Coronavirus - 10th January

Summary for Sunday, 10th January

• Every adult will be offered a coronavirus vaccine by autumn, Matt Hancock says, talking about healthcare in England
  
• But right now, people must follow lockdown guidance and stay at home, the health secretary says, as the situation for the NHS is 'very serious'
  
• Regular, rapid tests for people without symptoms of Covid-19 will be made available across England from this week
  
• Local authorities will be encouraged to target testing to people who cannot work from home during lockdown
  
• More than 80,000 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test since the start of the pandemic
  
• Global deaths from Covid-19 now stand at 1,928,136, and total cases have reached 89,718,548, according to Johns Hopkins University
  

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s a quick summary of the main stories from the UK this morning:

• Regular rapid testing for people without coronavirus symptoms will be made available across England this week, the government has said . Local councils are being encouraged to prioritise tests for those who cannot work from home during the lockdown.
  
• Thousands of people over the age of 80 have started to receive invitations to be vaccinated at one of seven new regional centres in England
  
• Home Secretary Priti Patel has said officers "will not hesitate" to enforce lockdown rules as she defended the way police have handled breaches
  
• "Absurd" council tax rises due in April should be scrapped to ease the pressure on family budgets, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said
  
• The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have received Covid-19 vaccinations, Buckingham Palace has said
  
• People must take lockdown seriously as the UK is "in the eye of a storm" in a situation "much worse than March" says virus expert Professor Peter Horby
  
• His warning comes as almost 60,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the UK on Saturday and the number of deaths after a positive test passed 80,000
  
• But hope is on the horizon as every adult will be offered a Covid vaccine by the autumn, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says
  
• Regular rapid testing for people without coronavirus symptoms will start across England this week
  
• Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel has said officers "will not hesitate" to enforce lockdown rules as she defended the way police have handled breaches
  
• In Wales, some councils have not included some jobs like teachers and supermarket staff on their lists of key workers whose children can go to school
  
• Live-streamed lessons will not be offered to all children in Scotland when the new school terms begins on Monday, according to BBC research
  

The papers: Hospital ‘crisis’ and police ‘get tough’ on fines

In Sunday's papers, there is a renewed focus on lockdown compliance.
In what the Sunday Times describes as an intervention "designed to shock", England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty tells the paper that emergency patients will be turned away from hospitals unless people begin to obey the rules.
"When will they realise what's really going on?" asks an intensive care nurse, expressing her anger at anti-lockdown protesters in the Sunday People.
Ameera Sheikh says demonstrators - who will never have to zip up a body bag - need to realise the "world doesn't revolve around them".
The Sunday Telegraph says every police officer has been told to issue a £200 fine to people breaching Covid rules if they refuse to return home at the first time of asking.
The paper says ministers are "dramatically increasing enforcement" in a bid to stave off calls from scientists for tougher restrictions.
Read more from the papers here .

Latest developments from around the world

Here are some of the coronavirus stories making headlines around the world:

• Pope Francis has urged people to get vaccinated against Covid-19, saying opposition to having it is “suicidal denial”. He told Italian TV he would receive the vaccination next week when inoculations start at the Vatican
  
• A new law has taken effect in Sweden, giving the government power to close venues such as shops, cinemas and gyms for the first time since the pandemic began
  
• A second nationwide lockdown has come into force in Cyprus and will last at least until the end of January. Citizens have been told to stay at home and schools and non-essential shops will close
  
• As India prepares to begin vaccinating 300 million of its citizens by July, as well as contributing to the global supply of vaccines, we ask can it meet the demand ?
  
• The total number of global deaths from Covid-19 now stands at 1,928,136, and total cases have reached 89,718,548, according to Johns Hopkins University
  

Covid testing for asymptomatic workers expanded

Regular rapid testing for people without coronavirus symptoms will be made available across England this week, the government has said.
The community testing regime - expanded to cover all 317 local authorities - uses rapid lateral flow tests, which can return results in 30 minutes.
Local councils are being encouraged to prioritise tests for those who cannot work from home during the lockdown.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which represents UK businesses, welcomed the move, saying it would help workers operate safely while catching new cases more quickly.
Read more .

