Coronavirus news: R rate climbs again as cases surge and London braces for tighter restrictions

 Premiership rugby hit by Covid chaos

The final round of regular-season Premiership Rugby fixtures has been thrown into chaos by the spread of Covid-19 through the Manchester club Sale Sharks.

Sale insists the match with Worcester Warriors will go ahead despite 16 of their players testing positive for coronavirus.

However Worcester has now responded to say the fixture is still being discussed by public health officials and Premiership Rugby.

Worcester's statement read: "Warriors' final Gallagher Premiership match of the season against Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell on Sunday is still the subject of discussions between Premiership Rugby and public health officials.

"A significant number of Sale players and staff tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and have been retested as part of a rigorous process that applies to all clubs and which has been in place since before the 2019-20 season resumed in August.

"The sole criterion for deciding whether a match can take place in the current unprecedented and worrying circumstances is the safety of officials and players and staff of both clubs and (minimising) the risk of anyone contracting and spreading this killer disease.

"Warriors would always prefer the outcome of a match to be decided on the pitch and will do so provided we are satisfied that all the Covid-19 protocols and procedures have been followed and no health risk is posed to our players and staff.

"At the moment we are still awaiting confirmation that those protocols and procedures can be met to allow Sunday's match to proceed as scheduled."

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UK vaccine by Easter 2021?

Government health officials have told The Times that a COVID-19 vaccine in Britain rolled out across the UK as early as Easter next year.

Scientists working on the Oxford vaccine hope regulators approve it before the beginning of 2021.

Officials claimed that a full COVID-19 immunization programme, excluding children, could be quicker than predicted and may be completed in three to six months.

That’s it for our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic today. Thanks for reading.