Nicola Sturgeon says she will give a statement to parliament tomorrow to set out Scotland's route out of lockdown and back to a tiered system of coronavirus restrictions.

Scotland's first minister will make the announcement at about 2:20pm, she tells a coronavirus briefing.

She says it will be a "statement to set out overall thinking on the overall state of pandemic and it will provide details of the revised strategic framework that we are publishing tomorrow".

It won't set out "hard and fast" dates for the easing of all restrictions, she says.

It's important that we are driven by "data not dates", she says.

The statement will give an "indicative order of priority and the likely phasing of the gradual lifting of current lockdown and then a return to the geographic level system", she says.

It will look at whether areas of Scotland that were in level four restrictions could be moved into level three, she says.

Image source, Getty Images

People living with HIV in England can now choose to have their Covid vaccine through specialist clinics, without notifying their GP.

NHS England has updated its guidance for people not comfortable with sharing their status.

Everyone with HIV should be in vaccine priority groups four or six, and offered a jab by mid-April at the latest.

But campaigners have worried stigma will cause some to miss out.

The updated guidance, obtained by the i newspaper, follows the lead of NHS Wales, which put the same measures in place last week.

Head of leading HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, Ian Green, says: "This is great news and the right decision from the NHS as it means people living with HIV will be able to take up the potentially life-saving Covid-19 vaccine at their earliest opportunity."

Image source, EPA

Stubbornly high infection rates are hampering French efforts to ease coronavirus restrictions, with Nice in the south a particular hotspot.

The area around Nice, which has the highest rate in France, will go into partial lockdown for the next two weekends.

The Riviera resort city has more than 700 cases per 100,000 inhabitants - more than three times higher than the national average of 190, French news agency AFP reports.

The more contagious English variant has been blamed, as well as an influx over the Christmas holiday when tourists descended on Nice. Over the holidays, international flights to Nice jumped from 20 to 120 daily, and most tourists were not tested for the virus, Mayor Christian Estrosi says.

While shops are open in France, restrictions are keeping many businesses shut, including restaurants and leisure facilities. The government is anxious to avoid a third national lockdown.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Lisa Freeman

Wales joins Scotland in allowing its youngest pupils back into the classroom today, in the first step towards reopening schools.

Children aged three to seven will start a phased return to face-to-face teaching, along with some students on practical college courses.

Education Minister Kirsty Williams says she hopes more pupils will return if cases continued falling. A decision on the next steps is due to be made on 15 March.

Lisa Freeman's four-year-old son, Ethan, is returning to his reception class at Ysgol Hamadryad in Cardiff.

She says he was "very nervous" and he did not talk about going back to school, so they had "broached the subject slowly".

"He hasn't left my side since the beginning of December really. I think it's quite frightening. We try to keep the news off as much as possible [around him]. Just to be around his peers I think is huge for his age group," she says.

Find out how other parents in Wales are feeling as they send their children back to school.

Image source, Reuters

It's another busy day for coronavirus news. Here's the latest this lunchtime:

• There's some good news from a scientific study in Scotland today showing the vaccines are reducing hospitalisations. It's the first evidence we have of the real-world impact of vaccination in the UK
• People in England are waiting to hear from Boris Johnson about how lockdown will be lifted. The PM will speak in the Commons at 15:30 GMT, and then at a press conference at 19:00. But we already know a few things - the plan is made of four steps. The first step will happen in two parts - first on 8 March schools will reopen and two people will be able to meet outdoors to socialise, then on 29 March people can meet outside in groups of six, or two households, and outdoor sports can resume
• Meanwhile in Scotland, lockdown is already starting to be eased as the youngest pupils are returning to school for the first time since Christmas. It's the first stage of a phased reopening of schools
• A similar school reopening is happening in Wales - children aged three to seven are starting a phased return to face-to-face teaching, along with some students on practical college courses

• Meanwhile, people living with HIV in England and Wales are now able to choose to have their Covid vaccine through specialist clinics so they don't have to tell their GP about their HIV status. The charity the Terrence Higgins Trust said the fact many people feel unable to talk to their GP about their HIV status shows the stigma around the virus
• Australia's deputy prime minister has criticised fans at the Australian Open tennis final on Sunday who booed when the vaccine rollout was mentioned.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The rules of combat are beginning to change.

