Coronavirus live news: hospitals in England could be overwhelmed without new tiers, says Gove; social gathering banned in Los An

A petition calling for the government to reverse a pay freeze on civil servants has garnered more than 100,000 signatures.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union called for a parliamentary debate in light of the public support, demanding that civil servants receive a decent wage rise after a “decade of pay restraint”. According to the union, Civil Service pay has fallen in value by around 20% over 10 years, while government workers have been “overpaying” to their pension contributions.

The calls follow an announcement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak there would be a pay freeze across the public sector, except for doctors and nurses, because of the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said that the number of signatures was “a fantastic achievement” and showed that there is “real appetite amongst the public to see the pay freeze lifted.”

“Civil servants and government workers deserve to be rewarded properly for all their professionalism and dedication throughout Covid-19,” he said. “Government attempts to play private sector and public sector staff against one another is doomed to failure and we demand they reverse their pay freeze immediately.”

4.38am EST04:38

Denis Campbell

Hospitals have been told to prepare for the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine in as little as 10 days’ time, with NHS workers expected to be at the front of the queue, the Guardian has learned.

NHS bosses said hospitals in England could expect to receive their first deliveries of a vaccine produced by Pfizer/BioNTech as soon as Monday 7 December, with regulatory approval anticipated within days.

According to sources at several hospitals across the country, NHS England said they should expect to get stocks of vaccine on 7, 8 or 9 December.

Read the full story here from the Guardian’s health editor, Denis Campbell:

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4.20am EST04:20

Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling led to the original lockdown in the UK back in March, said “individual judgment” would be important in deciding whether to see elderly relatives this Christmas.

While Ferguson said that celebrating with family would “increase transmission compared with everyone staying at home not mixing at all”, he said the real question was that if everyone was told to stay home, “what proportion of the population would actually go along with it?”

“I think you have to bring the population with you,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson said people would have to exercise their own judgement over whether to see elderly relatives, within the confines of lockdown. Photograph: REUTERS/Reuters

“I think the measures at Christmas, they do pose some risks and I think individual judgment is important in deciding whether to see elderly relatives. But I think they strike a balance – expanding the bubble system limits the extent to which if people adhere to that transmission can really take off,” he said.

“Then what happens in January will depend on what the data is showing, and we don’t have the ability to predict precisely what the impact of both the tier system which will start next week and activity over Christmas.”

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4.13am EST04:13

The University of Surrey has announced that it will reduce its entry requirements by one grade for most undergraduate courses next year, in recognition of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on education.

The university said the lowering of grade requirements aimed to help “relieve the pressure and anxiety”, faced by young people whose learning has been disrupted by the pandemic across two academic years.

The reduction in grade requirements will not apply to applicants for Veterinary Medicine, foundation year courses, four-year integrated masters programmes and audition-based performance courses.

Earlier this month, the…