expect the economy to get worse before it gets better the bbc delivers its biggest—ever roll out of education resources during this lockdown, with new programmes across tv and digital. good afternoon, and welcome to this bbc news special. i'm ben brown. to this bbc news special. the government has set out plans to deliver the largest vaccination programme in british history as it ramps up the covid—19 immunisation strategy. it includes plans to immunise tens of millions of people by the spring. the vaccination programme aims to have all adults in the uk vaccinated by the autumn with millions of doses being given at 2,700 sites. the chief executive of the nhs in england says 2.5 million vaccines have been given so far. the aim is to vaccinate 15 million by the middle of february which means there are five weeks in which to carry out up to 12.5 million more. boris johnson described the vaccination programme as a "race against time" to stop the nhs being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. he was speaking at a mass innoculation centre in bristol — one of seven which opened across england today. and at five o'clock the health secretary matt hancock and professor stephen powis, the national medical director for england will be holding a coronavirus briefing at downing street. we'll bring you that live here on bbc news. our first report on the vaccination programme is from jim reed. another milestone in the battle to vaccinate the most vulnerable. 88—year—old moira edwards became the first person to receive her covid jabeur here at the new mass vaccination centre in surrey.” jabeur here at the new mass vaccination centre in surrey. i feel very relieved. i feel this vaccination centre in surrey. i feel very relieved. ifeel this is vaccination centre in surrey. i feel very relieved. i feel this is the way back. i really think that... i can't understand anybody not wanting to have it. this site at epsom racecourse is to have it. this site at epsom racecourse is now to have it. this site at epsom racecourse is now open 12 hours a day. if there is enough supply of the vaccine, it should be able to reach thousands of people every week. those over 80 years old, plus health and social care staff will be contacted and asked to book an appointment. we have had a huge response to the booking options. immediately the bookings went live, the booking slots were filled so i think people are keen to get vaccinated. epsom is one of seven mass vaccination centres being openedin mass vaccination centres being opened in england, with more planned soon, as the government tries to meet its vaccination targets. in the south—west, bristol's ashton gate football stadium is being used. anyone who doesn't want to travel to one of the new centres will still be able to get vaccinated at a site closer to where they live. in the south—west, borisjohnson was visiting one of the new vaccine centres in ashton gate stadium in bristol. he warned against people feeling complacent because of the roll—out of the vaccine. feeling complacent because of the roll-out of the vaccine. it's a race against time because we can all see the threat that our nhs faces, the pressure it is under, the demand in intensive care units, the pressure on ventilated beds and even the shortage of oxygen in some places. every pa rt shortage of oxygen in some places. every part of the uk is now trying to accelerate the vaccination roll—out after what critics say has been a slow start in some places. the government now says 2.5 million people have received their first dose, and that includes one third of those over 80. ministers want to immunise 15 million people in the top four priority groups by the middle of next month, including all ca re middle of next month, including all care home residents and their carers, those over 70, front line health and social care workers, and the clinically extremely vulnerable. this is a sprint to mid—february, and then it will be a sprint from mid february through to the end of april to extend the vaccination to the rest of the higher risk groups identified by thejoint the rest of the higher risk groups identified by the joint committee on is in identified by the joint committee on isina identified by the joint committee on is in a and information and then it will be a marathon from april through to the summer and autumn. —— joint committee on is in a in and information. in scotland the health secretary has said the most vulnerable should get the first vaccinations by the start of february and the welsh government has pledged all adults should be offered the jab by the autumn. it's hoped centres like this can boost the vaccine rolled out and relieve the vaccine rolled out and relieve the pressure on hospitals, but with new infections are still at high levels, nhs staff are certain to have months of hard work ahead. jim reed, bbc news. england's chief medical officer has warned that the next few weeks will be the "worst" for the nhs, as the number of covid patients in hospitals is expected to rise. to prevent new infections... professor chris whitty said everyone should ask themselves whether they needed to leave their home, or meet anybody they don't live with. charlotte wright reports. as covid infection rates continue to rise sharply, this is the stark warning from the government. once more we must all stay home. a message that those on the front line say is now more vital than ever. the health service is very, very close to being overwhelmed in a way that will affect the health care that we all need all the time. whether you have covid, whether you have something else, whether you are a healthy person who is unlucky enough to get hit by a bus, the health care that is available to all of us is not the same right now. it comes amid questions over whether enough people are complying with the current lockdown restrictions, prompting this intervention from england's chief medical officer. every unnecessary interaction is a serious problem because it provides a link through, for the virus, through to eventually a vulnerable person. so i really would stress to people the most important thing is the decisions each of us take on this. there may be modifications around the rules, that's for ministers, but issues around individual choices, that is a question for all of us. the rules say stay at home and only go out for limited reasons but there are concerns that that message isn't cutting through with streets and parks much busier than they were in the first lockdown last year, so ministers have been considering whether to tighten the restrictions further or simply enforce the existing measures more strictly. people are beginning to flout the rules, they are beginning to think, "how can i get away with the rules?" we are stopping people, we are asking where people have travelled from, we are having to make a really difficultjudgment about what is reasonable and what is not. as some ministers say they are worried about compliance, reports suggest tighter measures are being considered too, including stricter rules for supermarkets and a ban on exercising with those outside of your household. the leader of the opposition says the government's existing restrictions could go further. i think there probably is more that we could do, an example is the question of whether nurseries should be open, there are other examples, and we may have to get tougher, but i think that the most important thing, if you like, is the message to people to stay at home. regardless of what is legislated, the authorities say our individual behaviour will be crucial in the coming weeks. charlotte wright, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is at westminster. i know you have been reading the government's vaccination roll—out plan, every page of it. just some up for us, boil it down to what it actually says and what it is promising. good afternoon. here is the document published a couple of hours ago, the uk covid—i9 vaccines delivery plan, starting with a real sense of pride from the government in what it says it has achieved on vaccines. it has come under a lot of criticism in the last year or so around the death toll in the uk and the hit to the economy. 0n vaccines they say they have a story they are proud of, the first country in the world to authorise a vaccine and the first country now to authorise three in total with 67 million doses already on order. then it sets out in detail some elements we knew already and other new elements. the plan over the coming weeks. the first deadline is the 15th february, and the plan by then have offered one jabeur to those who are 70 or over, or are clinically most vulnerable. they are the first cohorts in the priority list. the next plan, the next set of cohorts, 5-9, next plan, the next set of cohorts, 5—9, as they are set out in the document, or those aged 50—70. again, a similar number of people to the first cohort, around 15 million people around the uk. the plan is to achieve that by the spring, probably looking at around april. after that, it's those aged under 50, with the plan possibly, the document says, prioritising those employees who are perhaps in sectors who are most vulnerable, and there is a reference to teachers, for instance, potentially in that group getting priority, but we are looking well down the track by then, because that is after you have vaccinated all those aged 50 and over plus the clinically vulnerable to stop that is the plan as set out, and as we have been hearing, and will be no doubt emphasised by matt hancock and professor stephen powis, at the downing street news conference at 5pm, this is a series of sprints that amounts to a marathon. sprinting a marathon, really, all the way through to the autumn, which is the deadline the government has set itself for all adults to receive a vaccine. and we all know it's not easy to sprint a marathon. in the meantime, lockdown is their main weapon against coronavirus. there are concerns, as we had from the health secretary yesterday, the people are bending, stretching, he said flexing, the rules. are we looking at potentially tougher restrictions being imposed by the government? that's the big question we're asking ministers this afternoon. what's striking is the government is frankly frightened at the numbers at the moment and the pressure it's putting on hospitals. that's why we saw over the weekend a public information campaign fronted by professor chris whitty, the england chief medical officer, that's why he was on television and radio this morning, because there is concern in government that they are saying stay at home but frankly not enough people are. but what is also noticeable is the current rules in england are not as tight they were back last spring, so the obvious question, and we put it to downing street in the briefing for westminster reporters at lunchtime today, what about tightening up some restrictions that existed in the spring and do not now. for instance, playgrounds open to children, nursery schools being open. you can visit a house if you are viewing one you might potentially buy for instance. the government says at the moment it's keeping things under review but it is not inclined to change them. labour, sir keir starmer said he found it odd, he said it was extraordinary there were a loosening of some elements of rules compared with how things were in the spring but he isn't actually advocating they should change immediately in all instances. clearly that could still yet change if the numbers don't start to improve, and the tricky thing from the government's perspective is there is a lag so the pressure we are seeing on hospitals now is as a result of people who caught the virus a couple of weeks ago. as we have heard from professor chris whitty on the bbc this morning, the expectation is things will get worse before they get better, so there is a tricky communication challenge for the government. 