UK reports another 21,952 coronavirus cases

London, Aug 3 Britain has reported another 21,952 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 5,902,354, according to official figures released Monday.

The country also recorded another 24 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 129,743. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Fewer contacts of people with Covid-19 will be told to isolate by the NHS (National Health Service) Test and Trace app after an update, Sky News reported on Monday.

It will now only look back at contacts two days before someone tests positive, as opposed to five days of contacts the app was tracking before, according to the report.

While this will not impact the sensitivity of the app, the change will mean fewer people who were in contact with a person when they were unlikely to be at the peak of their infectiousness will be told to self-isolate, according to the government.

The latest development came as supermarkets, emergency services, public transport and postal deliveries had all been hit by staff shortages due to a record number of people told to isolate by the app.

England recently lifted most Covid-19 restrictions as part of the final step of the roadmap out of the lockdown. Scientists have warned that lifting all restrictions at this stage could increase likelihood of dangerous variants.

More than 88 per cent of adults in Britain have received the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine and more than 72 per cent have received two doses, according to the latest figures.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the US as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.