Covid news - live: Sturgeon imposes total travel quarantine and Oxford vaccine still protects after 12 weeks

Police broke up a party attended by more than 50 people in Bristol in breach of Covid-19 rules.

Several revellers fled the bash when officers from Avon and Somerset Police arrived.

Fixed penalty notices of £800 were issued to 13 people, while six others were given formal warnings.

Music equipment was also seized from the property.

The incident was among more than 12 reports of house parties across the force area over the weekend, with officers issuing 47 fixed penalty notices in total.

The return of some school pupils in Scotland is set to be announced, as top adviser Professor Jason Leitch claims "progress" is being made against the coronavirus.

National clinical director Prof Leitch told the BBC his recommendation to ministers is that younger children can return, although he is reluctant to say older pupils - who will be working towards qualifications - can do the same.

"We're heading in the right direction," he said. "I can break the secret - you definitely won't see all of lockdown lifted, but there is progress and therefore you've got to think, as public health advisers, what is the first thing you should do?

"The most important thing is children. That's what we've trailed in the last few weeks that, if we can, we will get some kids back to school."

Prof Leitch added that, although it looks as though some pupils will return, schools will not go back to normal.

Coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease but should still prevent serious illness, a senior researcher has said.

Professor Robin Shattock, who is leading Covid-19 vaccine research at Imperial College London, said scientists are working on vaccines which could counter new variants like the one that had emerged in South Africa.

"We can make these vaccines in the lab in a three-week process but then, to actually get them manufactured, that would take two to three months to get to the manufacturing stage and into the clinic," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"That is still quite fast - and we need to remember that more changes may occur - but these vaccines won't go from working well to not working at all."

All regions of England recorded an increase in registered Covid-19 deaths in the week to 22 January, the ONS said.

Three regions saw more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths registered: southeast England (1,734 deaths - the highest weekly total since the pandemic began); London (1,400 deaths - the highest since the week to April 24 2020); and eastern England (1,216 deaths - the highest since the pandemic began).

A total of 117,378 deaths had occurred in the UK by 22 January where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.

So far there have been 14 consecutive days in January - from 7 to 20 January - when the daily death toll was above 1,000.

This could change as more deaths are registered for the second half of the month.

During the first wave of the virus in April 2020, there were 23 consecutive days when the death toll - based on death certificates - was above 1,000.

The highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first detected in the UK now accounts for up to 20 percent of infections in the wider Paris region, according to a leading hospital.

Follow our breaking news story for more updates on this:

Almost half of all deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 22 January involved Covid-19, the highest weekly proportion yet during the pandemic, health correspondent Shaun Lintern reports.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said more than 90 per cent of the 8,422 registered deaths involving Covid-19 recorded the virus as the underlying cause of death.

The latest statistics also revealed the number of deaths registered in England and Wales during the latest week was 41 per cent above the five-year average, or a jump in 5,460 deaths.

In care homes, the weekly registered deaths involving coronavirus has now passed 2,000, their highest level since the end of April.

The ONS reported 2,364 deaths of care home residents involving Covid-19 in the week to 22 January across England and Wales. This includes residents who died in care homes, hospitals and other settings.

This is an increase of 37.5 per cent on the previous week, and the highest weekly number since the week ending 1 May.

A total of 33,215 care home residents in England and Wales have now had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate.

Scientists are fearful that the coronavirus variant first found in Britain is further mutating to acquire the same concerning characteristics seen in the South African and Brazilian versions.

Analysis from Public Health England (PHE) has shown that the mutation known as E484K has been detected in 11 sequences of the British variant, named B.1.1.7.

Samuel Lovett explains more in this piece:

Patients reporting symptoms of the common cold should be treated as possible coronavirus cases, a group of doctors has urged the government in a new open letter published by The British Medical Journal.

While Covid-19 is far more severe than seasonal influenza, the two conditions do share a number of symptoms like a runny or blocked nose, a sore throat and headaches, the GPs said.

Joe Sommerlad has more on this below:

Fifteen people are facing fines after they were found breaking Covid rules inside a London restaurant.

Officers attended a restaurant on Chiswick High Road on Friday night following reports from the public that there were a number of people inside the property and the business was operating in breach of coronavirus legislation.

Police said they discovered a number of individuals at the address, all from different households, without face coverings and with no social distancing measures in place.

Officers reported 15 individuals for consideration of fines of up to £200, while the owner of the restaurant is facing a fine of up to £10,000. One individual was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.