In January, people aged over 65 made up the vast majority of hospital admissions, Nadhim Zahawi says.

Now they make up less than a third.

A study of 500 hospital admissions shows 324 patients - over 60% - were unvaccinated, he says.

And 87 of them had only had one dose of a vaccine and 40 had received two doses, he says.

This really does show the importance of getting the jab and, critically, getting the second dose, he says

We have already given first doses to almost half of all 25-29-year-olds in England, the vaccines minister says.

And only a week after the programme opened to all adults on Friday, one third of 18-24-year-olds have had their first doses, says Nadhim Zahawi.

He gave a "huge thank you" to all of the young people who have stepped up to protect themselves, their families and their communities.

"The vaccines are our way out of this pandemic," he says.

The vaccination programme has saved 14,000 lives and prevented 44,500 hospitalisations in England alone in the past two weeks, he says.

Analysis: Hope rests on immunity flattening latest case risepublished at 17:08 British Summer Time 23 June 2021

17:08 BST 23 June 2021

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

It’s not unusual to see a jump in positive cases at this stage of the week, as more people tend to come forward for tests after the weekend.

But this is a big rise – it’s the most since early February, with Scotland seeing its highest ever number of positive cases recorded.

It's been clear for a number of weeks that infection levels are on the upwards trajectory.

The big question is what this means for serious illness and death. Hospital admissions are rising, but not as sharply as they did in previous waves.

During the winter around 10% of positive cases ended up in hospital 10 days later.

At the moment this looks to be around 3%, showing the impact vaccines are having.

But if cases keep rising as they are, it's possible we will see in excess of 1,000 admissions a day later in the summer – what the NHS would see for all types of respiratory illness in the middle of a bad winter.

The hope is the wall of immunity built up by the vaccination programme will kick in before that happens and flatten this wave.

Image source, UK Government

The vaccines minister starts the coronavirus briefing by saying "we've come a long way since we gave the world the first clinically-authorised vaccine just over six months ago."

Nadhim Zahawi says 82% of all adults in the UK have had their first dose.

And today we reached the milestone of three in five of all adults getting a second dose, Nadhim Zahawi says.

He says six appointments were booked every second, after jabs opened up to all adults.

Zahawi says he was "thrilled" to see video of young people coming forward for vaccines over the weekend.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi enters the briefing room and the press conference is under way.

The UK on Wednesday reported a further 19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government's coronavirus dashboard , external- and a further 16,135 cases, an increase of nearly 5,000 on Tuesday's reported figure.

But the UK's vaccination programme has passed another key milestone with more than 60% of the adult population now fully vaccinated.

We'll be bringing you all the top lines from the Downing Street press conference in a few minutes.

It's expected to get under way at 17:00 BST so do stay with us.

Image source, Getty Images

Foreign holidays are no longer banned but organising a trip overseas isn't straightforward.

International holidays are legal, but under England's traffic light system very few countries are on the green list of safe destinations. For countries not on the green list, tourists must agree to self-isolation on return and take a slew of tests.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed the government is considering removing the need to quarantine for double-vaccinated travellers from England who are returning from countries on the amber list.

But even if this does happen, there are also the entry requirements and restrictions applicable to your destination to take into account before you travel.

Check out our handy guide to some of the things you need to know about visiting six popular destinations - Portugal, Spain, Greece, France, Italy and Turkey.

Nadhim Zahawi, the government's vaccine minister, is leading today's Downing Street press briefing - expected to get under way in the next half an hour.

Over the weekend, there was a major push to offer jabs to all remaining adults in England, with walk-in clinics opening up in football stadiums and the like.

Despite the push, there are still concerns over low take-up of vaccinations in some parts of the country - London and Birmingham among them.

Image source, PA Media

The Queen has held her first in-person weekly audience with the Prime Minister since before lockdown began.

Boris Johnson met with the monarch at Buckingham Palace this afternoon.

The pair, who were together at the G7 summit earlier this month, have conducted their audiences by telephone ever since the coronavirus pandemic swept through the UK. The Queen has been at Windsor Castle for much of the time since the UK first went into lockdown in the spring of last year.

