UK records another 2,613 coronavirus cases, 13 deaths

LONDON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Another 2,613 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,428,553, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported another 13 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,583. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 34.9 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

Meanwhile, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that among over-50s in England, vaccination rates for the first dose of a COVID vaccine were lower among all ethnic minority groups compared with the white British population.

The lowest vaccination rates were among people identifying as black Caribbean and black African, with 66.8 percent and 71.2 percent respectively, followed by people from Pakistani backgrounds with 78.4 percent percent, said the ONS.

The figures came in comparison with a vaccination rate of 93.7 percent of white British, 90.9 percent among people identifying as Indian, and 86.9 percent among those identifying as Bangladeshi.

Statistical modelling showed the odds of not having received a dose of a vaccine were 7.4 times greater for people from black Caribbean backgrounds compared with people of white British ethnicity, according to the ONS.

The British government has urged the public to get vaccinated when invited.

Meanwhile, experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is "still not out of the woods" amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of pandemic on the European continent.

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.