UK records lowest daily increase of coronavirus cases this year
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E-mail Xinhua, January 18, 2021
LONDON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Another 38,598 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, the lowest daily increase since the start of the year, according to official figures released Sunday.
The daily figure, down from 41,346 reported on Saturday, brought the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,395,959, the data showed.
Another 671 have died within 28 days of a positive test. The total number of the coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 89,261, the data showed.
The figures revealed during the weekend are usually lower due to the delay in reporting in some regions.
Meanwhile, Britain is racing against time to roll out its vaccine program to bring the pandemic under control.
According to Simon Stevens, chief executive of National Health Service (NHS) England, people in England are being vaccinated four times faster than new cases of the virus are being detected.
About 140 people a minute are now being given the first jab of the two doses, he told the BBC.
The NHS remains in a very precarious position, with 75 percent more COVID patients than at the April peak, he added.
Earlier Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said every adult in Britain is expected to receive at least one dose of a vaccine by September.
However, with deaths and cases remaining high, it is believed that Britain will still be under tight restrictions for the next few months.
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.
Britain's coronavirus reproduction number, also known as the R number, is estimated at between 1.2 and 1.3, compared with last week's one and 1.4, the British government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said Friday.
If the R number is above one, it means the number of cases will increase exponentially.
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. Enditem
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