Britain’s daily Covid cases fall by 3% week-on-week to 5,758

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Britain’s daily coronavirus cases have fallen by three per cent week-on-week – even though infections are at the levels seen in September before the second wave spiralled out of control.

Department of Health data showed there were 5,758 Covid cases identified today. For comparison, health chiefs reported another 5,926 last Wednesday.

But daily Covid deaths fell by 25 per cent in a week after 141 fatalities were announced, which was 49 fewer than the 190 at the same time last week. 

The nation’s vaccination drive also continued at pace with another 433,320 first doses dished out today, taking Britain’s total to 25.2million. Matt Hancock said he was ‘delighted’ they had reached the milestone.

The Covid case count is expected to remain stable over the coming days because officials are carrying out mass swabbing in schools, which is picking up a higher number of infections. But the positivity rate – which measures the proportion of tests that identify the virus – is still falling in all regions. 

Britain today condemned the ‘brinkmanship’ of the European Union after it demanded the UK hand over its doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Brussels – despite 19 bloc members including France, Italy and Germany suspending the jabs roll-out based on unproven fears over blood clots. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have both insisted they are safe. 

And the UK’s vaccines taskforce warned there would be a ‘significant reduction’ in jabs deliveries from March 29, which will mean fewer first doses can be given out in the coming weeks. 

Mr Hancock is holding a Downing Street press conference to update the country on the roll-out at 5pm. 

On another day of Covid vaccine chaos: 

• Deaths fall faster during the second wave in early sign of vaccine effectiveness, data shows;
• EU approves holiday passports that will allow free movement for those that have been vaccinated or have Covid antibodies;
• UK patients are cancelling Covid vaccine appointments because of EU’s mass revolt against AstraZeneca’s jab;
• Dominic Cummings says Britain’s vaccine drive only succeeded because Boris and Vallance took over from ‘smoking ruin’ Department of Health;
• Ousted No10 svengali added the civil service is a ‘disaster zone’ as he revealed he demanded Boris Johnson vow to reform Whitehall; 
• Abortions spiked by almost 30 per cent during the first wave in England and Wales after ministers changed the rules to allow terminations at home; 
• All over-50s in England are now eligible for a Covid vaccine as NHS expands roll-out.

Celebrating Britain’s vaccine roll-out, the Health Secretary said: ‘I’m delighted we’ve reached a new milestone – 25million people have now been vaccinated.

He added: ‘The UK’s vaccination roll-out is a national success story and shows what our country can achieve.’

Dominic Raab condemned Brussels ‘brinkmanship’ and demanded respect for lawful contracts today after the EU effectively declared vaccine war on the UK by threatening to block exports.

As the bloc’s rollout descended deeper into chaos, a rattled Ursula von der Leyen complained that it is sending millions of doses to other countries while receiving few in return – warning of action to ensure ‘reciprocity’.

She called on Britain to begin sending AstraZeneca jabs overseas and lashed out at the drug-maker for ‘under-producing and under-delivering’ doses, saying it is to blame for the slow place of Europe’s roll-out.

That is despite the fact that 19 countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have halted the use of AstraZeneca jabs over unfounded fears they cause blood clots, meaning around 7.5million doses are currently sitting unused.

‘All options are on the table. We are in the crisis of the century. And I’m not ruling out any anything for now,’ Ms von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. It raises the possibility that stocks of Pfizer vaccine manufactured in Belgium could be prevented from going to Britain.

But the sabre-rattling drew a furious response from the UK, with the Foreign Secretary saying her comments flew in the face of ‘direct assurances’ that contracts will be honoured and Tory MPs accusing her of ‘playing politics with people’s lives’.

‘I think it takes some explaining because the world’s watching,’ Mr Raab told Reuters. ‘We’ve, all of us, including with our European friends, been saying throughout the pandemic, that you’d be wrong to curtail or interfere with lawfully-contracted supply. We all said it last year on PPE. We’ve been saying it this year, on vaccines and other things.

Mr Raab said the stance ‘cuts across the direct assurances that we had from the Commission’. ‘We expect those assurances and legal contracted supply to be respected,’ he added.

‘Frankly, I’m surprised we’re having this conversation. It is normally what the UK and EU team up with to reject when other countries with less democratic regimes than our own engage in that kind of brinkmanship.’

Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the EU must stand by its ‘commitments’ and not restrict vaccine exports that have been legitimately agreed.

Referring to a conversation the PM had with Von der Leyen earlier this year, the spokesman said: ‘She confirmed then that the focus of their mechanism was on transparency and not intended to restrict exports by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities. We expect the EU to continue to stand by its commitment.’

It came amid warnings Britain may have to start rationing Pfizer’s Covid vaccine imminently or millions of vulnerable people will miss out on crucial second doses.

No10 has only bought 40million doses of the jab – but is not expecting all of its supply until the end of 2021, with deliveries set to trickle in over the course of the year.

