Boris Johnson under pressure to delay lockdown exit – follow live

The newly approved single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be used as a booster jab, a vaccine expert has said.

Cambridge immunologist Klaus Okkenhaug told Times Radio that the vaccine has been shown to be “really effective” and could be “beneficial” to people who have had two doses.

“I can see that being really beneficial, for instance, somebody who’s had two AstraZeneca jabs, a year or two later might benefit from a Janssen jab,” he said, adding that it’s “interesting” that Health Secretary Matt Hancock has hinted at this.

The vaccine, which is made by US firm Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Janssen, was approved by British regulators on Friday.

It is the fourth Covid-19 vaccine to be approved in the UK, and the first that is intended to be administered in a single shot.

The number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 4,000 for the first time since March on Friday.

Deaths also rose slightly – from 35 in the week leading up to 20 May to 42 in the week leading up to 27 May.

Although scientists remain concerned about the spread of the Indian variant, there is positive news in regard to vaccines.

More than 53 million doses have now been administered in England, according to NHS data.

There’s a good argument to be made for offering the coronavirus vaccine to children aged 12 and above, according to a vaccination expert.

Klaus Okkenhaug, an immunology professor at Cambridge University, told Times Radio that vaccinating children “reduces their opportunities to transmit this virus to their teachers”.

“I think given the phenomenal safety records of some of the vaccines out there, there’s a good argument for going ahead at least with older children, say 12 and above,” he said.

But it’s “a little bit of a fine balance because they are so unlikely to be affected by the virus,” he added.

Vietnam has identified a new coronavirus variant which is a “hybrid” of the existent Indian and UK variants, its health minister has reportedly said.

Nguyễn Thanh Long said that the new variant appears to spread quickly and that its discovery will be announced to the international community soon, according to the VnExpress newspaper.

“After running gene sequencing on newly detected patients, we have discovered a new variant that is a mix of India and UK ones,” he is quoted as saying.

“More specifically, it is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant.”

Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure to delay lifting all lockdown restrictions on 21 June.

On Friday, the number of new lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases hit 4,182 – the highest since the end of March.

The development came amid concerns about the number of coronavirus cases connected to the Indian variant in Britain, and as the crucial R rate crept above one in England.

Scientists have also warned the government to be cautious.

Cambridge professor Sir Tim Gowers said that “things will get bad very, very quickly” if ministers misjudge the timing of the last step out of lockdown.

“The downside of being a bit more cautious is quite a lot smaller than the downside of getting it wrong,” he added.