Portrait of the week: A Covid Budget, a Cotswold meteor and Angelina Jolie sells Churchill’s painting

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First-dose coronavirus vaccinations totalled more than 20 million. A study suggested that in the over-eighties, a single dose of either the Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was more than 80 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation. Hospital admissions of 8,452 in the week ending 27 February were 22 per cent down on the week before that. At dawn on 28 February, total UK deaths (within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus) had stood at 122,705, including 2,340 in the past week, down by 32.3 per cent on the week before that. Six people with the Brazilian variant of coronavirus were detected in Britain, but one could not be traced.

In the Budget, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said borrowing would rise to a peak of 93 per cent of GDP. He said he wanted to be ‘honest’ about rebuilding the economy. Tax thresholds would be frozen; corporation tax would go up to 25 per cent. He wanted the focus to be on jobs. The furlough scheme was extended until September, as was the £20 Universal Credit bonus. A traineeship scheme would get £126 million, with £3,000 for employers for each new hire. A £5 billion scheme for shops and hospitality outlets would provide grants of up to £18,000 each. Arts and sport would get £700 million, and he backed a UK-Ireland bid for the World Cup in 2030. There was £150 million to help communities take over pubs in danger of closing. The government would shoulder some risk to make available 95 per cent mortgages. The limit on a single payment using contactless card technology would rise to £100. Angelina Jolie sold a painting by Churchill for £7 million at auction in London.