LONDON, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Another 12,155 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,617,327, according to official figures released Sunday.
The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 215 to 58,245, the data showed.
The figures came as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier Sunday that the newly announced coronavirus tiers system has "a sunset" clause, or expiry date, of Feb. 3, after increasing pressure from Tory MPs.
In a letter to colleagues ahead of a vote in the House of Commons (lower house of parliament) on the new measures on Tuesday, Johnson said the tiered system will be reviewed every fortnight, Sky News reported.
"Regulations have a sunset of 3 February...After the fourth fortnightly review (Jan. 27), parliament will have another vote on the tiered approach, determining whether the measures stay in place until the end of March," he wrote in the Mail newspaper on Sunday.
"We are so nearly out of our captivity. We can see the sunlit upland pastures ahead. But if we try to jump the fence now, we will simply tangle ourselves in the last barbed wire, with disastrous consequences for the NHS (National Health Service)."
England is currently under a month-long national lockdown, the second of its kind since the coronavirus outbreak in Britain, in a bid to quell the resurgence of coronavirus.
Johnson has announced a "tougher" tiered system of coronavirus restrictions to replace England's current lockdown when it ends on Dec. 2.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
