Boris Johnson's father Stanley defended over Covid vaccine criticism - Daily Mail

No10 defends Boris Johnson's father Stanley, 80, for receiving two doses of Covid vaccine because he was in 'first wave' of recipients before change in policy lengthened gap between jabs

• Stanley Johnson got final  jab doseon Friday after getting his first December 18
• Others have to wait 12 weeks between jabs to ensure more people get first dose 
• No. 10 said Stanley was in 'first wave' before the rules changed to 12 weeks

By Jemma Carr For Mailonline

Published: 18:20 GMT, 11 January 2021 | Updated: 19:49 GMT, 11 January 2021

Downing Street has defended the Prime Minister's 80-year-old father for receiving two doses of Covid vaccine within three weeks - despite others having to wait 12 weeks between jabs.

Stanley Johnson sparked outrage when he revealed he was getting his second and final dose of the jab on Friday - despite only getting his first 21 days earlier on December 18.

But No. 10 defended the move, claiming Stanley was in the 'first wave' of recipients to receive both jabs before the rules changed.

To accelerate the rollout of the vaccine, the Government recently opted to extend the gap between the first and second jab to 12 weeks to allow it to be administered to a greater number of people.

Downing Street has defended the Prime Minister's 80-year-old father Stanley Johnson (left) for receiving two doses of Covid vaccine within three weeks - despite others having to wait 12 weeks between jabs. During the pandemic he has often undermined his son, the Prime Minister, by not wearing a mask properly (pictured), travelling to his Greek holiday home and going against initial advice by declaring he would still visit the pub

Ministers have set a target of vaccinating the 14 million people in the top four priority groups - which includes the over-80s - by mid-February.  

Care home residents, vulnerable people and frontline health workers are also first in line for jabs of the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines. 

Boris Johnson's press secretary Allegra Stratton today said: 'This is a matter for the Prime Minister's father.

'It's not something I've spoken to Stanley Johnson about but way of explanation in the early days of the vaccination programme it was the case that GPs were doing two jabs, a first one followed a few weeks later by a second one.

'It appears that Stanley Johnson was one of those people who was in that first wave. 

'It's been true of a number of individuals around the country and Stanley Johnson appears to be one of them.'

Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Friday, Stanley revealed: 'I had my first jab on December 18 and three weeks on is today and I'm very much looking forward to it. I don't have to go far.' 

Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Friday (pictured), Stanley revealed: 'I had my first jab on December 18 and three weeks on is today and I'm very much looking forward to it. I don't have to go far' 

He also queried if the vaccine would give him a 'get out of jail free card' to resume normal life - but this was quickly kiboshed by presenter Kate Garraway who said it would not. 

Stanley said: 'I'm very reassured by the fact that we have got a grip of the vaccination programme... and as someone said - 'give us the tools and we will finish the jab!' I'm confident we'll get there by Easter.'  

During the pandemic he has often undermined his son, the Prime Minister, by not wearing a mask properly, travelling to his Greek holiday home and going against initial advice by declaring he would still visit the pub.

He blamed his 'prominent nose' for a picture showing him without a mask covering his face while waiting for a train.

Grilled about his antics on Good Morning Britain, he said: 'Sometimes the mask slips, by accident, I have a very prominent nose and sometimes it's not very easy to keep it all covered.' 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today)  last week pledged to hit 200,000 doses a day by this Friday

Garraway, whose husband Derek Draper remains struck down with coronavirus, branded him 'naughty' and put it to Stanley that his bullish tone has at times been at odds with the Boris Johnson's more somber messaging.

Stanley insisted he will now behave 'perfectly properly'.

Matt Hancock today revealed that 2.3million people in the UK have now had a Covid vaccine as the roll-out hits a rate of around 200,000 jabs per day.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week pledged to hit 200,000 doses a day by this Friday, meaning the target appears to have been hit early after the number of people to receive their first dose of the vaccine has almost doubled in a week, from 1.3m on Sunday, January 3, to 2.6m by today.

The sign that immunisations are scaling up as planned comes as welcome news alongside the fact that the number of people being diagnosed with coronavirus dropped today.

