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Vaccine race: Which UK areas are falling behind?

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby, a spokesperson for the couple has confirmed.

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  • FBI arrests alleged Capitol rioter who boasted on TV she’d ‘do it again tomorrow’

    The woman was fired from her job for her alleged role in riots but says she does not regret it

  • SNP divisions grow as Sturgeon enrages former deputy leader by 'questioning Salmond trial verdict'

    Nicola Sturgeon was on Thursday struggling to contain a growing SNP rebellion after she was accused of using “weasel words” to question the innocence of Alex Salmond. Jim Sillars, a former deputy leader of the party, lodged a formal complaint that the First Minister had breached the ministerial code with comments she made in a press briefing on Wednesday. Ms Sturgeon launched an outspoken attack on her predecessor, claiming his conduct towards women, rather than the conspiracy he has alleged, were the "root" of claims against him She added that just because he had been cleared of criminality, “that doesn’t mean that the behaviour [women] complained of didn’t happen.”

  • The walls are closing in on Trump. Soon he’ll be a prisoner of Mar a Lago

    Florida Governor DeSantis will be loyal to the president — but that doesn’t necessarily leave Trump in a good position

  • Ursula von der Leyen issues Covid vaccine export warning at EU summit

    Ursula von der Leyen issues Covid vaccine export warning at EU summitCommission head reassures leaders she will ban vaccines leaving EU if suppliers fail to deliver againCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Ursula von der Leyen was put under pressure to speed up work on a common vaccination certificate. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/AFP/Getty Images

  • Frasier reboot: Jane Leeves says she won’t leave current TV show to join sitcom revival

    Revival of classic Nineties sitcom was officially announced this week

  • What Ghislaine Maxwell’s case teaches us about rich people justice

    Even a $28.5m proposal couldn’t get Maxwell released on bail, but her legal team is still trying

  • Polish and Romanians top nationalities applying for EU settlement scheme

    More than five million applications in total have been made since the scheme opened.

  • Gwyneth Paltrow urged by NHS boss to stop spreading 'misinformation' over long Covid

    Gwyneth Paltrow has been urged by NHS boss Professor Stephen Powis to stop spreading "misinformation" over treatments for long Covid.

  • ‘Hellish days await us’: European country facing 'catastrophe’ amid one of world’s worst COVID spikes

    Restrictions are set to be tightened to prevent a 'catastrophe' in hospitals, PM Andrej Babis said.

  • Revealed: The areas being left behind in the race to vaccinate the vulnerable

    A substantial amount of England has now offered a vaccine to all people aged over 70.

  • US and Spanish holidays could be unlocked by vaccine passport talks

    Six destinations most likely to make the 'green list' this summer When can I go on holiday? Will vaccine passports open up our holidays? Key dates in the lockdown exit roadmap 20 UK holidays with availability from April 12 Sign up to the Telegraph Travel newsletter Spain, the United States and Singapore are among the destinations with which Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is in talks over international travel agreements. The Transport Secretary was asked by ITV's Robert Peston how far along the Government was in its discussions with other countries about vaccine passports, which are being considered as way to open up foreign travel. Mr Shapps said: “The Prime Minister only announced the task force on Monday but I can tell you that in the last few days I’ve spoken to my Singaporean opposite number today, actually, my American opposite number today, actually, my Spanish opposite number … So we’re speaking to a lot of other governments.” His comments come as the EU meets to discuss vaccine passes and as individual countries, including Spain, have said that they will form part of their plan for reopening tourism. However, Greek tourism minister Harry Theoharis has said that British visitors could be welcomed back this summer with or without having received the vaccine; under the UK's roadmap out of lockdown, international travel could resume from May 17. Scroll down for the latest travel updates.

