The number of people in Britain who have received two vaccine doses rose to 6.541 million and the number who have received at least one dose increased to 31.903 million, more than 60% of the adult population according to government daily figures.

Some 3,150 people were reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 in the daily data published on April 9, taking the number of cases over the past 7 days to 19,804, 32% lower than the week before.

Health officials also said they had revised down some cumulative data after positive cases detected by rapid lateral flow tests later turned out to be negative. In 8,010 cases the lateral flow tests were followed within 3 days by a gold-standard PCR test and found to be negative.

Cheaper and faster lateral flow tests are increasingly being used to reopen the economy and some scientists have raised questions about the volume of false positives they can produce.

Public Health England has said that anyone receiving a positive test on a lateral flow device should follow it with a PCR test to be sure.