Department of Health officials announced another 46,169 people received positive test results yesterday, which was down 20 per cent in a week and the first sub-50,000 figure since December 28.

Ministers today released the plan behind Britain's great Covid vaccine roll-out, promising to dish out 2million jabs a week by the end of January through 2,700 centres dotted across the country.

With a successful inoculation drive Number 10's only hope of ever ending the constant cycle of tough lockdowns, officials have faced mounting pressure to come clean about how they intend to protect the UK from coronavirus.

Matt Hancock said the plan — which involves creating 50 mass-vaccination centres at football stadiums and other huge venues — 'maps our route back to normality'. 

Under the plans, teachers and other key workers could be bumped up the priority queue. NHS England's boss Sir Simon Stevens today claimed there was a 'strong case' to give them jabs once the first high priority groups, which includes all over 70s, adults with underlying conditions, NHS workers and care home staff, have had their jabs.

'Roving' vaccination teams, which are already being deployed to care homes, could be asked to go door-to-door in boroughs with low uptake rates. 

The document adds that by the end of January everyone in England will be within 10 miles of a vaccination site. And for those outside of this catchment, in highly rural areas, the vaccine will be brought to them via mobile teams.

So far the UK's vaccination scheme has been plagued by supply and staffing shortages, logistical problems and bureaucratic barriers that have hampered its scale-up. 

No10 today also suggested they could set up a round-the-clock jab programme if the public wanted it — but that it had not yet happened because there was not the demand for it. However, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi blamed a supply shortage for the absence of 24/7 jabs. 

Ministers said an army of over 80,000 trained health workers would be involved with the vaccine rollout and more than 200,000 community volunteers have said that they will help with non-clinical side of the programme.

During a visit to Bristol City Football Club's Ashton Gate Stadium, which has been converted into a vaccine super-centre, the Prime Minister told reporters: 'We cannot be complacent. The worst thing now would be for us to allow the success in rolling out a vaccine programme to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic.'  

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2021-01-11 18:20:00Z
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Khairi Saadallah: Terrorist who murdered three in 'brutal' Reading attack gets whole life sentence - Sky News

A terrorist who stabbed three people to death in a park in Reading - because he believed the pandemic heralded the end of the world - has been handed a rare whole life sentence.

Khairi Saadallah, a Libyan refugee, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder after killing James Furlong, David Wails and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett in Forbury Gardens on 20 June last year.

Saadallah "executed" each man with a single knife blow to the back of the head in the space of less than 30 seconds, the Old Bailey heard.

Image: James Furlong (L), Joe Ritchie-Bennett (C) and David Wails (R)

The 26-year-old also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan, who were injured in the attack.

He was released from HMP Bullingdon two weeks before his attack after serving a 17-month sentence for affray and assault by beating an emergency worker, reduced on appeal.

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The day before his release he was notified that the home secretary "has decided that your deportation is conducive to the public good" - but a legal barrier prevented this from happening.

Speaking on behalf of James Furlong's family, Gary Furlong said "serious questions need to be answered" about how Saadallah was in a position to perform these attacks.

More from Reading Stabbings

The brother of David Wails added: "We know that our lives, and the lives of everyone who knew and loved David, will never be the same. We love you David - may you, James and Joe now rest in peace."

Joseph Ritchie-Bennett's brother-in-law said: "Unfortunately, no amount of justice will ever bring back Joe, James and David the lives they deserved. And never will it allow family members, loved ones, friends, and those who witnessed the attacks to forget 20 June 2020."

Several witnesses reported Saadallah yelling "Allahu Akbar" and a Muslim bystander heard him say in Arabic: "God accept my jihad."

After his arrest, he told police: "Those men I killed were wrong 'uns, they deserved it. I'm going to paradise for the jihad what I did to them."

Image: Khairi Saadallah has been imprisoned four times previously

Police later found images of the Twin Towers and the IS flag cached from websites he had visited on his phone, along with links to YouTube videos about the IS executioner Jihadi John.

However, Saadallah later attempted to fake mental illness and in court and denied that he had acted from a religious motive. His lawyer denied he was a terrorist, without suggesting what his motive may have been.