  • Former SNP minister demands release of Salmond documents and says Sturgeon must go if they show conspiracy

    A former SNP minister has called for secret documents about the Alex Salmond affair to be made public and said Nicola Sturgeon should resign if they prove allegations of a conspiracy. Alex Neil, an MSP who held senior cabinet posts in Edinburgh under both Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon, called for transparency from both the Scottish Government and the Crown Office, which have both been criticised for withholding evidence. Mr Salmond has alleged that senior figures in the SNP, including Ms Sturgeon’s husband and her chief of staff, conspired against him by using sexual assault allegations to attempt to ruin his political career and potentially imprison him. Ms Sturgeon has said claims of a conspiracy involving not only the SNP but the prosecution service and other public bodies are ridiculous.

  • Xi Jinping declares China has achieved 'human miracle' of eliminating extreme poverty

    Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday declared his country had achieved the "human miracle" of eliminating extreme poverty, though questions continue to surround the Communist Party’s criteria for making the claim. In a glitzy ceremony in Beijing, Mr Xi bestowed medals on officials from rural communities, some wearing traditional ethnic-minority attire, and promised to share this "Chinese example" with other developing nations. "No other country can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in such a short time," Mr Xi said. "A human miracle has been created that will go down in history." China last year claimed it had achieved its long-trumpeted goal of lifting all of its people above a poverty line of $2.30 (£1.60) in daily income. That is slightly above the World Bank’s lowest threshold of $1.90, but below what is recommended for higher-income countries. The World Bank says China has lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme poverty since turning to market reforms in the 1970s, after decades of state planning and Maoist campaigns that had stifled the economy. China is now "providing help to developing countries" still struggling with poverty, Mr Xi said. In 2015, Mr Xi vowed to eradicate extreme poverty by 2020, a pillar of the Communist Party’s goal to build a "moderately prosperous society" by the 100th anniversary of its founding later this year. Ahead of the deadline, the government poured billions of yuan into infrastructure such as roads and modern apartment buildings, and offered tax incentives and subsidies to impoverished rural communities. The standard of living in China has indeed changed dramatically since the 1970s, with hundreds of millions living consumer lifestyles that past generations could not have imagined. But Beijing’s claims have met with scepticism. Critics have pointed to the relatively low poverty line, claims of corruption cases linked to poverty funds, and perennial questions over whether official data is massaged to meet party political objectives.

  • Just 36 England and Wales postcodes have escaped a coronavirus death

    Just 36 postcode areas in England and Wales have escaped a death from coronavirus, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. The majority were in the South West which has seen extremely low levels of disease throughout the pandemic, with several areas in Devon and Cornwall escaping deaths. Inner-city areas such as Bristol City Centre, Leeds City Centre and Camden in north London have also registered no deaths, possibly due to the low levels of older people. The ONS data showed only 36 out of 7,209 districts (0.5 per cent) had not recorded a single Covid-linked death by the end of January. The worst postcode area was Crabtree and Fir Vale in Sheffield, which has totalled 72 deaths, followed by West St Leonards in Hastings with 62, and Hadleigh in Suffolk with 57. Sheffield’s director of public health, Louise Brewins, said the high toll was linked to the six care homes in the area. Several areas with large care home outbreaks are near the top of the list. The latest figures also show that the percentage of deaths due to coronavirus hit a pandemic high in January with Covid-19 being the underlying cause in 37.4 per cent of all registered deaths. At the height of the first peak in April, Covid-19 deaths made up 33.5 per cent of the total. However, new figures released from Public Health England (PHE) on Thursday show that coronavirus cases have now fallen to their lowest levels since September, dropping 40 per cent in a fortnight. Government coronavirus dashboard data also showed that deaths have fallen by 30 per cent in a week and hospitalisations by 20 per cent. The Department of Health figures show the number of people testing positive has also fallen by neary 16 per cent even though test have risen by 10 per cent.

  • Wayne Lineker claims he’s engaged to his Celebs Go Dating co-star Chloe Ferry

    Wayne Lineker has stunned fans by claiming he’s engaged to his Celebs Go Dating co-star Chloe Ferry. The official Celebs Go Dating Instagram page wrote: “Ummmm...” The millionaire club owner starred on the latest Celebs Go Dating series with Geordie Shore star Chloe.

