The chief medical officers of the United Kingdom lowered their Covid-19 alert level on Thursday, citing a gradual reduction in pressure on the health service, news wires reported.

"Following advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and in the light of the most recent data, the four UK Chief Medical Officers and NHS England National Medical Director agree that the UK alert level should move from Level Five to Level Four in all four nations," the chief medical officers said in a statement, referring to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. “The health services across the four nations remain under significant pressure with a high number of patients in hospital, however thanks to the efforts of public we are now seeing numbers consistently declining,” the medical officers added.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

More than 18.2m people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

On Monday, PM Boris Johnson announced his long-anticipated "roadmap" exiting the lockdown. Schools in England will reopen from 8 March as first part of the four-step plan.

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