No longer is controlling infection and keeping R below 1 seen as the be-all and end-all.

That much is clear from the government’s four tests for its roadmap to lift lockdown in England.

Infection rates are only being seen as a problem if they risk a surge in hospital admissions.

The reasons for that change can be found from the early results published on the UK vaccination programme.

Scottish researchers have found a “spectacular” reduction in the risk of serious illness four weeks after the first dose is given.

The link between infections and serious illness is being broken.

That's not to say a surge in infections can or will be tolerated - the number of Covid patients in hospital is still only just below where it was in the first peak and not all vulnerable people have been vaccinated yet.

But it does give ministers some room for manoeuvre. That’s important. Schools are not seen a significant driver of infection, but reopening them for all could push infection levels up.

Image source, Getty Images

At about 15:30 GMT today we have Boris Johnson's announcement about lockdown easing in England, and there are lots of questions on people's lips about what might be included.

One thing we know is that from 29 March, outdoor sports such as football, tennis and golf will be allowed - the vaccines minister confirmed that earlier.

But when asked about whether gyms will also be allowed to reopen then, he declined to say but said "outdoors is the priority".

Budget gym franchise PureGym is among the businesses eagerly awaiting more details. Boss Humphrey Cobbold says: "We are burning about £500,000 a day and that's the average over eight months of closure."

He says it has meant about £120m of costs with no revenue for his 275 gyms.

"It's been brutally tough," he says. "The sooner the better within safe operating procedures for us. We can make a massive contribution to the health of the nation."

There's more on this story here.

Image source, Reuters

The funeral of Captain Sir Tom Moore will be held on Saturday with a small service of just eight family members.

The war veteran raised millions of pounds for NHS charities during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic before he tested positive for Covid and died on 2 February aged 100.

In a statement, his daughters Lucy Teixeira and Hannah Ingram-Moore say Captain Tom "spoke openly about his death and his funeral".

They say he "had wondered out loud if perhaps the interest in him over the last 12 months would mean we would need to have more Victoria sponge cakes available for the extra guests".

But due to current restrictions, the funeral will be immediate family only - his two daughters, four grandchildren and his sons-in-laws.

Captain Sir Tom was originally from Keighley near Bradford, and his family says once Covid-19 restrictions permit it, his ashes will be interred in Yorkshire, in the Moore family plot.

He had been writing a book entitled Captain Tom's Life Lessons, which he planned to release just before his 101st birthday, they say.

The family plans to share the final chapter as a thank you "for the love and kindness the nation and the world have shown him".

They are asking those wishing to pay their respects to "continue to support the NHS by staying at home." His memory can be honoured by writing in an online book of condolence, external, donating to The Captain Tom Foundation, planting a tree in his memory or donating to another charity, they say.

Image source, EPA

Australia's deputy prime minister has criticised fans at the Australian Open tennis final after some loudly booed the mention of a vaccine rollout.

The booing happened during an awards ceremony after the men's final on Sunday, when a tennis official referred to global vaccine efforts as a sign of optimism.

The final was won by men's number one player Novak Djokovic, who has in the past been criticised for appearing to have a casual attitude towards virus-related restrictions and health measures.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack called the crowd's behaviour "disgusting", saying: "I don't like booing at any event, and certainly any sporting event."

"This vaccine is going to get our country back to some sort of pre-Covid normality," he said.

While the vaccine has broad support locally, it has also sparked protests. On Saturday, small crowds of anti-vaccination demonstrators marched in cities including Melbourne and Sydney to protest against its rollout.

Australia is beginning its national vaccine programme today, with front-line workers first in line to get the initial doses.

There's more on this story here.

