Britain has begun rolling out the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, a possible game-changer in fighting the disease worldwide.

Britain started the new drive with 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as it struggled to control a severe wave of infections that has threatened to overwhelm the public health system and prompted the government to warn tougher curbs can be expected.

Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old retired maintenance manager and dialysis patient, received the first jab at Oxford's Churchill Hospital, NHS England said.

Pinker said he was so pleased and that he can "now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year."

Since December 8, Britain's NHS has been using a vaccine made by Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech to inoculate health care workers and nursing home residents and staff.

Meanwhile Russia has reported 23,351 new cases over the previous 24 hours, including 3,591 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,260,138.

Authorities said 482 people had died, taking Russia's official death toll to 58,988.

(With input from agencies)