A UK ticket holder has claimed the £111m EuroMillions jackpot from Friday's draw, the National Lottery has said.
It is the fourth UK EuroMillions jackpot win this year - two were won in April and another on New Year's Day - and the ninth biggest win in UK lottery history.
The player correctly matched all five of the EuroMillions numbers, alongside the two Lucky Star numbers.
The winning numbers were 07, 20, 36, 40 and 46, and the winning Lucky Star numbers were 02 and 04.
Verification will now begin and there will be no information on whether it is an individual or syndicate winner, or where the ticket was purchased, unless the ticket holder decides to go public.
Advertisement
Camelot's senior winners' adviser at the National Lottery Andy Carter said: "What sensational news on a sunny summer weekend for one lucky EuroMillions player.
"They have instantly become the ninth biggest winner in UK National Lottery history and have a fortune which can make their dreams come true.
More on Euromillions
"We will now look to support the ticket holder through the process and help them to start to enjoy their life-changing win."
In April, an anonymous EuroMillions ticket holder became the UK's fifth biggest National Lottery winner after their £122m prize was paid out.
The highest ever UK winner claimed a jackpot of £170m in October 2019, but they also chose not to go public.
The record for the highest amount ever won on EuroMillions was set in February this year, when a Swiss player took home 210 million euro, the equivalent of almost £180m.
The Indian (Delta) variant of COVID-19 is 40% more transmissible than the Kent (Alpha) strain, Matt Hancock has told Sky News.
The health secretary said the new variant had made decisions behind the 21 June unlocking of restrictions "more difficult".
Speaking on the Trevor Phillips On Sunday show, Mr Hancock said: "That figure, around 40% more transmissible, is the latest advice that I have. That means that it is more difficult to manage this virus with the new Delta variant, but crucially we believe that with two doses of the vaccine you get the same protection as the old variant."
The health secretary also said vaccines would be opened up to under-30s in the next few days.
"This week we will be opening up vaccines to the under-30s and so we are getting a step closer to the point when we've been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country," he said.
Reports that a Border Force ship entered French waters and picked up migrants from a UK-bound dinghy are being investigated by the Home Office.
Ms Patel's letter was sent on Saturday after a video that the Home Office said appeared to show a group of men crossing the Channel in a dinghy went viral on TikTok.
People smugglers use the posts - which also feature on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - to promote crossings to desperate migrants, the Home Office added.
"Posts which promote and even glamorise these lethal crossings are totally unacceptable. They encourage others to leave a safe European country and put theirs and their family's life at risk and are even used by people smugglers to promote their deadly business," Ms Patel said.
"What these posts don't mention are the people who have died trying to make this crossing, or those forced to spend 13 hours in unseaworthy boats in freezing waters."
She added that social media companies have "made progress" in removing the posts but "must quickly and proactively... before more men, women and children die in the Channel".
Border Force dealt with four boats carrying 83 people on Friday.
So far this year, there have been more than 4,000 arrivals, a trend that could see this year's numbers outstrip last year's total of about 8,500.
The Home Office said it was "cracking down on the despicable criminal gangs behind people smuggling" and more than 4,000 people had been prevented from making the crossing so far this year.
But Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the government's approach "isn't working" and it should instead "expand safe routes so that people don't have to risk their lives taking dangerous journeys".
"The reality is that when fleeing war, terror and persecution, ordinary people are forced to take extraordinary steps to seek safety in another country," he said.
"Creating safe and regular routes to the UK - through an expanded resettlement programme, humanitarian visas and reforming the restrictive family reunion rules - is the way to effectively address the issue."
PA Media
Meanwhile, the Home Office is investigating a Daily Mail report that a Border Force officer asked a French ship for permission to get a group of migrants in French waters last weekend.
Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, said she had no first-hand knowledge of the incident, but there had apparently been no threat to life.
She said it was a common tactic for migrants to threaten to throw someone overboard if a French vessel came too close, because migrants knew if they were picked up by a UK ship they were "as good as here".
The Prefecture Maritime de la Manche in France said the risks that migrants crossing the Channel face include overloaded boats, makeshift vessels, lack of life jackets, cold sea temperatures and inappropriate clothing.
