by BERNAMA / Pic by AFP

LONDON –  The number of coronavirus cases across the United Kingdom is beginning to increase again, as the Indian variant of the virus continues to spread across the country and becomes its most dominant strain.

On Friday, the country recorded 6,238 new cases and between May 29 and June 4, 29,028 people had a confirmed positive test result of the virus. This represents an increase of 39.8 per cent compared to the previous week, Anadolu Agency reported.

The number of deaths remain low as 11 people succumbed to the virus after having tested within 28 days. When compared to the previous week, this figure amounts to a 5.2 per cent decrease.

By the end of June 3, more than 39.9 million people had received a first dose of the vaccine with nearly 26.8 people receiving a second dose. Some 59.8 per cent of the population have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 40.1 per cent having received the second.

Jabs are currently administered in two doses three weeks apart.

The R range for the UK has increased and now stands at 1.0 to 1.2, with the current growth rate also increasing to 0 per cent to +3 per cent per day. The R number is a mechanism used to rate the virus’s ability to spread, with R being the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to.