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Good afternoon and welcome to Downing Street for today鈥檚 coronavirus briefing.

I鈥檓 joined by Professor Jonathan Van Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and Dr Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor to Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace.

Before I share some news on our vaccination programme, I鈥檇 just like to update you on the latest coronavirus data.

First slide please.

Today鈥檚 ONS figures show that the number of cases is now down to 1 in every 145 people and that the rate of decline is continuing but actually the pace of it is slowing.

The rate of hospital admissions show a fall of 40% over the past fortnight, but there are still 15,485 people in hospital, and that鈥檚 far too high.

The number of deaths have more than halved in the last fortnight, but 380 deaths were reported each day on average over the last week. And that is far too high.

The good news is that the link from cases, to hospitalisations and deaths, which has had a grim inevitability throughout 2020, that link is now breaking, thanks to the vaccination programme.

This demonstrates as you can see that there鈥檚 been a fall in the number of cases, another fall, but that the speed of that fall is slowing slightly.

And this fact and the fact that the pressure on the NHS has lifted means that the UK鈥檚 Chief Medical Officers have agreed that the UK alert level can be moved down from level 5, to level 4, which of course is great news. But level 4 still means the NHS is under serious pressure.

The number of cases is now falling by only 15% a week. In some areas that has flattened entirely. And one in five local authorities have seen a rise in cases in the last week.

I鈥檓 going to ask Professor Van Tam to set out more details of this and the geography in a moment.

But I just want to say this about the figures. This stark picture shows this isn鈥檛 over yet. The stay-at-home rules are still in place for a reason.

Every action that you take, every time you put your mask on, every time you stay at home 鈥� you are playing your part. This is on all of us to keep this under control.

This is still a deadly virus. We will get through this. But we have to stick at it. We must all remain vigilant.

Vaccination programme

And that brings me to the vaccination programme, because while the vaccination programme is rolling out at the pace of one of the fastest in the world, we鈥檙e not there yet.

We can all take comfort that through science we have found a solution.

We have got a route out, and we can gradually replace the protection that is there in the restrictions, with protection that comes from the vaccine and that is very good news.

I鈥檓 delighted to be able to tell you that as of this morning, 19 million people have had the vaccine. That鈥檚 35% of all adults across the United Kingdom.

That also includes over half a million doses that were given yesterday.

It鈥檚 easy for us to get used to these very large numbers. But that鈥檚 19 million people who now are starting to get the protection that we know comes from this jab, and we know that the jabs are saving lives right now across this country.

And of course the programme is expanding all the time.

This week, we鈥檙e bringing 10 more major vaccination sites on stream, including Towngate Theatre in Basildon and Reading Football Club. And I thank everybody who is continuing this expansion of the vaccination rollout.

These join our network across the country of cinemas and cathedrals, and mosques and museums, and so many other places that have been converted from whatever they do normally into these life-saving centres, right in the heart of our communities.

And we鈥檝e seen this incredible enthusiasm about coming forward too.

As my colleague, Derek Grieve, who heads up Scotland鈥檚 rollout, told Her Majesty the Queen he鈥檇 like to 鈥榖ottle the community spirit鈥� we鈥檝e seen.

And I鈥檓 very pleased to tell you that today鈥檚 ONS data shows 94% of adults say they鈥檝e either received a jab or intend to do so. That is staggering. It鈥檚 really, really good news that there is so much enthusiasm for this jab.

And it is testament to colleagues who have worked so hard to build the confidence in this jab, and make it as accessible as possible to people, which is what we鈥檙e constantly striving to do.

I鈥檇 like to give a shout out to Farzana Hussain, who is a GP in East London, who鈥檚 been personally calling each of her priority patients, giving information about the vaccine and urging them to come forward and get jabbed.

I also want to thank the whole team in Coventry and Warwickshire, who have delivered the highest uptake in the whole country, giving first doses to over 95% of over-65s in their area. Thank you. It鈥檚 an absolutely spectacular effort.

This work is so important, and it鈥檚 important because the fightback against this disease rests with every single one of us.

And the more people who are protected, the safer we鈥檒l all be.

So if you get the call, please come forward, to protect yourself and to protect those around you.

Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI)

Now, throughout our vaccination programme, we鈥檝e focused on protecting those at greatest clinical need. This is the final thing I want to turn to.

We offered a vaccine, for instance, to everyone in the top 4 priority groups by 15 of February, and our current target is to offer a first dose to everyone in the top 9 groups by 15 of April.

That鈥檚 everybody who鈥檚 50 or over or part of an at-risk group.

Earlier this month, I asked the clinicians at the JCVI to set out what is the best order to offer vaccinations for the under-50s.

I asked them to make this assessment based on how we can save the most lives and prevent the most hospitalisations.

Earlier today, they published their interim recommendations.

Next slide please.

The JCVI鈥檚 clinical advice is that to save the most lives, once we have offered the vaccine to priority groups 1 to 9, we should take an age-based approach, and invite people to come forward in 3 further stages:

First, people aged between 40 and 49 years old, then 30 to 39, and finally, 18 to 29, who will become group 12.

This is the fastest and simplest way to roll out the jab.

Our moral duty is to put saving lives first. And that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e done.

So I can confirm that we will follow this clinical advice.

We will get jabs into arms as quickly as we can, in the clinically recommended order.

And once we鈥檝e met the target, by 15 of April, we鈥檒l move onto these priority groups 10, 11 and 12.

I鈥檓 sure we all agree that the best approach is the one that saves the most lives.

So that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going to do, together.

Conclusion

While we make great progress on vaccines, with one of the fastest rollouts in the world, we all though still have to hold our nerve and do our bit.

It鈥檚 on all of us, still, to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

And I鈥檇 now like to hand over to Professor Van Tam.