UK reports highest COVID-19 case count of past 5 months

LONDON

The UK reported 26,068 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, health authorities said on Wednesday, the highest single-day spike in the number of cases since Jan. 29 when the country registered 29,079 cases.

The latest figure corresponds to a 69.9% surge compared to last week.

According to the figures released by the British Department of Health, a total of 128,140 people have succumbed to COVID-19 with 14 new additions over the past day.

In the country where the vaccination campaign was launched on Dec. 8, 2020, more than 44 million people – 82% of the adult population – have got their first jabs, and over 32.87 million of them – 61% – are fully vaccinated.

Earlier, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Delta variant, which first emerged in India, became the dominant virus type in the UK and it was spreading faster among people and that the rate of hospitalization among unvaccinated individuals has also increased.

Due to the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, the decision to fully removing virus restrictions on June 21 was postponed to July 19.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas in Ankara