LONDON, Jun 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Britain yesterday reported another 5,765 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, as the government continues to consider whether or not to go ahead with the final step of easing restrictions on Jun 21.
The total number of cases in the country now stands at 4,511,669.
The country also recorded another 13 virus-related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 127,836. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
The British government is facing increasing pressure to delay the final step of unlocking restrictions in England, due to concerns over the spread of the Delta variant, first detected in India.
“No decision” has been made on whether to ease all restrictions on Jun 21, a Downing Street spokeswoman said yesterday.
“As the prime minister has set out, we see nothing in the data at the moment, to suggest that we need to deviate from the roadmap,” she said, adding, the government would continue to review the data.
Public Health England (PHE) said, the variant of the virus, identified in India, known as Delta, is now the “dominant” strain in Britain.
The number of cases of the Delta variant rose by more than 5,000 since last week to 12,431, according to the data from PHE.
From May 17, pubs, bars and restaurants in England were permitted to open indoors, while indoor entertainment resumed, including cinemas, museums and children’s play areas.
People were also allowed to travel abroad to a number of “green-list” countries, without having to quarantine upon return as the ban on foreign travel has also been lifted.
The British government’s roadmap is expected to see all legal limits on social contact to be removed on Jun 21. It is understood that a final decision on easing of lockdown will not be made until Jun 14.
Experts warned that COVID-19 may continue to evolve for years to come and its likely vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even against disease caused by newer variants.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States, as well as, the European Union have been racing against time to roll out COVID-19 vaccines.– NNN-AGENCIES
