Today marks the opening of seven new mass COVID-19 vaccination centres across England.

The new centres, which will prioritise COVID-19 jabs for the elderly and health care workers, are located in Bristol, Epsom, Newcastle, Stevenage, Manchester, Birmingham and London and will all have the ability to vaccinate four people every minute.

NHS England said hundreds more hospital and GP services would also open later this week to help the Government reach its colossal target to vaccinate 15million people by mid-February.

Speaking about the prevalence of COVID-19 at the moment, Professor Chris Whitty said:

[There are over] 30,000 people [in English hospitals alone] with Covid-19 – compared to about 18,000 [in England] at the peak last April.

Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, is to set out the government’s COVID-19 vaccine plan at a news conference later today and has said that the proposals would be the “keystone of our exit out of the pandemic.”

Last week, the UK passed 80,000 deaths with coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic and currently around 1 in 50 people across the UK are infected.

As the NHS continues to buckle under the pressure of this disease, there are rumours that Boris and his cabinet are also considering tightening the national lockdown measures even more.

There are, without doubt, tough times ahead. But despite the scepticism of parliament, we know you’re all doing your best. And the only way through this is together. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, we can all see it, so let’s stay strong and unite in our commitment to suppress this disease once and for all.

Stay Home. Save Lives. Protect the NHS.

To view more of our interesting, funny and local articles – click here.