Public Health England’s Susan Hopkins has warned that relaxing lockdown measures would have to be done “very slowly, very cautiously” to avoid a surge in infections.

A World Health Organisation team looking into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday visited the market in the Chinese city of Wuhan that was linked to many early infections.

The team members visited the Huanan Seafood Market for about an hour in the afternoon, and one of them flashed a thumbs-up sign when reporters asked how the trip was going.

The market was the site of a December 2019 outbreak of the virus. Scientists initially suspected the virus came from wild animals sold in the market. The market has since been largely ruled out but it could provide hints to how the virus spread so widely.

“Very important site visits today — a wholesale market first and Huanan Seafood Market just now,” Peter Daszak, a zoologist with the US group EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WHO team, said in a tweet. “Very informative and critical for our joint teams to understand the epidemiology of Covid as it started to spread at the end of 2019.”

Earlier in the day, the team members were also seen walking through sections of the Baishazhou market — one of the largest wet markets in Wuhan — surrounded by a large entourage of Chinese officials and representatives. The market was the food distribution centre for Wuhan during the city’s 76-day lockdown last year.

The members, with expertise in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology, have so far visited two hospitals at the centre of the early outbreak — Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital and the Hubei Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital.

The mission has become politically charged, as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak.

A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the virus’s origins. Pinning down an outbreak’s animal reservoir is typically an exhaustive endeavour that takes years of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.

One possibility is that a wildlife poacher might have passed the virus to traders who carried it to Wuhan. The Chinese government has promoted theories, with little evidence, that the outbreak might have started with imports of frozen seafood tainted with the virus, a notion roundly rejected by international scientists and agencies.

At least 5.6 million doses of two international Covid-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in the Philippines in the first quarter of the year, the chief of the country’s coronavirus task force said on Sunday.

The initial volume is part of the 9.4 million doses of the two vaccines – one developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech and the other by AstraZeneca – that are expected to be shipped in the first half, said Carlito Galvez, who also handles the government’s vaccine procurement.

Mr Galvez said he has received a letter from Aurelia Nguyen, the managing director of the World Health Organisation-led Covax Facility, informing the Philippine government of the shipment schedule and volume.

Professor Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said people should have a second dose of another vaccine, rather than no second dose, if supply issues make it impossible to have two doses of the same medicine.

He told BBC Breakfast: “The key thing at the moment from the JCVI perspective is to try and get the same vaccine for the second dose as the first dose.

“We are recommending a second dose because that’s important for long-term protection and it will be interesting to see on the supply side whether we can deliver that.

“If we can’t deliver that, JCVI advice is that it’s better to have a second dose of a different vaccine than no second dose at all, and there’s no theoretical reason why you can’t mix vaccines, just the studies are ongoing at the moment.”

Social distancing rules could remain in force until 2022 unless vaccination significantly reduces the spread of coronavirus, according to government advisers.

Scientists have warned ministers that a jab would have to be 85 per cent effective at stopping transmission as well as severe illness to prevent another spike in deaths, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Our reporter Peter Stubley has more on this:

Liz Truss has said it is too early to talk about the UK giving excess coronavirus vaccine doses to other countries.

She insisted the government was committed to its plan to vaccinate every adult by the autumn.  

But she said it was in Britain’s best interests to ensure other countries also had large numbers of jabs – to halt the spread of the virus around the world.  

Kate Devlin, our Whitehall editor, has the full story:

Tony Blair has said there is a “very strong case” for teachers to be vaccinated before schools are reopened to all students in England, which the government has earmarked for 8 March.

The move would require a delay for some older people to receive the jabs, but it is not suggested it starts before the top four priority groups are vaccinated, which is aimed for mid-February.

“Well, I am suggesting I would push back,” Mr Blair said.

“If it’s 500,000 people it is two days of vaccination.

“I think that is a reasonable thing to do in these circumstances if it helps allow you to get the schools back sooner.”

Tony Blair has criticised the European Union’s short-lived move to override the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland under its vaccine export controls as a “very foolish” move that jeopardised the peace process.

The former prime minister, a vocal supporter of the UK remaining in the bloc, said Brussels’ action in triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to control the movement of coronavirus jabs had been “unacceptable”.

The EU backtracked on the move, imposed unilaterally as it faces shortfalls on vaccine supplies, after facing universal criticism from London, Dublin and Belfast.

Asked if the move was irresponsible, the Labour grandee told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “Yes, it was a very foolish thing to do and fortunately they withdrew it very quickly.

“I was somebody who negotiated the Good Friday Agreement, it’s brought peace to the island of Ireland and it is absolutely vital that we protect it and that’s why what the European Commission did was unacceptable but, as you say, fortunately they withdrew it very quickly.”

Liz Truss has suggested more in the most vulnerable group of citizens could die if teachers are moved up the vaccination priority list.

There have been calls for teachers to be vaccinated before schools return, but after those in the four most vulnerable groups have received jabs, which is anticipated by mid-February.

Asked if teachers should be moved up the priority list, the international trade secretary told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “The issue is that for every person you vaccinate who isn’t in the most vulnerable group, that’s somebody in the most vulnerable group who isn’t getting their vaccine and who is more likely to die in the next few weeks and months.

“I just don’t think that’s right. That’s the decision made by the independent committee that we are going to vaccinate first the over-70s and those in the most vulnerable group, and then the over 50s.”

Liz Truss has declined to rule out that some social distancing measures will have to be in place for the rest of the year.

“I don’t want to make predictions about the situation in the autumn, I think it’s far too far away,” she told Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

“Long-term predictions in what is a very, very unpredictable situation are not wise.”