Matt Hancock says the vaccine rollout is a task with "huge logistical challenges", including the need to store the vaccine at -70C temperatures and the need for two doses 21 days apart.

He says he knows the NHS will be equal to the task.

The first 800,000 doses are already here in locations around the UK, Hancock says, and the next consignment is scheduled to arrive next week.

He says this week vaccines are being administered from hospitals, but next week deployment will be expanded to GPs.

And we'll vaccinate in care homes by Christmas.

Hancock says that at 06:31 GMT, 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive a clinically-authorised vaccine for Covid-19.

This marks the start of the NHS's "herculean task" to deploy the vaccine, he says.

"This simple act of vaccination is a tribute to scientific endeavour, to human ingenuity, and to the hard work of so many people.

"Today marks the start of the fightback against our common enemy, coronavirus, and while today is a day to celebrate there is much work to be done."

Labour's shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has asked Matt Hancock to update the house about the UK's vaccination programme.

In a couple of minutes, Labour's shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, is to ask an urgent question in the House of Commons to Health Secretary Matt Hancock about the vaccine rollout.

We'll bring you updates from that question.

Image source, Raelene Goody

As we've been reporting, the mass vaccination programme against Covid-19 has begun across the UK.

While the government is working to ease the fears of those who are worried about safety, some people have a more primal fear - needles.

"My heart would be racing. My mind saying, 'calm down, it's going to be fine' but also, 'it's terrifying, it's going to really hurt you'. Then 'you don't know this person, so you can't trust them'. I would be thinking of ways to get away from it."

Raelene Goody, 31, who has cystic fibrosis, an inherited condition that causes lung infections and problems digesting food, regularly requires injections, including an annual flu jab.

But from the age of four to her late teens, she has suffered from severe needle phobia that would leave her "shaking" and often meant she had to be sedated.

So what can you do if you have a needle phobia?

Image source, Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in Wales as part of a royal UK tour - as a government minister says he would "rather no one was having unnecessary visits" while Covid cases rise.

Prince William and Catherine are seeing care home staff, teachers, pupils and volunteers during their trip - to hear about the challenges they have faced during the pandemic.

Wales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: "I'd rather no one was having unnecessary visits."

He added their trip should not be used by people as an "excuse" to say they are "confused" about coronavirus regulations.

Covid rates in Wales are among the UK's highest.

Read more.

The UK has begun a mass Covid-19 vaccination programme, beginning with the elderly, health workers, and carers.

Is the vaccine safe for people with chronic illnesses? What demographics was the vaccine tested on?

In the video below, Dr Penny Ward, a professor of pharmaceutical medicine, answers members of the public's questions about the Covid-19 vaccine.

More of your questions about the vaccine are answered here.

Elsewhere, police in the US state of Florida have raided the home of a data scientist who has previously accused officials of attempting to cover up the true toll of the pandemic in the state.

Rebekah Jones, who says she was removed from Florida's coronavirus portal in May for refusing to censor the numbers of cases and infections, wrote on Twitter that police entered her home on Monday., external

She added that officers "took all my hardware and tech" and also said that officers had pointed a gun at her children.

According to the search warrant obtained by NBC News, the raid was carried out in connection with a message allegedly sent from Jones' home last month, which urged state employees to "speak out before it's too late".

"It's time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don't have to be part of this. Be a hero," read the message, which was sent to around 1,750 people.

Speaking to CNN on Monday night, Jones denied sending the message.

According to data from the Covid Tracking project, Florida has recorded more than one million coronavirus infections and 19,529 deaths since the pandemic began.

India reported fewer than 27,000 new cases for the first time since July on Tuesday, the government has announced.

It is a significant drop from early September, when the country recorded more than 90,000 new cases in a single day.

More than 9.7 million people in India have contracted the virus since the pandemic began - the second-highest number of any country in the world after the US.

Around 140,000 people have also died, although this figure is among the lowest in the world when compared to the size of India's population. Some experts say the true scale of the pandemic in the country may have been under-reported.

