THE MEDICINES regulator has approved a single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, Cumbria's public health director has called the move "very positive."

Janssen's Coronavirus vaccine, which proved to be 85 per cent effective in stopping severe illness in the trial stage, has met the requisite safety standards.

The UK has ordered 20 million doses of the Belgian-made jabs which will arrive later this year.

Cumbria's public health director Colin Cox said: "It is very positive news to have had another vaccine approved, this will add to the supply available to us though I imagine it will take a little while for that supply to start coming through properly."

More than 38 million people have now received their first dose of a Covid vaccine in the UK, nearly three quarters of the adult population.

Janssen's vaccine is likely to be used as a booster jab in care homes before winter.

It can be stored more easily and transported and normal fridge temperatures.

Advice on who should receive the jab will be on the way soon from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. The European Medicines Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organisation.