UK

As COVID-19 cases in London rise, people in the capital have been warned to follow the rules to avoid being moved into Tier 3. Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “If we don’t all work together now, we may face tougher restrictions across the capital.” London was placed in Tier 2 when England came out of its

Shane Mays has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for the “brutal” murder of 16-year-old Louise Smith. Mays was convicted at Winchester Crown Court on Tuesday over the killing in Havant, Hampshire, on 8 May. The “predatory” 30-year-old is believed to have lured the teenager to a secluded woodland spot

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has become the second coronavirus jab to be approved for UK use. It has been given the go-ahead by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The vaccine, codenamed AZD1222 or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, was developed at Oxford University with support from the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Image: The Oxford vaccine is

They are the history makers – the first people in the UK and the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine outside a clinical trial. People aged over 80, as well as care home workers and NHS staff, have been given the first batches as the mass vaccination programme is rolled out nationwide. So who are

Margaret Keenan came into hospital last Wednesday for a routine appointment. She will be discharged later today after making history. At 6.31am the 90-year-old grandmother-of-four became the first patient in the world to receive Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccination outside of a trial. Mrs Keenan, who lives in Coventry but is originally from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, was

The fight against COVID-19 has taken a historic leap forward after the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine was given to someone outside a clinical trial for the first time. Grandmother-of-four Margaret Keenan, 90, has become the first person in the world to receive the jab as part of a vaccination programme. Mrs Keenan, who has lived in Coventry

COVID-19 vaccines could be airlifted to the UK next year if Brexit trade talks collapse and cause delays at Channel crossings. The government is hoping to receive millions of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the end of the year, with the first vaccinations due to begin this week. However, the NHS doesn’t expect to

The government will push ahead with Brexit legislation that could break international law – despite fears that it could upset the EU at a critical time for trade talks. Foreign Office minister James Cleverly told Sky News the government’s Internal Market Bill would return to the House of Commons today. Time is running out to

Brexit negotiations are stuck on three critical issues and “further effort” is needed to break the deadlock, UK and European Union leaders have said. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a joint statement following an hour-long discussion on Saturday. They said that while “progress has been achieved in

Hospitals are preparing to begin the first phase of the “largest scale vaccination campaign” in the UK’s history. The first COVID-19 vaccines will arrive at hospitals by Monday ahead of the first jabs being given on Tuesday. GP surgeries in England have been told to start staffing COVID-19 vaccination centres by 14 December. Image: The

A batch of the coronavirus vaccine has been pictured arriving at a hospital in south London ahead of the UK-wide rollout of the treatment this week. Staff have been unloading doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab from boxes at Croydon University Hospital before placing them in freezers on the site. The COVID-19 vaccine must be stored

COVID-19 will keep hospitals under continued strain in the coming months as new vaccines will only have a “marginal impact” on patient numbers over winter, the UK’s chief medical officers have warned. In a letter written to healthcare colleagues, the group – which includes England’s Professor Chris Whitty – also said that festive gatherings were

A 16-year-old boy has been named among the four victims of an explosion at a waste water treatment site near Bristol. The four people who died have been named by police as Michael James, 64, Brian Vickery, 63, Raymond White, 57, and Luke Wheaton, 16. Avon and Somerset Police said a fifth person was injured

The White House’s chief immunologist has told Sky News he believes the British approval of the Pfizer COVID vaccine has been done in a “much less deep” way than would have been done in the US. Dr Anthony Fauci told Sky News he believed the data “clearly shows that the vaccine is safe and effective” but

Hand sanitiser is one of the most common ways people are protecting themselves from COVID-19 when out and about, but some contain less alcohol than they claim – and too little to kill the disease. The worst of the 18 sanitisers tested by consumer group Which? had an alcohol content of 10%, rather than the

The public should take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is offered to them if they want to see an end to social distancing, one of the government’s top medical officers has said. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, told a Downing Street news conference that while people were “fed up” with ongoing coronavirus