UK records another 30,439 coronavirus cases

The country also recorded another 43 coronavirus-related deaths, Xinhua news agency reported.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 136,953. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

There are currently 6,733 patients in hospital with Covid-19.

The data came as Eddie Gray, chair of the British antivirals taskforce, has hinted the country could buy a new pill called molnupiravir after "very encouraging" clinical trial results showed it cut hospitalizations and deaths by half.

"We are involved in looking closely at all of the options available, but we're really not in a position to give out the details around specific conversations at this moment in time," said Gray.

US pharmaceutical giant Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said early results showed patients who received the drug within five days of displaying Covid symptoms had half the rate of hospitalization and death as those who were given a placebo.

Meanwhile, nearly 90 per cent of people aged 16 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 82 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.