British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the easing of England's new national lockdown, the third of its kind since the pandemic began in the country, would be a "gradual unwrapping" and not a "big bang".

Announcing the lockdown on Monday evening in a televised address, Johnson urged people across the country to "stay at home" except for permitted reasons, echoing the message back in March 2020.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.