"The priority is therefore to be able to rescue them," a statement said.
Three milestones were announced last week in Britain’s bid to beat the coronavirus: zero Covid deaths were reported on Tuesday, three-quarters of adults had received a first dose by Wednesday, and half of all adults had been fully jabbed by Thursday.
Yet, at the same time, doubts are increasing among scientists and politicians that the remaining social restrictions should end as scheduled on June 21, so-called Freedom Day. So why, with vaccination going so well, are we still in a pandemic? The answer, as ever, lies in the numbers.
New variant, new danger Our current rules on social distancing, combined with immunity in the population, might have been enough to control the original virus and even the more infectious Kent variant. Unfortunately, the Indian
The prime minister will call on G7 leaders to pledge to vaccinate the world's population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022.
Boris Johnson is planning to use the UK's presidency of the group to push for global vaccination coverage within the next 18 months.
When he meets fellow G7 leaders face-to-face on Friday - including President Joe Biden for the first time since his election win - Mr Johnson will call on them to "rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era" to stop the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected at least 172 million people and killed more than 3.7 million worldwide.
Image:Boris Johnson, who has had both doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, wants the world to be fully jabbed by the end of 2022
Mr Johnson said: "The world is looking to us to rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era: defeating COVID and leading a global recovery driven by our shared values.
"Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history.
Advertisement
"I'm calling on my fellow G7 leaders to join us to end to this terrible pandemic and pledge we will never allow the devastation wreaked by coronavirus to happen again."
According to data collated by US university Johns Hopkins, some 2.076 billion vaccine doses have been administered across the world thus far.
More on Boris Johnson
But with most of the vaccines available requiring two doses for full protection, this number is not enough.
The UK has secured access to more than 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines over the next two years, after creating a portfolio of seven different vaccines.
Image:Some UK vaccination centres have been able to offer jabs to everyone over 18
Meanwhile, many poorer countries have not even managed to vaccinate health workers - who are among those most at risk - due to lack of funds, inadequate infrastructure or, most often, lack of supply.
Vaccinating the whole world is not just important morally - supply chains and global economic activity cannot fully resume until all countries can open up.
And new variants are more likely to occur if large groups of people are unvaccinated, possibly rendering our current vaccines less effective.
And on Friday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised the UK would "absolutely" look to donate spare doses - but added there were not any available yet.
"At the moment we don't have any excess doses - we're just getting them into arms as quickly as possible," he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Hancock: UK has enough jabs to vaccinate children
Germany, France and Italy, on the other hand, have vowed to donate at least 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the end of the year.
Downing Street has held up its £548m contribution to Covax, the United Nations-backed scheme aiming to make vaccines available to low and middle income countries.
But this only fixes half of the problem: you cannot buy vaccines if there are none available - no matter how much money you have.
British taxpayers also made a major contribution to the production of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which - because it is being sold at cost - is the main vaccine being used in poor and middle income countries.
Number 10 says almost one in three shots given around the world have been the Oxford vaccine and it makes up 96% of the 80 million shots administered by Covax.
The G7 leaders will meet in Cornwall's Carbis Bay on Friday for three days of meetings discussing issues such as the global recovery from the pandemic.
They will be joined by experts including the UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, philanthropist Melinda French Gates, and environmentalist Sir David Attenborough.
On Saturday, they will be joined either in person or virtually by the leaders of Australia, South Africa, South Korea and India for discussions on health and climate change.
Putin criticises ‘politically motivated restrictions’ on vaccines
The Prime Minister will urge the leaders of the seven biggest economies to come together to fund an international vaccine programme which will ensure everyone in the world is vaccinated. He will ask for the leaders including US President Joe Biden and senior figures from the EU to make concrete commitments to vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022 when he welcomes them to Cornwall for the G7 Summit later this week.
Related articles
It comes as government sources have indicated that the June 21 roadmap date of lifting almost all the covid restrictions domestically in Britain will be met despite a rearguard action by pro-lockdown scientists.
A UK Government spokeswoman said "no decision" had been made on whether to ease all coronavirus restrictions on June 21, amid reports Boris Johnson could delay the move by at least a fortnight.
