LONDON, Oct 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — Another 34,574 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,154,306, according to official figures released Sunday.
The country also recorded another 38 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 137,735. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
There are currently 6,763 patients in hospital with COVID-19.
The data came as Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), warned that there could be multiple strains of flu ahead of an uncertain winter.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, she said what is different this year is that COVID and flu are co-circulating, which increases the risk of serious illness and death.
“Recent studies suggest that about 25 percent of us don’t actually understand that,” she said. “On average, over the last five years, about 11,000 people have died with flu-related conditions.”
“The important thing about this winter is we are likely to see flu, for the first time in any real numbers, co-circulating with COVID,” she added.
Early evidence suggests that those who catch both are twice as likely to die than those who just have COVID alone, according to Harries.
More than 85 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 78 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.
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. — NNN-XINHUA
