LONDON, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Britain has registered 46,807 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 9,721,916, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported a further 199 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 143,559. These death toll only includes people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

There are currently 8,174 patients in hospital with COVID-19.

The latest data came as a new report found case rates in Britain are currently highest amongst children aged between five and nine years old.

According to the weekly COVID-19 surveillance report published by the UK Health Security Agency, there have been around 700 confirmed cases per 100,000 children in that age category. The lowest case rates have been recorded amongst people aged over 80.

Meanwhile, a variant of the Delta virus that is more infectious, but is less likely to cause symptoms, now accounts for more than one in 10 COVID cases in England, a new research showed.

The latest results from the long-running REACT-1 study showed the prevalence of the AY.4.2 variant, an evolutionary spin-off from the original Delta virus, has been growing at a rate of 2.8 percent a day since September.

But the data also showed that only 33 percent of those with the variant had the classic COVID symptoms of a fever, persistent cough, or a loss or change in taste or smell, compared to 46 percent of those with Delta.

More than 88 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 80 percent have received both doses, the latest figures indicate. More than 24 percent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

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. Enditem

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