it s thought around 50,000 homes could be affected by the industrial action in a row over pay and conditions. eastbourne council say they are taking legal advice and hope the situation can be resolved as soon as possible. pharmacists have called on the government to improve the supply of lateral flow tests before people return to school and work this week. shortages have arisen over the christmas period with people advised to test themselves before socialising. many have struggled to get hold of the numbers they need especially after difficulties ordering kits online. three weeks ago, we were giving out about eight or nine kits per day. as soon as the website crashed, we started doing a box of 58 kits per day. that has increased in the last couple of weeks and now we doing 58 kits in about three hours. meanwhile thousands of vaccine volunteers have been praised for their work in giving up around two million hours of their time to help with the jabs
to school and work this week. shortages have arisen over the christmas period with people advised to test themselves before socialising. many have struggled to get hold of the numbers they need especially after difficulties ordering kits online. three weeks ago, we were giving out about eight or nine kits per day. as soon as the website crashed, we started doing a box of 58 kits per day. that has increased in the last couple of weeks and now we doing 58 kits in about three hours. meanwhile thousands of vaccine volunteers have been praised for their work in giving up around two million hours of their time to help with the jabs rollout last year. they include a woman who translated crucial health messages into punjabi to reach more communities, and a man stationed at vaccine sites including wembley stadium and the london science museum. let s get the weather now with sara thornton. good morning to you. today is probably the last of the mild days we re likely to see
around 4% of staff in acute trusts were unable to work last week an average of more than 5000 staff each day. pharmacists have called on the government to improve the supply of lateral flow tests before people return to school and work this week. shortages have arisen over the christmas period with people advised to test themselves before socialising. many have struggled to get hold of the numbers they need especially after difficulties ordering kits online. three weeks ago, we were giving out about eight or nine kits per day. as soon as the website crashed, we started doing a box of 58 kits per day. that has increased in the last couple of weeks and now we doing 58 kits in about three hours. meanwhile, thousands of vaccine volunteers have been praised for their work in giving up around two million hours of their time to help with the jabs rollout last year.
for tackling the omicron variant. here s our political correspondent, ben wright. it is, says the government, a race between the virus and the vaccine, and people have been rushing to receive their boosterjab after ministers warned of a tidal wave of infection caused by the omicron variant of covid. that has meant delays for some people trying to access appointments, and a fresh government call for vaccine volunteers. no variant of covid 19 has spread this fast. in the commons yesterday, the health secretary, sajid javid, said omicron now represented 20% of cases in england and was accelerating fast. the booster programme has been expanded, with anyone over 18 able to book a jab from wednesday. that means nhs resources are being switched to focus on delivering vaccines and urgent clinical care. the health service in england has been put on its highest level