Britain’s daily Covid cases fall by a third in a week with 2,763 more infections – while deaths rise slightly to 45
- Department of Health cheifs said they had identified 2,763 cases and 45 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours
- More than 31.7million Britons – or three in five adults – have now received their first dose of the vaccine
- Britain’s medical regulator has recommended under-30s be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca’s jab
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Britain’s daily Covid cases have fallen by a third in a week but deaths have risen slightly, official figures revealed today, as the country’s outbreak continues to shrink.
Department of Health data showed there were 2,763 cases and 45 deaths, which was two more than last Wednesday.
More than 31.7million Britons – or three in five adults – have now received a vaccine against the virus, after a further 85,227 first doses and 186,793 second doses were dished out yesterday.
It comes as the UK’s medical regulator today recommended under-30s should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca‘s Covid vaccine due to mounting evidence linking it to very rare blood clots.
In a blow to the roll-out, the Government’s vaccine advisory group is recommending healthy people aged 19 to 29 be offered either the Pfizer or Moderna jabs instead when the programme moves to younger groups.
A review by the drugs watchdog the MHRA found that by the end of March 79 out of 20million Britons vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine had suffered deadly blood clots in the brain or arteries, a rate of about one in 250,000. Nineteen of the cases died and three were under the age of 30.
The MHRA insisted there was still no concrete proof that the British-made vaccine is causing the clots, but admitted the link was getting firmer. The review prompted the Government’s vaccine advisory group, the JCVI, to recommend that people aged 18 to 29 be given an alternative jab.
