Professor Chris Whitty has said the UK is facing a 'really serious emergency at the moment' as one in 50 people are thought to have coronavirus.
Answering a question asked by the BBC about vaccines, he told a Downing Street press conference the importance of receiving both doses.
Professor Whitty also said the estimation for the UK number is "really quite a large number indeed".
England’s chief medical officer told the Downing Street press conference, citing ONS estimates, said that the second lockdown brought down rates.
“But then we had the problems with the new variant and the worst period of winter combining to lead to a significant increase since that time. And we’re now into a situation where, across the country as a whole, roughly one in 50 people have got the virus,” he continued.
“One in 50 is really quite a large number indeed.”
He also said Covid-19 hospitalisations across England are “rising very rapidly and, of course, we are still in the middle of winter”.