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Sweeney said he was sure that Saadallah had been trained to fight for the extremist group Ansar al Sharia in Libya - and had lied about his role in the group when he applied for asylum in the UK.

The judge said the knife Saadallah bought for the attack "was chosen with care to ensure the maximum likelihood of swift fatal injury each time it was used".

Mr Justice Sweeney also concluded that Saadallah intended to kill as many people as possible, and had planned to injure himself with a plastic razor "in the hope that he could pass himself off as a victim".

Saadallah, who showed no emotion as he was sentenced, was told this was "a rare and exceptional case in which just punishment requires that you must be kept in prison for the rest of your life".

Image: Police tents in Forbury Gardens in Reading town centre after Saadallah's two-minute stabbing spree

Saadallah has amassed seven previous convictions for 19 offences, leading to four prison sentences.

During one prison sentence, he had come under the influence of a notorious radical preacher called Omar Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen.

Saadallah came to the notice of MI5, which was told he was planning to travel to Syria, leading to his subsequent referral to the Prevent de-radicalisation programme.

Just 10 days after leaving prison in June last year, Saadallah searched online for "Is corona a sign of the end of the world?" and looked at images of people sitting around Forbury Gardens, where he would later launch his attack.

He appeared to have a psychotic episode on 18 June, speaking to mental health services about things under his bed and his belief that he was possessed.

The following day, he bought a large kitchen knife from a supermarket to be used in the attack.

Image: Flowers placed at the entrance to the Holt School in memory of teacher James Furlong

Saadallah's brother later called police to say he was concerned, but officers who visited his address that evening found he was behaving normally.

The next day, Saadallah launched his "brutal attack" as the victims enjoyed a "summer's evening in the park", prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said.

"In less than a minute, shouting the words 'Allahu Akbar' [God is the greatest] the defendant carried out a lethal attack with a knife, killing all three men before they had a chance to respond and try to defend themselves," she said.

Within the same minute, the killer went on to attack others nearby and stabbed Mr Young, Mr Edwards and Mr Nisudan - causing them significant injuries.

Ms Morgan said Saadallah was "ruthlessly efficient in his actions", adding: "The force with which the defendant struck his first victims is clear.

"In short, he executed Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, David Wails and James Furlong with such speed and precision before they had time to be aware of what was happening.

"The defendant believed that in carrying out this attack he was acting in pursuit of his extremist ideology... he believed that in killing as many people as possible that day he was performing an act of religious jihad."

After the attack, Saadallah ran off and he was pursued by an off-duty police officer. As he was detained, a Muslim member of the public told Saadallah: "You have nothing to do with Islam, b******."

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2021-01-11 18:27:38Z
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COVID-19: 2.6 million jabs given to 2.3 million people - but UK warned vaccine 'not a free pass' to ignore rules - Sky News

More than 2.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been given to almost 2.3 million people, the health secretary has said, as an NHS boss warned the jab is "not a free pass" to ignore national guidance.

Matt Hancock told a Downing Street news conference that the government was on track to achieve its pledge of vaccinating the top four vaccine priority groups by the middle of February, a total of 15 million Britons.

Live COVID updates from UK and around the world

"We are on track to meet that target - it's not going to be easy, but we are going to get there," he said.

The four priority groups are: care home residents and staff; all those aged 80 and over and frontline health and social care workers; people aged 75 and over; everyone aged 70 and over and individuals classed as extremely vulnerable.

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Mr Hancock said people in these groups account for 88% of COVID deaths, adding that two fifths of over 80s and "almost a quarter of older care home residents" have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The health secretary was speaking amid continued speculation about whether England's third lockdown could be strengthened.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the government "may have to do more" if ministers feel the rules "are not being properly observed".

Asked whether this was a possibility, Mr Hancock said people should be focusing on sticking to the current rules "as they are".

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PM: 'Now is the moment for maximum vigilance'

"The NHS, more than ever before, needs everybody to be doing something right now - and that something is to follow the rules," he said.

"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's what is needed: act like you have the virus."