 

Every adult in UK to be offered Covid vaccine by autumn - Hancock

Every adult will be offered a Covid-19 vaccine by the autumn, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says.
He adds that this will be "according to need", with the most vulnerable offered a vaccine first.
Over the last week, he says, the UK has vaccinated around two million people - more people than it did in the entirety of December.
The exact figures will be published tomorrow, he adds.

Arrests at anti-lockdown protest in Bournemouth

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of breaching Covid-19 regulations at an anti-lockdown protest in Bournemouth.
The protest saw dozens of people "try to march" through the town centre on Saturday, Dorset Police said.
The force's chief constable James Vaughan says: "I condemn the actions of these selfish individuals who knowingly flouted the lockdown restrictions."
At least seven fixed penalty notices were also issued during the event.
There were "repeated attempts" to engage with the organisers to stop the planned protest, the force says.
Mr Vaughan added: "Our county is gripped with infections and yet these irresponsible individuals have ignored what is being asked of them and have left their homes to protest. Shame on them."
More on this story.

'Scotland cannot rule out tougher restrictions'

Coronavirus does not show much sign of "abating" in Scotland, says the deputy first minister as he refused to rule out tougher restrictions.
Scotland is facing "a very alarming situation" with the virus, according to John Swinney, whose comments come as the country records its highest death toll so far in the pandemic in the last two days, where 93 Scots died from the virus.
Swinney tells Politics Scotland: "I don't think I'm revealing a state secret when I say that the debate within cabinet [on Monday] was not whether we were going too far but whether we were going far enough."
Mr Swinney says Scotland recorded around 130 cases per 100,000 people on Boxing Day, but the figure shot up to 300 just 10 days later.
Despite the new measures put in place, Mr Swinney said: "It doesn't show much sign of abating to any extent.
"We're seeing case numbers which are hovering around 2,000 per day... so we've got an accelerating situation on our hands and we have to constantly review whether more restrictions are required."
He added: "We remain open to considering further restrictions if they are necessary."

Six new cases in Victoria, all in hotel quarantine

The Guardian
In Victoria, Australia, health minister Martin Foley has reported six new cases – all in hotel quarantine, including one flight crew member.
He’s welcomed the two days of zero cases in Brisbane, but Victoria will wait for the final report tomorrow as well as the prime minister’s announcement before changing any policy.
96 travellers were given permits to go into isolation at home in Victoria yesterday. They came through Melbourne airport “in breach” of Queensland’s restrictions, but they have been assisted to go home and isolate anyway, he said.
About 900 permits have been approved for Victorians trying to get home from NSW.
“This isn’t over until the Australian population is vaccinated,” he said.

Record number of cases in Mexico

Mexico reported a record 16,105 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday, and 1,135 additional deaths, according to health ministry data, bringing its total tally to 1,524,036 infections and 133,204 deaths.
The new daily death toll marks the fifth consecutive day that officials have reported more than 1,000 fatalities due to the highly contagious disease caused by the virus.
The real number of infected people and deaths is likely to be significantly higher than the official count, the ministry has said, due to little testing. (Reuters)

HongKongers stranded in UK

Hongkongers stranded in the UK are contemplating a six-week journey to get home, the South China Morning Post is reporting today .
A couple of days before Christmas the Hong Kong government announced an entry ban on anyone who had been in the UK for longer than two hours in the previous 21 days. The shock announcement caught many people out, including those who had travelled to the UK to visit family for the holidays. Hong Kong, under British rule until 1997, has strong ties with the UK.
That ban was extended for another two weeks on Thursday, and came on top of other restrictions including a now three-week period of mandatory hotel quarantine for people arriving home.
It meant the only way for people to get home was to leave the UK for another country, stay there for 21 nights before flying on to Hong Kong and spending another 21 nights in hotel quarantine.
Those trying to get back home had been advised to consider stopping over in Dubai for three weeks before continuing home. Dubai allows people from the UK to enter, as long as they take a Covid-19 test on arrival. If it’s negative they are not required to quarantine.
But now the Hong Kong government has banned all Emirates flights from Dubai and Bangkok and three passengers tested positive on arrival.
“Had we known what would happen, we would never have got on that plane,” one woman, who traveled with her family to visit sick relatives, told the Post.
The ban on UK arrivals, even for Hong Kong residents, has been labeled potentially unconstitutional but the government has maintained it is both legal and necessary.

