As it happened: Urgent England tests as S Africa variant found

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And before we go here are some of the main stories from the UK:

• The UK must “come down hard” on the South Africa variant, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says
• It came after random checks found 11 cases of the variant in the UK that could not be linked to international travel, with people in affected areas being urged to get a test
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is "optimistic" people will be able to have summer holidays this year - but it depends on factors including the vaccine rollout and case levels
• A Covid vaccine has been offered to all older residents at eligible care homes in England, while more than nine million people across the UK have had their first dose
• The UK has ordered an extra 40 million doses of the Valneva vaccine, that should become available later in the year and into 2022
• Captain Sir Tom Moore, the 100-year old who raised almost 33m for the NHS, has been admitted to hospital with Covid-19, his daughter said

We'll be pausing our live coverage for the day shortly so here's a quick look back at some of the coronavirus stories making headlines around the world:

• In the past hour, South Africa has announced it is to reopen public places and permit the sale of alcohol as infection rates fall to their lowest levels since early December
• Earlier in the day, South Africa received its first batch of one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which will be given to healthcare workers
• Pakistan has also received its first tranche of vaccines, with the arrival of 500,000 doses of the China’s Sinopharm vaccine. Its health workers are also first in line
• Israel says early results from its extensive vaccination programme suggest the jabs are driving down infections and illness in the over-60s
• New York has had to close its vaccination centres ahead of a major storm, which is threatening to dump up to 60cm (24in) of snow in the coming hours
• Some 96 foreigners, including British tourists, have been fined for holidaying at an Austrian ski result in breach of lockdown rules.

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Spent more time in your pyjamas than your workout gear this lockdown? Replaced burpees with boxsets? Or chest presses with chocolate?

We're sure you get the idea, but if you're feeling this way then you're not alone.

A survey's found that two fifths of us are doing less exercise in the current UK lockdown compared with the first one in 2020.

"If you cast your mind back to April, it was pretty beautiful every day, whereas now there are less daylight hours," Dr Ian Taylor tells Newsbeat.

He's a psychologist at Loughborough University and specialises in what motivates us when it comes to sport and exercise.

Read the full story here.

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Gobbling through a takeaway sandwich at the office desk is normal for the Brits.

But for the Italians? Mamma mia, it’s as foreign a concept here as a cappuccino after midday.

So the relaxing of restrictions in most of Italy today – all but five areas of the country moving from orange to yellow zones – means this nation’s sacred rituals can resume: a morning espresso inside a cafe; fresh pasta for lunch at the local trattoria; an Aperol spritz in the bar for the early-evening aperitivo on the way home from work.

Venues must still stop table service at 6pm – it’s only takeaway after that – but the newfound freedom, with museums reopening during weekdays and movement allowed within one’s region, will lift the mood here.

So much so that people crowded into city centres in anticipation over the weekend, almost counting down the hours until the measures were eased. That has prompted concern that complacency will be costly. It’s what led a busy summer to be followed by a deadly autumn.

Reopening is risky – the first country in the West to be slammed by Covid knows that. But for now, this nation of foodies will savour the moment.

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There will be relief in South Africa after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an easing of lockdown restrictions.

He said public places such as parks, beaches and swimming pools will reopen and restrictions eased on the sale of alcohol.

Faith-based gatherings will be permitted but social gatherings must not exceed 50 people for indoor venues and 100 people outdoors.

Ramaphosa said the changes had been made possible because there had been a significant reduction of patients with Covid admitted to hospital since early December, reducing the pressure on beds and medical staff.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, public patience with the lockdown restrictions has been fraying.

Scores of people protested at beaches in Cape Town at the weekend calling for them to be reopened, and two church associations were threatening to sue the president over the closure of churches.

In India, trains in Mumbai are running public services again and yes, there are social-distancing rules on board.

Among the busiest in the world, the trains carry nearly eight million people every day.