The health secretary said the new "highly contagious" coronavirus variant first identified in the UK was "putting the NHS under very significant pressure", with 32,294 people currently in hospital with the virus across the UK, up 22% on this time last week.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said there are now 13,000 more COVID patients in hospital than there were on Christmas Day.

Setting out the four-part plan for rolling out the vaccines, Mr Hancock said the government will focus on supply, prioritisation, expanding the number of sites, and workforce, saying 80,000 people are involved in the effort.

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Professor Powis said the vaccine is the "best line of defence we have", and that there is currently a sprint, there will be another sprint after April, and then a marathon to get everyone else vaccinated by the autumn.

Appearing before MPs earlier, NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the aim was to offer a jab to everyone over the age of 50 by the end of April.

The government's UK COVID-19 Vaccines Delivery Plan says there will be more than 2,700 vaccination sites across the UK, with everyone in England within 10 miles of one by the end of January.

For those in remote rural areas, the vaccine will be taken to them by mobile teams.

The Department of Health said there will be capacity to deliver "at least" two million jabs per week in England by the end of this month, with staff and residents in care homes offered a vaccine before February.

Workers "delivering key public services", likely to be a reference to teachers, transport workers and first responders, could be included in the second phase of the vaccine rollout, the plan states.

A workforce of more than 80,000 health workers could be involved in the vaccine plan, the Department of Health added, along with over 200,000 community volunteers who have come forward to help with non-clinical aspects of the programme.

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2021-01-11 17:51:17Z
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Covid: UK at 'perilous moment' in pandemic, says PM - BBC News

The UK is facing a "perilous moment" in the pandemic and must guard against complacency, the PM has said, as he announced a total of 2.4 million vaccinations have been given so far.

Visiting a vaccination centre in Bristol, Boris Johnson said: "We have a really tough fight on our hands."

It comes as seven mass inoculation centres have opened in England.

And England's chief medical officer has warned the next few weeks will be "the worst" of the pandemic for the NHS.

Prof Chris Whitty has urged people to minimise unnecessary social contacts.

Sunday's figures showed another 563 deaths in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test, and another 54,940 cases. There are also more than 32,000 people in hospital with coronavirus, the latest data shows.

Meanwhile, the government has set out its plans to immunise tens of millions of people by spring.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock will lead a news conference on the vaccine delivery plan later.

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Speaking at Ashton Gate Stadium, Mr Johnson said 2 million people have already received a Covid vaccine across the UK, which means around 400,000 people have had two doses.

He said "roughly" 40% of over-80s have been vaccinated, and 23% of elderly residents in care homes.

'Race against time'

Under the vaccine delivery plan, the government has pledged to carry at least two million vaccinations in England per week by the end of January, which it says will be made possible by rolling out jabs at 206 hospital sites, 50 vaccination centres and around 1,200 local vaccination sites.

The plan also reiterates the government's aim of offering vaccinations to around 15 million people in the UK - the over-70s, older care home residents and staff, frontline healthcare workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable - by mid-February.

But the prime minister warned the vaccination programme was in a "race against time" because of the pressure the NHS was under.

And he said it was "a very perilous moment because everyone can sense the vaccine is coming in - my worry is that will breed false complacency".

Asked whether the government would introduce stricter lockdown rules, Mr Johnson said ministers would keep restrictions "under constant review", adding: "Where we have to tighten the rules we will."

In the first four weeks of the vaccination campaign, the NHS did 1.3 million vaccinations.

News that in the past week almost the same again has been done shows progress is being made - even though there has been some concern rollout to care home residents has been slower than hoped.

Hitting two million doses a week is the next target - and is something the NHS is aiming to get close to this week.

With more vaccination sites opening by the day, it should be achievable as long as there is good supply.

There is already enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate all 15 million people in the highest at-risk groups that have been promised an offer of a vaccine by mid-February.

However, not all of it has been through the final safety checks or been packaged up ready for distribution.

Challenges remain, but even at this early stage its clear there is growing optimism that the programme is on track.

The newly-published vaccination plan also says ministers are aiming to offer jabs at more than 2,700 sites across the UK.

