BORIS Johnson has urged the two million people across the UK in the top four priority groups, who are still to get their vaccinations against coronavirus, to do so soon as Monday’s target date of getting all 15m people inoculated nears.

The Prime Minister told a Downing St press conference: “With less than a week to go until the target date of Monday the 15th, there is no doubt that we have made great strides with just over 13m people now vaccinated in our United Kingdom, including 1 in 4 adults in England, over 90% of everyone over 75 and over 90% of eligible residents of care homes for the elderly.

“But that still leaves nearly two million people - a population roughly twice the size of Birmingham - that we still hope to reach. And there are people across the country who for one reason or another haven’t yet taken up their offer. So, now is the moment to do it,” declared Mr Johnson.

He stressed that the reason he was making his appeal for people in the four priority groups yet to get vaccinated to come forward to get their jags was “not so we hit some numerical target but to save lives, prevent serious illness, and so the whole country can take another step on a long and hard road back to normality”.

Once people in those four priority groups - covering the over-70s, health and care staff and the clinically extremely vulnerable - are vaccinated, the UK Government hopes that all over-50s and younger people with medical conditions will be vaccinated by the end of April.

The latest UK figures showed that a further 1,001 people died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the official UK death toll to 114,851.

During the press conference, the PM urged people to be “a little bit more patient” about whether they could book summer holidays.

“I’m afraid it is just too early for people to be certain about what we will be able to do this summer. We hope to be able to say more in the week of the 22nd[when a new roadmap will be announced]. I understand why people want to make plans now but we’re just going to have to be a little bit more patient,” he said.

Earlier, Grant Shapps, the UK Government’s Transport Secretary, made clear foreign holidays would remain banned until “everybody” had had a coronavirus vaccine as he warned it was “too soon” to book a holiday, stressing: “People shouldn’t be booking holidays right now; not domestically or internationally.”

Mr Johnson also appeared to confirm that the Government was in talks with the International Air Transport Association[IATA] about a coronavirus vaccination app for people travelling abroad, which could effectively act as a vaccine passport and help revive air travel.

Asked about talks with the IATA on a vaccination travel app, the PM said: “On the travel app. We’re looking at all sorts of things that we may wish to do in the months ahead.”

Noting how people needed to get inoculated to help return Britain to normality, he added: “But when we’re in that different world, which I hope will be as soon as possible, then all kinds of apps and all kinds of possibilities will be open to us.”

Mr Johnson also said how the country was going “to have to get used to” being revaccinated in the autumn as fresh variants emerge, much like the need for annual boosters against seasonal flu”.

He explained: “As new variants appear it will be more useful than ever to have more vaccines that can combat all variants and, yes, we need to be getting ready for a world in which we have booster jabs against new variants in the autumn and maybe beyond and we should start to think about it as a flu jab, something which the elderly and vulnerable have every year.”

Earlier, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary for England, came under fierce criticism from a senior Conservative colleague who said the Government plan to impose 10-year prison sentences on travellers who tried to evade coronavirus quarantine rules were “utterly ridiculous”.

Sir Charles Walker, Vice-Chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, urged Mr Johnson to rein in Cabinet ministers “very, very quickly” as he also accused the Government of “robbing people of hope”.

He told Sky News: “Are we really going to lock people up for 10 years for being dishonest about the fact that they’ve been to Portugal? What a stupid thing to say, I mean a really stupid thing to say, that demeans his office and his position around the Cabinet table.”

Mr Hancock announced on Tuesday that people returning to England from 33 “red-list” destinations would have to pay £1,750 to quarantine for 10 days in Government-designated hotels.

Those caught lying about their movements could be fined £10,000 or jailed for 10 years under existing anti-forgery legislation.

In a further sign of Tory unrest, 24 Tory MPs rebelled to oppose regulations which increased fines for people caught at house parties and allowed police extra powers to access Test and Trace data.

In other developments:

*scientists advising the World Health Organisation recommended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in all adults and

*using dexamethasone to treat Covid-19 patients could have saved 650,000 lives worldwide, including 12,000 Britons, an Oxford University study suggested.