UK records another 4,479 coronavirus cases, 51 deaths

LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Another 4,479 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,350,266, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported another 51 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 126,764. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 31.1 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to official figures.

Earlier Thursday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged the public to be cautious about coronavirus as they enjoy the good weather.

"Enjoy the sunshine, by all means, but nobody's safe from this virus until we can make everybody safe," he told Sky News.

Hancock also said he is "very worried" about the impact of long COVID after official figures showed that about 1.1 million people in Britain have reported having the condition over a four-week period ending March 6.

"It's one of the many damaging problems of this virus, we're putting more research money into tackling and understanding long COVID because it appears to be several different syndromes," he said.

"This is a very strange, very dangerous virus, and it's yet another reason for everybody to be cautious," he added.

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