And it announces that daily vaccination figures for England will be published from Monday - showing the total number vaccinated to date, including first and second doses.

NHS England's chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, has told MPs that there is a "strong case" for asking the the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to consider prioritising "teachers and other key workers" for vaccination after the "first nine [priority] groups have been vaccinated".

Asked if he thought the NHS had what it needs in place to meet vaccination targets, including offering everyone aged over 18 a vaccine by the autumn, Sir Simon said "that is absolutely the goal and we think it is a feasible goal".

Sir Simon also said a quarter of coronavirus admissions to hospital are for people under the age of 55.

• When will you be eligible for the Covid vaccine?

As seven mass vaccination centres opened across England on Monday, NHS England said hundreds more GP-led and hospital services would also open later this week.

But with all centres, people will need to wait until they receive an invitation.

Two vaccines - Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca - are currently being administered in the UK.

On Friday, a third coronavirus vaccine - made by US company Moderna - was approved for use, although supplies are not expected to arrive until spring.

Vaccine programmes are also progressing in the UK's devolved nations.

All over-50s and everyone who is at greater risk from Covid in Wales will be offered a vaccine by spring, under new plans.

And Scotland's health secretary has said every aged over 80 or over in the nation will be offered a jab by February, while care workers in Northern Ireland who provide services to ill or elderly patients living at home can now book an appointment to get a Covid-19 vaccine.

'A mountain to climb'

There was an air of optimism at Epsom racecourse - one of England's new mass vaccination centres - this morning as the first Covid vaccinations were administered.

A steady stream of Surrey residents, mostly in their 80s, filed in from a large outdoor car park.

Given that these are among the most at risk from Covid, it is vital that vaccination centres maintain rigorous social distancing.

From what I observed, it looked like it had been well thought out.

People were asked to stay in their cars until their slot was ready, and were then shepherded through to one of six immunisation pods in a huge interior open space.

The centre, one of seven in England, plans to carry out around 500 vaccinations today, rising to 1,000 a day soon.

Like the other hubs in England it will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

But there is a mountain to climb if the goal is to be reached of offering up to 15 million people a first dose of Covid vaccine by mid February.

The prime minister said 2.4 million vaccines had been administered. That means there are five weeks in which to carry out up to 12.5 million more.

That's 2.5 million a week if the top four priority groups are to be all offered immunisation.

England is currently under a national lockdown, meaning people must stay at home and can go out only for limited reasons such as food shopping, exercise, or work if they cannot do so from home.

Similar lockdown measures are in place across much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ministers held two meetings on Sunday to discuss how to enforce the current lockdown measures more strictly and whether even tighter restrictions may be needed.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said no decisions on further restrictions were taken as there was a desire within government to wait until reliable data on existing measures becomes available in 10 days.

However, he added there had been a discussion on better enforcement of existing regulations, including at shops and workplaces.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer questioned why there are "less restrictions in place" now than there were last March.

In his first speech of the year, he said "we need to see the evidence behind nurseries" remaining open.

Asked whether tighter restrictions were needed, he said: "I do think it's time to hear from the scientists [about] what else could be done and that probably should be done in the next few hours".

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Meanwhile, the Test and Trace scheme in England has revised one of its definitions of a "close contact" - the people who need to be reached if they have been near to someone who has tested positive for Covid.

The definition now refers to a close contact as anyone who has been within two metres of someone for more than 15 minutes, whether in a single period or cumulatively over the course of one day.

Previously the definition was just a single period of at least 15 minutes.

• LOCKDOWN LEARNING: Lesson support available on BBC Bitesize for every child, of every age, every day of the week
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2021-01-11 15:52:00Z
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'He needs a slap!' Liam Gallagher SLAMS Chris Whitty for his ominous warnings about pandemic - Daily Mail

'He needs a slap!' Liam Gallagher SLAMS Professor Chris Whitty for his ominous warnings about the COVID-19 crisis... after Chief Medical Officer says 'the worst is yet to come'

By Andrew Bullock For Mailonline

Published: 16:02 GMT, 11 January 2021 | Updated: 16:22 GMT, 11 January 2021

Liam Gallagher has slammed Professor Chris Whitty for his bleak warnings about the state of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Oasis rocker, 48, hit out at the government's Chief Medical Officer, saying he 'needs a slap', after he warned that Britain faces the 'worst' phase of the COVID-19 crisis in the coming weeks.

