Health Secretary Matt Hancock is now being interviewed on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.

He repeats his warning that the NHS is under "very serious pressure" across the UK.

Asked how many weeks away the health service is from being overwhelmed, Hancock says it depends whether people follow the rules and stay at home. If they do, cases should start to come down and the pressure on the NHS should be abated, he adds.

The health secretary says the NHS is also juggling "three huge projects" - looking after people who are ill with Covid in hospital, rolling out the vaccine and all the normal care it normally does.

The NHS "is working harder than it's ever worked before", he adds.

The new strain of coronavirus is more transmissible because it makes people more infectious so every contact is "more risky", a virus expert says.

Professor Peter Horby, chairman of Nervtag, which advises government on virus threats, is speaking on the Andrew Marr show.

He says there are a number of reasons why the new strain could be more transmissible.

"It could be that it's evading the immune response, it could be that it binds the cells better so you need a smaller dose to get infected, it could be that people who are infected are producing more of the virus or it could that it's perhaps surviving better in the environment.

"We think the most likely explanation is that when people are infected they are producing more virus so they are more infectious."

He says this means "everything that was risky in the past is now more risky". Asked whether the current restrictions were enough to stop the spread of the new variant he says "it remains to be seen" and it will be "a week or so before that becomes clear".

He says the way the new strain is transmitted has not changed but when it is transmitted those people are more infectious so reducing contact was vital.

But he says it's not time to start disinfecting our parcels and shopping.

Thousands of people have not been admitted to hospital because of the UK's vaccine programme so far, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has said.

Adam Finn, who sits on the JCVI, which advises UK health departments on vaccines, told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday the strategy to vaccinate the most vulnerable groups as well as front-line health workers first would reduce the pressure on the NHS.

He said this “should result in less pressure to shut things down simply because the primary driver of the shutdown at the moment is the pressure on the NHS”.

However, he said it was difficult to predict when this pressure would start to decrease so that restrictions could be eased.

Image source, Reuters

Home Secretary Priti Patel says officers "will not hesitate" to enforce lockdown rules, as she defended the way police have handled breaches.

She said rising numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths illustrated the need for "strong enforcement".

It comes after the National Police Chiefs' Council published guidance saying officers should issue fines more quickly when rules are broken.

More than 30,000 fines have been handed out by forces in England and Wales.

• Twelve people were arrested during an anti-lockdown protest in south London on Saturday
• North Wales Police turned away 100 cars from a Flintshire beauty spot
• Norfolk Police fined a couple who travelled 130 miles (209km) to see a seal colony
• Derbyshire Police has launched an urgent review into how fines were issued after two walkers were charged £200 each

We've got the full story here.

The Andrew Marr Show is on BBC One now, with guests including Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Stick with us for all the latest updates.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he backs police enforcement of lockdown rules because "every flex could be fatal".

Sky News' Sophy Ridge asks about his stance on the case of two women fined by police in Derbyshire for driving five miles for a walk.

He says: "I'm going to back the police because every flex can be fatal.

"You might look at the rules and think it won't matter if I do this or do that. But these rules are not there as boundaries to be pushed, they are the limit."

Hancock says he does not want to criticise the public as "the majority are following the rules".

"I don't want to criticise the public because the majority of people are following the rules," he says.

He says more people are following the rules now than during the November lockdown but he does not have the data to compare this lockdown to March.

"As far as we can tell, the vast majority of people are following the rules, but it's important everybody does," he says.

Asked when restrictions can be lifted he says "by Spring".

He says the current lockdown formally ended on 31 March "but we hope to make progress before that".

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government is on course to reach its target of 13 million people vaccinated by mid-February.

He tells Sophy Ridge: "Yes we're on course. The rate limiting factor at the moment is supply but that's increasing.

"I'm very glad to say that at the moment we're running at over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day.

"We've now vaccinated around one third of the over-80s in this country so we're making significant progress but there's still further expansion to go.

"This week we're opening mass vaccination centres. Big sites, for instance at Epsom racecourse.

"There's seven going live this week with more to come next week where we will get through very large numbers of people."

Image source, Sky News

Health secretary Matt Hancock says the pressure on the NHS is very, very bad and everyone needs to follow lockdown rules to reduce the pressure on hospitals.

He tells Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday there is a "very, very serious situation in the NHS especially in some parts of the country...but actually we have challenges through the whole of the UK".

He says it is a the combination of the time of year that means "viruses find it easier to spread" and the new variant, which is easier to transmit.

"Critically people need to follow the rules and stay at home," he says.

"There are limited exemptions. Only if you can't work from home and if you need to go out and get shopping or take some exercise.

"But these are highly-limited for a good reason and that's because the pressure on the NHS is very, very bad and we need to bring the case rate right down.

"So it's on all of us really, it always has been a big team effort."

Ridge asked if the government had any more levers to pull to get the spread of coronavirus under control.

Hancock says: "The single biggest thing anybody could do is follow the stay at home guidance...its on all of us to follow those rules."

In Sunday's papers, there is a renewed focus on lockdown compliance.

In what the Sunday Times describes as an intervention "designed to shock", England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty tells the paper that emergency patients will be turned away from hospitals unless people begin to obey the rules.

"When will they realise what's really going on?" asks an intensive care nurse, expressing her anger at anti-lockdown protesters in the Sunday People.

Ameera Sheikh says demonstrators - who will never have to zip up a body bag - need to realise the "world doesn't revolve around them".

The Sunday Telegraph says every police officer has been told to issue a £200 fine to people breaching Covid rules if they refuse to return home at the first time of asking.

The paper says ministers are "dramatically increasing enforcement" in a bid to stave off calls from scientists for tougher restrictions.

Read more from the papers here.

Image source, Reuters

Regular rapid testing for people without coronavirus symptoms will be made available across England this week, the government has said.

The community testing regime - expanded to cover all 317 local authorities - uses rapid lateral flow tests, which can return results in 30 minutes.

Local councils are being encouraged to prioritise tests for those who cannot work from home during the lockdown.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which represents UK businesses, welcomed the move, saying it would help workers operate safely while catching new cases more quickly.

Read more.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s a quick summary of the main stories from the UK this morning:

• Regular rapid testing for people without coronavirus symptoms will be made available across England this week, the government has said. Local councils are being encouraged to prioritise tests for those who cannot work from home during the lockdown.
• Thousands of people over the age of 80 have started to receive invitations to be vaccinated at one of seven new regional centres in England
• Home Secretary Priti Patel has said officers "will not hesitate" to enforce lockdown rules as she defended the way police have handled breaches
• "Absurd" council tax rises due in April should be scrapped to ease the pressure on family budgets, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said
• The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have received Covid-19 vaccinations, Buckingham Palace has said