Kate Garraway says coronavirus vaccine is 'extraordinary'

It comes as scientists revealed why the new Covid variant is spreading so easily – it produces more infection that’s breathed out and may even be “stickier”. Alarming statistics showed the growing scale of the pandemic yesterday, with another 691 deaths and a record 36,804 new infections.

It was also confirmed the mutant version – VUI [variant under investigation] 202012/01 – has now reached all parts of the country.

Manufacturing staff at the Welsh site where the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be produced were yesterday getting ready.

Wockhardt UK, one of the UK’s largest generic pharmaceutical companies, will transfer it into vials at the Wrexham site for distribution.

The vaccine has yet to be approved by medical authorities but ministers hope this could be done by next week, allowing it to be administered alongside the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

Unite union official Dave Griffiths confirmed the Wrexham site has now taken on 40 staff. It plans to produce 150,000 vials a day, five days a week – as soon as it gets the green light.

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Mr Griffiths said: “The UK Government has reserved one fill and finish production line at Wockhardt UK for its exclusive use for 18 months in order to guarantee the supply of vaccines required to fight against Covid.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the plant could be the “salvation for humanity”. He visited Wockhardt this week and confirmed it would be making the vaccine. The plant can produce 300 million doses a year.

As the drugs are being developed, preparations for transferring large vats of the vaccine into single-dose vials have been stepped up.

Wockhardt managing director Ravi Limaye said the company expected to start delivering the first doses soon. He added: “We are immensely proud to have been selected to partner with the Government on this project. We have a sophisticated sterile manufacturing facility and a skilled workforce.”

Experts yesterday said the new virus variant was more transmissible because those who contracted it produced more of the infection in their nose and mouth.

This means they will breathe more into the air, according to Professor Robert Dingwall, of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group [NERVTAG}.

Prof Dingwall said: “You are producing more of the infection in the upper respiratory tract and the virus is reproducing faster so there is more to go into the air. It also has properties that make it easier to take over cells.”

Virologist Professor Lawrence Young claimed the new variant is spreading so fast because it is “stickier” and binds more easily to receptor cells.

The Warwick Medical School expert said: “It’s getting into the body more efficiently and it looks like that’s because this change increases the strength of the interaction of the virus with cells in our bodies – it increases the stickiness, if you like.”

He also said it might explain why it may infect children more readily. Prof Young said they have less of the receptors which picked up previous variants – meaning they were less likely to catch it. But VUI 202012/1 “might compensate for lower levels of that receptor in children by being stickier”.

More of England could be placed into Tier 4 as early as Boxing Day to contain the new strain, it was reported last night. England’s tier review was expected to take place on December 30 but could now be earlier as infection rates soar.

Meanwhile, the boss of German company BioNTech has said he is confident his firm’s approved vaccine will work against the new strain.

Ugur Sahin said: “It is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variants.”

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