Covid-19: 'Children's lives on hold', and vaccine 'bureaucracy overload'

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Sunday. We'll have another update for you on Monday morning.

1. School closures 'put children's lives on hold'

Closing schools to tackle coronavirus puts children's lives on hold and should be kept to an "absolute minimum", the head of England's schools watchdog has said. The government said the school closures it announced this week are a "last resort" to curb infections. But writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman said: "It is increasingly clear that children's lives can't just be put on hold while we wait for vaccination programmes to take effect, and for waves of infection to subside." She spoke out as teaching unions continue to pressure the government to keep all schools in England shut after the Christmas holidays, amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

2. NYT urged to correct vaccine 'mixing' article

The editor of the British Medical Journal has asked the New York Times to correct a "seriously misleading" article that claims UK guidelines allow two Covid-19 vaccines to be mixed. The US publication reported that UK health officials were allowing patients to be given a second dose that is different to their first. But BMJ editor Fiona Godlee said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation does not make any recommendation to mix and match. The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines has led to a spate of new false claims about vaccines. We've looked into some of the most widely shared.

3. Medics face vaccine 'bureaucracy overload'

When dentist Andy Bates offered to help administer the coronavirus vaccine, he hadn't bargained for the "overload of bureaucracy" he says came his way. Dr Bates, from North Yorkshire, is one of a number of health staff to criticise the paperwork needed to gain NHS approval to give the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. Some medics have been asked for proof they are trained in areas such as preventing radicalisation.

4. 'I lost my father - and my faith in America'

When her 66-year-old father died of Covid, Angelina Proia was left blindsided by his absence and the feeling that her government and fellow citizens had abandoned her. "I feel like my country has turned its back on us," she said.

5. How winter exercise could help us cope

Exercising outside this winter could help boost our mood and reduce anxiety during the pandemic, a sports expert has said. Ruth Lowry, an exercise psychologist at the University of Essex, has researched the effects of staying active during the colder months and said being in natural light boosted vitamin D which was "very important for things like our immune system [and] for our bone health". Watch the video below for more - and you can also read our guide to staying positive in the new year.

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And don't forget...

Find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.

From the race to roll out coronavirus vaccinations around the world, to other concerns such as mental health and measles, we look at the health challenges facing the world in the next year.

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