The majority voted for the Tories and they don't even run the country - Flashback January 2021

Yep, I was right (call it before anyone else) #COVID19 #Tories #SkyNews

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An eight-year-old child in England has died after testing positive for coronavirus, as the number of new cases in the UK exceeded 50,000 for the fourth day running.

The government announced a further 53,285 COVID-19 cases on New Year's Day, with 613 more deaths recorded.

The figures are down on those announced on New Year's Eve, when the UK recorded 55,892 new cases - the highest figure on record - and 964 deaths were confirmed.

It brings the total number of UK cases to 2,542,065 and the total number of deaths with 28 days of a positive test to 74,125.

Among the UK figures announced on Friday, NHS England said a further 420 patients had died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus - including a patient aged eight who had an underlying health condition.

Twelve of the patients who died had no known underlying health conditions and they were aged 55 to 90. The deaths of the 420 patients were recorded between 24 November and 31 December.

After a recent surge in cases, Nightingale hospitals across England are being readied for use and the Royal College of Nursing has said staff leave is being cancelled to deal with the demand.

But Mike Adams, the RCN's England director, warned that the expectation of a mass rollout of staff at the Nightingale hospitals is "misplaced".

He told Sky News: "If we are having to cancel leave to staff these areas, the obvious question is where will the staff come from to open the Nightingales?

"I have real concerns that the expectation that this mass rollout in capacity can happen is misplaced because there aren't the staff to do it."

Dr Rafiq Bedair, senior responsible officer for intensive care in southwest London, also told Sky News: "We have a workforce constraint because it takes time to train people who can do this kind of work and the Nightingale Hospital in terms of capacity will be welcome but the staffing is always going to be a challenge."

Meanwhile, the UK's chief medical officers have warned that vaccine shortages are likely to cause problems for "several months".

More than a million people have now received their first coronavirus vaccination in the UK.