The head of the UK's vaccine taskforce, Kate Bingham, has warned we should expect different pandemics in the future, but that the UK will be "well prepared", She told the BBC's Today programme earlier that the infrastructure developed this year to fight Covid-19 would help with future virus outbreaks.

"I think we should expect future pandemics, but what we've put in place is we now have three separate, flexible manufacturing sites, which allows us to make different vaccines quickly," she said.

"Those could be mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer/BioNTech, they could be the viral vaccines like Oxford, protein-based vaccines or whole-virus vaccines, so having that flexible manufacturing capacity puts us in a very strong position...

"So the UK, we really are punching above our weight on a global stage, so I think we will be well prepared. But we haven't finished the job and we've got to continue along the path that we've set out."

Image source, PA Media

Scotland's first Covid-19 vaccinations are under way at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, with Andrew Mencnarowski, a clinical lead at NHS Lothian, among the first to receive the jab.

The Western General is one of 23 sites around Scotland that will act as vaccination centres for the priority groups.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited the hospital to watch the inoculations being administered.

It comes ahead of a review of the country's Covid-19 levels system later.

The first minister has already confirmed that the 11 council areas subject to the highest tier of restrictions will all move to lower levels on Friday.

Here we look at whether the restrictions have succeeded in driving down rates of Covid-19 over the last three weeks.

Broadly, vaccines are being given to the most vulnerable first, as set out in a list of high-priority groups from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), external.

The first people vaccinated will be the over-80s, workers in care homes and NHS staff, including the vaccinators themselves.

As soon as there is clarity on how smaller batches of the vaccine can be transported safely at ultra-cold temperatures of -70C, care home residents will be next on the list - probably from 14 December.

The nine priority groups - around a quarter of the UK population - are thought to cover 90-99% of those at risk of dying from Covid-19, according to the JCVI.

The older you are, the higher your risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the virus - and that risk rises sharply beyond 70. People with underlying health conditions are also vulnerable to the virus.

The second phase of vaccination, which won't start until well into 2021, will focus on the under-50s.

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

An 87-year-old race relations campaigner said he was "proud" after becoming one of the first people in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine out of trials.

Dr Hari Shukla said it was a "privilege" to have taken part in the UK mass vaccination programme, adding: "I don't take this for granted because hundreds of people have worked for this vaccine day and night to make sure we've got the vaccines in good time, so the lives of people can be saved."

He and his wife, Ranjan, travelled to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.

Image source, PA Media

Shukla was born in Uganda and came to this country in 1974, working in race relations, and was the director of the Tyne and Wear Racial Equality Council.

The father-of-four, who has nine grandchildren, has been honoured with a CBE for his work in race relations, and has supported numerous charities in voluntary roles.

Shukla said it was important that he and his wife took part in the programme, saying they wanted to encourage others to follow them.

His wife Ranjan said: "It is such a historic day, I didn't realise it at the time we were asked but now as time goes on, I see it is something bigger than I was expecting."

Image source, PA Media

It's been a busy morning so far on what has been dubbed "V-Day", as the UK's Covid-19 vaccination programme begins.

Here is a round-up of the main UK stories so far:

• A 90-year-old woman has become the first person to be given a Covid jab. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the "best early birthday present"
• Those deemed to be most vulnerable to the virus are being given the Pfizer/BioNTech jab first in what is the biggest vaccination programme in the NHS's history. The vaccines are being administered from about 70 hospital hubs across the UK to over-80s and some health and care staff

• In Wales, care home worker Craig Atkins was among the first to receive the vaccine. The 48-year-old said he was shaking but now feels that he can smile
• In Northern Ireland, nurse Joanna Sloan was the first to get the jab. Ms Sloan, who will head up the vaccine roll-out in Belfast, said she felt "privileged" to get the vaccine first

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited a London hospital to see some of the first people getting the jab, said getting vaccinated was "good for you and good for the whole country". Vaccinations would make a "huge difference", he said, but he warned it would take time to inoculate everyone
• Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the start of the rollout of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine meant there was "finally" a "way through" the coronavirus crisis

• But Wales' health minister has warned there could be further restrictions after Christmas as Covid cases continue to rise

Image source, PA Media

Face masks could still be needed late into next year despite the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, the UK government's chief scientific adviser has said.

