Hancock: Govt a 'long, long way' from easing virus rules

Britain is expanding a coronavirus vaccination programme that has seen almost 6 million people get the first of two doses - even as the country’s death toll in the pandemic approaches 100,000.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that three-quarters of the UK’s over-80s have received a vaccine shot.

But he warned that authorities were a "long, long, long way" from being able to ease lockdown restrictions, and that pressure on then National Health Service remained "enormous."