Health chiefs say people turned up early and urged future patients to stick to their appointment.

Sheffield United gain their first Premier League win of the season as they beat 10-man Newcastle United at Bramall Lane.

Newcastle manager Steve Bruce says VAR is "ruining the game" after Sheffield United earned their first Premier League win of the season from the penalty spot.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is delighted with his side's first win of the season following their 1-0 victory over Newcastle United.

FC Halifax Town's National League game against Hartlepool United is called off an hour before kick-off due to a frozen pitch.

Durham County Council plans to install about 100 electric vehicle charge points across the county within the next 15 months.

The county council said as part of the plan residents without off-street parking will be able to access a charging point close to their homes.

Image source, Durham County Council

It also aims to encourage more residents to switch to electric vehicles and reduce carbon emissions in the county.

The charging points will be installed in council-owned car parks and each will be capable of charging two vehicles at once.

The council said the first stage focusing on rural areas includes 60 charge points.

Covid patient numbers at the University Hospital of North Durham are exceeding the first peak of the pandemic, its medical director says

Jeremy Cundall (pictured), from the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We're running at just about 200 cases in the trust compared to the peak of wave one which was 150.

"We do have a lot of Covid wards open across the organisation but as you'd expect we've had 200 patients, so that works out at eight to nine ward occupants."

Image source, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

The situation means additional stress on other hospital departments, with the trust having to stand down some elective surgeries, so nursing staff can be released to other areas, although cancer treatments are continuing.

Mr Cundall is urging people to follow the rules and save lives.

He said: "The people who don't believe it's serious now are never going to believe it's serious and frankly anything I say to them will go in one ear and out the other.

"From my point of view I would be appealing to the vast majority of people who do understand this is a real problem to say to them - follow the rules and that will be the way, with the vaccination, that we get out of this situation.

"And everyone else who doesn't get it, they're never going to get it."

Five people have been arrested after they broke into a BMW garage twice on the same morning.

Northumbria Police said it was alerted that intruders had broken into the garage on Boldon Business Park in South Tyneside at about 02:15 and 07:45 on Sunday.

Police said wheels were taken by two people in the first raid, and a car was stolen from the showroom in the second break in.

Image source, Northumbria Police

The stolen vehicle was abandoned after the suspects crashed it through a fence and got stuck on a dirt track not far from the garage.

Police said two women were arrested on suspicion of burglary. The suspected stolen tyres were also located inside the vehicle.

A third suspect who fled in another car was also arrested with suspected stolen tyres in Oswald Terrace South in Sunderland. Another man and a woman have also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Wider definitions of "vulnerable children" and "critical workers" means more pupils turning up.

BBC Radio Tees

Middlesbrough's mayor has told BBC Radio Tees he is "cautiously optimistic" the lockdown is starting to work, but says there are still a few "idiots" not keeping to the restrictions.

Andy Preston (pictured) says rates have fallen slightly in the last two weeks from about 600 per 100,000 of the population to about 479.

However, he says people must not become complacent now, as things could get worse before they get better:

"The vast majority of people thank you, you have done a brilliant job we're near the end," he said.

"There's a few idiots that continue to spoil it, thankfully pressure is reducing the number of idiots out there, but there's still a few hardcore idiots out there and we need the police, we need the shops and we need the public to put them under pressure."

The region's council leaders say virus rates are lower, but people must not "let down their guard".

Seven mass vaccination centres have opened across England to help deliver the Coronavirus vaccine.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Herbert Soden

Covid marshals in North Tyneside have spoken to more than 2,000 people since they started work two months ago.

The team was set up to help and provide advice to people during the pandemic about social-distancing, masks and guidelines but they have also been involved with a wide range of other queries.

They do not have enforcement powers and their role is to “engage, encourage and explain” the latest rules and public health advice to residents, businesses and visitors and work closely with police and other partners.

