Britain reports lowest number of COVID cases in nearly 3 weeks

LONDON -Britain has reported 26,476 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest number since Aug. 10, government data showed on Monday.

The figure meant cases reported between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30 were up by 1.8% compared with the previous seven days.

Case numbers often dip after weekends and the latest figure might be skewed by Monday's bank holiday in much of the United Kingdom.

A further 48 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19, the lowest since Aug. 23, taking the seven-day increase to 14.8%.

A total of 48.025 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by the end of Aug. 29 and 42.719 million people had received a second dose, equivalent to almost 79% of people aged over 16.