"It's going to take quite a long time to make sure everybody in the at-risk groups - and all of the groups that are difficult to reach - get vaccinated as appropriate," he told Sky News.

He said it could take a month or longer before the vaccine gives full immunity.

"This is incredibly important and it is important that we all stick to the rules in the meantime. The rules are what's keeping the virus down now - we need to keep the virus down while we allow the vaccine programme to roll out," he said.

"It may be that next winter, even with vaccination, we need measures like masks in place - we don't know yet how good all the vaccines are going to be at preventing the transmission of the virus."

He said that although it was known that they prevented disease, it was not yet known how well they halted the spread of the virus.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

It’s a big day for the UK’s transport and logistics sector. The task of getting the vaccines from the factory in Belgium, across the Channel and into millions of arms is immense.

Zoe Mclernon from the trade body Logistics UK, which covers freight transport over road, rail and sea, told BBC Radio 5 live’s Wake Up to Money programme that there were a number of challenges with transporting the new vaccine.

“We know that it needs to be stored at incredibly low temperatures… there’s also the security and safety aspect - this is in such demand across the world and we need to make sure it’s secure.”

She said the industry was well prepared for today, but it could become more challenging in the next phases of rolling out the vaccine.

“We’re not hearing about capacity issues. To me that says we’re doing well so far, but I am conscious that we’re heading into second and third phases of vaccine rollout and at that point we might need to start considering additional drivers, vehicles, sub-contracting.”

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is the first one in the UK to be approved for mass use.

England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer says the first wave of vaccinations could prevent up to 99% of Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths.

But rolling it out isn't straightforward because of the unique way it needs to be stored.

BBC health correspondent Laura Foster explains some of the logistics around it.

A 28-year-old nurse has said she is "proud and emotional" to be the first person in Northern Ireland to get a Covid-19 vaccine.

Joanna Sloan, who is leading the rollout of the vaccine in Belfast, was given the Pfizer/BioNTech jab on Tuesday.

She said she felt a sense of relief that "at last we have reached this point".

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The UK passed the 60,000 mark for deaths linked to Covid last week – a sobering reminder of the toll the coronavirus pandemic has had.

But another way of measuring the impact is to look at total deaths to see what level of excess deaths are being seen - those over what would be expected at this time of year.

The data released by national statisticians for the week ending 27 November showed 14,106 deaths were registered. Nearly 3,400 involved Covid.

The total is 20% higher than the five-year average.

But one glimmer of hope is that as a proportion that is similar to the levels seen in the past two weeks – another sign that when it comes to deaths we are now at the peak of the second wave.

Image source, bbc

Image source, EPA

We've been focusing a lot on the big news from the UK so far today but there is lots going on elsewhere too of course. Here is a look at some of the main news from Europe:

• Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has tested positive prompting two ministerial colleagues to go into isolation. She took part in a brief cabinet meeting on Monday where everyone wore masks. Lamorgese doesn’t have Covid symptoms
• Denmark is reimposing tighter restrictions on 38 towns and cities including Copenhagen and Aarhus. As of tomorrow restaurants and bars will shut and many children will be sent home from school
• France is still looking to relax the national lockdown conditions on 15 December, despite the aim of 5,000 maximum daily cases not being met. Cinemas, theatres and museums are set to reopen and families will be allowed to meet up for Christmas. Health Minister Jérôme Salomon says cases are down to around 10,000 a day and France must remain vigilant.
• Europe’s second Covid wave has been more deadly than the first, Spain’s El País newspaper reports. Since the start of August the pandemic has claimed 152,216 lives while the first wave up to the end of July cost 136,176 lives
• German Health Minister Jens Spahn says if cases don’t fall before Christmas then stricter lockdown measures may have to be imposed again. That could mean non-essential shops closing
• And finally.... A Dutch New Year’s Day tradition of diving into the sea at Scheveningen is being cancelled because of the pandemic. Instead, the organisers are offering to send frustrated divers two tins of sea water so they don’t miss out