British scientists urged European countries to take note of interim data showing what they described as “remarkable” effectiveness of a single dose of Pfizer’s or AstraZeneca’s vaccines in frail and elderly people.

The results from a surveillance project called AvonCAP, funded by Pfizer, found that one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca shot was highly effective at preventing symptomatic illness severe enough to lead to hospitalisation among patients aged over 80 with multiple other illnesses.

The results add to other early findings from studies of vaccine roll-outs in Israel, Scotland and England, which have also pointed to high effectiveness from the first doses.

“Despite the frailty and age of these patients, one dose of either Pfizer or the AstraZeneca vaccine is remarkably effective at reducing hospitalisation and serious disease in these individuals,” said Catherine Hyams, a respiratory medicine specialist at Bristol University who co-led the study.

A large UK study looking into potential early-stage Covid treatments will begin testing gout medication colchicine and has widened enrolment criteria for the arm of the trial, University of Oxford researchers say.

The anti-inflammatory drug is already being tested in another UK study dubbed Recovery, which is the world’s largest clinical trial of treatments for patients in hospital with Covid-19.

At least 600,000 more people including self-employed, will be eligible for grants, the chancellor has announced.

The government is also extending the furlough scheme to September, he said, and the national living wage will be increased.

Payments to businesses to take on new apprentices will be doubled, and traineeships will be tripled, Mr Sunak announced.

He also confirmed a new grant system for businesses. Shops, bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants, gyms and hair salons will be among nearly 700,000 companies eligible for new direct cash grants of up £18,000.

Previously announced funds for culture and the arts, sport, horse-racing and communities were also confirmed.

The government’s VAT cut for the hospitality and tourism industries will be extended for six months until 30 September.

Rishi Sunak is setting out a three-point plan in his latest Budget for helping the economy deal with the “profound damage” wrought by the pandemic.

Repairing the economy would take time, the Office for Budget Responsibility says, he warned.

Police in the Netherlands are investigating an attack on a coronavirus testing centre. Windows were shattered but no-one was hurt. An explosives team are examining the device, which caused a loud blast, writes Ella Glover:

The hoped-for restart of international travel will not take place, as hoped, on 17 May, a government minister has told MPs. Simon Calder reports:

A total of 9,580 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

The figures show 227 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between 22 and 28 February, down 64 on the previous week.

Of these, the majority happened in hospital at 187, with 26 in care homes and 14 at home or in a non-institutional setting and one in another institution.

The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.

Sickness absence from the workplace has fallen to its lowest level on record, new figures reveal.

The coronavirus crisis has helped cut absence rates, as people have worked from home or been forced to shield, said a report.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate fell to 1.8 per cent last year, the lowest level since current records began in 1995.

Around 118 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in 2020, equating to 3.6 days per worker.

Our business correspondent Ben Chapman explains how and when the furlough scheme will end as it is extended once again.

Rishi Sunak has told the cabinet borrowing is on an “extraordinary scale” but that the government will “rise to that challenge and we can be optimistic about the recovery”, Downing Street said.

The prime minister’s official spokesman added: “We’ve stepped in to provide support and protect jobs and today we will outline more support to get people through to the other side of the crisis.

“The chancellor said we must be honest with ourselves and the country about what that has meant. We are borrowing on an extraordinary scale – equivalent only to wartime levels. He said that, as a Conservative government, we know that we cannot ignore this problem and it wouldn’t be right or responsible to do so.

“He said the budget will begin the work of building our future economy.”