Matt Hancock said the country was on track to meet the road map set out by Boris Johnson.

Making a statement on coronavirus, the Health Secretary told the Commons: “This virus is diminished but not defeated. Cases, hospitalisations and deaths are back to the levels we saw in September.

"Throughout the crisis we’ve protected the NHS and there are now 2,186 people in hospital with Covid across the UK, down 94% from the peak. And the average number of daily deaths is 25, down 98%.”

He continued: “And now, with fewer Covid patients in hospital, the NHS is already turning to focus on the work to tackle the Covid backlog.

“Step by step we are returning this country towards normal life and we are on track to meet the road map set out by the Prime Minister.”

Matt Hancock added that the uptake of the vaccine has been “astonishingly high”.

Giving some vaccine take-up statistics, the Health Secretary said: “Last week we hit our target to offer a vaccine to priority groups one to nine and we are on track to offer a vaccine to all adults by the end of July.

“But throughout we must be vigilant, cautious and careful because we want this road to be a one-way street.

“The uptake of the vaccine has been astonishingly high. For all over-50s, uptake is 94%.

“Enthusiasm among those in their late 40s was so high that when we opened up the booking system last week they briefly overloaded the website.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: “We’ve recently seen a new variant first identified in India. We’ve now detected 103 cases of this variant, of which again the vast majority have links to international travel and have been picked up by our testing at the border.”

Mr Hancock said the samples have been analysed to see if the new variant has any “concerning characteristics” such as greater transmissibility or resistance to treatments and vaccines.

He added: “After studying the data, and on a precautionary basis, we’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list.”

Matt Hancock said: “We all know that older people living in care homes are at the greatest risk from this virus and I believe we have a duty of care to protect the most vulnerable, so we’ll consider all options to keep people safe.”

Speaking in the Commons, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said of putting India on the red list: “This means anyone who is not a UK or Irish resident or a British citizen cannot enter the UK if they’ve been in India in the previous 10 days.

“UK and Irish residents and British citizens who have been in India in the past 10 days before their arrival will need to complete hotel quarantine for 10 days from the time of arrival.

“These rules will come into force at 4am on Friday.

“India is a country I know well and love. Between our two countries we have ties of friendship and family. I understand the impact of this decision but I hope the House will concur that we must act.”

Matt Hancock earlier said the Government is “ramping up” plans for a booster shot to ensure the Covid-19 vaccines “stay ahead of the virus”.

He told MPs: “We’ve already procured enough vaccine doses to begin the booster shots later this year. We will be working with our current vaccine suppliers and new suppliers, like the CureVac partnership, to work out which vaccines will be effective as a booster shot and to design new vaccines specifically targeted at the variants of concern – like the variant first found in South Africa.

“Our goal is to ensure the vaccine protects against this dreadful disease, whatever it throws at us, to keep us safe and to protect our much-cherished return to normal way of life.”

Mr Hancock said vigilance is required while work on the booster shot continues.

On the South African variant, Mr Hancock said: “We’ve now detected a total of 557 cases of this variant since it was first identified in December. We’ve seen a cluster of cases in south London – predominantly in the London boroughs of Wandsworth, Lambeth and Southwark, and identified single cases over the last week in Barnet, Birmingham and Sandwell.

“Around two thirds of these cases are related to international travel and have been picked up by the day two and day eight testing for international arrivals, however, we have seen a small amount of community transmission too.”