The head of the Office for National Statistics said the lockdown had been a “success” but the country was “still not out of the woods”.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there had been “very strong reductions everywhere”, although in the North East and East of England the decline had “flattened off, potentially”, unlike in the South West and South East which have continued with a decline in cases.

The UK’s national statistician added: “I think this lockdown has been a success but at the same time, while we have seen major reductions, we are still relatively high.

“I’m in very much the view that we should do everything we can not to blow it nationally.

“We have done fantastically well in the last couple of months but we are not completely out of the woods yet.”

He added that it was “very difficult” to work out the difference between the lockdown impact and the effect the vaccine was having, but it was clear both were working in reducing the numbers.