LONDON: In the United Kingdom, an additional 215 people have died with Covid-19 – the lowest daily toll in two months. It records another 9,834 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,115,509, according to official figures released on Sunday.
The UK’s overall death toll now stands at 1,20,580, however, this rises to 1,29,498 when taking into account all fatalities that listed Covid-19 on the death certificate.
These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua news agency reported. The latest figures were revealed as more than 17.5 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of a coronavirus vaccine.
Earlier on Sunday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine appears to reduce the chances of transmitting the virus by "about two-thirds." Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged that every adult in Britain will be given a jab of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of July.
According to Johnson, people aged 50 and over and those with underlying health conditions will now be offered a jab by April 15. The prime minister is set to unveil his "roadmap" exiting the current coronavirus lockdown on Monday. It is widely expected that schools in England would start to open on March 8.
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. Johnson has said he would take a "prudent" approach to the easing of lockdown to ensure the process is "irreversible".
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