Image source, AFP

President Xi Jinping has pledged that China will donate one billion additional coronavirus vaccine doses to Africa.

Mr Xi said 600 million jabs would be sent directly, while the remainder would be delivered by other means, including through investing in vaccine production sites in Africa.

China has delivered about 180 million vaccine doses to Africa so far, just under a fifth of them as donations.

Less than 7% of Africa's population is fully vaccinated, however vaccine hesitancy remains a big problem.

President Xi made the promise during the triennial China-Africa forum which is underway in Senegal.

He also said Beijing would encourage Chinese companies to invest $10bn (£7.5bn) in Africa over the next three years.

The UK has recorded 42,583 cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to the latest government figures., external

This takes the number of new cases to 303,322 over the last seven days, a 3.7% rise on the week before.

There have been also 35 deaths over the last day of someone who tested positive for coronavirus in the previous 28 days.

In the last week 838 people have died with Covid, down 189 - 18.4% - on the prior week.

Priority to get boosters in armspublished at 16:25 Greenwich Mean Time 29 November 2021

16:25 GMT 29 November 2021

Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

It will take weeks for scientists to figure out what threat the new Omicron variant actually poses. Given its mutations, they suspect it could spread more easily than earlier versions of Covid, but they do not know whether it will cause worse disease.

The priority is to get as many people fully vaccinated as possible before a wave could hit. Current vaccines may not be a perfect match, but will provide some much needed protection this winter. Booster doses are recommended for all adults, but those at highest risk of getting severely ill should be first in the queue.

More than 17.5m booster doses have already been given. And there is stock and capacity to ramp up the offering.

Sajid Javid responds to Labour's Rosena Allin-Khan by saying he believes the shadow minister has "misjudged the tone of the House" and that he thinks the public want MPs to work together.

"Perhaps she was just auditioning for the reshuffle that's going on right now," he quips in reference to Labour's ongoing frontbench rejig.

The health secretary says international donations of vaccines are a priority and that the PM has pledged 100m doses by June 2022.

So far, the UK has donated 20m doses - and the Covax programme has donated some 537m doses to 144 countries.

He adds that in terms of new rules on travel and masks - they are proportionate and part of a balanced response.

Shadow health minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan responds to Javid's statement, arguing Omicron is a "wake up call" and calls for the government to act with speed over the issue.

The A&E doctor, who was drafted to replace shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth after he was diagnosed with Covid, says it is a reminder that "no one is safe until everyone is safe".

She asks the health secretary for an update on what the UK is doing to get the global vaccine programme and what the government is doing to get more doses to pooer nations.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid hails the broader eligibility for booster jabs as a "huge step-up" for the vaccine programme.

He says there will be more details on how people will receive their invitation for a third jab in the coming days.

Javid says his earlier meeting with health ministers of leading G7 countries saw praise for how South Africa has handled the emergence of the Omicron variant.

And it saw support for swift and decisive measures to hand the new variant while scientists race to develop more knowledge about it.

"Covid-19 is not going away, so we have to keep seeing new variants emerge," he says, adding that "we have to follow the evidence" when it comes to new variants.

Speaking in the Commons, Health Secretary Sajid Javid outlines the countries now on the UK's red list and the requirement for arrivals to take a PCR test on day two - and to isolate until they receive a negative result.

He also explains the change to make face masks a requirement in shops and on public transport in England.

While these measures were already announced by the government, Javid's speech today is the first time they have been formally disclosed to MPs.

He also goes on to confirm the new measures on vaccines outlined earlier by the medical and scientific experts at Downing Street.

Now the Downing Street briefing has drawn to a close, we turn our attention back to the Commons, where the health secretary is delivering a statement.

Sajid Javid says it appears Omicron spreads rapidly, may impact the effectiveness of a leading treatment for Covid-19 in hospitals, and impact vaccines.

As we reported earlier, Javid confirms there are now five confirmed Omicron cases in England.

The health secretary says the strategy is to buy more time and strengthen defences against the virus.

Image source, PA Media

Chris Smyth from the Times asks how concerned should we be over early evidence of community transmission of Omicron in the UK?

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam says it is important to slow the spread because the science is uncertain over how effective vaccines are against it.

"The more boosting we can do by the time we have any significant Omicron activity is very important," he says.

The expert explains we are in "uncharted territory", with a heavily vaccinated but not boosted population.

The Sun asks why younger people need a booster, and why action is only being taken now - why haven't younger people been vaccinated sooner?

Prof Lim says the vaccine effectiveness against Delta, the current variant circulating, is not as good as it was against the Alpha variant.

But despite this, its protection against severe disease in younger people - those 18-39 years old - is very good, at more than 95% protection.

There are uncertainties too with the identification of the new variant and how effective vaccines might be against it.

"We are saying let's not wait any further," says Prof Lim.

Dr June Raine is asked about vaccines for younger children. She says application for the use of Pfizer for five to 11 year olds will be very carefully assessed.

Asked about a timeframe, she says it is likely this assessment will be concluded by Christmas.

