Government is recommending an extra 1.7 million people to be added to the 2.3 million already on the list.

Half the group have not yet been vaccinated, so they'll now be prioritized by their local GPS.

The change has been prompted by a new kind of calculation.

Taking a bigger combination of risk factors into account.

As our health editor Hugh Pym explains, the least well off areas have been hit hard by co vid.

Health officials are taking that into account with new modeling to predict who's most at risk.

Obesity, gender and ethnic background are other factors being used to identify People who will be advised to shield The existing shielding list was compiled based on those with serious health conditions.

The advice is to stay at home and support will be offered.

All of these new individuals who included will be able to take that advice.

If they want Thio, they would also be able to get access to prioritized supermarket deliveries.

Thio Medicines Delivery Onda also, if they're unable to work from home and they choose to take the advice and stay at home, they will be able to access statutory sick pay.

Currently, the shielding list in England includes about 2.3 million people.

Under the new policy, about 1.7 million MAWR will be contacted on added to the list off those about 820,000 haven't yet had a vaccination.

Officials say they will now be prioritized protect them.

Some have questioned the timing.

When the co vid risk factors have been identified a while ago, it would have bean better to protect people at the earliest possible opportunity, especially when we knew the additional risk placed upon people who came from certain ethnic minority backgrounds living in areas of deprivation.

But now that we have got this stall, it's vital that people are supported to protect themselves.

Letters from the NHS will start going out to the new names on the shielding list.

Local councils will contact them offering support, but for some with areas of high deprivation, that will be a major undertaking ready.

We've got 17 0 people who are shielding on the news today means that over the next two weeks we're going to be shielding another 12,000 people who are over 70 and another 12,000 who are under 70 that I think shows in very graphic terms.

The health inequalities which exists in a bar A like Brent shielding will continue in England's till the end of March.