It comes as almost 5 million people have now been vaccinated against the disease, with 4,973,248 Britons having received their first dose as of Wednesday.
The new figures were published after Downing Street refused to rule out the possibility of the lockdown continuing into the summer.
Asked directly whether he could rule out the lockdown lasting into the summer, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We will continue to keep all of the scientific evidence and data under review.
“It remains our position that we want to ease restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so, but in order for us to do that we need to see the transmission rates of the virus come down and we need to see the pressure on the NHS reduce.”
More to follow…
