Covid: Matt Hancock to give coronavirus update as vaccination hubs open

110121 Matt Hancock will be joined at the press conference by NHS England Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis.
Matt Hancock will be joined at the press conference by NHS England Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis.

Matt Hancock is to give a coronavirus update from Downing Street this evening, with details expected on the UK's Covid-19 vaccination effort.

At the press conference, which is scheduled for 5pm, the health secretary will be joined by NHS England national medical director Professor Stephen Powis.

It comes after the opening of seven new mass vaccination centres in England, which Prof Powis said will "go a long way" in helping the government achieve its goal of inoculating the estimated 13.9 million people in the top four priority groups by mid-February.

So far at least 2.4 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, Boris Johnson has said.

Mr Hancock and Prof Powis, who both visited the new vaccine hub at Epsom racecourse in Surrey on Monday morning, will give an update on how close the government is to reaching its target.

It is thought at least two million people will need to be vaccinated each week in order for the government to reach this target.

The health secretary said the government will be publishing daily data on the number of people who have been vaccinated, starting from Monday afternoon.

While at the vaccination centre, he said "supply is the rate-limiting factor" but the UK has "one of the biggest supplies in the world, including the home-made Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine".

Prof Powis said the new hubs will see thousands more people vaccinated every day, but "it's going to be a few months before we see the effect of vaccines".