New UK Covid cases down 33 per cent over the past week
The UK recorded another 21,088 Covid cases today, with the seven-day average falling by 32.5 per cent this week.
Government figures also showed another 587 people died from Covid in the UK today, which brings the seven-day figure to 8,219 – a 5.3 per cent week-on-week drop.
Patients admitted to hospital over the past seven days has hit 22,231 – a 19.6 per cent decrease from the week before.
The government’s latest figures also showed that just under 9m people in the UK had received their first Covid vaccine as of yesterday, with 491,053 of them also receiving having received their second jab.
International trade secretary Liz Truss today told Sky News that the government “can absolutely guarantee our programme of delivery of the vaccine” and offer every adult a jab by autumn.
It comes just days after the EU backed down from its threat to block vaccines coming into the UK, after a dispute with AstraZeneca – the makers of the Oxford University vaccine.
“We have got the fantastic vaccine taskforce under Kate Bingham, which now has seven vaccines on order, 367 million doses of those vaccines and we know that that supply is secure,” Truss said.
“We are absolutely confident that we can continue to deliver our programme, we have received reassurance from the European Union that those contracts will not be disrupted… the Prime Minister has spoken to Ursula Von De Leyen, she has been very clear that they contracted supplies won’t be disrupted.”