London, Feb 2 (IANS): A Covid-19 vaccine has been offered to all older residents at every eligible care home across England, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) announced.

"In a major milestone for 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," Xinhua news agency quoted the NHS as saying in a statement issued on Monday.

"The small remainder have had their visits deferred by local directors of public health for safety reasons during a local outbreak. Those homes will be visited and jabbed as soon as NHS staff are allowed to do so," it said.

Also on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Today marks a crucial milestone in our ongoing race to vaccinate the most vulnerable against this deadly disease... We said we would prioritize and protect care home residents, and that is exactly what we have done."

However, Johnson said there will be "difficult moments to come", and the number of cases and people in hospital "remains dangerously high".

"But vaccines are our route out of the pandemic, and having protected 8.9 million people with a first dose so far, our rollout programme will only accelerate from here on," he said.

Nearly 9 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

The Country aims to deliver a first dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February and to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

As of Tuesday morning, the country's overall coronavirus caseload has increased to 3,846,851, the fourth highest in the world after the US, India and Brazil.

The death toll stood at 106,774, the fifth largest following the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.