Another 29 people have died with Covid across the UK, while 2,166 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours.

Nearly 34 million people have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 13.5 million are now fully vaccinated.

The fatalities reported today mean 127,480 people have died within 28 days of a positive test, according to figures from the Department of Health. 

A total of 151,243 people have the virus mentioned on their death certificates.

The country has recorded 4,411,797 infections since the pandemic hit.

Matt Hancock confirmed on Wednesday 60 million doses of the Pfizer Covid vaccine have been ordered for a booster campaign in autumn.

The health secretary said ‘encouraging results’ were emerging from real-world vaccine data, as 70% of people now have antibodies.

But he warned of the threat new variants could pose, pointing to ‘harrowing’ scenes from India as ‘a stark reminder this isn’t over’.

It comes as an unnamed school in Leicester starts surge testing after three cases of the new Indian Covid-19 variant were found.

It would be ‘incredibly safe’ for two fully vaccinated people in the UK to meet up, England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam admitted at a Downing Street press conference today.

He has urged people to wait a ‘teeny bit longer’ as the Government lifts restrictions for everyone at the same time.

In the US, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said fully vaccinated people can start doing some of the things they did before the pandemic.

Asked why England will not follow the US, Mr Hancock said: ‘The decision we’ve taken… is to move together, that’s what the road map does.

‘As you know, in the autumn we moved different parts of the country according to the rates that we saw in those areas.

‘That had some advantages but it also had a disadvantage that we then saw in the areas where we had fewer restrictions we saw cases pop up.

‘So we took the decision when we wrote the road map that we all move as one, and I think that is very widely supported.’

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