  • Oprah Winfrey: Presenter asks teenage Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen what size they are in resurfaced interview

    Mary-Kate entered rehab for eating disorder treatment later in 2004

  • Biden news – live: Police fear plot to ‘blow up’ Capitol during State of Union, as ‘harmful’ visa ban overturned

    Follow all the latest news from the White House

  • Scotland 'not close' to eliminating Covid-19 despite Sturgeon claims, says her own adviser

    Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that Scotland was “close” to eliminating Covid-19 last summer has been contradicted by one of her handpicked advisers. Mark Woolhouse, chairman of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, told MSPs that "Scotland was not close to elimination at any stage" during the pandemic and also questioned whether the First Minister’s strategy for tackling the virus was achievable. The First Minister has repeatedly insisted that Covid-19 was “almost eliminated” in Scotland last summer but that it was “reseeded” after being brought back into the country mainly from both UK and overseas travel. She has used the claim to justify her harsh stance on international and internal travel and her cautious approach to easing restrictions. However, Prof Woolhouse, who also sits on Ms Sturgeon’s Covid-19 advisory group, said that it is a “misinterpretation” to suggest that the virus was close to elimination during the summer when only a handful of cases per day were being reported because a large number of infected people were not getting tested at the time.

  • Fox anchor suspended after saying he was ‘annoyed’ at obese people getting Covid vaccine

    The anchor was called out “fatphobic” on social media

  • Primary schools tell children as young as five to wear face masks in the classroom

    Primary schools are now telling children to wear face masks in the classroom, The Telegraph can reveal. Ministers have been urged to “urgently” clarify that masks are not only “unnecessary” for young children but could in fact cause a range of potential harms. It comes after the Prime Minister announced on Monday that secondary school students should wear masks in the classroom when they return if it is not possible for them to keep two metres apart. Official guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) states that children in primary schools do not need to wear masks. But primary headteachers have already started to write to parents this week telling them that children will need to use face coverings when they return to the classroom on March 8. Parents at Selsdon Primary school in Croydon, south London, have been told that children as young as five should wear a face mask at all times apart from during sports lessons or when eating or drinking. Susan Papas, the school’s executive headteacher, said: “In order to be able to allow children to be able to play and socialise with the children in their bubble, we are asking that children from Year One to Year Six wear a face mask when in school. “They will be taught the safe way to wear face coverings and will be asked to remove them for PE lessons, when eating and when drinking.” She said these measures had already been introduced for the children of key workers who have been coming to school during lockdown, adding that it has been “very successful”. Ms Papas explained that children have “quickly become comfortable with this and it has meant that they have been able to socialise with their peers more easily”. Meanwhile, parents at Nascot Wood Junior School in Watford, Hertfordshire were told that children will need to wear a “well-fitted” face mask while in the classroom if there is not space to socially distance. “We request that children wear a well-fitted face mask whilst in the classroom, as the classrooms do not allow adequate social distancing,” the school said. They added the face mask policy was already in place for vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers who have been coming to Nascot Wood Junior School since January, and it has been managed “very well indeed” so far. The school explained that masks are “not mandatory” but said they believe that their “vigilant approach” has contributed to the low number of cases in the school community. Molly Kingsley, co-founder of the parent campaign group UsForThem, said ministers must “urgently” clarify the position on face masks in schools. “This just shows why measures of this nature should be treated very cautiously,” she said. “Already 72 hours in we are already seeing the worrying extension of this mandate into primary schools. We suspect these two schools won’t be isolated examples. Is this really what we want for children?” Ms Kingsley went on to say that the extension of face masks in secondary schools should not have been announced and called on the Government to backtrack on its decision. "Face masks are an untested intervention and one that many respected academics and doctors have raised serious concerns about due to the long-term effects on communication and educational attainment,” she said. “This is a measure of sufficient potential seriousness to mean that it never should have been rolled out without proper evaluation and it must now be reversed.”