According to the daily report issued by UK Health authorities, the toll of Covid infections jumped by 20% in recent days, bringing UK total to nearly 8,5 million infected people and 138,629 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Asked about increased positive cases and deaths, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman warned that a challenging winter is drawing near.

We always knew the coming months will be challenging, and what we are seeing is case rates, hospitalizations and deaths still broadly in line with the modelling as set out a few months back now, Johnson´s spokesperson said.

After ensuring UK government is keeping a very close watch on cases, the official stressed the vaccination campaign continues to be the first line of defense.

Thanks to our immunization program, we were able to substantially break the link between cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Johnson’s spokesperson stated.

Although, according to the report, 45.3 million people (78.9% of UK population over 12 years of age) already have been fully vaccinated, 915 Covid-19 patients were admitted in last few hours, giving total to 7,997 hospitalized patients, and nearly 800 of them in ICUs.

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