Curfew in Quebec

In the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, a curfew meant to curb a surge in coronavirus infections took effect on Saturday evening.
The measure is needed to prevent gatherings that have fuelled the rampant spread of the virus, premier Francois Legault said.
“The situation is critical and a shock treatment is needed,” he said in a Facebook post earlier Saturday. “Our hospitals are filling with Covid-19 patients. Hundreds of people are in intensive care, fighting for their lives. Tens of people die every day.”
The rules will see most of Quebec’s 8.4m residents face police questions or fines of up to $6,000 Canadian (US$4,728) if they’re out between 8pm and 5am for the next four weeks.
There are exceptions for essential workers, people walking dogs, and those who have medical reasons to be out, such as a doctor’s appointment. Under the terms of the curfew, grocery stores and convenience stores will have to close by 7.30pm in order to allow workers and customers to get home. Stores connected to petrol stations can stay open to serve essential workers.
The curfew has seen sharp resistance from some. Just before the curfew was set to take effect, a few dozen people walked through the streets of Montreal’s Plateau district, chanting “Freedom!” as five police cruisers with lights flashing trailed behind them. A helicopter hovered overhead, and police cruisers lined the streets.
The curfew comes as Quebec’s Covid cases and deaths continue to rise, with hospitals saying they are filling up and risk becoming overwhelmed. On Saturday the province reported 3,127 new cases in 24 hours, passing 3,000 for the first time; 41 people died. (AP)

Cuba to run vaccine trials in Iran

Cuba will run phase three trials of its vaccine candidate, Sovereign 02, in Iran, after institutes in the two countries signed an agreement in Havana.
Cuba’s state-run Finlay Vaccine Institute announced on Twitter the clinical trial would run in Iran to “move forward faster in immunisation against Covid-19 in both countries”.
The Sovereign 02 is the country’s most advanced coronavirus vaccine candidate, showing “an early immune response [at 14 days],” institute director Vicente Verez said last month.
It has been difficult to do phase 3 clinical testing in Cuba because its outbreak has not been as serious as those in many larger countries, he said.

China reports 69 new Covid cases

Mainland China reported 69 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, more than double the 33 reported a day earlier, the country’s national health authority has said today.
Of the new cases, 21 were imported and the bulk of the locally transmitted cases, 46 out of 48, were recorded in Hebei, the province surrounding Beijing. Hebei entered a “wartime mode” this week as it battles a new cluster of coronavirus infections.
Another 27 asymptomatic cases were also reported on Saturday, down from 38 a day earlier. China does not classify these patients, who have been infected by the Sars-Cov-2 virus that causes the disease but are not yet showing any Covid-19 symptoms, as confirmed cases.

Why the delay? The nations waiting to see how Covid vaccinations unfold

Report by The Guardian's Melissa Davey, Elle Hunt, and Justin McCurry
They are the nations that have been held up as shining examples of coronavirus management. In Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, daily Covid infections are in the single digits and outbreaks are quickly suppressed.
But there is one area where these nations lag well behind the pack: vaccination. Countries with some of the most enviable healthcare systems in the world – including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea – will not begin to inoculate until the end of February or later .
The delay is deliberate. The millions of people already being vaccinated against Covid-19 will provide valuable data to those countries who have – for various reasons – decided to wait for more information about the vaccine, its efficacy and side effects before rolling it out to vulnerable populations and the public ...
Read more here

Germany records almost 17,000 new cases

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 16,946 to 1,908,527, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 465 to 40,343, the tally showed.

Demonstrations in Israel

Thousands of Israelis on Saturday renewed weekly demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for the long-serving leader to resign over corruption charges against him and his alleged mishandling of the coronavirus crisis.
Protesters held signs reading “Go,” and “Bibi, let my people go,” referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
The protest in a Jerusalem square near Netanyahu’s official residence comes as Israel is the midst of its third national lockdown, which was recently tightened to shutter schools, and as the country presses forward with a world-leading vaccination drive. Netanyahu’s trial was set to resume this week, but was postponed indefinitely amid the tighter restrictions.


