A further 98 people have died with Covid in the UK, while 5,605 new cases of the virus have been recorded.
There are now 5,407 people in hospital with the virus, after an additional 360 patients were admitted on Tuesday, Government data has shown. There are 711 patients currently on ventilation.
The UK carried out 839,954 Covid tests in the past 24 hours, and 491,453 vaccinations.
More than 28.6 million people have now received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, with 2.5 million having had their second dose. This equates to around 54% of adults in the UK having had at least one jab.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been more than 149,000 deaths registered across the country where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate.
The new data comes after a former Government scientist warned that going abroad may remain unlikely until at least the autumn, despite the success of the UK’s vaccine rollout.
Professor Neil Ferguson, dubbed Professor Lockdown after he urged the Government to introduce the first lockdown in March last year, explained coronavirus strains such as the South African variant is causing concern.
‘Depending what happens in other areas of the world, travel may be one of the later things to be relaxed,’ he told BBC Breakfast.
‘But I think we… whilst not everything will be back to normal by the summer, certainly by the autumn, it will feel a lot more normal.’
Today Boris Johnson also suggested unvaccinated drinkers could be banned from some pubs once they reopen this summer. He didn’t rule out that individual establishments might be able to stop people coming in if they had not received their jab.
Appearing in front of the Liaison Committee of senior MPs, the Prime Minister said: ‘I think that’s the kind of thing that may be up to individual publicans, it may be up to the landlord.’
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