Britain's vaccine minister has said people being hospitalised with Covid-19 in the United Kingdom are broadly showing less severe symptoms than before, adding there was no need for further restrictions at this stage.

"At the moment, if you look at the people who have been hospitalised, they are going in with less severe conditions than before," Minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup told Sky News, adding that the "Plan B" Prime Minister Boris Johnson brought in in December was working.

"The numbers that are in hospital beds is about half what it was a year ago — and that just shows the power of the vaccine."

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