And MailOnline understands ministers are expecting fewer doses of Pfizer’s vaccine from April. Leaked documents of Scotland’s vaccine delivery schedule also suggest there will be a reduced supply from next month.

With questions over how much vaccine is expected in the coming weeks, NHS bosses will inevitably have to reserve spring supplies to ensure older Britons get their top-up jab within 12 weeks as promised.

Data suggests 13million Britons have already been given Pfizer’s jab, which uses up more than half of what ministers originally planned to receive by the start of June, which will mark six months after the UK began dishing it out.

Officials factor second doses into their delivery patterns, with supplies reserved for Britons due a top-up jab. But one-for-one stockpiles are not kept on British soil – they are managed on a ‘rolling basis’.

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, told MailOnline: ‘We may be getting to the point where they basically stop giving it out as a first dose.’

And James Lawson, of the Adam Smith Institute think-tank, said there appears to be a ‘very worrying gap’ between the number of people vaccinated already and the speed that second dose supplies are coming.

It came as the EU today declared vaccine war on the UK, threatening to block exports of Pfizer’s jab – which is mainly manufactured in Belgium.

Experts have told MailOnline the UK’s entire supply of Pfizer’s vaccine may be required to meet the need for 12.8million second doses over the next three months, with projected supply from the company dropping at the start of April.

This could dent the Government’s aim of dishing out at least one dose to all adults in the UK by the end of July and make the country more reliant on Oxford and AstraZeneca’s vaccine to get through the younger age groups.

Moderna’s vaccine will also start being delivered to the UK next month, with 17million doses ordered by the Government, but numbers are expected to be low by comparison.

The Government refuses to comment on its vaccine supply chain, saying only that it is ‘lumpy’.

And Pfizer will not reveal how many jabs it has already supplied but told MailOnline it is ‘on track’ to reach its target by the end of the year and to hit its commitments for the beginning of the year.

It said its ‘overall projected supply remains the same for quarter one’, from January to March, but did not confirm what this supply was or when the full-year target of 40million was likely to be delivered on.

BioNTech, the German firm that produces the vaccine alongside US-based Pfizer, has had to scramble a group of 13 rival manufacturers in order to ramp up capacity to two billion doses by the end of the year.

Countries in the European Union have been struggling with lulls in supply as a result of not ordering and approving vaccines as quickly as the UK and US.

The MHRA said an estimated 10.7million first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had been dished out by February 28, compared to 9.7million of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.

There have been mounting reports today that UK patients are turning down Covid vaccine appointments because of the EU’s mass revolt against the AstraZeneca jab over unproven blood clot fears.

Doctors involved in the UK’s mammoth roll-out say Brits due their second dose have called with concerns about the vaccine, despite the EU’s own drug regulator, as well as the UK’s and the World Health Organization all insisting it is safe.

One GP claimed up to 10 per cent of people scheduled for appointments were either not showing up, asking to cancel or double-checking which vaccine they were getting before turning up.

NHS doctor and volunteer Dr Karan Raj claimed he was ‘inundated’ with people saying they were worried about it and Dr Mohan Sekeram, a GP in South London, said the international row has led to patients refusing the vaccine.

It comes as the former chief of Britain’s vaccine regulator the MHRA, Sir Kent Woods, said European officials had ‘dented public confidence’ with their ‘disorderly’ reaction to the issue, and he described attempts to link the jab to clots as ‘a big jump’.

And people will die of Covid because of the delays in Europe and the damage being done to public trust, warned Professor Jeremy Browne, a lung doctor and member of the JCVI, which drew up the UK’s vaccine programme.

Doctors and officials warn it is far more dangerous for people to not get vaccinated and even the EMA has urged people to keep taking the vaccine because blood clots don’t appear to be any more common than usual.

Officials and scientists fear the knee-jerk reactions from more than a dozen countries in Europe, which is staring down the barrel of a third wave because of its own haphazard vaccination drive, risk derailing Britain’s attempts to vaccinate its way out of lockdown if people start to back out of getting their jabs.

Britons on the street yesterday claimed the row hadn’t put them off, calling it ‘scare-mongering’ and saying ‘the chances of getting hit by a bus are probably higher’ – but others said it had made them nervous about getting the jab or added to concerns they already had about its safety.

Matt Hancock today urged people to keep getting AstraZeneca’s vaccine and said Britain must ‘keep calm and carry on jabbing’ if it wants to get life back to normal.

The Health Secretary is expected to reassure the public at a Downing Street press conference scheduled for 5pm tonight. He is also expected to brag about the vaccine roll-out steaming ahead, with everyone over the age of 50 in England now being invited for their appointment.

It came as Dominic Cummings today launched a devastating attack on Mr Hancock, insisting the vaccine drive was only a success because he and science chief Patrick Valance insisted he was stripped of control. In an extraordinary assault, the maverick former No10 chief said the Department of Health was a ‘smoking ruin’ last spring after disasters over PPE procurement and therapeutics.