Covid: 2m given vaccine across UK, but tougher lockdown measures may be needed, Boris Johnson warns

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Boris Johnson has warned tougher lockdown measures may be required if people do not follow the rules, as he stressed that "now is the moment for maximum vigilance" amid increasing transmissions of coronavirus.

The prime minister said that around two million people across the UK had received their first Covid-19 jab, but added the severe restrictions imposed last week would be kept “under constant review” by No 10.

His remarks came after Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, suggested the coming weeks are going to be “the worst” of the pandemic for the NHS, with over 30,000 beds already occupied by patients with the virus.

“Where we have to tighten them, we will,” Mr Johnson told reporters. “We have rules in place already which, if they are properly followed, we believe can make a huge, huge difference”.

"It's now that people need to focus ... when they're out shopping, whether they're buying cups of coffee in the park or whatever it happens to be, they need to think about spreading the disease."

He added: "Now is the moment for maximum vigilance, maximum observance of the rules. Of course, if we feel that things are not being properly observed then we may have to do more."

Earlier Sir Keir Starmer said the prime minister’s delays in tacking tough action to combat transmissions was costing lives and suggested the government may have to “get tougher” in areas like closing nurseries and restricting the range of key workers who can keep sending their children to school.

Mr Johnson, who also warned the country faces a “very perilous moment”, added: “More important than us just pushing out new rules, people have got to follow this guidance.

"In supermarkets, people need to be keeping their differences, making sure that they're wearing masks, doing the right thing.

"We need to enforce the rules in supermarkets. When people are getting takeaway drinks, in cafes, then they need to avoid spreading the disease there, avoid mingling too much."

On the rollout of both the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, the prime minister  said that around 40 per cent of the 80-year-olds in the UK had received their first jab, with around 23 per cent of the elderly residents in care homes having been inoculated.

Overall, Mr Johnson revealed that two million people had received jabs and “maybe a bit more”, as he insisted that “no-one is going to be more than 10 miles from a vaccination centre” as the government ramps up the roll-out.

Coinciding with his comments, Nadhim Zahawi, the minister responsible for overseeing the vaccine rollout, published the government’s strategy, pledging that tens of millions of people will be immunised by the spring, with an aim to set up over 2,700 vaccination sites.

Speaking last week the prime minister committed to providing the first jab of a Covid vaccine to all those in top four priority groups by 15 February. According to the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) these groups, including all those over the age of 70, accounted for 88 per cent of all coronavirus fatalities.