LONDON: All elderly people living in English care homes who are eligible for the coronavirus vaccine have now been offered their first injection, the National Health Service (NHS) announced on Monday.

"The NHS vaccination programme, nurses, GPs and other NHS staff have offered the life-saving jab to people living at more than 10,000 care homes with older residents," said NHS England.

A small number of homes have had their visits deferred due to severe local outbreaks, and will be seen shortly, while some residents were unable to receive their first dose "for other clinical reasons", it added.

"Today marks a crucial milestone in our ongoing race to vaccinate the most vulnerable against this deadly disease," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"We said we would prioritise and protect care home residents, and that is exactly what we have done."

But he warned of "difficult moments to come".

"The number of cases and people in hospital remains dangerously high."

Another 21,088 cases were recorded on Sunday with 34,783 still in hospital, including 3,832 on ventilation.

Britain is under a third national lockdown as it battles a new strain of the virus and has recorded more than 106,000 deaths from the disease -- the worst toll in Europe.

It was the first Western country to begin a vaccination campaign and has so far jabbed nearly nine million people.

The government has set a target of vaccinating 15 million by mid-February, representing the country's most vulnerable and at risk groups.

The country is currently using Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines, which will be joined in the next few months by the Moderna vaccine.