0n the one hand, the positive stuff around the vaccination roll—out, that is the medium and long term solution. the short term picture still looks really bleak. chris mason, political correspondent, thank you. we can now pick up on some of those thoughts. sir david king was chief scientific advisor to the government from 2000—2007, and now chairs the group independent sage — a group of scientists who have been critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. thank you so much for being with us. let's talk about the lockdown first. do you think it needs to be tougher? yes, i do. do you think it needs to be tougher? yes, ido. if do you think it needs to be tougher? yes, i do. if wejust look at do you think it needs to be tougher? yes, i do. if we just look at the figures, 563 deaths daily over the last week on average. a good deal higher than the week before. 55,000 daily cases, roughly 1% of the number of people who are ill with the disease are dying. 1% is not a small number. and we have 32,300 people in hospital at the moment. pressure on hospitals is enormous, but what i am also going to say is that the number of deaths experienced in this country due to this pandemic is enormous. it is out of the world. what we have seen, 41,000 deaths in that first wave back between march and june when the government took no action while the virus was spreading around the country. that was entirely, that number of deaths, due to that fact. and then in this second wave we are now well over 35,000 deaths. because we are still not at the peak, that means we are likely to see a good 20-30,000 means we are likely to see a good 20—30,000 more deaths from the current wave before the vaccine roll—out has really removed that number of deaths. to be clear, in terms of the lockdown, if you want tougher restrictions, and you were advising the government, what should they be doing that they are not?|j the government, what should they be doing that they are not? i think all the things your correspondence suggested is what we would agree with. it does, for example, worry me, if you take the business of selling a home, or being told by the owner of your home or the owner of your flat that you have to leave, and that is happening quite frequently now. and you have to open your door to anybody who wants to see the flat or the home. now, i can't see the sense in that, given the situation we are in. i would certainly tighten up. nurseries and so on. there's a whole stream of things that need to be done. i don't wa nt to things that need to be done. i don't want to appear to be running down the importance of the vaccine. 0f course, it's critically important, and these are totally new scientific developments. we've never developed vaccines for anything as quickly as this. and frankly, it is a major step forward in our scientific endeavour, so i do praise the scientists who have delivered that, but even the roll—out of the vaccine plan, it could be done much more quickly. what i would like to see is the army involved, including the army medical corps, in the roll—out of the vaccine programme. we could achieve this much more quickly, but of course this does depend on the vaccination, the vaccine capability of production. in other words, we are not manufacturing all of these vaccines in our country. a very small number are being manufactured here. we do depend on getting deliveries, and of course the whole world is hungry for these vaccines, so it is going to be an issue of rolling them out as quickly as they come in, but if we brought in the army, and if we had a clear strategy for the roll—out, then i think we could do it even more quickly than what the government is currently promising. i said in the introduction that you have been critical of the government, but surely on this issue of the vaccines they do deserve some credit, because they do deserve some credit, because they have moved very quickly, signed contracts with these various vaccine companies to get a lot of doses, and already we are hearing 2.5 million doses have been administered in the uk. and all i can say is, of course, we would expect them to do that. this may be the only case where the government has kept up to stream with other countries. it's not as if we are in the world league. nhra, the drug regulation body, managed to get the current vaccines through the regulatory system very quickly. they adapted a new process in order to achieve that, but you know other countries are getting there as well. and the roll—out is happening and beginning to happen around the world. there are many questions to be asked. for example, what are we doing about helping developing countries? if this disease goes on festering in our poorer parts of the community, in the inner cities, for example, and we are not seeing enough help going into those areas, and if it keeps building up in developing countries, it will come backin developing countries, it will come back ina developing countries, it will come back in a second or third wave of new forms of the virus. this new form of the virus we have in the uk is the reason why it is spreading so rapidly. it's over 50% faster in spreading than the other virus was, which is why this one has taken over. we can't expect this to be the last mutation of this coronavirus. it has got to be mutating again, and the next four may be even more deadly than this one. and it may not be dealt with by the vaccines. we have to get the level of the virus down. and one thing, we are critical of the government for, is not following normal procedures in the face of an epidemic or a pandemic, which is, you separate those who have the disease and those who have beenin have the disease and those who have been in touch with those who have the disease from the rest of the healthy population. if you do that, the rest of us keep going about our normal business without fear of rubbing shoulders with people who are spreading the virus. we have never achieved a properfind, test, trace, isolate and support system. if you don't support people, as for example they are doing in new york city, if we don't support people by seeing that they are properly housed, they are putting new york city into hotels requisition for that purpose. the hotel are empty. we have the same thing. why aren't we using them, helping them to support the people who are losing their weekly wages? i'm afraid we are out of time. thanks for your thoughts. former chief scientific adviser to the government. always fascinating to hear from you. you very much, sir david king. the wider roll—out of the 0xford—astrazeneca vaccine in scotland got under way this morning at more than 1000 locations. scotland has been given an initial allocation of more than half a million doses to use in january alone. people who are 80 and over will be among the first to get the jab and will be contacted by their health board for appointments. speaking earlier, nicola sturgeon laid out her government's plans for mass vaccination. i can confirm again today that our aim is for all over—80s to have received their first dose of the vaccine over the next four weeks, and for all people over 70 and those in the clinically extremely vulnerable group to be offered vaccination by around the middle of february. we are working hard to get through this vaccination programme just as quickly as possible, because of course, it is the main route out right now of the situation we all find ourselves in, and i'm very grateful to everyone, and there are a lot of people in this category who are working really hard to make all of this possible. the welsh government says everyone over 70, care home staff and front line nhs workers will be offered the vaccination in wales by mid—february. the strategy unveiled by the health secretary aims to give eve ryo ne over by the health secretary aims to give everyone over 70 and those vulnerable a vaccine by the spring. by vulnerable a vaccine by the spring. by the middle of february, we aim to have offered vaccination to all care home residents and staff, front line health and social care staff, eve ryo ne over health and social care staff, everyone over the age of 70, and eve ryo ne everyone over the age of 70, and everyone on the clinically extremely vulnerable list, or the shielded list. this amounts to about 700,000 people here in wales. if we can vaccinate this group of people, it would protect those most at risk of serious illness and harm, including mortality, if they catch coronavirus. by the spring, subject to vaccine supply, we will have offered vaccine to everyone in the phase one priority groups, that's eve ryo ne over phase one priority groups, that's everyone over the age of 50 and all those who are at risk if they have an underlying health condition. by the autumn, our focus will have been on offering covid vaccines to eve ryo ne on offering covid vaccines to everyone else in line with the latest advice from the jc vi. ministers have been discussing how to enforce the current lockdown measures, and questions have been asked