Coronavirus: Boris Johnson to address nation on Tuesday afternoon amid Indian variant concerns, vitamin D found to potentially help with prevention

Boris Johnson is expected to address the nation at 5pm today amid concerns of an Indian variant of COVID-19. The Prime Minister, who will speak from the new £2.6mln TV studio in Downing Street, recently cancelled a trip to India hours before it was added to the UK’s ‘red list’, meaning it is considered a high-risk destination. READ: UK shops rack up £1.8bn sales on lockdown reopening but most pubs and restaurants remain closed The Asian country recorded 150,000 new cases each day for three weeks. On Monday, health secretary Matt Hancock told MPs 103 cases of the Indian variant have been detected in the UK and are being studied to understand the potential effects. Most of them have links to international travel and have been picked up by testing at the border, he said. As of Monday, 32.9mln UK residents had received the first jab of a COVID-19 vaccine and 10.1mln the second. Daily positive tests were 2,963 with only four deaths. Vitamin D A new study shows that women taking probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, multivitamins or vitamin D had a lower risk of contracting the virus by 14%, 12%, 13%, and 9% respectively. No effect was observed for those taking vitamin C, zinc or garlic supplements, nor for men said the study, which was published BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health. It collected data via the Zoe COVID-19 Symptom Study app from over 445,000 people from the UK, US and Sweden. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, vitamin D supplements should be taken to maintain bone and muscle health but shouldn’t be offered solely to prevent or treat COVID-19.