Sky News

Dr Susan Hopkins, the Public Health England's leading Covid-19 strategists told Sky News that she thinks "that once we get to a very low level of community [transmission], we will need to have ongoing measures in place until the adult population are vaccinated."

"What those measures are, we will have to watch and see, but I think it is really important that we keep the rates as low as possible for as long as possible this year," Hopkins added.

An Oxford released a study shows that higher vaccine efficacy can be achieved with a longer interval between the first and second dose and that a single vaccine dose is highly effective in the first 90 days. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, further showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine can cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds and prevented severe disease.

“That reduction in transmission, as well as the fact there is no hospitalizations, the combination of that is very good news. And it categorically supports the strategy we’ve been taking on having a 12-week gap between the doses,” Hancock told Sky News on Wednesday.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock won't rule out a second nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, telling Sky News that while a "national lockdown is the last line of defence", the government would do "whatever is necessary to keep people safe in a very difficult pandemic."