Britain toughened its coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday, with England and Scotland going into lockdown and shutting schools, as surging cases have added to fears of a new virus variant.

The public has been ordered to stay at home and work remotely if possible, and only to go out for essential shopping, medical reasons or to exercise.

Justifying the measures, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said more than one million people in England -- or two percent of the population -- now had the virus.

A further 60,916 people tested positive in the last 24 hours across the country on Tuesday, while the number of people in hospital was now 40 percent higher than at the April peak last year.

But Johnson pledged that a vaccination drive would see the most vulnerable inoculated by mid-February, paving the way for a gradual return to normality.

More than 1.3 million people across the UK have already received either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine since early December, including 650,000 people aged over 80, he said.

England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said the timetable for Britain's biggest vaccination drive was "realistic, but not easy".

Whitty hoped it would be possible to reach next winter without reimposing restrictions but added: "We just need to be aware of the fact this is not a problem that just disappears."

Britain is one of the worst hit countries with nearly 2.8 million cases and more than 76,000 deaths in total. Another 830 deaths were recorded on Tuesday.

The new lockdown began in England on Tuesday morning and will become law after a vote in parliament on Wednesday.

Scotland's lockdown will last at least until the end of this month, while Wales and Northern Ireland have also toughened existing restrictions.

Opinion polls suggested most people backed the measures despite critics accusing the government of being too slow to respond.

"I'm perfectly fine with it," Jenny Heath, 42, who works in marketing, told AFP as she walked through central London -- one of the few people out on the streets.

"There's no way around it and it's just a short-term solution to ease what's happening in the NHS (National Health Service)."

"They are never going to get a handle on this virus until everybody is in total lockdown," said 69-year-old Patricia Cairns in Edinburgh.

Pressure is mounting on the government to quicken the pace of vaccinations.

"We were the first country in the world to get the vaccine. Let's be the first in the world to get our country vaccinated," said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

Experts said as many as 500,000 people could be given the jab each day.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak announced £4.6 billion ($6.3 billion, 5.1 billion euros) in extra funding for hard-hit retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, which have been forced to close again.

Schoolchildren will not sit end-of-year exams needed to enter higher education, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said, promising unspecified "alternative arrangements".

He also said the UK could impose new restrictions on international travel.

Currently, quarantine is compulsory for those arriving from some countries but not virus testing. New proposals will be announced "very shortly", said Gove.

Johnson has been widely criticised for hesitating too long before imposing the new measures, particularly school closures.

"I think the inability of the government to act decisively and to convey clear messages and have a clear strategy has been an enormous disappointment to teachers," Jerry Glazier, spokesman of the National Education Union for teachers.

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