NHS England’s chief executive said he hoped to see the Covid vaccine combined with the flu jab in the future.

Sir Simon Stevens told the Health and Social Care Committee on Tuesday “it would be great if the Covid vaccine and flu vaccine ends up being combined into a single vaccine, which we might see if not this winter but future winters as well”.

He said three-quarters of vaccinations have so far been delivered through local vaccination centres led by primary care services.

READ MORE: Covid: 'Schools top priority' ahead of national lockdown review on February 15

Last week, the Health Secretary the Covid-19 vaccine could be given every year in a similar way to the annual flu jab programme,

Matt Hancock said a dual vaccination against the two conditions in future is “highly likely”.

It comes as a health expert warned that even after vaccinating the most vulnerable parts of the population, things will not necessarily return to normal.

The latest data reveals a further 807 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

The Government said a further 592 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday, bringing the UK total to 98,531.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 115,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.