But they were shut down to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Now they have reopened to the public with certain Covid-19 restrictions, including compulsory masks and temperature checks for commuters.

Mumbai was one of the worst-hit cities in India but coronavirus numbers have begun to fall there, as they have elsewhere in country.

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Today, 5 Live’s Your Call asked listeners if they were celebrating at news that every care home resident in England has been offered a Covid vaccine.

Alison, in Colchester, said it was “very hard” to listen to the good news because her mum died in a care home last month after contracting coronavirus.

“I just feel very sad. It was too late for her,” she said.

Alison said she had been told that vaccinations could not always be administered in care homes where positive tests had been recorded.

"How do we protect those vulnerable people until they are vaccinated?” she said.

Debs, in Eccles, said her parents required 24-hour care but lived at home with her. Because they could not leave the home, they were unable to attend vaccination appointments.

She wanted to highlight the "forgotten group of people - the elderly that are at home and housebound" who had not yet received their vaccination.

"We’re a little bit in the dark,” she said. "The vaccination programme is fantastic but housebound people don’t seem to be getting mentioned anywhere."

Listen back to Your Call on the free BBC Sounds app.

This development sounds alarming – after all just a handful of cases has prompted a massive effort to get tens of thousands of people tested.

But as always context is needed.

This variant is – like the UK one – more contagious.

But there is no evidence that it causes more serious illness.

And data suggests the vaccines will work against it, although maybe not quite as well as they do against the original one.

So the logic of public health officials is to stop or at least slow the spread.

We are at a crucial point with the vaccine being rolled out quickly and immunity being built up by significant numbers of vulnerable people.

Anything that interferes with that will slow our escape from lockdown and, ultimately, the pandemic as well as increasing risk to the population.

So the aim is to hit it hard and early.

The fact the UK is the world leader in sequencing means officials have been able to identify the early signs of community transmission, giving the country a fighting chance of stamping down hard on this variant.

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While there's good news on vaccination in the UK and Israel, in New York vaccination centres have temporarily closed and appointments re-arranged as the US city braces itself for a major snowstorm.

As much as 60cm (20in) of snow is expected to fall along the US east coast, with wind gusts of up to 80km/h (50mph) creating blizzard-like conditions.

New York has declared a state of emergency, cancelling flights and restricting non-essential travel.

Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted the storm had disrupted the “vaccination effort” because “we don’t want folks, especially seniors, going out in unsafe conditions to get vaccinated”.

But he promised a fast restart after the danger has passed because “we can take the supply we have and distribute it very quickly in the days to come and make sure everyone gets the appointments”.

Snow began falling in parts of Pennsylvania, New York state and New England late on Sunday night and the heaviest snowfalls were expected during Monday.

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As we mentioned earlier, Israel's coronavirus vaccination programme is showing signs of working to drive down infections and illness in the over-60s.

Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) figures show 531 over-60s, out of almost 750,000 fully vaccinated, tested positive for coronavirus (0.07%).

And far fewer fell ill, with 38 becoming needing hospital treatment with moderate, severe or critical disease.

There were three deaths in vaccinated over-60s - although it is possible they contracted the infection earlier, before their immunity had time to build.

Before the vaccine had time to take effect, more than 7,000 infections were recorded, just under 700 cases of moderate to critical illness and 307 deaths.

The MoH data suggests infections and illnesses fell consistently from 14 days after receiving the first jab onwards.

You can read Rachel’s report here.

The number of new coronavirus cases being recorded in the UK is continuing to fall, with 18,607 reported today.

However, the number of deaths remain high, with 406 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported.

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

Meanwhile, more than nine million people in the UK have now received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, with an average of 389,000 people getting their first jab every day over the past seven days.

It means the government is on track to meet its target of offering the vaccine to about 15 million people in priority groups by mid-February.

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Matt Hancock doesn’t rule out further restrictions in those postcodes where there’s concern about the South African variant.

However, it doesn’t sound like the government’s on the verge of imposing extra measures with the health secretary pointing out that the country’s already in lockdown.

It’s clear the government hopes to get on top of the issue via, in part, so-called “surge” testing. People in those areas are also being urged to, in particular, heed that stay at home advice.

But questions may well continue over whether more should or could be done to contain this variant.

Yes, public health officials insist there’s no evidence it causes a more severe disease but Dr Susan Hopkins did also just repeat the concern that vaccines may have a “diminished” – albeit still “very good” – effect against the variant.

Finally the scientists are asked about the South African variant and whether it is more likely to cause serious illness.

Dr Hopkins says it has "similar transmissibility" to the variant that was first found in Kent but there is not evidence it is causing more severe disease than other variants circulating in the UK.

However, she adds that it has slightly more mutations in the spike protein which is perhaps causing vaccines to have "diminished effectiveness" although they still work very well.

She says the government wants to prevent viruses with mutations acquiring more mutations which is why breaking the chains of transmission for the South African variant is essential.

Hancock adds that the UK's flu vaccination programme is upgraded every year to make sure it is as effective as possible against new variants.

He says he hopes the government will be able to get the coronavirus jab to the same place and it will become "something people have as standard".

Jonathan Walker from the Birmingham Mail and Newcastle Chronicle asks whether areas in the North of England that are rolling out the vaccine faster could have supplies cut to give more doses to other areas that have been slower.

Hancock says the government is making sure the vaccine goes to all parts of the country "on a fair basis according to need" and insists every area is getting its fair share.

He adds that there is a "bumpy supply schedule for the whole country" and if some days there are more vaccines given than others this is because of the supply available nationally.

Jane Merrick from the i newspaper asks if the geographical spread of the South African variant suggests it is endemic and whether those who have already been jabbed will need a booster with a tweaked vaccine?

She also wants to know if school playgrounds can be reopened sooner than 8 March given the health benefits to children.

Hancock says the government has taken action regarding schools with a "very heavy heart" and these are the first measures ministers want to lift. But he says the virus is still widespread and there's a lot of work to do to get it under control".

Dr Hopkins says it's unlikely those who have already been jabbed will need to start again, even if the vaccine has to be tweaked in light of the South African variant.

She says it's most likely a booster would be given. She stresses that cases of this strain found in the UK are not linked and that she's confident that measures in place will close down and eliminate transmission.

Emily Morgan from ITV asks how confident the government is that it can contain the new variant.

Hancock says the enhanced testing is aimed at stopping the spread of the variant altogether.

"But it is not straightforward - there may be further cases we don't know about yet," he warns.

He says it is therefore "vital people in those areas minimise all social contact and get a test when the opportunity arises".

Tom Magner from Carers' World asks what assurances the health secretary can give that unpaid carers will always be at the heart of the government's policy making, saying many don't feel truly recognised because they are only in band six of the vaccine prioritisation list.

Hancock says he knows from his own family just how important unpaid carers are and the government has "looked very closely" at where they are on the prioritisation list, which is drawn up by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advisory group.

Prof Powis agrees that "in the NHS we absolutely recognise the huge value that unpaid carers bring to our patients”.

He says the NHS is working its way through the vaccination programme according to the priority list set by the JCVI but as soon as the top four priority groups have had their jab it will immediately move “very rapidly, as quickly as we can" through the groups next on the list.

Ministers have, over the past few days, begun to hint at sharing the UK’s vaccine supply with other countries in the future – including both the EU and the developing world.

Matt Hancock just repeated that pledge, saying that the UK will play its part to ensure vaccines are available around the globe.

But there have been no specifics yet from ministers on the questions that inevitably follow. Which countries, when and on what terms?

The government may argue it’s really still too soon to say.

But if supplies do continue to grow, as expected, and the country moves away from a just-in-time supply chain here at home, the pressure to answer these questions will also increase.