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LONDON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus infection rate in Britain is "still alarmingly high", British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.

While there are "signs of hope", the level of infection is still too high to consider relaxing social distancing guidelines, Johnson said at a virtual Downing Street news briefing.

Johnson said that 90 percent of those aged over 75 in England had received the first dose of a COVID vaccine.

The prime minister said although the number in hospital was beginning to fall, the National Health Service (NHS) was still under "huge pressure".

Earlier Wednesday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 10 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, which means 15 percent of Britain's population have had their first coronavirus jab.

Joining Johnson for the press briefing, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty said it looks as if Britain is past the peak of its current wave.

"I think that most of my colleagues think we are past the peak," Whitty said.

"That doesn't mean you can never have another peak, but at this point in time -- provided people continue to follow the guidelines -- we are on the downward slope of cases, hospitalization and of deaths in all four nations of the United Kingdom, so I think we do think, at this point, this peak at least, we are past."

Another 19,202 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,871,825, according to official figures released Wednesday.

The country also reported another 1,322 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 109,335.These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Britain aims to deliver a first dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February and to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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