Image source, Getty Images

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is not giving much away on whether he's going to allow people who've had both vaccines to travel abroad more freely.

He tells the BBC he'll be following the science and the government will be reviewing the data shortly.

"If you've been double vaccinated then of course we need to look at what the science says... We've said that Monday is the point to review that data, so we are coming up to having a look at it," he says.

"We're looking at it in the next few days and I'll have more to say."

Asked about the travel industry - our main story for most of the day - Shapps says he's "massively concerned... which is why we've provided £7bn of support just for the aviation sector alone".

The UK has given a total of 75,188,795 coronavirus vaccinations, according to the government's daily figures., external

That's 43,448,680 first doses and 31,740,115 second doses.

The statistics suggest yesterday saw the highest number of first doses given in nearly three months with 299,837 people vaccinated. But that is likely to have been affected by the fact the figures for Monday's jabs in England were unavailable this time yesterday - so some of today's vaccination data is for a 48-hour period rather than the usual 24 hours.

The last time the figure was higher was on 27 March when 424,301 people received their first jab.

There have been a further 19 Covid-related deaths in the UK, according to government daily statistics., external

It brings the total number of deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test to 128,027.

And 16,135 people have tested positive in the past 24 hours, the data shows.

We've been reporting the bleak assessment for music festivals and freelancers working in that industry after a group of MPs said they faced "devastating consequences" unless the government offers more support.

Frank Turner is one of the few musicians who's been back on stage. Over the weekend he performed at Download Festival, one of the government's pilot projects.

It was, he tells the BBC News Channel, a "magic day". Everyone working there, performing and the audience was in " a great mood", he says.

But he's calling on the government to introduce a cancellation insurance scheme to help the live music industry, as it has with the TV and film industry.

It would, he says, make a huge difference for the planning of these big events.

He also raises the point that crew people are mostly freelancers with very specific non-transferable skills, who make their entire living from gigs and festivals. This group, he says, have fallen through the gaps, receiving no furlough and sometimes left to stack shelves.

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Image source, Reuters

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre has today confirmed Level 3 Covid-19 restrictions will continue to be in place across the island until 12 July.

Level 3 restrictions mean all but essential businesses are closed and mask-wearing is mandatory. They have been in place nationwide since 20 May.

These rules were set to be relaxed on 28 June; however, according to the Taiwan News website, external, the head of the CECC has said “although the number of new cases has shown a downward trend, they have not reached an acceptable threshold to justify lowering the alert level”.

In the past 24 hours, Taiwan has confirmed 104 new cases, and 24 further deaths.

This is the third time the epidemic control centre has suspended the relaxation of restrictions. They were originally set to come to an end on 28 May, but were extended first to 14 June, and then to 28 June.

Taiwan has struggled to combat this new wave of Covid-19. Before May, the country’s total death toll was 12; it is now 599.

The island has been criticised for having a much higher case fatality rate than the global average, external but last year was one of the regions seen as virus success story, as it introduced heightened restrictions quickly and prevented a large outbreak during the early stages of the pandemic.

Image source, EPA

Hundreds of travel professionals have gathered outside the Houses of Parliament - and in cities up and down the UK - to draw attention to the ongoing struggles of the industry, and ask for government support.

Linda Hill Miller, who runs an independent travel agency in Glasgow, describes the past 17 months as "devastating".

"I've spent 17 years building my family business and over the last 17 months I've lost every single penny - and that breaks my heart," she tells BBC News.

"We haven't been able to take advantage of furlough, because we haven't been able to close our business - we have kept working - in many ways, working harder than we have ever worked before, but for absolutely zero income."

She adds: "Not just zero income - negative income - because we are having to pay credit card fees and refund fees, and overheads have not gone away.

"Today is about 'enough is enough'. We need to have sector-specific support - until it is safe for people to travel again."

At the other end of the industry, Kuoni boss Derek Jones agrees.

"We're not a bowling alley, we're not a pub - we can't just close our business and send everybody home and use the furlough scheme.

"The travel industry is uniquely impacted. The furlough scheme - it helps us a little but it's not the solution.

