UK records another 40,261 coronavirus cases, 1,401 deaths

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-23 00:38:15|Editor: huaxia

LONDON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Another 40,261 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,583,907, according to official figures released Friday.

Another 1,401 people have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. The total number of the coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 95,981, the data showed.

Earlier Friday, the British government's Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) announced that Britain's coronavirus reproduction number, known as the R number, has fallen sharply amid lockdown.

The R, which refers to the number of people that an infected person will pass the virus on to, is between 0.8 and one across Britain, down from between 1.2 and 1.3 last week, according to SAGE. If the R number is above one, it means the number of cases will increase exponentially.

However, SAGE scientists warned that case levels in Britain "remain dangerously high and we must remain vigilant to keep this virus under control, to protect the NHS (National Health Service) and save lives".

"It is essential that everyone continues to stay at home, whether they have had the vaccine or not...We all need to play our part, and if everyone continues to follow the rules, we can expect to drive down the R number across the country," they said.

More than 5 million people in Britain have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest government figures.

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.

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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