The PM also indicated that restrictions could be re-introduced down the line.

“I didn’t want people to feel that this is, as it were, the moment to get happy… it is very far from the end of dealing with this virus,” Johnson said.

“Obviously, if we do find another variant that doesn’t respond to the vaccines… then clearly, we will have to take whatever steps we need to do to protect the public.”

As the restrictions are lifted, the government will no longer require people to work from home and a limit on the number of people allowed to visit care homes will be dropped. An announcement is set to be made this week by the UK’s Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on the possible end of so-called classroom “bubbles” which are designed to protect schools from COVID outbreaks.

Johnson said the pace of the UK’s vaccine rollout would also speed up so that people under 40 years of age will be offered their second dose eight weeks after their first, as opposed to the current 12-week interval.

Speaking alongside the PM on Monday, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned of the potential pressure COVID-19 may place on the National Health Service (NHS) next winter. “This coming winter may be very difficult for the NHS, and I don’t think that’s a particularly controversial point,” he said.

Yesterday, the UK reported a further nine deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID test, and more than 27,000 new infections. The current rate of infection is 230 per 100,000 people, and in the last seven days there has been a 50% increase in new cases compared to the previous week, according to the latest government data.