Across the UK almost 1.5 million people have already been vaccinated, Boris Johnson said.

Every elderly care home resident will be offered the vaccine by the end of this month.

His arm, medical editor Fergus Walsh.

So you're going to be famous today.

It is the biggest immunization program ever in the NHS.

This'll medical practice near Edinburgh became one of the first in Scotland to administer the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to scores of the over nineties.

It's exciting.

It feels, if your party history you feel surface like just this time, it just gives us hope for the future that we can help our patients on.

It just gives us the light at the end of the tunnel.

Those who received it will need to maintain social distancing.

They won't be fully protected, but there's a strong mood of optimism here.

Would make a tremendous difference, make me feel most comfortable going out to the shops for shopping and things like that, you know, But it's not all gone smoothly.

Queues of up to three hours were reported yesterday at this vaccination center in clan Did Know in North Wales.

The health board apologized, saying the training of new vaccinators led to the delays.

The thief, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, was due to see patients receiving the Oxford vaccine at a GP surgery in London, but the delivery was delayed supplies air being promised to practices across England.

The prime minister said.

It was a national challenge like never before, but everything was being thrown at.

It is gonna be lumpiness and bumpiness in the distribution and, uh, today it may be that some GPS aren't getting the consignments that they expected.

I know that other GP I certainly know from first hand experience.

Other GPS are doing on incredible job of getting those jabs in tow.

People's arms.

The government aims to offer a first dose of Kobe vaccine toe all those in the top four priority groups by mid February.

Top of the list are people who live or work in care homes for the elderly.

Then come the over eighties on frontline health and social care workers.

Next on the priority list are the over 70 fives on then the over seventies on those deemed extremely clinically vulnerable who've been shielding for much of the pandemic.

The UK has immunized more people than the rest of Europe combined.

Mass co vid vaccination centers like this one, a Darby arena will help boost delivery.

But we're still a long way from the target of offering two million doses a week to meet the goal of 15 million people by mid February.

There we go.

Focus wash their well.

It comes as the U.

K.

Recorded its second highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.

Thes are the latest government figures.

There were 52,618 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period.

The average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is now 57 234.

On average, there were 27,983 cove in 19 patients in hospital.

In the last week, 1162 deaths were reported.

That's people who died within 28 days off a positive covert 19 test on the second highest figure since April.

It means on average, in the past week, 714 deaths were announced every day.

It takes the total number of deaths so far across the UK to 78,500 on eight.

Well, the head of NHS, England, has warned that every region now has Mork over patients in hospital than at the peak in April.

Sir Simon Stevens said 10,000 people have been admitted to hospital since Christmas Day alone.

Our health correspondent Dominic Hughes reports on the intense pressure hospitals are under at the Norfolk and Knowledge University Hospital.

They're treating one of their own.

Emergency department Nurse Estrella.

Catalan is now a patient desperate to return to work but still fighting the virus.

I want to help e don't know when mind working on.

I'm doing it in extra shit.

Help the transfer.

I'm here so I'm hopeless for Estrellas colleagues.

These have bean Some of the toughest days.

Every single member of the NHS staff is going through so much.

I mean, you're everywhere is understaffed.

Everywhere is going put through all this.

We're all at risk.

We're all coming into work and putting ourselves on our families, and it's it's over for the patients.

The pressure on hospitals is now so great there's a danger.

Some could become co vid only sites.

Already in London, more than half of patients are being treated for the coronavirus.

Some non urgent routine operations have already been canceled, including even some cancer treatments.

But this virus has spread far beyond London in the Southeast, services right across the country and now being stretched to the limit and beyond.

There are hospitals that are right right on the brink.

Some of them are sort of over that now on.

We've just got to hope that the whole of the NHS doesn't hit the brink at the same time.

Otherwise we won't cope.

If it did, what would that look like?

It would look like a very, very bad winter.

There'd be ambulances queueing outside, unable to offload patients.

There would be patients on trollies in corridors.

You know, lots of very distressed people, both in the points of patients, relatives on staff.

There are now 50% more covert patients in hospital than during last year's April peak, but at the same time, the NHS is trying to manage the usual winter precious, whereas in April, for every one coronavirus in patient, we were looking after two other hospitalized patients for other conditions.

Now, for every one coronavirus impatient, we're looking after three other patients for other conditions, so the pressures are rial and they are growing.

The big concern is that case numbers are still very high, and that can only mean mawr admissions to come.

There will be some difficult weeks ahead.

Dominic Hughes, BBC News on Fergus Walsh is with me now and there is some good news tonight.

We certainly need some good news in the shape of new drugs that could help save more lives.

Absolutely.

Sophie, we already have one drug decks, a methadone, a steroid which in trials was shown to cut the risk of dying among the most severely ill by a third tonight, I can tell you we have to more drugs.

They're normally used for rheumatoid arthritis.

On they cut the risk of dying by around a quarter.

Their total is a map and surreal.

A map there, given Vira drip on, did they dampen the immune response which can go into overdrive with co vid.

They were found to save in trials partly conducted in the NHS to save one life for every 12 co vid patients treated in intensive care on.

They also speed up recovery, cutting the amount of time that patients spend in i c u By a week.

Now, the health department says, there are supplies of the drugs available.

They'll begin being used in intensive care immediately.

Now add to that the rollout of the vaccine.

I think we have to cling onto the hope that science and medicine will eventually get us through this.

Medical editor Fergus Walsh.

Thank you.