Elderly people and healthcare workers have begun to be immunised against coronavirus at seven new mass vaccination sites across England, Sky News reports.

The new centers in Bristol, Surrey (Epsom), London, Newcastle, Manchester, Stevenage and Birmingham will have the capacity to vaccinate four people a minute.

Moira Edwards, 88, was the first to receive a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at Epsom racecourse and said it was "extremely important" to get it.

The centres will be joined by hundreds more GP sites and a small number of new pharmacy-led centres this week, taking the total number of places offering the coronavirus vaccine to around 1,200, according to NHS England.

But with the number of coronacvirus patients in hospital at a record high and the NHS buckling under the pressure, government ministers are doing all they can to get people to stay at home.

They are considering tightening the national lockdown in England even further, according to reports in The Daily Telegraph, banning people from exercising with people they don't live with.

The paper claims a government source said the current rules around physical activity are "being used as an excuse for people to go for a coffee in the park with their friends".

Staff prepare to administer a coronavirus vaccine at the NHS vaccine centre that has been set up at Millennium Point centre in Birmingham, England, Monday January 11, 2021. The centre is one of the seven mass vaccination centres now opened to the general public as the government continues to ramp up the vaccination program.

People wait to receive a coronavirus vaccine at the NHS vaccine centre that has been set up at Robertson House in Stevenage, England, Monday January 11, 2021.

England begins vaccinations for elderly and healthcare workers