The British Government Vaccine task force chief said he expects the country to be free of coronavirus by "sometime in August" and he expects the UK to have a winter largely free from infection.

The departing vaccine task force chief Clive Dix said to the Telegraph that he expects everyone in the UK to be vaccinated at least once by the end of July and the population would be immune from all the variants that are known.

"We'll be safe over the coming winter," he told the Telegraph.

Over 35 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a coronavirus jab, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said earlier this week.

Under-30s are yet to be called in but it is understood anyone below this age, and up to the age of 40, will be allowed to opt-out of the AstraZeneca in favor of Pfizer.