UK COVID-19 VACCINATION RATE HITS RECORD DAILY HIGH

Sat 23 January 2021:

Britain vaccinated 478,248 people in the 24 hours to Saturday with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, a daily record according to government figures, as the total death toll from the virus nears the 100,000 mark, standing at 97,329.

Government data showed that the total number of people who have had a first dose of the vaccine now stands at 5.86 million.

‘Too early to say’

According to The Guardian Scientists have warned against alarmism over the new variant of coronavirus, after the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced there was evidence it was more deadly.

Speaking at the daily coronavirus news briefing on Friday, Johnson said scientists had found the new variant may be associated with “a higher degree of mortality”.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, said that for every thousand people in their 60s infected with the original strain of coronavirus, 10 would be expected to die.

With the new variant, this figure is thought to rise to 13 or 14 deaths per thousand – an increase in mortality of about 30%. However, he added there was “a lot of uncertainty around these numbers”.

Experts said the new data should be taken “very seriously” but that it was too early to draw any strong conclusions.

The UK reported a further 1,348 deaths from coronavirus on Saturday, down from Friday’s 1,401 reported deaths.

A further 33,552 people in the country tested positive in the 24 hours to Saturday, according to government data.

This compares with Friday’s 40,261 new daily infections.

The total death toll from the virus is now standing at 97,329, the highest in Europe and the fifth highest globally.