whether tighter restrictions may be needed. do you think we need tougher rules, and how difficult is it now for the police to enforce these rules? sir david king youjust had on he outlined a range of options, but a lot of those are not down to police, in terms of things like closing nurseries. in terms of the enforcement of the existing regulations, it is very different from the first lockdown back in the spring. there are a lot more exemptions. i think the ordinary police officers and the police federation, the effect of trade union for the police, are very frustrated, feeling officers are caught in the middle, criticised for not enforcing enough, criticised for individual incidents, suggesting cases have been dealt with too heavy a hand. we have seen today a little bit of pushback from police chiefs and police and crime commissioners to say that officers need to have discretion. i think forces and officers will be using more enforcement and taking immediate action. the case everyone talks about is the one in derbyshire, where two women drove in separate ca rs where two women drove in separate cars with separate cups of coffee for a walk five miles from their home, andi for a walk five miles from their home, and i think the police and crime commissioner in derbyshire saying that could have been handled differently by the police on that occasion and they may have got that wrong. where would you stand on that example? i think, wrong. where would you stand on that example? ithink, unfortunately, it shows individual police officers that individual incidents are being taken out of context in terms of the generality of what officers are actually facing. they are feeling really frustrated about this. the fa ct really frustrated about this. the fact is that a lot of the regulations and guidance is a bit unclear, was drafted quickly, was brought in overnight, therefore issues like what is exercise and what is local are subject to different interpretations in different interpretations in different parts of the country, and that has caused a lot of frustration for officers. where you will see officers concentrate is on the larger gatherings, people gathering in larger numbers in homes, organise parties, those sorts of things, and you will see the police taking a firmer line on those sorts of issues, but they will be asking for public understanding, that they do feel they are caught in the middle and trying to do their best. legislation has been brought in rapidly, without some of the time to train and give officers the space to really understand implications. the police federation of west yorkshire have been saying that the police have been saying that the police have been saying that the police have been hung out to dry and that the laws are too woolly. would you agree? they are woolly. there is a gap between what ministers say, what is in guidance on what is in regulations. the officers can only really enforce the legislation. you are seeing a common response from police federations across the country, expressing this frustration of feeling that they are darned if they do and damned if they don't. pleading really for officers to be allowed the discretion to be able to judge individual incidents, take action where they need to, and be able to use their own common sense that they do every day as officers. we sometimes forget that this has been going on for months. it is a new experience for all of us, a new experience for the police as well, how to enforce this. absolutely. it is almost unheard of for legislation to be brought in overnight, but the fa ct to be brought in overnight, but the fact is, the form of the legislation and the different forms of lockdown and the different forms of lockdown and the different forms of lockdown and the system of tiering have changed several times now in different force areas, and policing has never had much spare capacity. forces are reporting increasing levels of officers and those going sick with covid or having to self—isolate, adding to the pressure of the police. so at the end of the day, enforcement on the street is only ever going to play a tiny part in the overall strategy to defeat the virus, and it is just really important for clear messaging and for the public to think there is the right balance in the police action, to support what they are doing and overall to do everything they can personally to try to follow the guidance and try to keep everyone safe. good to talk to you. the former chief constable of greater manchester police. many thanks. we've got that briefing from downing street coming up in a couple of minutes. matt hancock, the health secretary. let's talk to nick trickle. relatively good news in terms of the vaccine programme. we are hearing 2.5 million vaccine doses have been given out so far. yes, and that is quite a bit of progress. when you think the first four weeks there were around 1.3 million vaccinations done. in the past week, the same or almost the same again, and that's why this health ash might be health secretary, matt hancock, described it has an incredible start when he published the vaccine delivery plan. it is clear, from here, the nhs has to keep its foot on the accelerator. the next target is to start achieving 2 million doses a week. i understand the nhs is aiming to get close to that this week. that's only achievable if there is a good supply of the vaccine. there is enough vaccine, when you take oxford extra zeneca and the pfizer vaccine —— box products —— 0xford astrazeneca and the pfizer vaccine in the country. there is growing optimism that the nhs is on track. sir simon stephens, the head of nhs england, was telling mps he believes the health service is on course to achieve that mid—february deadline, and of course, we had the vaccine delivery plan set out, detailing how we are going to achieve that. it promises there will be 2700 vaccination centres, including mobile units, to get up to the rural areas. if you look back at when we started this in early december, just fewer than 100 hospital hops, that shows progress. there is concern certainly about the ca re there is concern certainly about the care home residents. the government is now promising they will all receive a vaccination or an offer of one by the end of january. receive a vaccination or an offer of one by the end ofjanuary. 0f course, these are the highest at risk groups in questions have been asked about why they haven't been vaccinated sooner. we're just waiting for that briefing to get under way in the next of minutes. let's just talk about what chris whitty, the chief medical officer, has been saying. he is often at these briefings of course. he said these briefings of course. he said the peak is still to come. we haven't seen the worst yet. no, we saw rising levels of infection through december and into early january. there are some infection through december and into earlyjanuary. there are some signs those rises are slowing, certainly in london and the south—east, but that still is translating through to record numbers of admissions, the most record numbers of admissions, the m ost rece nt record numbers of admissions, the most recent data we have shows there we re over most recent data we have shows there were over 4000 admissions to hospitalfor were over 4000 admissions to hospital for covid. were over 4000 admissions to hospitalfor covid. to put that were over 4000 admissions to hospital for covid. to put that into context, in the depths of winter we would normally only expect to see around 1000 admissions per day for all types of respiratory illnesses. we have seen four times this for covid alone and that is why hospitals are under huge pressure. there is now nearly 33,000 covid patients in hospital, up from 20,000 on christmas day, so it is putting huge pressure. in some hospitals half of the beds are occupied by covid patients, pushing out other care. it's not just covid patients, pushing out other care. it's notjust routine operations like hip and knee replacements. we are hearing of urgent cancer treatment being postponed. that's why we hear from doctors warning that the quality of ca re doctors warning that the quality of care in the hs is not what it should be hospitals are facing a very difficult few weeks. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is at westminster. pressure on the government to tighten the restrictions. we have been hearing from labour leader your keir starmer today saying they need to tighten the lockdown. it's entirely unprecedented this news conference has been delayed a little. -- conference has been delayed a little. —— not entirely unprecedented. we expect it in around five minutes, fingers crossed. discussions at westminster today about restrictions in england and whether they are sufficient. the government is emphasising the need for us to comply with existing rules rather than effectively gold—plating them and adding additional restrictions, but lots of questions to downing street at lunchtime today around some of the things you can do in england at the moment that were not possible last march in the first lockdown. for instance, nursery schools are still open and you can still view a house if you are a prospective buyer and you can still go to prospective buyer and you can still gotoa prospective buyer and you can still go to a playground. the government emphasises sticking to existing rules rather than tightening them further. labour leader keir starmer says it's further. labour leader keir starmer says its extraordinary some of the measures are looser than last spring but at the same time not explicitly saying the rules should change right now. it emphasises the central challenge for governments around the uk and the world, the balance between liberties which have been hugely squeezed and of course trying to ensure that there are as few potential opportunities for the virus to spread. and a real emphasis from the government in its communication strategy over the weekend of putting the scientists, and particularly professor chris whitty, right at the heart of the messaging. you may have seen adverts through coronation street and elsewhere from chris whitty, and he was all over bbc television and radio this morning was to expect him to be out and about in the coming weeks. the emphasis on recognition there from politicians is that the well of trusting political leaders might not be infinite but we might be more likely to listen to scientists when they tell us just how