Liam wrote on Twitter: 'That Chris Whitty is getting on my t***y he needs a slap!' [sic]

He's had it! Liam Gallagher has slammed Professor Chris Whitty for his bleak warnings about the state of the coronavirus pandemic

He has since removed the tweet. 

The musician's comments were met with a mixed response from his followers, with one responding with: 'Chill out dude.'

Liam fired back with: 'F**k off k**b!'

Another wrote: 'Chris Whitty worked the wards over Christmas, think he deserves a bit of respect. Sorry Liam.'

To which Liam replied, more genially: 'Don't be sorry just my opinion you take care x'

Firing line: The Oasis rocker, 48, hit out at the government's Chief Medical Officer, saying he 'needs a slap', after he warned that Britain faces the 'worst' phase of the COVID-19 crisis in the coming weeks

Gone: He has since removed the tweet

Liam had previously called on the government to open the Nightingale hospitals for the homeless over Christmas.

He suggested that the facilities – which were opened to help cope with patients amid the pandemic – should welcome the homeless over the festive period.

He wrote: 'If those nightingale hospitals are just sitting there doing nothing give em to the homeless you snides c'mon you know.' [sic]

Whitty isn't the first person on the wrong side of Liam's fury. He has been embroiled in a bitter war of words with brother Noel Gallagher since Oasis spilt in 2009 and feels that both siblings are to blame for their disputes.

Liam wrote on Twitter: 'That Chris Whitty is getting on my t***s he needs a slap!'

He explained: 'We're both the problem and the problem is that he thinks he's not the problem. He thinks I'm both the problems. He needs to take on some of the problem. The minute he does that, we'll move on.'

Whitty warned on Monday that the coming weeks would be the worst of the pandemic for the National Health Service as he appealed to the public to strictly follow guidelines meant to prevent the spread of the disease.

He said that political leaders are considering tightening the rules as a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19 aggravates an already difficult situation. Hospitals are overflowing and exhausted medical staff are under strain.

'I think everybody accepts that this is the most dangerous time we´ve really had in terms of numbers into the NHS,' Whitty told the BBC.

Crisis: Whitty warned on Monday that the coming weeks would be the worst of the pandemic for the National Health Service as he appealed to the public to strictly follow guidelines meant to prevent the spread of the disease

At war: Whitty isn't the first person on the wrong side of Liam's fury. He has been embroiled in a bitter war of words with brother Noel Gallagher since Oasis spilt in 2009 and feels that both siblings are to blame for their disputes [pictured 2008]

The warning comes as hospitals in England struggle to keep up with a surge in coronavirus infections that has seen the number of beds filled by COVID-19 patients rise steadily for more than a month.

English hospitals are now treating 55 per cent more COVID-19 cases than during the first peak of the pandemic in April.

'In a sense, tinkering with the rules may be useful, but the far more important thing is that everybody abides by the spirit of the rules that are there at the moment,' Whitty said. 'Everybody knows what they need to do. And I think that´s the key thing - minimize the number of contacts.'

England last week entered a third national lockdown that closed all nonessential shops, schools, colleges and universities for at least six weeks. But police report many violations of rules that require people to stay home except for essential reasons such as exercise and grocery shopping. 

LONG COVID: WHAT IS IT AND COULD IT BE FOUR DIFFERENT SYNDROMES?

Covid-19 is described as a short-term illness caused by infection with the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Public health officials tend to say people will recover within two weeks or so. 

However it's become increasingly clear that this is not the case for everyone, and that the two-week period is only the 'acute illness' phase.

