A HUGE 40 per cent of Brits have now been vaccinated after the huge success of the vaccine rollout, Matt Hancock said tonight.
The Health Secretary confirmed the fantastic news that two in five adults have now been given their first jab – a total of more than 21million.
And one million Brits have got their second jab, and will be fully protected within three weeks.
He told the nation tonight: “As of midnight last night. 21.3 million people had been vaccinated.
“And I can tell you the first time that we have vaccinated now two fifths of the entire adult population of the United Kingdom.”
He said he was fantastic to see the “joy on people’s faces” as they were given the vaccine, and hailed it as “the best way of securing our freedom because they are the best way of protecting us”.
Mr Hancock told a Downing Street news briefing that the fall in the number of deaths was accelerating – down 41% on the previous week – suggesting the vaccination programme was working at last.
He added: “What this all shows is that the link from cases to hospitalisations and then to deaths that had been unbreakable before the vaccine – that link is now breaking,” he said.
“The vaccine is protecting the NHS, saving lives right across the country. The country’s plan is working.”
It came as the number of people who have died of Covid in the UK has dropped 32 per cent in a week as 236 more fatalities were recorded today.
The number of cases reported overnight hasn’t yet been revealed amid delays. However, last Friday, 8,523 cases and 346 deaths were reported.
The dropping death toll raises hopes Brits are past the darkest time of the virus.
But there are new warnings to stick to the lockdown after the R rate crept up again.
The R rate – which represents the number of people an infected person will pass Covid onto – is between 0.7 and 0.9 across the UK, Sage said today.
In hospitals in England, 174 deaths were recorded. Patients were aged between 26 and 102, and six people – aged between 61 and 89 – didn’t have a known underlying health condition
A further two people died in Northern Ireland, while 11 new deaths were reported in Scotland and 12 in Wales.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today revealed that infection rates are now the lowest levels since October.
However, stats experts say infections are rising in the North East and Yorkshire.
And between February 21 and 27, around one in 220 people living in private households had Covid – the equivalent of 248,100 people.
It is the lowest figure since the week to October 1 when the estimate stood at one in 240, or 224,400 people.
