London, (Samajweekly) Another 23,275 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,796,088, according to official figures released.
Meanwhile, Britain also reported another 1,200 coronavirus-related deaths, taking the country’s death toll to 105,571. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
The latest data come as Britain is stepping up its efforts to speed up the vaccine rollout, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
More than 8.3 million people in the country have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures. Britain aims to deliver a first dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February and to all adults by autumn.
Earlier Saturday, a British expert warned that some restrictions will remain in place in the country until the coronavirus pandemic is over globally.
“We’re still going to be living in some form of restrictions — travel restrictions, border controls — even when we’re vaccinated, until it’s over round the world,” Clare Wenham, assistant professor of global health policy at London School of Economics, told Sky News.
“There’s a real imperative to make sure that everybody round the world has at least minimum levels of vaccines at the same time,” Wenham said.
“If we want to return to global systems of trade and travel, we need to make sure that the vulnerable globally are vaccinated,” she said.
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.