London, Mar 7 (IANS): The coronavirus lockdown in the UK has been a "success" but the country is "still not out of the woods", the chief of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

"I think this lockdown has been a success but at the same time, while we have seen major reductions, we are still relatively high," Xinhua news agency quoted Ian Diamond, head of the ONS, as saying to the BBC on Saturday.

"I'm in very much the view that we should do everything we can not to blow it nationally," he said.

"We have done fantastically well in the last couple of months but we are not completely out of the woods yet."

Diamond said it was "very difficult" to work out the difference between the lockdown impact and the effect the vaccine was having, but it was clear both were working in reducing the infections.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

So far, nearly 21.3 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed Friday that two-fifths of Britain's entire adult population of have now been vaccinated.