grim the situation is now. i think what we will get in the news conference that is about to start is a splash of optimism about the medium and long term as far as the vaccine is concerned and the publication this afternoon of the vaccines delivery plan. but a recognition that in the short term it doesn't help a great deal, particularly in the next couple of weeks, given the pressures we can already see on so many hospitals. and the lag which means that whatever people do right now, it's a couple of weeks ahead before the change in any one's behaviour filtered through into the cases we see and the number of people hospitalised. as you say, that briefing delayed a few minutes but we expected to get under way. i will ask you one question and might well rudely interrupted halfway through your answer. politically, i rudely interrupted halfway through youranswer. politically, isuppose we would expect matt hancock to talk a bit about the vaccine at the briefing because that's one area of relative good news for the government where they can say they are delivering. here's hoping i am interrupted otherwise i will be talking on and on for ever and ever! the government is very proud of what it's doing on vaccines and talks about how the uk was the first to authorise the first vaccine, the pfizer biontech vaccine and the first to authorise three, as is currently the case and has stockpiled hundreds of millions, or at least ordered hundreds of millions of doses and is now setting up millions of doses and is now setting up the infrastructure, the equivalent of setting up a national supermarket in a month, is how it is described in the document, as far as the roll—out of the vaccine is concerned. it has set itself a series of deadlines, the first of which is february 15, for all over 70s and the clinically vulnerable. studio: here is the health secretary. good afternoon and welcome back to downing street for today's to run a virus press briefing. i am joined today's to run a virus press briefing. iamjoined by today's to run a virus press briefing. i am joined by professor steve powers, the national medical director of nhs england. before i turn to our vaccine delivery plan, which we have published today, i wa nt to which we have published today, i want to go through the latest coronavirus data. as we know, the new variant of this coronavirus is highly contagious and is putting the nhs under very significant pressure. yesterday 46,169 positive cases of coronavirus were recorded across the whole of the uk and, as the slide shows, 32,294 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus. that's across the uk. and as you can see, thatis across the uk. and as you can see, that is up sharply even on just one week ago, up 22% on this time last week. the average number of deaths reported each day over the past week is 926. and our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of each and every person who has died with coronavirus. as the chief medical officer said earlier today, we are at the worst point in the pandemic and you can see that from this slide and you can see that from this slide and the increase in the number of people in hospital. the nhs, more than ever before, needs everybody to be doing something right now, and that something is to follow the rules. i know there has been speculation about more restrictions, and we don't rule out taking further action if it is needed, but it is your actions now that can make a difference. stay at home and please reduce all social contact that is not absolutely strictly necessary. that is what is needed. acts like you have the virus. it is all the more important to do all of this because the vaccine roll—out is now proceeding at pace and we all know that this is the way out of the pandemic. i am determined, as i have been for almost a year now, to drive this vaccination programme as fast as is safely possible. i am determined to ensure every adult in this country has the chance to be vaccinated and that as many people as possible take up that chance to be vaccinated. and vaccines are important. i care about vaccines because i want our country to get back to normal as fast as possible. i want us to have that great british summer. my team and i are working ha rd to summer. my team and i are working hard to deliver this. as fast as possible. both to save lives and make people safe, and to protect the nhs and reduce the very significant pressure is its under right now. i wa nted pressure is its under right now. i wanted to bring you up to speed on the latest statistics on vaccination. so far across the uk we have given 2.6 million doses to 2.3 million people and we have protected more people through vaccinations than all other countries in europe put together. today i would like to ta ke put together. today i would like to take you through the details of our uk vaccination delivery plan that we have just published. it sets out how we will build on the work that has been done so far and put in place the biggest vaccination programme in british history. there are four parts to the plan. the first is supply. i have always believed british science would come and find the solution is to get us out of this. for a year now we have been working to develop and buy vaccines for everyone in the uk. thanks to our investment in ebola and mers vaccines in preceding years, we have been able to move so fast to develop a successful coronavirus vaccine. but our search has been global throughout. whilst we have backed the scientists working on this here at home, we have also worked with international partners like pfizer and biontech to ensure we were the first country in the world to authorise the pfizer biontech vaccine. the moderna vaccine is now authorised and ready to bring on stream. i want to thank everybody who has been involved in this, but the work is not yet done. the supply of vaccine is the current rate limiting step and we will bring forward as much vaccine as becomes available. we must ensure we have the vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities in this country for the future too. the next pa rt country for the future too. the next part of the plan is prioritisation. this has been much discussed. the plan sets out how we prioritise the vaccine so we plan sets out how we prioritise the vaccine so we can plan sets out how we prioritise the vaccine so we can protect those at greatest clinical risk. one simple statistic explains why this is important. the top four priority groups account for 88% of the deaths from covid. this stark fact explains why we must prioritise according to clinical need, to save lives and because that is the fastest route to safely lifting restrictions. we are on track to deliver on our pledge to offer a first vaccine to everyone in the top four cohorts by february 15. i want to give an update on progress. two fifth of over 80s have now received a first dose. care home residents are in the very top priority group. in the last few days since the oxford vaccine was approved for use in primary care on thursday morning we have significantly accelerated the care home vaccination roll—out. almost one quarter of older care home residents have now received their first dose of the vaccine and we are committed to reach every care home resident this month and i want to see as much as possible of that as soon as possible. i am incredibly grateful to everyone working in social care, whether in care homes or in domiciliary care, for everything they are doing to keep the people who are the most vulnerable to covid safe right now. this is not easy but it is vital, and it is also vital that when the vaccine reaches your care home that everyone, residents and staff alike, step forward and get the jab. each of these jabs saves lives, and we are making this happen as fast as we can. the plan sets out how we will continue through the clinically prioritised groups and beyond, so all adults can be offered a vaccine by the autumn. the third part of the plan is expanding where you can get vaccinated. as of friday, 96% of the population in england lived within ten miles of the vaccination site and we are expanding the number of vaccination sites further, right across the whole uk, with the devolved nhs responsible for delivery in each of the three devolved nations, scotland, wales and northern ireland. this expansion will include community pharmacy and roving vaccination centres, on top of the hospitals and gp practices and the seven mass vaccination sites we have opened, including the one i visited earlier today at epsom. this huge expansion means that by the end of january huge expansion means that by the end ofjanuary everyone huge expansion means that by the end of january everyone will live within ten miles of a vaccination centre, either fixed or roving ten miles of a vaccination centre, eitherfixed or roving in england, and this will help us make sure everybody can get access to the vaccine that is so important. the final part of the plan is about the people who are making it happen. over the past few months we have recruited and trained a workforce of 80,000 people. i'm incredibly grateful to all those who have stepped forward, including from all parts of the nhs, retired clinicians, pharmacists, airline cabin crew, armed services, st john's ambulance and the royal volu nta ry john's ambulance and the royal voluntary service, and so many volu nteers voluntary service, and so many volunteers who have come forward for their country. thank you for your service. i am very grateful for the many offers of support we are receiving right now and for all those who are in training as this vaccination roll—out expands. that is the vaccine delivery plan. it is an incredibly important piece of work. but while this crucial work ta kes work. but while this crucial work takes place, each and every one of us must keep pushing back against this virus by following the rules that are in place. please do your bit and help keep the nhs strong while we roll up our sleeves and make this ambitious plan a reality. please, stay at home to protect the nhs and save lives. we are now going to hear a few words from professor stephen powis, before taking questions from the public and then the media. like you, this morning, i had the opportunity to see first—hand the next phase of the nhs roll—out of the mass vaccination programme across england. like you, i met staff in epsom as they offer the vaccine to some of the hundreds of thousands of