Coronavirus news: Travel ban on Brazil and Portugal and high-street pharmacies begin vaccinations

Brenda Clegg, 92, receives the first Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at Boots in Halifax, West Yorkshire (Boots)

Air travel from a swathe of South American countries is being banned amid growing fears of a new variant of Covid-19 in Brazil.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said the urgent move, which takes effect at 4am tomorrow, also includes arrivals from Portugal “given its strong travel links with Brazil”.

Earlier he announced a delay to the start of new rules requiring travellers arriving in England to have a negative coronavirus test, "to give international arrivals time to prepare".

High-street pharmacies have begun rolling out Covid-19 vaccines as the UK’s virus death toll has now climbed above 100,000.

Boots and Superdrug branches will be among six stores across England able to administer the jabs, while the government aims to hit its target of vaccinating everyone in the four most vulnerable groups by the middle of next month.

Andrews Pharmacy in Macclesfield, Cullimore Chemist in Edgware, north London, Woodside Pharmacy in Telford and Appleton Village pharmacy in Widnes will be in the first group to give the injections, alongside Boots in Halifax and Superdrug in Guildford.

This was how the day’s news unfolded:

• When will lockdown end?

• UK lockdown rules and restrictions explained

• How far can you travel for exercise during lockdown?

• Scotland’s new lockdown rules explained

• What we know about the new Brazil Covid variant