As it happened: PM repeats 'little Christmas' plea as Covid infections rise - BBC News
The prime minister says he hopes to avoid a third lockdown in England during a visit to Greater Manchester on 18 December.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has secured agreements for two billion doses of vaccine for its Covax initiative - a programme that aims to ensure fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide.

"The light at the end of the tunnel has grown a little bit brighter," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online news conference.

The doses secured are from developers AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Novovax and Sanofi/GSK, although none have yet been authorised for use.

In a statement, the initiative said all 190 economies that had signed up to Covax would "have access to doses in the first half of 2021, with first deliveries anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2021 - contingent upon regulatory approvals and countries' readiness for delivery".

Earlier this week WHO officials warned that a $28bn (£21bn) shortfall in funding meant poor and low income countries could be left behind in a scramble to purchase vaccines.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which also helped set up the initiative, said the Covax alliance was also in talks with Pfizer and BioNtech over their vaccine, which has been approved in the US and UK, as well as with Moderna, which expects to have its vaccine approved in the US later.