People walk past the newly unveiled Harry Potter statue at Leicester Square in central London, Britain, on Sept. 30, 2020. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday vowed to take further measures to contain the rising coronavirus infection rates if the situation continues to worsen in the country. Another 7,108 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 453,264, according to official figures released Wednesday. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
LONDON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A further 71 people died of COVID-19 in Britain with more than 7,000 others testing positive for the pandemic for the second day in a row, according to official figures released Wednesday.
Another 7,108 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 453,264, said the official figures.
The coronavirus-related deaths rose by 71 to 42,143, according to the latest data.
British experts said the country's recorded infections are still much lower than the peak of the pandemic in spring as the currently much expanded testing capacity is likely to detect more cases.
The latest figures showed that the vast majority of new cases and deaths are still in England -- 5,656 and 62, with Northern Ireland recording 424 and 1, and Wales 388 and 1. Seven deaths and 640 new cases were reported in Scotland.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the use of localized restrictions to fight the pandemic across Britain.
"Nobody wants to impose restrictions of this kind" but "frankly, when you have the virus going up in the way that it is now in some parts of the country, you have to take strong local action," Johnson said in a statement in the House of Commons (lower house of parliament).
In the face of a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, further restrictions were announced Monday for people living in northeastern England, including "legal restrictions on indoor mixing between households in any setting".
Local media reported that just under a quarter of people in Britain now are living under different lockdown restrictions.
The latest move came as countries, such as Britain, China, Russia and the United States, are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.
The British government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance has said that it is possible that some vaccine could be available in small amounts later this year, but it is more likely that a vaccine will be available early next year, although that is not guaranteed. Enditem