people at risk of covid—19 who are this week being invited to get a jab. epsom racecourse is one of seven large sites across the country opening this week, bolstering the ranks of gp surgeries and hospitals which have been delivering covid vaccines since the beginning of december. these services will be joined later this week as pharmacy led sites begin to come online, giving us more than 1200 settings in england that people can come to get theirjab. as you've heard, more than 2 million doses have now been given out in england, and today, again, as you've heard from the secretary of state, a detailed strategy has been published outlining our plan for continuing this important momentum. as sir simon stephens, chief executive of nhs england said earlier today, we are ina nhs england said earlier today, we are in a sprint from now to february as those top four priority groups are offered then vaccination. we will then kick off another sprint up to april as we get the rest of the vulnerable groups protected, and then finally a marathon to the autumn as we deliver vaccination to everybody else. alongside social distancing and following the hands, face and space advice, these vaccines are face and space advice, these vaccines are our face and space advice, these vaccines are our best line of defence that we have as we continue this battle against coronavirus. and, as the secretary of state has said, the public should be in no doubt that this fight is tougher thanit doubt that this fight is tougher than it has ever been. since christmas day, there are 13,000 more patients in hospital with covid—19. less than a fortnight into 2021, the numberof less than a fortnight into 2021, the number of people in hospital with covid has already gone up by a third, a rise of around 8000. we are seeing stubbornly high levels of infection and unfortunately deaths, too, which is a sadly inevitable consequence of the rapid spread of the virus in recent weeks. hospitals throughout the country are now seeing significant and sustained pressure from those rising numbers of covid—19 patients. even in the area of the country with the lowest numberof area of the country with the lowest number of patients, the south—west, it has more people in hospital now than the entire country combined did at the end of september. and with hospital admissions typically occurring two weeks off the transmission of the virus, we are still to see the full impact of the christmas loosening of the restriction is reflected in those hospital numbers. in short, as the chief medical officer and the secretary of state have said, this is an extremely serious moment for the country. as good news as the vaccine is, it cannot be seen by any of us asa vaccine is, it cannot be seen by any of us as a free pass to ignore the national guidance. as we mark another important milestone in the roll—out of the vaccination programme, today we have to keep our focus and our resilience as a country. i know from talking to my colleagues throughout the front line of the nhs that in their response to the coronavirus they are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support and praise that they have received during the last year. but i also know that the best way to thank those magnificent, hard—working staff for their efforts, and most importantly the best way to save lives is to continue to follow the guidance. thank you. thank you very much. we will now go to members of the public. and the first question, by video, is beverley from london. now that children are going to have to learn online, can i ask how the families that cannot afford laptops or computers are going to be supported? yes, this is an incredibly important question, and my colleague, gavin williamson, the education secretary, is sending out over 500,000 laptops, and making sure as much as is possible that those laptops get to the people who need them who won't be able to afford a laptop so that a child can engage in online learning. we all know that the restrictions around pupils going to school, the closure of many schools, except of course to the children of key workers who need their children to be in school so that they can get to work, we know that they can get to work, we know that that is a really difficult thing to have done, and i hope that this provision of laptops will help to make sure that everybody can get the education that they need as much as is possible. of course, we will get the school is open again as soon as it's safe to do so. thanks, beverly. the next question is from elaine in glasgow. at what point during the uk vaccination drive will the government determined that enough vulnerable people have been vaccinated and allow lockdown restrictions to start being eased and then finally lifted? this is an absolutely key question, elaine. it's the central question that so many people ask, and i'll explain how we are going to go about answering that, because obviously we can't, as of today, give an answer in terms of dates. but we can see, and you can see in the plan we've published, that 88%, so nearly nine in ten, of the deaths occurred in people who are either over the age of 70 or clinically extremely vulnerable, or health and social ca re vulnerable, or health and social care workers, so the top four groups. that's why we are going so ha rd to groups. that's why we are going so hard to ensure that they all have the offer of a vaccine, and as many as possible take up that offer by the 15th of february. then i very much hope we will see the number of deaths from this disease coming down. but those who are in their 60s, so those who are younger than those top four cohorts, are also, they also can die from covid, of course. they also are a significant proportion of those in hospital and the pressure on hospitals, so we've got to make sure that we get them vaccinated as fast as possible too, and we will monitor very closely the impact of the vaccination programme on hospitalisations and on the pressure on hospitals right across the uk. the lifting of restrictions will, of course, be a decision for each of the devolved administrations and for the each of the devolved administrations and forthe uk each of the devolved administrations and for the uk government here in england, and so it will be a decision for the scottish government in glasgow where you are, elaine, but it's something that we talk about all the time, trying to know when we'll be able to say more and set out more in detail than what i've just set out more in detail than what i'vejust said to set out more in detail than what i've just said to you now, which essentially is the summary of how much we know. there one fact that we don't know yet either that is critical. and then i'll ask steve to describe the risks in terms of hospitalisation. there is one fact we don't know, which is we know that the vaccine reduces your chances of getting covid, and then of being hospitalised and dying from covid, and we know that it gives you that protection. what we don't yet know but we are following very closely, and there is detail set out in the plan today, is how much you might transmit covid even if you don't suffer from the disease after you had the vaccine. we very much hope that it has a significant downward impact on that transmissibility after you've been vaccinated, and it's something that we are monitoring, and in fact we are testing people for, after they have had the vaccine. this is called the pharmacological co—vigil and strategy, and there is a paper being published on that alongside the vaccine deployment plan today. steve, i don't know if you have anything to add? as the secretary of state has said, we are prioritising the vaccination of those people in those first high—priority cohorts because those are the people who are at greatest risk of dying, unfortunately, but they are also the groups who are most at risk of having to be hospitalised. so, it is the case that has the vaccination programme builds momentum and rolls out to more in those groups, we will inevitably begin to see a reduction in hospitalisation. but we're not going to see that now. we're not going to see that now. we're not going to see it next week or the week after. it won't be until we get to february that we will start to see the early signs of that. so, the vaccination programme gives hope, but to battle the virus today, we have to comply with the guidelines that are in place. it's that, that compliance, that will get us through the next few weeks ofjanuary and into february, and then we can start to see the benefits of the vaccine programme in hospitalisations and in reduction of deaths. thank you, elaine. and thank you for your question, which is the central question, which is the central question that we all need to keep discussing and keep watching the data to see the impact of this vaccine on the number of deaths and the number of people in hospital. thank you. the next question is from fergus walsh at the bbc. thank you. you've got five weeks to reach a further 12.5 million people with their first dose of covid vaccine. is that doable? yes. we are on track to meet that target. it's an ambitious, stretching but achievable target, and i am confident that we are going to do it. the reason i can be confident is that, since thursday, when we rolled out the oxford astrazeneca vaccine through primary care, which is the biggest pa rt primary care, which is the biggest part of the roll—out plan, we've seen the rate of vaccination increase to 210,000 per day on average, so that over the last four days, not including today. thursday, friday, saturday, sunday. it includes the weekend. and the roll—out will increase further because of the mass vaccination sites that we've opened today. so, we've got a continued increase in the rate of vaccination. this is happening right across all four nations of the uk, and it means that we are on track to meet that target. it's not going to be easy, but we are, we are going to get there. confident? yes, i am confident, fergus. you were down in epsom this morning and i know you saw the vaccination centre down there and you were impressed by the organisation. you've written how impressed you were, sol organisation. you've written how impressed you were, so i think we all have confidence that the nhs can stand up to this challenge and can deliver it. of course, we stood up at the hospital hubs in december with the pfizer vaccine. we then had the gp hubs rolling out during december. a big