"The government has to stand up and provide some support," says Mr Jones, adding "businesses have been absolutely decimated".

"We're a big business, we've got good financial backing, we can ride this out - but hundreds of good, independent travel agents are just being forgotten about."

Image source, Getty Images

Next year's A-levels and GCSEs in England are likely to face "adjustments" to be fairer to pupils disrupted by the pandemic, the education secretary has told MPs.

Gavin Williamson says exams in 2022 will need to be altered so pupils will not be at a disadvantage.

This summer's exams have been cancelled - but he says the expectation is for modified exams to run next year.

"We very much hope and intend exams will go ahead in 2022," he says.

Facing questions from MPs on the education select committee, Williamson says changes are being considered to next year's exams to "ensure that there's fairness and there's the right level of support".

Read more.

Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva

Image source, EPA

The Swiss government has announced major relaxations of Covid restrictions, including dropping the mandatory work from home order which has been in place since the middle of January.

Mask wearing in open air public spaces such as train stations, bus and tram stops will be dropped.

Restaurants, shops, and gyms are allowed to operate at full capacity, and nightclubs and music venues can reopen.

Mass events are permitted with unlimited numbers, but only if each person attending has a Covid certificate proving they have been vaccinated, or have tested negative.

For events which do not require a Covid certificate, the maximum number of people attending is 1,000.

The relaxations go further than expected, and suggest government confidence that the pandemic is easing.

On Tuesday just 154 new infections were reported, and 2 deaths. 30% of the population is now fully vaccinated.

However some epidemiologists warn against over confidence: Switzerland opened up very rapidly last June following a steep drop in cases, and suffered a devastating second wave in October, November, and December.

Figures released yesterday show the number of deaths in Switzerland during those months was 45% higher than in the previous year.

Although the test and trace system in Switzerland is far more widespread and efficient than last year, today’s relaxations also include dropping the requirement for workplaces and schools to do regular mass testing – something many had hailed as a key element in bringing infection rates under control.

The man whose lockdown pub quizzes earned him the title of the "nation's quizmaster" has said holding his first in-person game since the start of the pandemic was "brilliant" and "weird".

Jay Flynn, from Darwen in Lancashire, originally set up a weekly quiz for friends on social media but saw the game joined by thousands globally.

He went on to raise thousands for charity and was awarded an MBE.

Mr Flynn has previously said he started the quiz every Thursday through Facebook and YouTube to "lift a few local people's spirits".

However, he accidentally made the event public, meaning anyone could join the quiz.

Read more.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK government and Public Health England are monitoring the so-called Delta Plus variant of coronavirus, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister's official spokesman said PHE had already put extra measures in place where the variant had been detected including "enhanced contact tracing, testing, and isolation".

Forty-one cases of the variant have been identified in the UK, he said.

Asked whether the government was concerned the UK was being taken off the equivalent of the green list of travel restrictions in other countries due to a rise in coronavirus cases, the PM's spokesman said it was a "decision fundamentally for individual countries and governments to take".

"We're working hard to use our vaccination programme and other methods to get this more transmissible variant [Delta] under control.

"And with the high levels of vaccination that we're seeing, we're confident we can do that, allowing us to move to step four [the easing of restrictions on 19 July]."

'It's going to take time for travel rules to change'published at 14:36 British Summer Time 23 June 2021

14:36 BST 23 June 2021

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

The government is very conscious of the pressures on the travel industry.

It says that there continues to be support for the industry, including the furlough scheme. But when it comes to changing the rules, I think you'll have to wait.

It was just a month ago that Boris Johnson said people should not be going to amber list countries. He said if you do, you'll have to isolate on return.

Just two days ago he said this was going to be a difficult summer for travel and the priority was protecting the UK from new variants being imported - something also repeated by Public Health England at the weekend. They were saying the urgent need is to increase vaccinations here to get more and more people double-vaccinated.

There are trials going on looking at the impact of double-vaccination on transmission of the virus and whether that means we can open up a bit - but it will take time.

And remember even if that does happen it will also depend on other countries allowing UK citizens in.

We know places like Germany, for example, require people coming from the UK to isolate for two weeks.