UK records another 31,914 coronavirus cases

Another 31,914 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 6,524,581, according to official figures released Monday, reported Xinhua.

The country also reported another 40 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 131,680. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

The latest data came as Britain agreed a contract for 35 million more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which will be delivered from the second half of next year.

"While we continue to build this wall of defence from COVID-19, it's also vital we do everything we can to protect the country for the future too - whether that's from the virus as we know it or new variants," Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said.

The British government has been preparing for a booster programme expected from next month, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) said such shots should be delayed to raise vaccination rates globally.

Earlier this month, the WHO called for a moratorium on COVID vaccine booster shots to help ease the drastic inequity in dose distribution between wealthy and poor countries.

COVID-19 vaccines have prevented 82,100 hospitalisations and 23.9 million infections in England alone, according to the latest data from Public Health England and Cambridge University.

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.