Asked by the i paper's Hugo Gye if the JCVI has sped up its decision-making process after criticism over an earlier decision, Prof Wei Shin Lim argues sometimes "there is a time to move quickly and there is a time to move cautiously".

The scientist defends his committee's decision-making progress, saying work over the summer was done to be "as careful as possible given the circumstances". He says they moved "swiftly" when the vaccine programme began last winter.

They "shortened their stride" to "not outpace the emerging data" at the time, he says, adding that now the circumstances have changed and it calls for more decisive decision making.

Image source, PA Media

Asked by ITV's Emily Morgan if the reduction in gap for booster jabs means the experts are particularly concerned about Omicron?

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam emphasises again people should not panic.

However, he adds he is "not asking them either to completely ignore the weather forecast", stressing the situation in South Africa is an early sign.

"You can't ignore what's happening around the world and it is more urgent than ever before because of what has happened," Prof Van-Tam says.

On why the gap is being reduced to three months for booster jabs, JCVI chair Prof Wei Shin Lim explains it is usually advisable to extend the time between vaccine doses for maximum effect.

But he explains timing is everything and they need to strike a balance between waiting to increase immune response in people, but also not missing the opportunity to maximise the effect of boosters.

Tom Clarke from Sky News asks if the JCVI considered if it would be better to use vaccine doses elsewhere in the world rather than for younger people in the UK.

Prof Van-Tam says on global supply of vaccines, public health officials say none of us are safe until we are all safe.

He says that 30.6 million doses of AstraZeneca have already been donated from the UK and there are 20 million committed next year, plus 20 million Janssen vaccines.

But he says we "also need to protect gains in the UK" and it is a "balancing act".

Image source, PA Media

Back now to the Downing Street press conference.

We know Prof Van-Tam is a fan of a football analogy when used to describe the battle against Covid.

He says we started with 11 players on the pitch - there have been a couple of injuries now and now some subs are off the bench.

We are "well in the game" and vaccines are holding up and largely "keeping us out of trouble", he says.

But Omicron is giving "yellow cards to key players" he adds, saying we are "starting to feel at risk".

It is the time for everyone to up their game, with the risk we could go to 10 players, he adds.

Everyone has to play their part. In terms of boosters, he says it has "never been more vital" than at this point to come forward the moment you are called.

Image source, Reuters

Now over in the Commons, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has begun a statement on Covid-19 and the new Omicron variant.

He tells MPs the vaccination programme has moved at a blistering pace - with 17 million booster doses now given across the UK.

But, he says, a worrying new variant could shift back the achievements made by the vaccine programme.

Prof Van-Tam says we have an opportunity to get the timing right with Omicron.

There is renewed urgency of the booster programme now, and further expansion of it.

He admits "we don't know what's going to happen next" and it is a "period of scientific uncertainty" - but that "while we wait for the mist to clear", there is no time to delay.

It is "our chance to get ahead", he says.

Image source, EPA

The BBC's Jim Reed asks the panel how confident they are that the NHS can deliver the doses before Christmas - now less than a month away.

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam says this is brand-new guidance and they have worked at an "extreme pace" since news of Omicron emerged.

He says the NHS will announce in the coming days how it will "operationalise" the new directive on booster jabs - today's announcement will make tens of millions of people eligible much sooner than before.

Image source, PA Media

Boosters must be provided before any possible wave of Omicron to maximise their efficacy, Prof Wei Shen Lim continues.

The vaccine expert explains the timing is key and if a vaccine is deployed is in the middle or at the peak of a wave, the effect is less pronounced.

However, he emphasises he is not predicting a wave of the variant - they want to make sure they are fully prepared if it does happen.

Prof Lim lays out the five pieces of advice issued by the JCVI for the booster programme:

• Boosters should be extended to adults aged 18-39
• The rollout should follow prioritisation of older and vulnerable people, to ensure the people most at risk are protected, with the booster offered no sooner than three months after the second
• Severely immunocompromised people should be given a fourth dose of a vaccine, with three jabs being considered the first course
• The booster dose should be from an mRNA vaccine - the Pfizer-Biontech or Moderna vaccines - as these generate a very strong immune response given as a boost
• Children aged 12 to 15 years old should be offered a second dose of the vaccine, 12 weeks after their first

He adds the priority must be the booster programme, to protect the most vulnerable people.

A further two cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed in England, the UK Health Security Agency has said.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in England to five.

The individuals that have tested positive are not connected to each other and are not linked to the previously confirmed cases, the agency said.

Both have links to travel to southern Africa. One case is located in Camden, London, and one case is located in Wandsworth, London.

The individuals and their households have been told to self-isolate.

UKHSA is carrying out targeted testing at locations where the positive cases were likely to be infectious.

Offering booster jabs to all adults will help raise the level of immune response to provide extra protection against variants, Covid vaccine adviser Prof Wei Shen Lim says.

The JCVI member explains vaccines we are using in the UK were developed against the original strain of Covid-19, increasing the likeliness of lower protection from variants.

He adds the immune response from boosters is even greater than the initial two vaccine doses.