Israelis lift placards and flags as they take part in a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near the PM’s official residence in Jerusalem, amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis, on January 9, 2021. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust connected to three long-running investigations. He has denied any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a “witch hunt” by hostile media, law enforcement and judicial officials. Protesters argue that Netanyahu cannot properly lead the country while under indictment.
Israel has seen a recent surge in cases despite unleashing one of the world’s fastest vaccination campaigns. The country has given the first of two vaccine doses to nearly 20% of its population, and Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has secured enough vaccines to inoculate the whole adult population by the end of March.
Netanyahu has placed the vaccination drive at the centre of his campaign for reelection that same month. On March 23, Israel will hold its fourth nationwide vote in less than two years. In the meantime, he has called on Israelis to make “one last big effort” to halt transmission by adhering to the tightened restrictions. (AP)

Vietnam limiting flights for Lunar New Year

Vietnam will limit flights bringing citizens home from now until the end of the Lunar New Year in mid-February, when big gatherings indoors are expected, to reduce coronavirus risks, the country’s prime minister said.
With a new Covid-19 variant spreading around the globe and the upcoming Lunar New Year, the country’s most important holiday, only necessary flights approved by health, foreign, defence, public security and transport ministry are allowed to enter the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
After the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 10-16, the transport ministry will study the possibility of international flights resumption, Phuc added.
Vietnam has suspended all inbound international commercial flights since late March, but the government has been operating repatriation flights to bring home Vietnamese citizens stuck abroad amid the pandemic.
Some special flights carrying foreign experts and investors have been allowed to fly into Vietnam. All people entering the country have to spend 14 days in quarantine. The country on Tuesday suspended inbound flights from countries with new Covid-19 variants, initially Britain and South Africa.
Thanks to strict quarantine and tracking measures, Vietnam fared much better than many nations , registering a total of 1,513 coronavirus infections and 35 deaths. It has gone 38 days with no locally transmitted cases. (Reuters)

Oxford vaccine to be rolled out across Scotland from Monday

The wider rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine will begin from Monday at more than 1,100 locations across Scotland.
Scotland has been given an initial allocation of more than 500,000 doses to use in January.
More than 110,000 people in Scotland have received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine so far.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has already been administered in the Tayside, Lothian, Orkney and Highlands health board areas but this week will see it being used at vaccination centres across the whole country.
Those aged 80 or older will be among the first people in the community to get the Oxford vaccine and will be contacted by their health board for appointments.
Read more .

Sweden introduces new pandemic law

Maddy Savage - BBC News, Stockholm
In Sweden a new law has come into force, giving ministers the power to close venues including shops, gyms and cinemas for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The measures were voted through parliament in Stockholm on Friday, after politicians were called back early from their Christmas break.
From the start of the pandemic, Sweden took a different approach to the rest of Europe with a focus on voluntary guidelines designed to last months rather than weeks; instead of going in and out of lockdown.
But this new law allows the government to introduce much stricter measures as the country battles with some of the highest coronavirus infection rates in the EU.
Ministers have already announced a ban of more than eight people at bookable private party venues - from dining halls to common rooms in apartment blocks.
And they have said numbers should be limited in gyms, swimming pools and shops in relation to how big they are - making sure there is at least 10 sq m (107 sq ft) available per person.
Local authorities will have the power to fine businesses that do not follow the rules, or force them to close.

Latest coronavirus figures from across the UK

A further 508 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 55,580, NHS England has said.
The deaths were between 17 December and 9 January. There were 25 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Meanwhile, Scotland has recorded three deaths of coronavirus patients and 1,877 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to official figures.
Scottish Government statistics indicate the daily test positivity rate is 10%, up from 8.7% on Saturday, when 1,865 positive cases were recorded.
And Public Health Wales have reported another 45 deaths and 1,660 cases.
Seventeen more Covid-related deaths have been reported by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours, bringing its death toll to 1,460. Two deaths happened outside the last day.
New restrictions came into force in the nation on Friday which forbade people from leaving home for non-esssential reasons.