With a new lockdown under way they are providing advice on the latest restrictions and patrolling areas where there may be heavier footfall.

North Tyneside mayor Mayor Norma Redfearn said: “Our marshals have been carrying out a really important role over the past couple of months out and about around the borough where the need has been greatest.

“With another national lockdown now in place their presence continues to be vital in ensuring people stay home to help limit the spread of this terrible virus and protect lives.”

Image source, North Tyneside

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Alex Metcalfe

Health bosses have implored people on Teesside not to leave home unless “absolutely necessary” after Covid patients on wards reached a new height at one trust.

South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust is now treating 166 virus patients, with 24 people in critical care.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service also understands there have been five Covid deaths in the past 24 hours at the trust.

Leaders are warning people to behave as though they have the virus and do everything they can to stop more people catching it.

Clinical leader Dr Uwe Franke said the trust had now gone beyond the peak it saw last spring.

He said: “One in three people with Covid-19 have no symptoms and will be spreading it without realising it which is why I am appealing to people who do have to leave home to behave as though they have the virus and remember to wash your hands, cover your face indoors and keep your distance from others.

“The vaccine has shown the light at the end of the tunnel but to get there as quickly and safely as possible stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.”

Intensive care consultant Dr Richard Cree revealed in his latest blog that the number of critical care patients has now increased to the point where they have had to open another intensive care unit (ICU) at James Cook University Hospital.

An eleven-year-old girl whose parents were told she'd have a 50/50 chance of surviving surgery, has successfully had a rare tumour removed.

Ruby Wilson from Middlesbrough was diagnosed with a rare cancer called mesenchymal chondrosarcoma in February 2020.

The tumour, which started at her ribs, extended through the right side of her chest, covered her spine and compressed her heart.

Image source, Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust

Quentin Campbell Hewson, consultant oncologist at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle and Ruby’s oncologist said: "We knew that not removing the tumour would mean that Ruby would not survive.

"However, we also knew how difficult the surgical removal would be and that there was a likelihood that Ruby would not survive, or the operation would result in severe complication.

“Decisions like these are never taken lightly and the decision to proceed to the surgical procedures was taken in a very considered and balanced way involving the entire treating team, the family and national and international colleagues."

Ruby has completed her chemotherapy and is now remission.

Jack Reed's lawyers had applied to keep his identity secret shortly before his 18th birthday.

People are being urged by a mountain rescue team not to travel out of their area for exercise but to stay local.

Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team said people had been drawn to the hills , externalwith the snow over the weekend but it warned the more people who visited the greater the chance of an incident.

It said searches regularly involved more than 20 team members and increased the chance of coronavirus being transmitted.

The rescue team also said visitors' vehicles blocked park gates or caused disruption to local communities.

England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty earlier warned the UK will go through the 'most dangerous time' of the pandemic in the weeks before vaccine rollout has an impact.

Image source, Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team

Queues have formed outside Newcastle's Centre for Life, which has opened as one of seven mass vaccination centres across England.

NHS England said it would be joined later this week by hundreds more GP-led and hospital services along with the first pharmacy-led pilot sites, taking the total to about 1,200.

The government is aiming to offer a vaccination to fifteen million vulnerable people in the UK, including the over-80s, care home residents and health and care staff by the middle of February.

About two million people in the UK have now received their first dose of the vaccine.

Jimmy Charlton, 80, from Blakelaw, said the way the centre was organised was "spot on" and the experience could not have gone better.

He said people should be vaccinated if they get the chance,

He said: "Get it done, no messing about. It will make them feel happier once it is done."

Professor Neil Watson, who is running the coronavirus vaccination programme in the North East and Cumbria, said: "We will be seeing across the country in each of the centres thousands of patients coming through on a weekly basis, which is a step change."

Concerns are raised over younger patients due to the spread of the more infectious new strain.

Follow live text and BBC Radio 5 Live commentary as Man Utd move top of Premier League and Sheff Utd and Everton also win.