First Secretary Dominic Raab lead the government’s daily Covid-19 update where Professor Chris Whitty said the chances of a vaccine in the next calendar year are “incredibly small”.
“There is a long path,” the chief medical officer said. Until then we will be using “social measures” to keep the transmission down, he added.
Dominic Raab pointed out that a vaccine is “more likely to be of particular value in stopping a second wave”, rather than helping us out of lockdown.
The number of deaths in the UK of people who tested positive for coronavirus has risen by 759, bringing to the total number of deaths in hospitals to 18,100.
NHS England has announced 665 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 16,272.
Dominic Raab was joined at the conference by Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer and General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the UK’s armed forces.
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