Madrid hospital staff walk for hours to relieve colleagues after snow storm

Ashifa Kassam - The Guardian
Healthcare workers in Madrid have gone to extreme lengths – some walking for hours – to relieve their exhausted colleagues as Spain grapples with the double whammy of a deadly storm and the coronavirus pandemic.
Storm Filomena hit Spain on Friday, blanketing large parts of the country in snow and bringing Madrid to a standstill as the city saw its heaviest snowfall in 50 years. Across the country the storm claimed at least four lives, affected around 20,000km of roads and left thousands trapped in their cars for as many as 12 hours without food and water.
In Madrid’s hospitals, already stretched by a coronavirus case load that ranks among the highest in the country, weary staff scrambled to cope. Healthcare workers doubled and tripled their shifts to cover for colleagues who were unable to make it in, while one hospital turned its gym into an impromptu dormitory for workers who couldn’t get home.
With roads blocked to cars and commuter trains cancelled, nursing assistant Raúl Alcojor walked 14km to make it to his shift at a hospital on the outskirts of the city. “Morally I couldn’t stay at home,” he said, citing colleagues that had been working for more than 24 hours.
Read more here

‘Even mourning is said to shame China’: women of Wuhan fight to be heard

Michael Standaert - The Guardian
“When people from other places come to Wuhan now, they would have a feeling that nothing ever happened here,” said Ai Xiaoming, sitting in the book-filled study of her home in the city at the heart of China’s coronavirus outbreak last January.
“It feels like they know nothing about the dead, or the families’ feelings,” said the 67-year-old writer and documentary film-maker. “The [Chinese] media rarely reports on these issues. There is no space for these people to tell their stories.”
Ai was one of three female writers censored for sharing diary entries on major Chinese social media platforms during the 76-day Covid-19 lockdown in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. They continue to struggle to make their voices heard, nearly a year later.
Read more

How world's scientists collaborated to fight virus

When the coronavirus emerged a year ago, two scientists – Prof Yong-Zhen Zhang in China and Prof Eddie Holmes in Australia - decided to publish the virus's entire genetic code online for anyone to download.
This set off 12 months of break-neck scientific endeavour.
Two US pharmaceutical companies – Moderna and Pfizer - began work on an experimental approach to swifter, simpler vaccine production. Chinese and American scientists collaborated on more than 120 studies. Research centres in Europe, Asia and North America shared data on what role genetics might play in how sick people get. And trials were carried out to see whether existing treatments could help.
Many scientists agree that, over the long term, we face a world where the coronavirus is always present in the global population at some level.
That is why, Dr Holmes told the BBC, it is important that channels of communication between scientists in every country remain open.
Politics can't come into it," he says. "Otherwise the world will be a far less safe place. I think preventing the next pandemic will be partly about fantastic, whizz-bang technology like genome sequencing and mRNA."
You can read the full report by BBC's Science Correspondent Victoria Gill here .

Round-up of coronavirus news in Europe

Here are some of the coronavirus stories making the headlines in Europe:

• Germany’s death toll from Covid-19 has reached 40,000, the centre for disease control has announced. Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the coming weeks will be the “hardest phase of the pandemic” so far
  
• In Belgium, health officials say coronavirus deaths have passed 20,000, with more than half the victims from elderly care homes. Belgium has one of the world’s highest death rates in proportion to its overall population
  
• In the French city of Marseille, seven people have tested positive for the fast-spreading new UK variant of Covid-19
  
• The Spanish government has said it plans to send supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine and food to areas cut off by the heavy snowfall brought by Storm Filomena
  
• Russia has recorded 22,851 new Covid-19 cases and 456 deaths in the past 24 hours. The numbers are down slightly from the previous day. The overall death toll stands at 61,837
  

Teenager arrested over suspected illegal rave plan

A teenager has been arrested and 38 fines issued over suspected plans to hold an illegal rave in Bristol.
"Bristol Freerave" was promoted at an undisclosed location on social media but "following intelligence" officers descended on Oldbury Court in Fishponds at about 20:30 GMT on Saturday.
The force said a "significant number of people" were in the area and 38 fixed penalty notices for breaches of Covid regulations were issued.
A man, 19, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. He has since been released under investigation.
Read more .

