All over-50s offered Covid vaccine by early May, says UK government

The government’s announcement that it plans to vaccinate all people over 50 by the start of May came as new figures show infection rates falling.

That prompted calls from backbench Conservative MPs for the government to say when the lockdown will be eased in England.

The most recent government figures show that a further 1,000 deaths have been reported in the latest available 24-hour period, bringing the UK total to more than 111,000.

There have been another 19,000 new cases in the UK and another 480,000 people received their first dose of the Covid vaccine yesterday. That means that just under 11 million people have now received their first dose.