Anyone aged 70 and over who has yet to be offered a jab has been told to contact the NHS to book one.

More than 12 million people have now had their first jab and the Government insists it is on track to vaccinate 15m vulnerable people by its February 15 deadline.

Giving an update on the coronavirus pandemic yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock declared the UK was “turning a corner” in the fight against Covid-19.

However, he warned the number of hospital patients with the virus and mortality rate still remains above the peaks in April and November last year.

He added: “The essential message to stay at home, follow the social distancing rules, is our best defence right now.

“The number of people in hospital is still far too high but it is falling, the number of people who are dying from this disease is also far too high but that is falling too.

“We are turning a corner in our battle against coronavirus, the vaccine rollout is going well, and if you are aged 70 or over and haven’t been contacted yet please get in touch now.

“And all the time we must be vigilant and do what it takes to tackle any new variants that arise.

"For now, the most important thing that you can do is get the jab when the time comes, stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”

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Mr Hancock’s plea for people to book or take up the offer of a vaccine was reinforced by Professor Johnathan Van-Tam, who played down fears about the new Covid variant in South Africa.

England's deputy chief medical officer was addressing concerns about people refusing to have the Oxford jab after a study of 2,000 people found it had only ‘limited protection’ against the variant.

Prof Van-Tam said: “Early data does not suggest the South African variant has a distinct transmissability advantage over our current virus.

“Because of this, there is no reason to think the South African variant will capture or overtake our current virus in the next few months.

“Our immediate threat is from our current virus and there is plenty of evidence that the vaccines we are deploying are effective against our current virus.

“Please don’t delay if you’re called, take the advantage to protect yourself against the clear and present danger.”

A total of 147 cases linked to the South African variant have been found in the UK so far.

Prof Van-Tam said it was likely annual vaccinations would be given to the vulnerable to protect them from new variants of coronavirus.