UK reports another 24,885 coronavirus cases

LONDON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Britain has reported another 24,885 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,879,616, according to official figures released Saturday.

The country also recorded another 18 coronavirus-related death. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 128,207. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 45.1 million people in Britain have received the first jab of COVID-19 vaccine and more than 33.4 million people have received two doses, the official figures showed.

The latest data were revealed as the British government is considering revising the quarantine rules as more and more people are vaccinated.

Dropping all legal requirements to self-isolate for fully vaccinated people who have come into contact with someone who is infected is being considered by the government "as part of the post-Step 4 world", Sky news reported Saturday.

Meanwhile, more than 600,000 positive COVID-19 samples have now been genomically sequenced in Britain by July 2, which provides invaluable data that will support decisions to relax social distancing in the future and help monitor for future variants and infectious disease threats, according to the country's Department of Health and Social Care.

Genomic sequencing is laboratory analysis that identifies a virus's genetic make-up, allowing new variants or mutations in existing variants to be detected.

Since May 2020, a nationwide study led by the University of Edinburgh as part of the GenOMICC consortium and in partnership with Genomics England has been trying to find out why some people who have had COVID-19 became extremely ill and needed hospitalization while others experienced fewer or no symptoms.

To date, over 8,400 people who tested positive with COVID-19 but did not need to go to hospital have volunteered to take part, and the preliminary results of the study have already identified possible new treatments to fight the virus, which are in clinical trials, the department said.

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.