21 MORE DEATHS AS CASES CLIMB

A FURTHER 21 people have died of coronavirus at hospital trusts which operate in Derbyshire, new figures showed last night.

The local data showed that across the city and county 617 cases have been reported in 24 hours, up from 506 the previous day.

Here is the breakdown for each local authority area (figures cover the last 24 hours): Amber Valley 6,570 (+75); Bolsover 4,265 (+64); Chesterfield 4,404 (+30); Derby 14,815 (+213); Derbyshire Dales 2,036 (+17); Erewash 4,980 (+77) High Peak 3,732 (+45); North East Derbyshire 4,521 (+44); South Derbyshire 5,301 (+52).

The Government said a further 599 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the UK total to 89,860. The Government also said that, as of 9am on Monday, there had been a further 37,535 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 3,433,494.

The number of people in the UK to have been given a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine is 4,062501 as of January 17, according to Government data. So far, 452,301 second doses have been administered in the UK.

The number of Covid-related hospital deaths since the start of the pandemic is as follows: Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust 1,208 (+20); Chesterfield Royal Hospital 262 (+1); Derbyshire Community Health Services 28 (no change); Derbyshire Healthcare 2 (no change).

Boris Johnson has said there will be no “open sesame” relaxation of lockdown, saying the gradual easing depends on the successful rollout of the vaccine and there being no new concerning coronavirus variants.

The Prime Minister told reporters: “I understand completely that people want to get back to normal as fast as we possibly can. It does depend on things going well. It depends on the vaccination programme going well, it depends on there being no new variants that throw our plans out and we have to mitigate against, and it depends on everybody, all of us, remembering that we’re not out of the woods yet.”

Asked if he is concerned of a postcode lottery in the rollout, Mr Johnson said: “I think actually the whole of the UK is going very well. And, overall, the pace of the rollout is very encouraging.

“We’re going as fast as we can but I stress we can do everything we can to open up but when we come to February 15, and the moment when we have to take stock of what we’ve achieved, that’s the time to look at where the virus is, the extent of the infection and the success that we’ve had.”