The coronavirus death toll has risen by 397
(Picture: REUTERS)A further 397 people have died in the UK after contracting coronavirus.
The Department for Health and Social Care also reported 15,539 more cases.
Both figures were down from Friday’s tolls of 504 deaths and 16,298 cases.
The UK’s chief medical officers have warned the coronavirus vaccine will only have a “marginal impact” on hospital numbers over the winter as each of the four nations prepares to start administering the first doses next week.
Festive gatherings are likely to put additional pressure on healthcare services, with a tough few months still ahead, experts said.
GP surgeries in England have also been told to be ready to start staffing Covid-19 vaccination centres by December 14.
The first jabs will be administered in each of the UK nations on Tuesday. In Northern Ireland it will be administered at a mass vaccination centre at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, while in Wales frontline NHS and social care staff will receive the country’s first coronavirus vaccine.
The first vaccinations will also take place in Scotland next week, while jabs will be administered at hospital hubs in England.
Meanwhile, in a letter sent out across England’s primary care networks, NHS England and NHS Improvement said GP-led vaccination centres would start administering doses from December 14.
The letter said centres would be set up with the necessary IT equipment and a fridge, while staff would be given training to ensure they are ready to administer 975 doses of the vaccine to priority patients within three-and-a-half days of delivery.
The first to receive the vaccine in these centres will be those aged 80 and over, as long as other risk factors, “clinical or otherwise”, have been taken into account.
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