Over six million people have received their second vaccine doses in the UK so far.
It comes as Matt Hancock has dismissed claims that the UK will reach herd immunity next week, a suggestion made by academics at UCL based on their latest modelling.
Speaking to Sky News, the health minister said he preferred to “watch the data”, insisting that the government was right to ease lockdown cautiously.
“I think we have taken the right course in plotting our way to freedom and doing it carefully because we want it to be irreversible,” he said.
Meanwhile, deaths from Covid-19 are at their lowest level in half a year, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.
A total of 719 Covid fatalities were recorded in England And Wales in the week ending 26 March, a 25 per cent reduction from the previous week and the lowest total seen since 16 October.
Recent ONS data also suggests that more than half of people with strong Covid infection did not display major symptoms. While 53 per cent of those with a high viral load were asymptomatic, 47 per cent reported symptoms.
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