boost with the oxford astrazeneca vaccine coming online last week. of course, community pharmacies coming on stream later this week is another gear change again. for all those reasons, as i've said many times, we get the supply delivered to us, the nhs will get that supply of vaccine jabbed into people's aren't as quickly as we possibly can. it is in all our interests for the reasons i've given to speed through those high—priority groups. i've given to speed through those high-priority groups. thanks very much, fergus. emily morgan, itv. thanks, secretary of state. you say you don't rule out tightening the restrictions, butjudging by the behaviour of people over the weekend, isn't now the time to act and make the rules strict up? the most important thing about the rules is that people need to follow them. that is absolutely critical, and you can see from the state of the nhs why that is so important. so, stronger enforcement is necessary, and i'm delighted that the police are stepping up their enforcement, but it isn't just are stepping up their enforcement, but it isn'tjust about are stepping up their enforcement, but it isn't just about the government and the rules we set, or the police and the work that they do. it's about how everybody behaves. i applaud the action morrison's has taken today, the supermarket. they've said they will not let people in without a mask u nless not let people in without a mask unless they clearly have a medical reason. that's the right approach, andi reason. that's the right approach, and i want to see all parts of society playing their part in this. so, yes, of course, we keep these things under review, and we demonstrated we are willing to tighten the rules if they need to be tightened, but the thing that really matters, right here, right now, is that everybody follows the rules as they are today. and everybody can play their part in doing that. laura bunn from sky. secretary of state, earlier today the plan delete prime minister warned about complacency at the stage and the pandemic, yet three weeks ago he was allowing people to socialise indoors over christmas. was that complacent and are we paying the price for that now? well, we are seeing that the new variant of the virus is incredibly transmissible. it's contagious, highly contagious. and the fact that it spreads so easily from one person to the other means that we have this incredibly difficult few weeks ahead of us whilst we get the vaccination plan rolled out, as we were just discussing, and it's imperative that everybody not just follows the rules, not just seize everybody not just follows the rules, notjust seize the rules as a limit that should be stretched, but rather behaves as if they have the virus and limits the amount of social contact that everybody has. and i know that's difficult. honestly, i really do, but it's so important for everybody, and so don't flex the rules. i've said before that a flex to the rules can before that a flex to the rules can be fatal, and what i mean by that is, if people push the boundaries of these rules or don't take them seriously, then that can lead to more infections, and that can lead to more deaths. and the vast majority of people are following the rules, but it's very, very important that everybody does. steve. one thing that it sometimes really easy to forget, as the nhs comes under more pressure from increasing numbers of patients with covid, it's notjust numbers of patients with covid, it's not just covid patients where services come under pressure, its patients without covid become affected because the ability of the nhs to provide its full range of services becomes more difficult. when the public and all the fuss comply with these measures and pay attention to the detail of complying then we not only help nhs staff treat covid patients, we are helping our nhs staff ensure they can treat patients with strokes and heart attacks, who are in traffic accidents. it's really critical at this really serious moment that we all pull together to ensure not only we reduce deaths from covid, but we ensure the nhs does what it has always done for all of us, treating us and keeping us safe in our time of need. coming back to the core of the question you asked, this new variant makes this so much harder, but it doesn'tjust make it so much harderfor but it doesn'tjust make it so much harder for us but it doesn'tjust make it so much harderfor us at the but it doesn'tjust make it so much harder for us at the podium, it makes it harder for everyone because it means everyone has to restrict the things they love more than would have been previously necessary under the old variant, and that is tough on us all but thankfully we have this way out with the vaccine. let's not blow it now. next question is kate ferguson at the sun. can you clear up the rules for us, please. aml clear up the rules for us, please. am i allowed to go for a walk in the park with a friend and get a takeaway cup of coffee, yes or no. if yes, why are police fining people for doing that? related to that, is it all right to exercise seven miles away from your home? and i question for professor stephen powis if possible. professor, are vaccination centres open long enough in the day and do we need to turn to a 24/7 vaccination model? the pm spokesman yesterday said there was no clamour for that. do you agree? and we have an army campaign which is getting people appointed to help roll out the campaign. i will take the first few parts and then pass on to the professor. yes, you can go and exercise in the park with one other person, but only one other person. we have been seeing large groups and thatis we have been seeing large groups and that is not acceptable. you should be two metres apart from the other person. this is one of those rules where if too many people keep breaking this rule then we are going to have to look at it. but i don't wa nt to to have to look at it. but i don't want to do that because for many people, being able to go for a walk with a friend, especially if they live on their own, that is often their only social contact. we don't wa nt to their only social contact. we don't want to have to change that rule. it's very important people try to flex or push the boundaries of it. it is ok to go for a walk with one other person but you should stay two metres apart from that other person. and likewise, it is ok to go, if you enterfor a long walk, and opened up seven miles from home, that's ok, but you should stay local. you should not go from one side of the country to another, potentially taking the virus with you because one in three people with the virus don't know they have it because they have no symptoms and yet still pass it on. it is ok to go for a long walk, or a cycle ride, or exercise, but stay local and please get out there and take exercise because it is good for you, your physical and mental health, but don't say that you're exercising when really you're just socialising. exercise with someone else, that's what the rule is there for and we don't want to have to tighten that further. to say one thing about 24/7, we will do this if it is needed, absolutely. we will do whatever it takes to get this vaccine rolled out as fast as possible. the thing is, if both the person doing the vaccination and the person doing the vaccination and the person being vaccinated would both prefer for that to happen person being vaccinated would both preferfor that to happen in person being vaccinated would both prefer for that to happen in the middle of the day rather than the middle of the day rather than the middle of the night, then that's probably when we should do it. but there are groups, night shift workers for instance, where it might be the best approach. our attitude on the vaccine roll—out is whatever it takes to do this as fast as safely possible. i am sure for the vast majority of people they would prefer to have a vaccine during the day, and for the most efficient and best use of our staff and volunteers working through the day is the most efficient way of delivering the most vaccines will stop so the strategy for this is, as we have said, to open as many centres in as many different settings as we can, and that includes hospital hubs, gp centres, large—scale vaccination centres, large—scale vaccination centres such as epsom racecourse that we open today. it will include shortly community pharmacists. i think that will give the vast majority of people a range of choice as to where they can most conveniently and are most close to getting their vaccination. frankly, that's the best way to maximise the numberof that's the best way to maximise the number of vaccines that we are able to give. apologies, i lost the audio on the second part of your question which i think was about volunteering. can you repeat it? do you have any words for the sun's army campaign to get british people to volunteer in the roll—out for the vaccine to stop we have had more than 20,000 people signing up so far. we are extremely grateful for the work everyone is doing, including the sun, in getting volunteers enthused and joining us. we have had around 80,000 people coming forward and still more want to come. the more we can get enthused with us and delivering the largest vaccination programme the nhs has ever delivered, the better. soa nhs has ever delivered, the better. so a huge thanks. come and be a part of it, the sun's jabs army is marching and helping the nation. great stuff. next question from dan the mirror. can you guarantee to people that support and child care bubbles will not be removed in any tightening of the lockdown. many people have come to rely on this specifically and are waiting anxiously to see if that will be allowed. and to the professor, have you had any reports of anyone catching coronavirus on their way to or from a vaccination appointment or while waiting for it? given we have seen people queueing outdoors and we have 50 mass centres opening by the end of the month, can you explain and reassure people what measures you have in place to make sure that is not a risk. i can rule out removing the bubbles we have in place. the child care and support bubbles are very important and we will keep them. i know how important they are to people and they are an important part of the system we have got to support people whilst also having these tough measures that are necessary. the bubbles are there for individuals and specific people. so if you have formed a social bubble