UK has not recorded deaths from COVID-19 for the first time since July, but there are concerns about the possible arrival of a third wave

UK health services recorded no coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours on Tuesday for the first time since July 30, 2020. Either way, the authorities come with The concern is the increase in cases of the Delta variant, which originated in India.

Although figures at the start of the week – Monday was a public holiday in the UK – are generally unusually low due to a delay in registrations, this reduction in deaths is a good news for the country in Europe hardest hit by the pandemic, with nearly 127,782 deaths.

Improvement is the result of mass vaccination campaign launched on December 8 which allowed give a first dose to more than 39 million people (74.9% of the adult population) and a second to over 25 million (48.9%).

However, The country recorded 3,165 additional contaminations on Tuesday, bringing the total to nearly 4.5 million and indicates a rebound in cases compared to recent weeks.

The Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock, hailed Tuesday’s milestone as “without a doubt, good news”, and said that the launch of the vaccine in Britain, which started in december, has been “It’s clear that it works.”

However, he also gave a Note of caution given the increase in coronavirus cases. “We know that we have not yet conquered this virus”, Hancock added, urging people to follow public health guidelines.

After a third long and strict confinement this winter, UK is gradually lifting restrictions. But the last stage of this de-escalation, scheduled for June 21, can be seen threatened by the rise of the variant of the coronavirus initially detected in India and designated by the WHO as Delta.

In recent days, experts have warned of the risk of a third wave of infections, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “We will continue to evaluate and monitor the data on a daily basis”, his spokesperson promised on Tuesday.

According to the latest data released on Friday by the National Statistics Office (ONS), the the infection rate remains “low” in the country, despite signs of increase.

In England Ia The ONS estimated that as of May 22, 48,500 people were infected with the virus, that is, one in 1120.

(With information from AFP)

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