december to accommodate those travelling to or from the mainland. as much as £1bn in fraudulent benefit claims made by organised gangs of criminals has been prevented from being paid during lockdown. analysis of uk death certificates indicates uk deaths to be almost a fifth higher than the five year average. professor andrew hayward, director of the ucl institute of epidemiology and health care, and a member of sage, warns people to be cautious over christmas, suggesting the relaxing of rules is tantamount to "throwing fuel on the covid fire". 25 november chancellor rishi sunak outlines the spending review for how much will be spent on public services, and warns that the "economic emergency" caused by covid has only just begun. the review comes as the office for budget responsibility forecasts that unemployment will reach 7.5% because of the crisis. the uk economy is also predicted to shrink by 11.3%, the biggest decline in 300 years, while debt is forecast to be at its highest outside wartime. a further 696 covid-19 deaths were announced for the uk, the highest daily figure since 5 may 2020. 26 november england's new tier system is announced, to come into force on 2 december. most of the country, including london and liverpool, will be tier 2, while large parts of the midlands, north east and north west, including greater manchester and birmingham, will be in tier 3. only the isle of wight, cornwall and the isles of scilly will be in tier 1. media question the efficiency of the university of oxford/astrazeneca vaccine, since a preliminary report combined results from two trials which used different doses. 27 november the r number is thought to be between 0.9 and 1.0, the first time it has been below 1 since august. retail group arcadia is reported to be on the brink of collapse, threatening 13,000 jobs. the group has stated that covid has had a "a material impact on trading across our businesses". arcadia goes into administration three days later. the uk government's scientific advisory group for emergencies (sage) has issued a document advising people to avoid board games and sleepovers during christmas, and to involve women in the decision-making process for organising christmas events because they "carry the burden of creating and maintaining family traditions and activities at christmas". 28 november writing in the times, cabinet office minister michael gove warns backbench conservative mps planning to vote against the new tier system for england that without the measures hospitals throughout the country will become overwhelmed with covid cases. amid anger from backbench conservatives over the tier system, prime minister boris johnson writes to rebel mps offering them a "sunset" of 3 february for the expiration of the regulations. nadhim zahawi is appointed as parliamentary under-secretary of state for covid-19 vaccine deployment. 29 november the uk government signs a deal for a further 2 million doses of the moderna vaccine, bringing the total number of doses secured now to 7 million, sourced from 7 different suppliers. 30 november version 4 of the nhs covid-19 app is to include a self-isolation payment feature in a bid to encourage more people to download it and follow its advice, and following earlier concerns over privacy safeguards that had prevented those receiving an automated message from the app from making claims. london ai laboratory deepmind is reported to have predicted how a protein folds into a unique three-dimensional shape, work that could provide the answers to a number of human conditions, including covid-19. in a bid to persuade backbench mps to support the new tier regulations for england, the uk government publishes data behind its decision to introduce the measures, stating that it seeks to "balance the many complex impacts" of restrictions and keep them in place "for as short a time as possible", but that allowing covid to spread "would lead to impacts...considered intolerable for society". in response, senior conservative mp mark harper claims the "wheels are coming off the government's arguments". professor dame sally davies, the former chief medical officer for england, suggests that the uk's high level of obesity has led to an increased rate in the number of covid deaths. 1 december cabinet office minister michael gove says there are no plans to introduce a "vaccine passport" giving people access to places such as pubs and restaurants once a vaccine becomes available. education watchdog ofsted reports that education has been "completely disrupted" by covid-19 absences in some areas, with the west midlands and north west of england particularly badly affected. mps vote 291–78 in favour of introducing england's tough new covid tier system, with 55 backbench conservatives voting against the government, while another 16 abstain. 2 december the uk becomes the first country in the world to approve the pfizer/biontech covid-19 vaccine, with vaccinations beginning once supplies arrive the following week. prime minister boris johnson welcomes the vaccine, but warns people should not get "carried away with over optimism". in england, the second "lockdown" ends and is replaced by a revived tiered system, as announced on 26 november. 3 december the number of recorded covid-related deaths in the uk passes 60,000 after a further 414 deaths take the total to 60,113. dr anthony fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the united states, criticises the uk's approval process for the pfizer/biontech vaccine, suggesting that it has not been as rigorous as that of the us. in defence the uk says the vaccination is safe and effective. fauci later retracts his statement and apologises for the comments. england's deputy chief medical officer, jonathan van-tam, says that the first wave of vaccines could cut the number of hospitalisations and deaths in england by 99%. after some ministers suggest that brexit speeded up the process allowing the uk to get the vaccine first, education secretary gavin williamson responds by saying that the uk got the vaccine first because it is a "much better country" with superior medical experts. the first batch of the pfizer/biontech vaccine arrives in the uk, and is stored at an undisclosed location ready for distribution to hospitals vaccination centres around the country. the student travel window opens, allowing them to return home from university for christmas. supermarket retailer asda announces plans to repay £340m of business rates relief to the government, joining tesco, sainsbury's, morrisons and aldi which have made similar announcements, meaning £1.7bn of rates relief is to be repaid. 