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News that another vaccine, this time one from the US company Novavax, has been successful in UK trials is being welcomed by scientists and politicians.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the new vaccine will be "another weapon in our arsenal to beat this awful virus", if it is approved.

"I'm proud the UK is at the forefront of another medical breakthrough," he says.

Prof Paul Heath, chief investigator of the UK Novavax trial, says the findings of the clinical trials are "enormously exciting", particularly because of the jab's efficacy against the UK variant.

Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, says the findings that the vaccine gives high levels of protection in the UK part of the trial are "excellent" but the lower level of protection seen in South Africa is "a concern".

Nadhim Zahawi, the UK vaccine minister, says: "Having taken part in Novavax's vaccine trial myself, I am particularly thrilled to see such positive results."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer describes the trial results as "fantastic news" and "one more step towards getting Britain vaccinated".

Drug companies need to develop easier ways of giving vaccines, such as pills, patches or sprays that people can administer themselves, the UK's former Vaccine Task Force chair also says.

In her Today programme interview, Kate Bingham raises the issue when asked about the possibility people may need regular Covid vaccinations or top-ups to stay immune.

"We need to improve the vaccine formats because, frankly, two injections delivered by healthcare professionals is not a good way of delivering vaccines," she says.

“Whether they are pills or patches or nose sprays, we need to find better ways of developing and delivering vaccines, and we’ll do that in collaboration, just as we’ve been doing that over the last few months.”

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Former chair of the UK Vaccine Task Force Kate Bingham says the “scale-up is under way” in Teesside to manufacture the Novavax jab after its successful trial.

But she tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it will “not be rolling out tomorrow” as the factory has to go through the unpredictable process of growing the mammalian cells needed for the vaccine in high volumes.

She says the UK has to be “nimble, co-operative and supportive” to secure supplies against larger players such as the US, EU and Japan.

Part of the UK’s offer is to run high quality clinical trials quickly, using an NHS database of 400,000 volunteers, she says.

It meant the UK phase three Novavax trial had recruited all its participants before the US trial had even begun - an “absolutely phenomenal” result, Bingham says.

She says the UK also offered to procure equipment and help scale up manufacturing. In the case of AstraZeneca - now the subject of an EU row over supplies - the UK started scaling up manufacture in February, even before contracts were signed, she says.

“That’s what made the difference as to why we are so far ahead on manufacturing.”

But Bingham casts doubt on the prospect of the EU blocking vaccine exports. “I just don’t believe it will ever come to it,” she says.

“We are interdependent - the idea that there should be trade barriers is not something we should be considering.”

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Offices have had more clusters of cases of Covid-19 than other workplaces, a BBC investigation has found.

Public Health England figures, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, reveal there were more than 60 suspected clusters of cases in offices in the first two weeks of the current lockdown in England.

The government has urged firms to help employees work from home.

The data also shows there were more than 500 outbreaks, or suspected outbreaks, in offices in the second half of 2020 - more than in supermarkets, construction sites, warehouses, restaurants and cafes combined.

It is prompting calls for curbs on employers bringing non-essential staff into offices as well as demands from unions for tougher safety rules.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says AstraZeneca is still lacking a “plausible explanation” for saying it can’t deliver the number of doses it promised. She wants to publish the contract with the British company, possibly today, and says the EU's talking to the company to agree which parts need to be blacked out.

A key article of the EU treaty could be invoked today in order to place limits on vaccine exports from the EU as well as further "urgent measures". The EU’s medicines agency will also decide whether to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine today.

Portugal's hospitals are in danger of being overwhelmed by a surge in cases, and new restrictions limiting travel abroad will come in at midnight. Prime Minister Antonio Costa says the situation is “terrible... and we’ll face this worst moment for a few more weeks”.

A fire at a hospital in the Romanian capital Bucharest has killed at least four patients and forced more than 100 others to be evacuated. Officials say the fire started before dawn at the Matei Bals hospital for infectious diseases, where people are being treated for Covid 19.

New Czech measures to stop people mixing come in at midnight tonight. People will no longer be allowed to take family members on trips to rented cottages and pass them off as business trips. The wearing of higher-protection FFP2 masks is being recommended on public transport too.

Germany has reported a fall in infections over the past week and says the current transmission rate is down to 94.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to health officials. However, 839 further deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.

The French economy dived last year with output down 8.3%. But in the final three months of 2020 the contraction was a far slower 1.3%, official figures say.

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The UK’s medicines regulator is starting to assess a new vaccine by Novavax after trials suggest it is 89% effective - and 86% effective against the variant first discovered in Kent.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is welcoming the “good news” of the trial.

The UK has already ordered 60 million doses of the vaccine - enough for 30 million people - which will be made in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England.

If the vaccine is approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the doses are due to be delivered in the second half of the year.

Prof Paul Heath, Novovax’s chief investigator for the phase three trials, says it is “highly effective” and it marks a “great step forward for the UK” to have several effective vaccines.

He says the South African variant is “more difficult” but says the vaccine technology used by Novavax and others can be quickly adapted to tackle new forms of the virus “at pace”.

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Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage. We’ll be bringing you updates about the pandemic throughout the day. But here’s a look at some of this morning’s headlines.

• Large-scale trials in the UK of a new vaccine by Novavax have shown it is 89% effective. The vaccine is also the first to demonstrate in trials that it works against the new variant that emerged in Kent
• The EU Medicines Agency is expected to announce whether it will approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine later, amid a row over supplies
• Data from Public Health England suggests offices have had more outbreaks that other types of workplace, with more than 60 in the first two weeks of lockdown, a BBC investigation has found
• Wales is set to reveal its plan for pupils to return to school later, with the First Minister Mark Drakeford expected to say some primary school pupils could return from 22 February
• An education think tank has called for pupils in England who have missed school to be allowed to repeat a year
• Volunteers with the NHS vaccination roll-out will now be given the jab themselves as a priority, because they are being considered as front line workers
• Tennis players competing in the Australian Open are beginning to be released from their 14-day quarantine, with about a week before the tournament begins
• A large UK survey suggests during the latest lockdown people have spent less time exercising, more time watching TV and playing video games, and more time working than in the first one in spring last year
• And the Duchess of Cambridge has said the challenges of parenting and home schooling during lockdown have left her "exhausted".