The North Bristol NHS Trust's Discover project, which is studying the longer-term effects of coronavirus, found that out of a total of 110 patients given a three-month check up, most (74 per cent) had at least one persistent symptom after twelve weeks. The most common were:

• Excessive fatigue: 39%
• Breathlessness: 39%
• Insomnia: 24%  
• Muscle pain: 23%
• Chest pain: 13%
• Cough: 12%
• Loss of smell: 12%
• Headache, fever, joint pain and diarrhoea: Each less than 10% 

Other long term symptoms that have been reported by Covid-19 survivors, both suspected and confirmed, anecdotally, include hearing problems, 'brain fog', memory loss, lack of concentration, mental health problems and hair loss.

The impact of Long Covid on people who had mild illness have not been studied in depth yet.  

Data from the King's College London symptom tracking app shows that up to 500,000 people in the UK are currently suffering from the long-term effects of Covid-19.

In October, scientists claimed Long Covid could actually be split into four different syndromes.  

Academics at the National Institute for Health Research — headed up by Professor Chris Whitty — were asked to review the limited evidence on long Covid to help both patients and doctors understand the 'phenomenon'. 

Their findings warned that even children can suffer and it can't be assumed that people who are at lower risk of severe illness and death from Covid-19 are also at low risk of lasting side effects.

Doctors cautioned some mental health problems such as anxiety and depression in 'long-haulers', as they are known, could be down to lockdowns, as opposed to the virus itself. 

The experts also claimed that the symptoms could be grouped into four different groups: 

• Post intensive care syndrome (PICS)
• Post viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) 
• Permanent organ damage (POD)  
• Long term Covid syndrome (LTCS) 

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2021-01-11 16:02:00Z
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COVID-19: 40% of 80-year-olds vaccinated as 2.4 million coronavirus jabs given out in UK, Boris Johnson says - Sky News

Some 2.4 million coronavirus jabs have been administered across the UK, the prime minister has said.

Speaking from a vaccination centre in Bristol, Boris Johnson said: "Today, I think I can confirm that we've done roughly 40% of the 80-year-olds in this country already.

"We've done about 23% of the elderly residents of care homes."

Live COVID updates from UK and around the world

Image: Boris Johnson has been visiting to a mass vaccination centre in Bristol

Seven new mass vaccination sites in England have been opened today, joining hundreds more GP sites and a small number of new pharmacy-led centres opening this week.

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Officials are racing to vaccinate as many people as possible while COVID-19 cases continue to rise and hospitals come under extreme pressure.

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Mr Johnson continued: "As I speak to you today, we've done about two million people, maybe a bit more, about 2.4 million jabs all in, I think, across the whole of the UK."

He added the NHS would be "ramping that up massively" in a bid to reach the government's target of offering a first dose of a COVID vaccine to 15 million of the most vulnerable people by 15 February.

Asked how bad the current situation in the UK is, the prime minister said we are at a "very perilous moment".

He said the vaccine rollout could lull people into a "false confidence" and "false complacency", but we should continue to follow the restrictions because "we have a really tough fight on our hands".

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Separately, NHS England's chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has said 2.5 million jabs have been given across the UK, including 2.3 million in England.

He said there had been "another very significant acceleration in the number of vaccines given last week", with the speed of vaccination tripling over the last week.

Provisional figures from NHS England show a total of 2.33 million vaccinations took place in England up to 10 January.

Of this number, 1.96 million were the first dose of the vaccine and 374,000 were the second dose.

Downing Street earlier revealed the prime minister's father, Stanley Johnson, appears to be among the early wave of people to get two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine before a change in policy.

Now, people have to wait longer for their second dose, as the government aims to get a first dose into as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

The prime minister's press secretary, Allegra Stratton, said: "It's not something I've spoken to Stanley Johnson about, but by way of explanation in the early days of the vaccination programme it was the case that GPs were doing two jabs, a first one followed a few weeks later by a second one.

"It appears that Stanley Johnson was one of those people who was in that first wave.

"It's been true of a number of individuals around the country and Stanley Johnson appears to be one of them."

Downing Street also said the government would continue to keep England's lockdown measures under review.

Asked whether ministers were planning to bring in even tighter restrictions, a Number 10 spokesman said: "As you would expect and as we have done throughout pandemic, we look through the latest data and statistical information.

"We continue to look at that data and to monitor it and keep our measures under review."

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2021-01-11 15:08:04Z
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