"Everything and anything": London vaccine efforts ramp up as uptake remains lowest in the country
60% of adults in London have had their first dose, compared with nearly 80% in other regions.
It's hoped young people booking their coronavirus vaccines will help improve London's take-up rates - which are currently the lowest in the country.
Just under 60-percent of Londoners have had their first dose - compared with nearly 80-percent in some other regions.
Dr Oge Ilozue is a GP in the capital - and also works on the covid vaccination programme for London.
"The case numbers are going up because of the variant, which we know is more transmissable," she says. "We're seeing the people who are positive are the young, 18-year-olds, 24-year-olds, people who haven't had a chance to be vaccinated yet."
She says they're using a range of tactics to increase take-up.
"Everything and anything," she says. "The amount of work going into this, and the background... people care so passionately. There's the mass sites, there's the football stadiums. We've got pop-ups. People are doing door-to-door knocking to let people know - listen we've got vaccines around the corner."
There are now also over a thousand new cases daily in the capital.
Drive to tackle vaccine hesitancy among Londoners
The government is preparing for a mass vaccine drive to encourage Londoners to have the Covid-19 jab, targeting communities where uptake has been low.
Office of National Statistic figures indicate that vaccine hesitancy among black and Asian communities had halved in recent weeks
Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS England's medical director of primary care said that NHS staff and volunteers would be "gearing up" for a weekend of walk-in clinics to ensure the vaccine was getting to hard-to-reach communities.
She added:
"There is still more to do, but our message from the NHS is clear: it is never too late to come forward and take up your vaccine.
"Your vaccine has a name on it, it is for you, and it is an evergreen offer. So, as soon as you feel able, come forward and we will vaccinate you."
She appealed to tech companies to help combat the spread of disinformation about coronavirus vaccines on social media.
"It is incredibly unfair that anti-vaxxers and others try and promote this awful information because it is risking your life, the life of your community and the safety of our science as well," the GP added.
"I utterly condemn that."
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the press conference that there will be a London summit in a bid to scale up ideas that have worked in improving the jab take-up rate.
He said:
"As we look to tackle and take on those final steps, those hard yards on the road to recovery, we need to make sure as many people are protected as possible.
"So we are intensifying, doubling down our efforts to get more people to come forward and we are seeing real results in places like Bolton and of course in the North West and elsewhere.
"We're honing in on areas where uptake is lower."