Hospitals under intense pressure as vaccinations pass four million mark

Although vaccination numbers are rising sharply, hospitals remain under intense pressure. The number of patients with coronavirus in UK hospitals is the highest that it’s been throughout the pandemic.

The latest 24-hour figures show there have been 37,535 new cases and 599 deaths of people with Covid, which takes the official total death toll to 89,860.

The number of people who have received their first dose of vaccine has passed four million.

Despite figures appearing to show that the growth in Covid positive hospital patients is slowing down across England, intensive care units up and down the UK are full.