4 december the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency says the covid-19 vaccine will "definitely" be ready to go into care homes within the next two weeks. the uk is unlikely to get 10 million doses of the pfizer/biontech vaccine by the end of the year after production estimates for 2020 are scaled back. business secretary alok sharma says the uk government is "absolutely confident" that britain will have 800,000 doses of the pfizer/biontech vaccine by the following week. figures from the office for national statistics indicate covid-19 rates are falling in every part of england apart from the north east, with 1 in 105 people having the virus in the week up to 28 november, down from 1 in 85 the week before. the r number falls to between 0.8 and 1.0. 5 december the duke and duchess of cambridge announce a three-day uk tour aboard the royal train during which they will meet community and health workers who have played an important role during the covid crisis. labour party leader sir keir starmer is reported to be self-isolating after a member of his staff tested positive for covid. 6 december the department of health and social care confirms that the uk's vaccination rollout will begin on tuesday 8 december. 7 december sir simon stevens, the chief executive of nhs england, says that the rollout of the vaccine, which begins the next day, could mark a "decisive turning point" in the battle against covid-19. the uk government says it expects the "majority" of vulnerable people to receive the vaccine in january and february 2021. 8 december margaret keenan, 90, becomes the first person in the world to be given a covid-19 vaccination as part of a mass vaccination programme after receiving the pfizer covid-19 vaccine as the rollout of vaccinations begins, william shakespeare, 81 from warwickshire becomes the second. research published in the lancet has concluded the oxford/astrazeneca covid vaccine is safe and effective, giving good protection. the majority of those involved in the research were under-55, but there is evidence it will protect older people too. 9 december regulators have urged anyone with a history of allergies not to take the pfizer/biontech covid vaccine for the time being after two nhs workers vaccinated the previous day had allergic reactions. a series of reports written for the uk government's scientific advisory group for emergencies (sage) by members of the cog-uk consortium have attributed the resurgence of covid cases to people travelling abroad during the summer. 10 december saudi arabia and botswana are added to the uk's travel corridor as of 4am on saturday 12 december, while the canary islands are removed from it. sky news presenter kay burley is taken off air for six months after she admitted breaching covid regulations while celebrating her 60th birthday. an update to the nhs covid-19 app is adding a way to apply for a £500 grant if it gives a self-isolation order. there is a warning that uk residents could be prevented from travelling to the european union after 1 january 2021 as travel regulations associated with uk–eu travel expire because of brexit, and because of travel restrictions associated with covid. 11 december the period of self-isolation for contacts of someone testing positive for covid-19, and travellers returning from non-travel corridor countries, is reduced from 14 to 10 days, effective from monday 14 december. figures from the office for national statistics for the week ending 5 december indicate covid cases in england are continuing to fall, apart from in london and the east of england. the r number has risen slightly on the previous week to between 0.9 and 1.0. a study published in the scientific journal nature attempts to identify why some people with covid do not display symptoms, pinpointing dna and a shortfall of interferon as contributing factors. 12 december professor linda bauld, an expert in public health at the university of edinburgh, describes the relaxation of covid regulations over christmas as a "mistake", as people travel from "high to low prevalence areas" to see relatives. in response, wales's health minister, vaughan gething, says any change to christmas rules could present "huge issues about trust" but could happen if cases remain high. scientific experts warn people to rethink their plans for christmas as covid cases increase in some areas, and warn the country is heading towards "disaster". figures have indicated that the number of outstanding criminal cases in england and wales has risen from 39,331 in february to 51,595 at the end of october, an increase of 31%, prompting concerns it could lead to the collapse of some cases. although the uk government has invested in the justice system to increase the number of trials being held, some hearings have been put back to 2023. 13 december nhs bosses have urged people to think "really carefully" about more social contact over christmas amid concerns it could lead to an increase in cases of covid in january after there was an increase in cases in the united states following thanksgiving. 14 december health secretary matt hancock tells mps that a new variant of sars-cov-2 has been identified that is spreading faster in some areas of the country. the variant, named vui – 202012/01 and later variant of concern 202012/01 or alpha, showed changes to the spike protein that could make the virus more infectious. as of 13 december, there were 1,108 cases identified. artist aliza nisenbaum has created a series of paintings of nhs workers who have worked on the front line during the pandemic. 15 december figures have shown there were 819,000 fewer people on company payrolls at the end of november when compared to march and the start of the first lockdown, with a third of the jobs lost being in the hospitality sector. britain's two leading medical journals, the health service journal and british medical journal, have described the decision