Britain’s COVID-19 cases up by 7.6% over past week – Reuters

LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Britain reported 33,904 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Wednesday, meaning cases between Aug. 12 and Aug. 18 were up by 7.6% compared with the previous seven days.

The daily cases figure was the highest since July 23 but the success of Britain's coronavirus vaccination campaigns has reduced the number of deaths sharply from earlier this year.

Wednesday's data showed a further 111 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19, taking the seven-day increase to nearly 8%.

In mid-January, when daily cases were also running at about 30,000 a day, deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test were averaging more than 1,000 a day.

A total of 47.41 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by the end of Aug. 17 and 40.99 million people had received a second dose.

Writing by William Schomberg; editing by William James

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Britain's COVID-19 cases up by 7.6% over past week - Reuters