COVID-19: Second vaccinations pass five million as UK reports lowest deaths since September

The UK has reported its lowest number of COVID deaths since mid-September, while more than five million people have now had both doses of a vaccine.

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  • Prince Philip’s funeral: timeline of events at Windsor Castle

    Prince Philip’s funeral: timeline of events at Windsor Castle. The ceremony will reflect the duke’s military affiliations and personal elements of his life

  • Disabled woman says Duke of Edinburgh’s Award transformed her life

    Myah Richards, who has cerebral palsy, said doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award increased her confidence and spurred her on to do new things.

  • Archbishop of Canterbury: Royal Family can't say goodbye in the way they hoped but Britons unite in grief

    The Royals have not been able to "say goodbye in the way they'd hope or planned" like millions this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury has lamented. The Most Rev Justin Welby, who will deliver a blessing at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, said members of the Royal Family were united in grief with Britons who had lost their loved-ones during the pandemic. He praised the household for sticking to the Covid-19 social restrictions and said this means it "represents all funerals" in the last year - which have been characterised by the "burden" of not being able to have ideal send-offs for relatives. "My first thought when I heard the news was for the family," he said. "This is like every other funeral and distinct from every other funeral. It's like every other funeral because the family is the family is the family. But it's distinct because they're having to bear this loss and sorrow in the glare of goodness knows how many people watching them around the world. "The Royal Family has behaved superbly, they've just kept to the rules. That means that they're going through what between six and eight million other people have gone through in this country alone over the last year - not really being able to say goodbye in the way they'd hoped or planned. And that's an extra burden. "But as people around the world watch them tomorrow, I think they can identify with this and feel that here is a funeral that represents all funerals in a wonderful way."

  • Liam Williams vs Demetrius Andrade ring walks: What time will fight start in the UK?

    Everything you need to know ahead of tonight’s WBO world title bout

  • French medical academy wants to wait six months between Covid jabs

    France's Academy of Medicine has called for the delay between doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to be extended from six weeks to six months, in the case of the Pfizer and Moderna injections, in order to allow more people to get the first jab. Pushing the second injection back in the under-55 age bracket would "accelerate the vaccination campaign...and achieve herd immunity much faster with the same number of doses, while ensuring satisfactory individual protection", the National Academy of Medicine said in a statement on Thursday.The academy has no decision-making power in France, unlike the High Authority for Health (HAS), which can make such recommendations with the backing of the government. On Wednesday, the delay between the first two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which use new messenger RNA technology, was extended from 4 to six weeks."This will allow us to speed up the vaccination campaign without compromising public protection," Health Minister Olivier Véran explained to French weekly Journal du Dimanche.High-risk professionsThe Academy of Medicine said that, based on recent studies in the United States and United Kingdom, a single dose of the mRNA vaccine had been shown to provide very high level of protection against the coronavirus. With the more contagious British variant now the dominant strain in France, the academy said it made sense to delay second injections for those aged under 55 years with no history of immune deficiency, to allow more people in high-risk professions, such as teachers, to receive their first dose.In France, the only under-55s currently eligible for the vaccination are frontline priority workers (health workers, home care workers, firefighters) or those with pre-existing health conditions.Some scientists are reluctant to extend the delay between doses, fearing incomplete protection provided by the first injection may favour the emergence of new variants.The academy also called for the first injection to be postponed in the case of patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus within the preceding six months.

  • Prince Philip's great niece Princess Xenia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg: 'He was an idol to us'

    The historic family ties that prompted The Queen to invite German royalty Follow live updates from Prince Philip's funeral The Duke of Edinburgh's great niece, whose brother is in Windsor for his funeral on Saturday, has remembered Prince Philip as an "idol" for the younger generation of their family. Speaking from Munich, Princess Xenia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg said the Duke was a powerful role model to her and his "selflessness, lack of ego and sense of humour" will never be forgotten. Her tribute comes as the Queen prepares to say farewell to her husband of 73 years at Windsor Castle. "To all of us, he was an idol, he was somebody to look up to, we had enormous respect for him and it was always very exciting when he came to visit, and he came often," said Princess Xenia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. "And this has become clear to me in the week since he's died - the way he lived his life, his motto, which was an unwritten motto for us, this discipline, this selflessness, this lack of ego, but also his sense of humour always underlying all of that.