with someone, that is it, you can't keep moving them. they are very important. someone in your bubble essentially becomes part of your household. it is important people stick to the same bubble, but the bubbles policy will stay. i'm glad you asked that question because i know there has been some media discussion of it and i wanted to be absolutely crystal clear about that. steve, you may take the second part. all the centres we have set up to vaccinate, the large—scale vaccination centres, the gp led hubs, the hospital hubs, they have all put in place appropriate infection prevention and control to make sure they minimise the risk of any spread. and they are also putting in place appropriate social distancing so people are staying apart and the risk of transmission is as low as possible. certainly down in epsom this morning, i talked to them about ensuring people would not be queueing in the cold and they had systems in place to make sure that wouldn't happen, and socially distance areas they could use if they needed to. are you aware of any outbreaks of people contracting the virus on the way to a centre? no, if you are coming to a centre, take all the social distancing precautions that you would take if you were travelling outside anyway. i think if people act sensibly, as i am sure they will, those centres are set up to protect people, and ensure the risk of any transmission is minimised. so come and have the vaccine, that's the way you will protect yourself and others from this terrible virus. the final question from the yorkshire post. the yorkshire post and its sister titles has today backed calls from more community pharmacists to get them on—board to deliver the vaccine locally. with the images we have just heard about, elderly people queueing outside vaccination centres, are you looking to speed up bringing more community pharmacists board than the 200 already announced, so board than the 200 already announced , so everyone board than the 200 already announced, so everyone has a vaccination centre within ten minutes instead of ten miles, or is that a vaccination supply issue you we re that a vaccination supply issue you were talking about earlier and is that creating a barrier to bringing those online as quickly as you would like? absolutely we are looking at what more community pharmacies can do. the first 200 community pharmacies are, as the professor set out, coming on stream very shortly. iam sure out, coming on stream very shortly. i am sure there is more community pharmacy can do. i'm a huge fan of the role community pharmacy plays, especially so close to the community, so often. often it's the bit of the nhs so embedded in the community, alongside gps and primary care, but community pharmacy plays that role in this is probably the most embedded. especially when we are coming to make sure as many people as possible get the vaccine, at the moment we have started with the big numbers, but we are going to have to get the vaccine out to people either who find it difficult to travel, or who are less certain that they want the vaccine and persuade people to take the vaccine. i think community pharmacy will have a particularly important role in that stage of the campaign. they are an important part, important partners in this. we are starting the roll—out but there is much more to come. thank you all for your questions. that concludes today's coronavirus briefing. studio: the health secretary, announcing that 2.6 million vaccine doses have been given so far. they have been given to 2.3 million people. some people already getting their second dose of the vaccine. two fifths of those over 80 have had a first dose and the government is on track to vaccinate the top four priority groups by the middle of february. those priority groups, around 15 million people, account for 88% of covid deaths, and he explained that is why they have to be vaccinated as fast as possible, and he said more than 32,000 people are currently in hospital with covid—19. the average number of deaths with covid in the last week, 926 per day, said the health secretary. our health correspondent, nick triggle is here. talking about vaccinations so far, and every time i talk to you the number goes up, 2.6 million doses given out so far. the health secretary says that's more than all of the rest of europe combined. yes, it's clear they think they have a positive story to tell. when you think of the first four weeks, 1.3 million vaccinations given and in the past week that has been doubled. what was interesting, he talked about what has happened since thursday, which is when the oxford astrazeneca vaccine started to be delivered at gp led local vaccination centres, so really went out to the mass population. he said over the last four days since that happened, there have been more than 200,000 doses per day being given. obviously that starts to get them on track towards the 2 million doses per week that they are really going to need to hit as a minimum to ensure that by mid—february all those in the over 70 group, and the clinically extremely vulnerable and health and care workers get the offer of a vaccine. that's 15 million people. the fact that 2.6 million people. the fact that 2.6 million have been done is a start but there is still a long way to go. we hear so much now about the pressure on the nhs and the latest figure of the number of people in hospital with covid, more than 32,000. yes, that is an eye watering number, up from just over 20,000 on christmas day. the numbers of new admissions into hospital have been climbing very sharply. over 4000 admissions on the last count. and thatis admissions on the last count. and that is four times more admissions than we would normally see at the height of winter for respiratory problems. so it is putting acute pressure on the health service. that's why today we have been hearing from professor chris whitty, the chief medical adviser. sir simon stevens, the head of nhs and good, and now the health secretary matt hancock and stephen powis from nhs england, about how acute problems are in hospitals. some hospitals have over half of beds occupied by covid patients, which impacts on the sort of care they can provide for people needing cancer and routine treatment. the other thing they are having to do is increase the number of intensive care beds. over the last six weeks the number of intensive care beds has increased by one fifth, but the nhs doesn't have one fifth, but the nhs doesn't have one fifth, but the nhs doesn't have one fifth extra staff to staff them so they are having to redeploy staff to work those areas who are not used to work those areas who are not used to it and that is causing huge pressure and problems within hospitals. pressure and problems within hospitals. a line of breaking rules from the world —— a line breaking news from the world of rugby. later on the bbc news channel, we will be answering your question about vaccines, at 8:30pm. anything at all you want to ask about the roll—out of vaccines in the uk, do so by getting in touch or e—mailing us your questions, or via twitter. let's get more reaction to what was said at that downing street briefing. our political correspondent chris mason is at westminster. there was a question from a journalist matt hancock which i think rather sidestepped, which is, is it ok to go seven miles for your daily exercise? a reference to the prime minister being spotted at a park that is seven miles away from downing street. kate ferguson of the sun asked that question, a reference toa sun asked that question, a reference to a story in tonight's evening standard of the prime minister put a link around the olympic park on a bike over the question about whether that represents legitimate exercise. there aren't limits to what you can do in terms of exercise. that is a reasonable reason for you to be outside, but it is some distance from downing street, and curiously, when we speak to people in downing street, and i know it sounds like we are dancing on the head of a pin, they are not being specific as to whether the prime minister cycled there from downing street or travelled by car or some other means and then got on a bike when he was there. you might think, why does this matter? central to the government communication strategy at the moment is making sure we as individuals behave cautiously within the current rules. we saw the other day two women in derbyshire being fined when they turned up at a local beauty spot by car separately, met together to go for a walk, had cups of coffee they had brought themselves, and the police said that constituted a pit and whacked them with a £200 fine. they found themselves on the wrong side of these rules, as far as derbyshire police are concerned, hence the journalistic enquiry into whether the prime minister was stretching the prime minister was stretching the spirit of the rules when he could have gone on a bike much closer to home, ie, could have gone on a bike much closerto home, ie, here in westminster. that was the reason for kate's question. the central message being articulated by the government in terms of the restrictions is, each of us behave very cautiously, only going outside when necessary, only going outside when necessary, only exercising very locally, and behaving as if we have all got the virus. inevitably, those in public office, under intense scrutiny themselves about how they choose to spend aspects of their weekend. slightly more comfortable question for slightly more comfortable question foer slightly more comfortable question for mr hancock was about vaccines, where the government think they are doing pretty well, and he was announcing some new figures on the number of people who have been vaccinated. picking up on what nick was saying a couple of minutes ago, i think nick is right that the government really does feel like it has a good story to tell here. he was the document i've kept referring to all afternoon in our conversations — the uk covid—19 vaccine delivery plan, published a little earlier this afternoon. all of the opening pages is a sense of governmental pride in what it has done, the first country in the world to authorise the first vaccine, the only country to currently have three vaccines authorised, and hundreds of millions of doses on order from several vaccine producers. as you say, new figures, and i think we will hear these all the times. the government is conscious that the statistics we are often subjected to in this pandemic are bleak and depressing, but the vaccine figures are more positive because they shove are more positive because they shove a route out of all this. the latest statistics are nudging up the whole time, 2.6 million doses of vaccine into arms around the uk, equating to 2.3 million people. 