Hot on the heels of Matt Hancock's shock resignation, the coronavirus pandemic means his replacement is already facing an immediate test of continuing the UK's progress in lifting lockdown measures and vaccinating the rest of the population.

       Sajid Javid was appointed to the prominent role of Health Secretary just 90 minutes after Downing Street announced the resignation on Saturday evening.

       Mr Javid said he was honoured to have been asked to serve as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at this critical time: "I look forward to contributing to our fight against the pandemic."

       Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the British Medical Association's chair of council, said Mr Javid has a huge and urgent task ahead: "He must ensure completing the roll-out of the adult vaccination programme at rapid pace to control spiralling infection rates."

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       Malaysia will extend a national lockdown beyond Monday to curb the spread of Covid, state news agency Bernama reported today.

       Lockdown measures were set to end on Monday, but Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said they would not be eased until daily cases fall below 4,000.

       Malaysia reported 5,803 cases on Saturday.

       Australia is facing yet another coronavirus scare this weekend as the country struggles with its vaccination rate.

       New Zealand will extend its Covid alert level in the capital Wellington for two days, as authorities said today that there is still a risk from an Australian tourist who tested positive for coronavirus after visiting the city last weekend.

       Wellington, which moved to Alert Level 2 on Wednesday, will now remain at that level until Tuesday.

       "It's clear that we are not out of the woods yet," Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.

       The measure means social distancing rules will be in place across the city, but offices, schools and businesses may remain open.

       New Zealand halted quarantine-free travel from Australia on Saturday for three days, saying there were too many cases and outbreaks.

       More than 32,244,220 people in the UK have received their second vaccination in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

       The latest government figures show that 44,078,244 people have been given their first dose of a Covid vaccine.

       The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that the UK had now genomically sequenced more than half a million positive Covid-19 samples.

       This genetic make-up data is used to identify new variants and help suppress the spread of the virus. It is estimated that the UK contributes about half of all sequencing shared for comparison around the world.

       The DHSC said such work will help support decisions over relaxing social distancing rules in the future.

       Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: "Sequencing genomes has been one of most versatile tools in our armoury in the battle against Covid-19, and as we progress down the roadmap its role only increases in importance - helping us track mutations in the virus and act decisively to stop cases becoming outbreaks."

       Half of all adults aged under 30 in England will have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by today, the NHS said.

       More than 4.2 million people aged between 18 and 29 have received a jab just three weeks after the coronavirus vaccination programme was opened up to those in their 20s.

       The achievement comes as hundreds of walk-in vaccination sites, including at stadiums and shopping centres, opened in England this weekend in a bid to boost vaccine numbers amid rising cases.

       A new online search tool, "grab a jab" campaign, allows people in England to input their postcode to find their nearest walk-in vaccination site.

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