Image source, PA Media

We've heard a lot about plans to help children catch up with the learning they've lost while schools have been closed over the past year.

Summer schools, weekly tutoring and even extending the school day are among the suggestions put forward.

But educational psychologists are warning the idea children must catch up with learning is putting them under "huge" pressure.

The British Psychological Society says children's wellbeing, rather than their learning, should be the focus.

Dr Dan O'Hare, co-chair of the BPS division of educational and child psychology, says it is "absolutely understandable" parents are concerned children have "been missing out on many aspects of their formal education" - but warns against setting expectations too high.

"The notion that children need to catch up or are 'behind' at school due to the pandemic reinforces the idea that children have 'one shot' at their education and puts them under even more pressure to perform academically after what has been a challenging and unprecedented time for everyone," he says.

It's an interesting argument - and there's more here.

As England prepares for all 10m school children go back to class on 8 March, Scotland starts its staggered return for its youngest pupils today.

Children in early years education and the first three years of primary school are heading back to school for the first time since the Christmas break.

Education Secretary John Swinney insists "detailed clinical analysis" assures him it is safe.

But concerns have been raised about the measures in place to reduce risk of transmission.

A small number of senior secondary pupils will be allowed into school buildings on a part-time basis to complete work for national qualifications.

Other age groups will continue to learn from home and it is unlikely they will return to the classroom before 15 March at the earliest.

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live has been talking to teachers about what they would like to hear from the prime minister this afternoon about schools returning.

Clare Morgan is the head teacher of a secondary school in Cheshire. She says she wants "clarity" on the role schools will play in mass testing.

"The different scenarios will most definitely present different logistical challenges that probably from 8pm tonight we will be planning for," she says.

She also says a phased return of students will "make sense" if schools are expected to mass test.

"Given the sheer scale of the task, to invite pupils back in a staggered way would make absolute sense because it is a real logistical challenge," she says.

Listen to the full interview here, external or listen to 5 Live on the free BBC Sounds app.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, we heard some more details about the governement's lockdown easing plan for England from vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.

He confirmed that outdoor sports including football, golf and tennis will be allowed to resume in England from 29 March - which is when part two of step one of lockdown easing begins.

So far we know that there are going to be four steps of lockdown, and step one is broken into two parts - one on 8 March, (when schools go back) the second on 29 March.

Mr Zahawi said outdoor sports - including organised adult and children's sport - would return, but he declined to say when gyms would reopen.

"Outdoor is safer and therefore we prioritise versus indoor," he told radio station LBC.

"Outdoor sports - tennis, golf, outdoor organised team sports, grassroots football - will go back on 29 March."

When asked whether gyms and fitness centres could reopen, Mr Zahawi added: "At the moment, it's outdoors versus indoors. Outdoors is the priority because it's where the transmission rates are much, much, much lower."

Read more here.

Here's a video of vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi running through the coming rules on meeting outside in England:

• 8 March - two people can meet outdoors for a coffee or to socialise
• 29 March - two families or six people can meet outdoors
• 29 March - outdoor sports like tennis, golf and team sports will return

We've got more from the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, who was talking earlier to BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the take-up of the vaccine in England.

Zahawi says the UK has one of the highest levels of acceptance of the vaccination. The Office for National Statistics estimates it at 85% and the polling firm Ipsos Mori says 89%, he says.

"We were initially modelling at 75%, and we've smashed that completely - even in the first four cohorts, if you look at 70 to 74-year-olds we are touching 100%," he says.

Presenter Mishal Husain says these figures were for the UK as a whole and asks about data for different communities.

She says: "If you look at Birmingham, for example, there's a very striking lower take-up in more deprived areas. This is true in areas with high numbers of ethnic minority residents, and also poorer white areas. What is your plan to address that? Because if you don't, we will continue to have Covid circulating to a higher degree in poorer parts of the country."

Zahawi says this is "absolutely right" and he has published a "full uptake plan which effectively looks at how we work on data" and what can be improved.