"As the Prime Minister has set out, we can see nothing in the data at the moment to suggest that we need to deviate from the roadmap," said the spokeswoman.
"We continue to look at the data and the latest scientific evidence and no decision on Step 4 has yet been made."
But in a week where he has tightened restrictions on foreign travel and added Portugal to the amber list, Mr Johnson has made it clear that the new front against the terrible disease is tackling it abroad, particularly in poorer countries.
Speaking ahead of the G7 Summit, the Prime Minister said: “Next week the leaders of the world’s greatest democracies will gather at an historic moment for our countries and for the planet.
The PM will urge leaders of the G7 to come together to fund an international vaccine programme (Image: Getty )
“The world is looking to us to rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era: defeating Covid and leading a global recovery driven by our shared values.
“Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history.
“I’m calling on my fellow G7 leaders to join us to end to this terrible pandemic and pledge will we never allow the devastation wreaked by coronavirus to happen again.”
The conference will also include the Prime Ministers of Japan, Canada and Italy as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.
The EU Commission and Council Presidents will also be present as well as leaders from Australia, South Africa, South Korea and the UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is dealing with a massive wave of the pandemic in his own country will join by video link.
G7 leaders will arrive in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on Friday for three days of meetings on a huge range of global issues, with a particular focus on how the group can lead the global recovery from coronavirus.
The Covid vaccine appears to have 'broken the chain' between catching Covid and becoming ill (Image: Getty )
During those sessions they will be joined virtually by experts, including Sir Patrick Vallance, Melinda French Gates and David Attenborough. On Saturday the G7 countries will be joined either in person or virtually by the leaders of Australia, South Africa, South Korea and India for discussions on health and climate change.
As well as asking leaders to join the UK in efforts to vaccinate the world, the Prime Minister will call on them to support the Global Pandemic Radar – a new global surveillance system which will protect immunisation programmes against new vaccine resistant variants by detecting them before they have the chance to spread.
Alongside efforts to defeat the pandemic itself the Prime Minister will stress the need to build back better, with a recovery that puts opportunity, sustainability and democratic values at its heart.
Meanwhile, the government was warned to think very carefully before caving into pressure to delay easing lockdown further or bringing in new measures.
Professor Carl Heneghan, an urgent care doctor and director of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine said: “People need to think very hard about how we define a wave going forward because if it is defined as cases in hospital we will be in this forever.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is dealing with a massive wave of the pandemic in his country (Image: Getty )
He said many those going into hospital with coronavirus were not dangerously ill but being admitted for a short period to take advantage of new treatments.
New NHS England figures show there are now a total of 124 patients who are on mechanical ventilation compared to the January peak which was 3,736.
In Scotland there are now 8 on ventilators. It is estimated approximately 25 percent of patients of these are long term patients.
Professor Heneghan added: “Individuals are too quick to assume that increases in infections are all about the virus without assessing the context in which the virus has spread - the social deprivation, comorbidities and economic circumstances of those patients.”
Malcolm Loudon a senior surgeon with expertise in epidemiology said: “Many of the patients with covid in hospital will just be those who are there for other reasons but have tested positive. Many of those on ventilators are legacy cases and will have been there for more than four weeks. Some of those with covid are not seriously ill but coming in because they are feeling knackered.
The Government was warned to think carefully before caving into pressure to delay easing lockdown (Image: Getty )
“Really there is nothing much to see with coronavirus, however as clinicians who work with patients what we are seeing is the consequences of lockdown measures for example an increase in people coming in with advanced cancers whose referrals were delayed.”
Scientists have also indicated that the Covid-19 vaccine appears to have "broken the chain" between catching coronavirus and becoming seriously ill, the chief executive of NHS Providers has said.
Chris Hopson said the number of people in hospital with the Covid-19 variant first detected in India, also known as the Delta variant, was not increasing "very significantly".
He told BBC Breakfast that many of those in hospital in Bolton - which has the highest number of cases of the Indian variant in England - were younger than in previous waves of the pandemic.
Mr Hopson said in the most recent phase of the pandemic the number of people in hospital in Bolton with Covid-19 peaked at 50, compared to 170 in November and 150 in January and February.
