Yahoo Movies More mass vaccination centres opening as target to reach 2m jabs a week appears within reach
Ten new vaccination centres are due to open in England on Monday as the drive continues to protect the population against COVID-19.
They will join the seven existing mass vaccination sites across the country, alongside 1,000 GP-led surgeries and more than 250 hospitals already providing jabs.
The new centres will be in:
Bournemouth International Centre on the south coast
Taunton Racecourse in Somerset
Blackburn Cathedral in Lancashire
Salt Hill Activity Centre in Slough, Berkshire
Norwich Food Court in Norfolk
The Lodge in Wickford, Essex
Princess Royal Sports Arena in Lincolnshire
St Helens Rugby Ground in Merseyside
The park-and-ride at Askham Bar in York
Olympic Office Centre in Wembley, north London
People aged over 80 who live up to 45 minutes' drive from a centre are being offered a vaccination at one of the sites.
Some 641,000 invitations were sent out last week and another 380,000 will arrive at people's homes this weekend before another 500,000 letters go out this week.
Anyone who cannot travel can wait to be contacted by their GP-led service or hospital.
More than 3.8 million people have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the UK - surpassing the number who have tested positive for the virus, government figures show.
The government has said it is aiming for a target of vaccinating two million people per week.
More than half of over-80s have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
There are also changes for travellers from Monday.
People travelling from some countries with low coronavirus case rates had been allowed to enter the UK without self-isolating, but all foreign travellers will have to quarantine for 10 days or receive a negative test at least five days after landing.
Also, flights from South America, Portugal and Cape Verde have been banned following the emergence of two new coronavirus variants from Brazil that have worried authorities.
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It comes as The Sunday Times reports that the government is considering bringing a managed isolation system for people arriving in the UK.
The system could be similar to those used in Australia and New Zealand, where travellers must pay for their isolation stays at hotels.
In both countries, travellers are taken straight from the airport to a government-chosen hotel, where they must stay until their isolation period ends - a period of at least two weeks.
The newspaper also reported that a plan has been drawn up to loosen lockdown restrictions as soon as early March.
Once the death rate lowers and some of those aged 50 to 70 have been vaccinated, areas can start being put into lower tiers, the plan says.
Some medical experts have called for tighter restrictions to remain until most people have been vaccinated, something forecast to take at least until the summer.
