Britain's COVID-19 cases up 53% in past week

Britain has reported 27,334 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Monday, meaning the rise in cases between June 29 and July 5 stood at just over 53% compared with the previous seven days.

A further nine people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19.

A total of 45.35 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by July 4 and 33.73 million people had received a second dose. (Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Michael Holden)