Another 6,303 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,280,882, according to official figures released Thursday.
The country also reported another 95 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 125,926. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
More than 25.7 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.
Earlier Thursday, Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirmed that the benefits of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19 far outweigh the risks, calling on people to continue to receive the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The statement came after a growing number of countries in the European Union suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precautionary measure, based on reports of blood clots in persons who had received the vaccine.
The MHRA said that it made the conclusion after having a detailed review of report cases as well as data from hospital admissions and GP (general practitioner) records.
This has been confirmed by the British government's independent advisory group, the Commission on Human Medicines, whose expert scientists and clinicians have also reviewed the available data, said the regulator.
Meanwhile, the European Union's medicines agency, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), announced in Amsterdam on Thursday that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is "safe and effective" to use following an investigation into reports of blood clots in a small number of recipients.
The EMA said the benefits outweigh the risks and the vaccine is not linked to an "overall risk" of blood clots.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
