A record number of Covid vaccines were booked in one day through the NHS website earlier this week.

NHS Digital reported that on Tuesday, over a million first and second doses were arranged via the national booking service, equating to an average of 45,000 per hour or more than 750 each minute.

The 1,082,596 jabs booked also represented the first time daily appointments passed one million as the vaccination programme was opened to 25 to 29-year-olds.

Outgoing NHS England & Improvement chief executive Simon Stevens said the latest figure had “blown out of the water the suggestion that people in their 20s might not come forward to protect themselves and their loved ones".

“Enthusiasm for the biggest and most successful vaccination programme remains strong as bookings for the lifesaving jab reached an all-time high,” he said.

“The Covid-19 vaccine is still the best protection against coronavirus and as further supplies become available to us week by week it’s great that we’ve seen 25 to 29 year olds sending bookings to blockbuster levels, following hard on the heels of the millions of others.”