LONDON (Reuters) – More than 27.6 million people in Britain, well over half the adult population, received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, official data showed on Sunday after a daily record of 844,285 doses administered the previous day.
About 2.2 million people received both doses of the vaccine, the data showed.
“This gigantic effort by the team shows the best of Britain,” tweeted Health Secretary Matt Hancock, hailing the second daily record of doses administered in two days.
Previously, the government had given a higher figure for the daily number of vaccine doses administered on Saturday. Hancock said the figure was revised downward after the adjusted data arrived from Scotland, but the new figure is still a UK daily record.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged everyone to accept a vaccine when invited to receive it.
The daily release of COVID-19 data in the UK showed that 33 new deaths were recorded on Sunday, the lowest number since October and below the peaks of more than 1,000 deaths per day in January and February.
The total number of deaths in seven days was 640, a reduction of 37% compared to the previous seven-day period.
The number of new infections has also dropped, with 5,312 cases reported on Sunday and a total of 38,145 in seven days, a drop of 4% in the previous seven days.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 126,155 people have died in the UK in 28 days after the positive test for COVID-19, the highest official number of deaths in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.
The launch of vaccines in Britain is the fastest in any major economy, although the government has warned that it will slow down next month due to a supply crisis.
Despite the slowdown, progress is still in line with official targets, meaning that unless something changes, the government’s four-step plan to facilitate the blockade must proceed as announced.
Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Catherine Evans, Andrew Heavens and Frances Kerry