- Covid-19 vaccinations begin for people aged 70 and over in England
- People listed as clinically extremely vulnerable will also start getting the Covid-19 jab
- The move comes as 10 new mass vaccination hubs open across England
- Vaccines minister Nadim Zahawi says once the top four priority groups are protected with jabs, restrictions could be eased from March
- Zahawi says he is confident of meeting target to immunise 15m most vulnerable people by mid-February
- He says 50% of over-80s have been vaccinated - and in some areas it is 90%
- UK has shut its travel corridors until at least 15 February - but there are reports of long queues at Heathrow Airport
- Guatemala's government says 21 people, among a group of thousands of migrants trying to reach the US, have tested positive for Covid-19
- Australia is unlikely to fully open its borders in 2021, a senior health official says
Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage. We'll be bringing you updates on the pandemic all day. Here's a look at some of the main headlines this morning.
- Offers of vaccinations are now being made to people aged 70 and over as well as those with medical conditions that make them extremely vulnerable to the virus - the third and fourth priority groups in the rollout. It comes after 3.8m people, mostly over 80 or in care homes, have had their first shots
- Ten new vaccination hubs - including Blackburn Cathedral and St Helens Rugby Ground - are also opening today, joining seven existing mass vaccination centres
- All travellers to the UK now have to quarantine for up to 10 days on arrival, after travel corridors - which allowed exemptions from some countries with lower infection rates - were closed this morning until at least 15 February. A new requirement for a negative test within 72 hours of travelling to the UK has also come into force
- Meanwhile, Australia has said it may not fully reopen its borders in 2021, even if most of its population gets vaccinated as planned
- Labour are using a debate in Parliament today to put pressure on the government to extend the increase in Universal Credit - worth £1,000 a year - beyond 31 March. The government has said the uplift, introduced in April due to the pandemic, was intended to be temporary and March’s budget will look at support for the vulnerable
- A nurse in Brazil has been the first person to receive a jab in the country's vaccination programme after it approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and China's Sinovac
- In Scotland, the Army is helping to set up 80 new vaccination centres. More than 200,000 Scots have been vaccinated so far, with a target to reach 560,000 by the beginning February - covering over-80s, care home residents and staff, front-line health workers and social care workers.
Tighter UK quarantine rules and test requirements come into force
New rules on travelling to the UK have come into force this morning, with requirements for all passengers to have a negative test within 72 hours of travel and to quarantine for up to 10 days on arrival.Travel corridors, which meant some places were exempt from quarantine due to their lower infection rate, were all closed at 04:00 GMT.
The 10-day isolation period can be cut short with a negative test after five days, however.
People who arrive without proof of a negative test taken before departure also face fines of £500.
But airports are seeing fewer travellers due to Covid restrictions anyway, with Gatwick saying it had 20 flights today, compared to 600 on a normal day.
Ten hospital trusts in England have no spare critical care beds
The latest NHS figures show the number of hospital trusts in England consistently at full capacity for critical care has risen from four to 10.Hospitals had increased capacity to more than 5,500 critical care beds in preparation for the winter surge, 50% above their usual number.
But NHS England said they are under "unprecedented pressure" with 4,632 of those beds in use on 10 January.
Chief executive Sir Simon Stevens told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that every 30 seconds someone was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and there had been the equivalent of 30 full hospitals in coronavirus patients since Christmas.
In Northern Ireland, hospitals are expected to see intensive care patient numbers peak next weekend, with doctors warning that they "face pressures unlike any other they have faced before".
What's happening in Europe?
Pfizer will temporarily reduce deliveries of its vaccine to Europe while it boosts its production capacity. Deliveries are expected to return to normal by 25 January."They want to do more, which is why they're reconfiguring to add volume to the whole world," UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC earlier today.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe:
- France expanded its vaccination rollout to include those over the age of 75 and those with serious medical conditions. The country has been criticised for the programme's slow start
- France also tightened its entry restrictions, with all non-EU arrivals now required to show a negative coronavirus test to gain entry
- Elsewhere, Austria extended its lockdown to 7 February and introduced tougher measures such as increasing social distancing guidelines from 1m (3ft) to 2m
- It also said full medical face coverings - not just fabric masks - must be worn on public transport from 25 January. Germany's Bavaria region introduced a similar measure
- And officials in Switzerland quarantined two hotels and closed ski facilities to try and stem a coronavirus outbreak in the resort of St Moritz. The new highly infectious variant is believed to be behind the spike
Australia unlikely to open borders in 2021, official claims
A senior Australian health official says it is unlikely the country will fully open its borders in 2021, even if most of its population is vaccinated this year.“I think that we’ll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions,” Department of Health Secretary Brendan Murphy told ABC News.
Airlines had been hoping that flights would resume this year. Qantas – Australia’s national carrier – reopened bookings earlier this month, after saying it expected international travel to “begin to restart from July 2021”.
Mr Murphy said he believed quarantine requirements for travellers would continue “for some time”.
Citizens, permanent residents and those with exemptions are allowed to enter Australia if they complete a 14-day hotel quarantine at their own expense.
Read more here.