300,000 people have had two jabs. others will have to wait up to 12 weeks for the second jab. the government says it is on track to meet that first deadline of the 15th of february for all of those in the upper cohorts of risk, those aged 70 and over and those who are extremely clinically vulnerable, being vaccinated. and the government impressing that the reason the courts are set out as they are is because —— cohorts are set out as they are is because the biggest risk of death from covid is age, alongside those who have underlying conditions that expose them to particular risk. a couple of months later, in april, for all of those aged 50. you talked about whether or not the prime minister flouted the rules without cycle ride, but there is pressure on the government to tighten the lockdown restrictions, not least from the labour leader. yes, he is raising an eyebrow about the current restrictions, because they are more liberal stop these are huge restrictions on our liberties, but they are more liberal in certain parts compared with where we were last march and april, so nursery schools are open, playgrounds are open, you can go and view a house if you are a prospective buyer, and ta keaway you are a prospective buyer, and takeaway coffee places are open, so there have been questions from journalists today from journalist saying, perhaps you need to tighten this up. we heard from matt hancock that there is a reluctance in government to do that because they wa nt to government to do that because they want to try and keep things open where they possibly can. so kier starmer said he found it surprising some of those things were possible. in his press conference this morning, he could have said, therefore we say as a labour party that these things should close immediately. you didn't go that far. he said the scientists should explain the evidence basis and that kind of thing, so he posed a question without going the whole hog. it comes back to the central dilemma that governments around the uk in the world have been wrestling with throughout the pandemic, to what extent do you remove liberties to try and secure the safety of as many people? and also, to what extent many people? and also, to what exte nt d oes many people? and also, to what extent does imposing rules beyond a certain point become counter—productive if people are not willing to stick to them because they feel that they are far too restrictive? i think, they feel that they are far too restrictive? ithink, given they feel that they are far too restrictive? i think, given how bleak the short—term situation looks as far as hospitalisations and deaths are concerned, you are going to see plenty continuing to ask the question about whether or not, sadly, some further restrictions may have to be imposed. chris, thank you so much for all of that. let's sum up so much for all of that. let's sum up what we heard from the health secretary, matt hancock, along with sir stephen powis at the latest corona be reefing. they set out plans to carry out the largest vaccination programme in british history as it wraps up the covid—19 immunisation strategy, including plans to immunise tens of millions of people by the spring. 2.6 million doses have been given out so far two to three —— so far to 2.3 million people in the uk. the vaccination programme in care homes has been accelerated. almost a quarter of older care home residents have been vaccinated, and he promised to vaccinated, and he promised to vaccinate everybody in care homes by the end of the month. and he said 80,000 people have been recruited to help roll out the vaccination programmes, including retired gps. the health secretary said 32,294 people are currently in hospital but coronavirus in the uk, and on average, 926 have died the uk each day in the last week. we can get some reaction to all of that from the shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth, who joins the shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth, whojoins me now. thanks for being with us. first, a good news story from the government on the roll—out of the vaccine, isn't it? yes, it is good news that we've vaccinated over 2 million people. i've spoken to nhs staff who tell of the joy when they are putting these jabs into people's arms. it really is uplifting, so it's good news definitely, but we've got to go further and we've got to got to go further and we've got to go faster. we need to get more jabs into people's arms. the government have a target to inoculate around 40 million people by mid—february, which is good, but if we can get to just shy of 30 million, we will reduce hospitalisation and death by 99%. because we know at the moment, the covid crisis engulfing us is the worst it has ever been. our nhs is pushed to the brink. over 80,000 people are dead from this horrific disease. i mean, nhs staff on the front line hospitals are exhausted. there are over 40,000 of them off sick with covid, so we are saying to the government, vaccinate our nhs staff quickly, rapidly, urgently. we've got to protect our nhs staff. we've got to protect our nhs staff. we didn't protect them properly in the first way. we are not protecting them properly now because we are delaying the vaccine roll—out. let's get that sorted. let's get the vaccination rolled out to everybody ina care vaccination rolled out to everybody in a care home rapidly because we are seeing infections increase in ca re are seeing infections increase in care homes again, so yes, the progress made is welcome and good and reassuring, but we still got to goa and reassuring, but we still got to go a lot further, so let's go further and faster. in a very few seconds, we've heard from your leader that he wants the lockdown tightened. well, you see, you've got millions of people who still have to go to work. not everyone can work at home from a laptop and do zoom calls like this, so for those 10 million people who have got to go to work, many going on public transport, public sector workers, usually, many going on public transport, public sectorworkers, usually, but not always, some work in supermarkets or construction, they mix socially more because of their jobs. they got to be protected. we need to ventilate workplaces properly stop if you are ill or sick, it's a scandal that you don't get a proper, decent sick pay and help to support. we got to fix that as well. good to talk to you. thanks for being with us. fiona is here with the news at six in a moment. first, the latest weather forecast with louise lee r. last week's bitter cold has been replaced with something a little milder. a lot of cloud around today, as you can see by this picture from cambridge. those temperatures held up cambridge. those temperatures held upfor many cambridge. those temperatures held up for many at around 8—10 c. we have had cold air in the far north—east bringing snow and rain into scotland particularly out to the west. this weather front is the dividing line between that colder air pushing across from the north, and moving that milder airfurther south. as we go through the night, clearing skies across scotland and northern england, a blanket of cloud and rain across england and wales primarily. and here, it will stay mild, eight or nine celsius. with clear skies, temperatures below freezing and icy stretches could be an issue by first thing. there could be wintry showers as well, but primarily dry. our weather front continues to linger across the far south—west, but here, it will stay rather drab but on the mild side, ten or 11 celsius. further north, a cool afternoon, four or five celsius at the best. this contrasts with the feel of the weather that's set to continue through the middle of the week, and it will turn the weather story a little tricky. this triangle here is the dividing line between this milder air. we've got this south—westerly flow, and as that continues to bump into the colder air sitting across the eastern half of the uk, on the leading edge, we will see sleet and snow, primarily to high ground, but we can't rule out sleet and snow at lower levels. it will turn back readily to rain through the middle part of the afternoon as the milder air kicks m, afternoon as the milder air kicks in, but look how cold it is further north and east. through the night, those temperatures are set to fall away again. we could have a wintry mix through wednesday night, into the early hours of thursday morning. eventually, we expect that milder story to take over, but it's certainly worth keeping abreast of the forecast through wednesday and thursday, particularly across the north and east of the country. on the whole, thursday will turn milder and stay on the wet side. by friday, cloudy and cool once again. the government sets out its plan to vaccinate the most vulnerable adults for coronavirus by mid february, all adults by the autumn. the rate of vaccinations is increasing — including a quarter of older care home residents. so far, across the uk, we've given 2.6 million doses to 2.3 million people. we'll be looking at the details of the plan and whether the government is likely to meet its target. also tonight. the hospitals seeing increasing numbers of younger patients in their 30s and 40s. covid is a killer. covid is real. fears restrictions may have to tighten further as some high streets and beauty spots remain crowded.

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Full list of all the hospitals giving coronavirus vaccine in Wales

Full list of all the hospitals giving coronavirus vaccine in Wales Mass immunisation programmes are likely to be rolled out in the Spring Updated The video will auto-play soon8Cancel Play now Wales Online - Subscribe When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Your information will be used in accordance with ourPrivacy Notice. Thank you for subscribingWe have more newslettersShow meSee ourprivacy notice These are the hospitals in Wales which will be carrying out mass vaccinations for coronavirus in the biggest immunisation programme run by the NHS. The first vaccinations in the UK, and the world, were carried out last week in the first step towards ending the virus' impact on the world.