He says that evidence suggested that the timing of appointments has made a "huge difference" for BAME communities who work in health and social care, so they opened up the national booking system for those staff.

He also says the vaccines are being provided through places people trust, such as mosques and community pharmacies.

We've got a bit more information about the study in Scotland which has just been published, showing how effective the vaccine is.

It is the first evidence of the impact that the vaccination programme is having in the UK - and shows that the jabs have had a significant impact on the risk of serious illness.

"These results are very encouraging and have given us great reasons to be optimistic for the future," said the study's lead researcher, Prof Aziz Sheikh from the University of Edinburgh.

"We now have national evidence - across an entire country - that vaccination provides protection against Covid-19 hospitalisations."

Public Health Scotland's national Covid incident director, Dr Jim McMenamin, said the results were "important as we move from expectation to firm evidence of benefit from vaccines.

"Across the Scottish population the results show a substantial effect on reducing the risk of admission to hospital from a single dose of vaccine."

Image source, PA Media

Statistician Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter has been discussing the government's plan to ease lockdown on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning.

He says current data shows the situation is "extremely positive" and "better than people would have predicted" - but ministers should "keep in reserve" the option of using local measures to tackle outbreaks.

Spiegelhalter - who sits on the government's group of scientific advisers, Sage - also says the government is "right not to give precise criteria about what the number of cases has to be, the number of deaths has to be, before certain things would happen".

Instead, the government has set out four conditions that need to be met before each step of lockdown easing can go ahead.

He says he also wants to have "a little moan" at the lack of detailed data on the vaccine rollout, which is "upsetting" him.

"We don't know about the numbers or the proportions by the priority groups - the groups one to nine, external.

"We don't know the proportions by ethnicity; we don't know this broken down by region.

"I mean they do, somebody does, but we're not getting it. And I think that's a real shame as it was asked for a long time ago and so far nothing has happened."

Image source, Getty Images

Covid vaccination has had a significant impact on the risk of serious illness in Scotland, an analysis shows.

The work led by Public Health Scotland found by the fourth week after the first dose hospitalisations were reduced by 85% for the Pfizer jab and 94% for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

It is the first sign of the impact of Covid vaccines in the real world in the UK.

Figures on England are expected to be released later.

Among the over 80s, the combined figure was an 81% reduction.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

We now know which lockdown measures in England are going to be eased first in the PM's announcement later.

On 8 March, schools will reopen and two people will be able to meet in public outdoors to socialise. Then, on 29 March, two households or a group of six will be able to meet outdoors.

But what is the risk from these activities? We've looked at what the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has advised.

For schools, Sage has said (with "moderate confidence") that schools have a "moderate" impact on transmission.

But the role schools have played in the spread of the virus is not clear-cut.

One report from Sage notes, perhaps unsurprisingly, that cases were highest among children when schools fully reopened in September 2020. But there is no clear evidence that schools are the driving force behind broader community spikes.

Meanwhile for outdoor gatherings, Sage has said (with "high confidence") that outdoor gatherings have a low impact on transmission.

Sage has long been confident that small outdoor gatherings have a lower impact , externalon transmission because coronavirus does not last long in ventilated areas or under UV light. But despite being considered low-risk, the virus is still able to spread outdoors.

Read more here.

Later, we'll hear the full details of the government's plan for easing lockdown in England, but we understand it will be a four-step plan, with gaps between each step.

We only know dates for the first step at the moment. The first step will be be split into two parts - with part one on 8 March, when schools reopen, and part two on 29 March.

The BBC's political editor says the gap between each stage of easing restrictions is expected to be five weeks long.

"This is gradual. This feels very different from previous unrolling of the restrictions," says Laura Kuenssberg.

"There are four steps here back to something like normal. And the gap between them is expected to be five weeks. That was insisted on by the government's medical advisers, as I understand it.

"And if you work all of that through, that means it's going to be early summer before the regulations are rolled back. And that's still conditional on things going according to plan."