Of the 12,431 Indian variant cases so far confirmed in the UK, 10,797 are in England, 1,511 in Scotland, 97 in Wales and 26 in Northern Ireland.
Government sources said the June 21 roadmap date of lifting restrictions further will be met (Image: Getty )
In England, the cases are spread across the country, and the most affected areas include Bolton in Greater Manchester (2,149 cases), Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire (724), Bedford (608), Leicester (349), Manchester (278) and Birmingham (223).
However, Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M) Government advisory panel, said the Government has a "difficult call" to make about easing restrictions on June 21.
He told Times Radio: "It's a hard one. I'm going to be annoying and sit a little bit on the fence on this, as I don't think it's our role as epidemiologists to call that.
"I think the difficult thing that we have, the difficult situation the government have is of course if you delay that then of course you'll get a smaller subsequent wave.
"I mean that's the case with any control policy - if you leave them in for a longer period of time then it's going to reduce cases.
"But of course, if you delay that we know that negatively impacts businesses, people's livelihoods, and so forth.
"So this is the difficult call that they have to make, and all we can do is put together as much evidence as possible and say this is what we expect to happen if you relax on June 21, this is what we may expect if you delay that by two weeks for example or four weeks and so on, so they have all the evidence they can to make the decision."
Carrie and Boris married in secret so she would not feel ‘awkward’ at the G7 and Balmoral, insiders have said.
Several sources told The Mail on Sunday the upcoming world leaders’ summit triggered the small wedding, which took Westminster by surprise last weekend.
The importance of the summit – where Carrie, 33, will be in charge of all the leaders’ spouses, including Jill Biden on the American President’s first trip abroad – meant the couple was keen for her to be Mrs Johnson among the other wives.
Several sources told The Mail on Sunday the upcoming world leaders’ summit triggered the small wedding between Boris (right) and Carrie, which took Westminster by surprise
G7 member Japan is also more ‘traditional’ towards marriage, which makes the summit easier with Carrie attending as Mrs Johnson.
One Tory source said: ‘It wouldn’t have been impossible but it would have been awkward for her to go as a girlfriend. Some countries, such as Japan, are quite traditional about it – they want wives mixing with wives.’
This week’s summit will be the first major engagement for the new Mrs Johnson, who is expected to take the spouses of the other world leaders on a tour of Cornwall.
As well as Jill Biden, 70, the other spouses include France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, 68, Joachim Sauer, 72, husband of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 46, wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
It is understood the couple were also keen to be married by the next time they visit Balmoral, after their 2019 stay triggered reports the Queen was ‘uncomfortable’ with their unmarried status.
Carla Bruni’s wedding to Nicolas Sarkozy was rushed through ahead of her accompanying him on a state visit to Balmoral.
Saudi Arabia also reportedly said Ms Bruni could not visit as the then French President’s girlfriend, and India had also expressed reservations about protocol.
Pictured: A view overlooking Carbis Bay Cornwall England near St Ives, Cornwall, where the world leaders' G7 summit will be held. The importance of the summit – where Carrie, 33, will be in charge of all the leaders’ spouses, including Jill Biden on the American President’s first trip abroad – meant the couple was keen for her to be Mrs Johnson among the other wives
The couple married in a private Catholic ceremony at Westminster Cathedral last Saturday, with a small group of family and friends present.
They proceeded with a small reception in the Downing Street garden, where an official photograph of the bride and groom was taken.
The couple have already sent save-the-date cards for a wider celebration on July 30 next year.
The couple’s one-year-old son Wilfred attended the small wedding in the cathedral where he had previously been baptised.
The bride wore a rented long lace gown and a floral headband.
She has taken the Prime Minister’s surname and is now known as Mrs Johnson.
As well as Jill Biden, 70 (pictured with Joe on Friday), the other spouses include France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, 68, Joachim Sauer, 72, husband of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 46, wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau
It is understood Mrs Johnson was unhappy that an unofficial snap, presumed to have been taken by a guest, circulated on social media.
Several outfits were delivered to Downing Street last week, thought to be options for Mrs Johnson in preparation for the summit, which gets under way on Friday.
Downing Street declined to comment on the timing of the wedding.