  • Czech police hunt two men with names matching Skripal suspects

    The Czech police have issued a wanted notice for Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the two Russian intelligence agents wanted in the UK for the 2018 attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. At the same time the Czech government announced it was expelling 18 Russian diplomats from Prague in connection with two explosions at an ammunition dump in 2014 that killed two people. Although the Czech police only said Petrov and Boshirov were wanted in connection with a “serious crime” the wanted notice said the two men were in the Czech Republic from October 11 to 16, 2014. On October 16 a massive blast ripped through an ammunition dump in the town of Vrbetice, killing two people and causing massive amounts of damage. Another explosion occurred at the same facility in December. According to the Czech authorities, all the 18 diplomats, who now have 48 hours to leave the country, are members of either the GRU, Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency, or the SVR, the foreign intelligence agency.

  • My night out in New York took me across the latest Covid dividing line

    My night out in New York took me across the latest Covid dividing lineAs restrictions ease, tensions linger about what you should and shouldn’t do. So booking a babysitter felt outlandishly exciting ‘Stepping out of the cab was like being dropped into Ayia Napa after spending a year in a monastery.’ New Yorkers wander among reopened restaurants, March 2021. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

  • Roman Kemp reveals Justin Bieber used to be 'wildest' celeb party animal

    The Capital FM presenter is no stranger to celebrity nightlife.

  • How Meghan ensured she had a part in Prince Philip's funeral – with a handwritten note on wreath

    The Duchess of Sussex wrote the card attached to the wreath sent by her and Prince Harry to ensure that, in a small way, she played a part in the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral service. Meghan, who is heavily pregnant with the couple's second child, had hoped to attend the ceremony but was advised against travelling by her doctor. The 39-year-old was watching the funeral on television at home in Montecito, California. The Sussexes' tribute was among nine family wreaths laid in the Quire of St George's Chapel, propped against the stalls on each side of the Duke's coffin. Buckingham Palace aides declined to provide details of the other wreaths, saying they were private. But a source close to the Sussexes confirmed that theirs had been designed and handmade by Willow Crossley, a Cotswold florist known for her natural, rustic arrangements. The variety of locally sourced flowers, some of which were picked from the designer's garden, were chosen due to their particular significance.

  • Coronavirus in numbers: UK deaths rise by 35

    The Government said a further 35 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 127,260. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 151,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. The Government also said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 2,206 lab-confirmed cases in the UK. It brings the total to 4,385,938.

  • Karlie Kloss reveals son’s name one month after giving birth

    She became a mother for the first time.

  • Whitewashed: why does Australian TV have such a problem with race?

    Whitewashed: why does Australian TV have such a problem with race?Scripted and unscripted Australian TV has been far more white and Anglo-Saxon than the population The Australian soap opera Neighbours’ first non-white characters were an Asian family accused of eating another neighbour’s dog. Photograph: Fremantle Australia

  • ‘It’s about keeping safe’: Peak District welcomes visitors as Mansfield cases rise

    ‘It’s about keeping safe’: Peak District welcomes visitors as Mansfield cases riseAs Britain inches towards normality, school outbreaks reveal socially distanced caution still wiseCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage View of All Saints Church in Bakewell in the Derbyshire Dales, England. Photograph: Alexey_Fedoren/Getty/iStockphoto

  • In Pictures: Windsor remembers Duke of Edinburgh on day of his funeral

    Philip’s insignia, laid out on the altar of St George’ Chapel, provided a reminder of his family links and his many roles in the nation’s life.

  • Florida nurse facing charges over threats to kill Kamala Harris

    Niviane Petit Phelps, from Miami, allegedly shared the death threats with her husband who is serving time in jail

  • ‘Some messages have been just sobbing’: phone line helps headteachers with burden of Covid

    ‘Some messages have been just sobbing’: phone line helps headteachers with burden of CovidA group of former heads have set up a vital service for colleagues with nowhere to turn The head’s office at a primary school in Cheshire. Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty

  • Prince Philip’s funeral in pictures: Queen bids farewell to her husband of 73 years

    The Queen will say a final goodbye to Prince Philip, her husband of more than seven decades, at a funeral on Saturday.

  • An independent Scotland could turn to Denmark for inspiration

    An independent Scotland could turn to Denmark for inspiration. Instead of looking south, campaigners are looking north, to the egalitarian models of small Nordic nations

  • Will the Tokyo Olympics go ahead in 2021?

    2020 Games have already been postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic