All of Lincolnshire’s care homes have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination after meeting targets of inoculation by the weekend, according to local health bosses.
The NHS vaccination team delivered tens of thousands of vaccinations to all of the 202 elderly homes in the county.
The new asymptomatic COVID rapid testing centre in Lincoln completed nearly 200 coronavirus tests in its first day.
The facility at St Swithin’s Community Centre on Croft Street, off Monks Road, opened on Monday after relocating from Lincoln City’s LNER Stadium. It has so far found one positive case which had not shown symptoms.
The number of patients with coronavirus being treated at hospitals across Greater Lincolnshire has dropped by just over 20%.
There were 324 patients with coronavirus in the county’s hospitals on January 6. This has now dropped to 250, which is a decrease of around 23%.
COVID infection rates in Lincolnshire are “bouncing around all over the place” after Boston and South Holland saw spikes in the past few days, a health boss has said.
Boston went from 168.2 coronavirus cases per 100,000 of the population on Friday to 205.2 on Monday this week. This has been due to a “strong uptake of community-wide testing” in the borough, namely the two new rapid testing centres in the town.
Nationally, supplies of vaccines are “tight” but the UK believes it will receive enough doses to meet its targets, the vaccine minister has said.
Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Breakfast manufacturers were “confident” they would deliver to the UK amid warnings of production delays.
Some travellers coming to England will have to quarantine in hotels, amid concerns about new COVID variants, the government is expected to announce.
Boris Johnson will discuss proposals with ministers later, but a decision may not be made public until Wednesday.
Keeping schools closed is having a “calamitous” impact on children, some of the UK’s top paediatricians have warned as they called for teachers to be prioritised for a vaccine.
The group said they were witnessing an “acute and rapid increase in mental health and safeguarding cases”, with parents suffering breakdowns and other psychological stress due to home-schooling.