 

UK records 563 daily coronavirus deaths

A further 563 people died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test, according to data from the UK government.
A total of 54,940 people have tested positive for Covid in the past 24 hours.
Today's figures are lower than yesterday's totals for deaths and cases - 1,035 and 59,937 respectively. But figures can be lower than the general trend during the weekend.

Seychelles begins mass vaccinations

The Indian Ocean nation of the Seychelles has begun vaccinating its population, with President Wavel Ramkalawan the first to receive the jab.
Mr Ramkalawan was filmed live on television receiving the vaccine at a hospital in the capital Victoria, alongside a number of other public figures. “It’s exactly as if I was getting any vaccine,” he said, encouraging other citizens to do the same.
The archipelago says it is rolling out some 50,000 doses of the Chinese-developed Sinopharm vaccine, donated by the United Arab Emirates.
Health workers will receive it first, then citizens over 65, before the rest of the 98,000 population. A further 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, donated by India, are expected at the end of January.
The Seychelles has had around 500 recorded cases of the virus, with one death.

NHS jab letters 'confusing the over-80s'

Kay and Kenneth Hayward said they felt the journey asked of them was too unsafe

People waiting to receive the Covid-19 vaccine say they are confused by NHS letters inviting them to travel to centres miles away from their homes.
The first 130,000 letters have been sent to people aged 80 or older who live between a 30 to 45-minute drive from one of seven new regional centres.
But patients, many of whom are shielding, questioned why they had to travel so far in a pandemic.
Local jabs are available to people if they wait, the NHS said.
Read more here.

The Pope's personal doctor has died as a result of Covid-19 complications

Jack Beresford - Irish Post
Pope Francis’ personal physician, Fabrizio Soccorsi, died of “complications due to Covid,” according to the Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. 
Dr Soccorsi was handpicked by the Pope to serve as his doctor back in 2015, the news outlet said. 
He practiced medicine at San Camillo hospital and was also the chair of clinical medicine and pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at La Sapienza University.  
Dr Soccorsi featured over a hundred scientific publications and served a consultant to the Health and Hygiene Directorate of the Governorate of the Vatican City State 
He was 78 years old at the time of his passing. 
Dr Soccorsi was first hospitalised in Rome on December 26, Boxing Day, with a previous oncological disease, the Italian Bishop’s Conference newspaper Avvenire reported. 
He later tested positive for Covid-19. 
Adriano Pellicelli, Director Liver Unit of San Camillo Forlanini Hospital, led the tributes. 
"Our Fabrizio Soccorsi has left us: I used the word “our” because Fabrizio was our doctor and head of the Hepatology Operative Unit, a unit he had created in our hospital under the then Department of Liver Diseases, Digestive System and Nutrition and Specialists . 
"Fabrizio embodied the spirit of our hospital, love for patients, love for his doctors, love for his nursing staff. A man who, for us who knew him, was a particular example for the way he practiced medicine, for his calmness and tenacity in dealing with the problems that arose day after day.” 
He added: "I remember when he always said a phrase that I will never forget: ‘in every difficult situation you have to know how to get involved"… which showed the desire he had to face with energy all the difficulties that a doctor has to face in his profession.” 
“You were an example for us doctors of the Liver Diseases operating unit. Dear Fabrizio, you fought this last battle, but you didn't make it.  Our hospital he will always remember you as a prime example of great tenacity, professionalism, courage.” 
It’s not yet clear when Dr Soccorsi last came into direct contact with Pope Francis. 
The Pope is due to be vaccinated against Covid-19 next week.

What happened today?

We're going to be wrapping up the live page shortly so here's a reminder of some of the stories we've covered today:

• Every adult will be offered a coronavirus vaccine by autumn, Matt Hancock says
  
• Regular, rapid tests for people without symptoms of Covid-19 will be made available across England from this week
  
• As India prepares vaccinate 300 million of its citizens by July, as well as contributing to the global supply of vaccines, we ask can it meet the demand ?
  
• And in happier news, a nurse who lived in a caravan for nine months to protect her mother from Covid has moved back home
  

Many thanks for joining us today.

Updates were brought to you by Becky Morton, Claire Heald, Jennifer Meierhans, Julian Joyce and Penny Spiller.