Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip receive COVID-19 vaccine in Windsor Castle

United Kingdom monarch Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, received COVID-19 vaccinations on Saturday, January 9. The royal couple received the shots in Windsor castle where they are spending the current national lockdown.

"The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have today received Covid-19 vaccinations," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson informed.

Queen Elizabeth (94) and Prince Philip (99) belong to the high-priority risk group of people aged over 80 that are in line to receive the first round of shots. Queen Elizabeth is now one of the nearly 1.5 million people in the British islands to have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Read: UK Records Highest Single-day Death Toll Since Start Of Pandemic, Hospitals Under Pressure

UK hits record death toll

Earlier on Friday, the UK recorded nearly 1,325 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID test - the highest single-day record since the pandemic began. The figures bring the UK’s official COVID-19 death toll to 79,833, while the country also recorded another 68,053 new cases. London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" and the Public Health England (PHE) said that the number of deaths would "continue to rise" until the country stops the spread of infection. 

The news of the highest death toll comes as the British government launched a new campaign urging people to "act like you’ve got" the virus. According to BBC, the campaign, including an advert fronted by UK’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty, is intended to remind the public COVID-19 is spreading fast, with a large number of people showing no symptoms. Whitty said that amid the rapid spread of the virus, many people are at risk of serious disease and it is also placing a lot of pressure on the NHS. 

The government also approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday which is the third coronavirus jab for British citizens. As per the report, the UK government has ordered an additional 10 million doses of the vaccine which has shown 94% efficacy against the highly-infectious disease in the final phase of clinical trials. Prior to this, the Johnson government had already ordered seven million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

(With agency inputs)

Read: UK Approves Third COVID-19 Vaccine As Moderna's Jab Gets Green Light

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