World News

More than 100 new cases of Omicron variant identified in UK



LONDON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) : A further 101 cases of the Omicron COVID variant have been reported in Britain, taking the total to 437, British health authorities confirmed Tuesday.

The early indications are that the Omicron variant of coronavirus is more transmissible than Delta, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he updated his team of ministers on the latest COVID-19 situation at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Scientists have called on the government to take more action and are urging people to be more cautious as Omicron cases continue to rise in the country. Britain registered 45,691 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,560,341, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

The country also reported a further 180 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 145,826. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Nearly 89 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 81 percent have received both doses, according to the latest figures. More than 36 percent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.