Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to tighten restrictions in England in an bid to slow the spread of cases.
Johnson warned of “tough, tough weeks” ahead.
“If you look at the numbers, there’s no question that we’re going to have to take tougher measures,” Johnson said on a visit to see health workers receiving the Oxford vaccine.
ITV News said the toughest Tier 4 level of restrictions, which currently cover much of England, will be imposed across the country and schools would be closed.
Moving ahead of Johnson, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon imposed the most stringent lockdown since last spring.
“It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation that we face now than I have been at any time since March,” she said.
Britain has administered more than a million COVID-19 vaccines – more than the rest of Europe put together, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, declaring it a triumph of British science.
Johnson’s government has secured 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which can be stored at fridge temperatures between two to eight degrees, making it easier to distribute than the Pfizer shot.
Six hospitals in England are administering the first of around 530,000 doses Britain has ready. The programme will be expanded to hundreds of other British sites in coming days, and the government hopes it will deliver tens of millions of doses within months.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 4.2 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Saturday morning and distributed 13.07 million doses.
More than a tenth of Israel’s population have had a vaccine and it is now administering more than 150,000 doses a day.
Germany and Denmark are looking into the possibility of delaying administering a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to make scarce supplies go further, after a similar move by Britain.
Britain became the first Western country to approve and roll out a COVID-19 vaccine, although it is behind Russia and China which have been inoculating their citizens for months.
