HERE are all this morning's key talking points on the covid pandemic: 

  • A further 807 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 59,519, NHS England said on Friday.
  • A total of 3,189,674 Covid-19 vaccinations had taken place in England between December 8 and January 14, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 279,647 on Thursday’s figures. Of this number, 2,769,164 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 274,793 on Thursday’s figures, while 420,510 were the second dose, an increase of 4,854.
  • The recent cases in the North East and North Yorkshire are: County Durham: 29,236, was 28,879; Darlington: 5,397, was 5,337; Gateshead: 11,053, was 10,945; Hartlepool: 6,928, was 6,802; Middlesbrough: 8,836, was 8,693; Newcastle: 19,448, was 19,289; North Tyneside: 9,392, was 9,318; North Yorkshire: 22,875, was 22,587; Northumberland: 13,375, was 13,179; Redcar and Cleveland: 6,821, was   6,718; South Tyneside: 9,047, was 8,952; Stockton: 11,612, was 11,372; Sunderland: 16,477; York: 9,841, was 9,722. Total: 180,338.
  • The reproduction number, or R value, of coronavirus transmission across the UK is between 1.2 and 1.3, the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said. Last week, it was between 1 and 1.4. R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.
  • Downing Street has said evidence currently suggests that the concerning new Brazilian variant of coronavirus may be more transmissible but does not affect vaccines. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that scientists at the Government’s Porton Down research facility are investigating the new strain.
  • “As with some of the other variants we’ve seen, the Kent variant and the South Africa variant, evidence does suggest that it may be more transmissible,” he added.
  • The UK economy is on track to head back into recession as official figures showed that it fell in November after the country was hit by stricter coronavirus restrictions. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said UK gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 2.6 per cent month-on-month in November. GDP at the end of the month was 8.5 per cent below its pre-pandemic peak but is expected to fall further after a third lockdown took hold this month. November’s decline came after six consecutive months of growth, with a 0.6 per cent improvement in October.
  • Shadow education secretary Kate Green has criticised the Government’s food boxes scheme for wasting taxpayer cash without helping the families they are supposed to support.
  • Speaking to Good Morning Britain, she said: “What parents have said, quite rightly, is that they could do a better job, get better value for money than we saw in the food parcels earlier this week.” She said the food in the boxes was worth less than half of the £15 the company providing the food was receiving to put them together.
  • Grant Shapps said the implementation of new rules requiring people to have a negative test before boarding a flight to the UK had been delayed until Monday to give time to draw up a list of acceptable tests.