Usually looking dapper in a pinstripe suit at Downing Street briefings, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam donned running gear to get fighting fit for the nation's pandemic recovery.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer took time out from worrying about jabs for a spring jog, enjoying a morning run through the countryside near his home in Lincolnshire.

The 57-year-old epidemiologist, who has become a household name thanks to his reassuring manner during the No 10 Covid press conferences over the past year, made sure he could be contacted by carrying his mobile phone and bluetooth headphones.

In a blue top and black shorts, the senior medic – known by those close to him by his initials JVT – soon warmed up enough to remove his hat and gloves.

He kept up a steady pace over several miles for more than an hour near the village home he shares with wife Karen, a former nurse, and their family.

'He passed a few couples and dog walkers, but it's a very quiet area, no one seemed to notice him in his running gear,' said an onlooker.

In an interview with local magazine Lincolnshire Pride, Prof Van-Tam said: 'It's a great place to raise my two boys.

My daughter has left home now and, being the sort of person who likes to live his life quietly, I'm looking forward to a little normality. I think that's a sentiment everyone can relate to.'

With his fondness for metaphors – often involving football or trains – the professor's fame is such you can now buy 'JVT' merchandise, including T-shirts with his photo, and there is a Jonathan Van-Tam Appreciation Society on Facebook.