London, Oct 25 : Another 39,962 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,773,674, according to official figures released on Sunday.
The country also reported a further 72 coronavirus-related deaths.
The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 139,533. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua news agency reported.
There are currently 8,238 patients in hospital with Covid-19.
The latest data came as a "record number" of coronavirus booster jabs were administered on Saturday, with more than 800,000 shots given in the past 72 hours, according to the National Health Service (NHS).
Saturday was the biggest booster day on record, with more than 325,100 vaccines given.
Currently, around 10 million people in England are eligible for the booster jab, including health and care workers, those with underlying health conditions, and people aged 50 and over.
However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the vaccine alone will not be enough to lift the world out of the pandemic.
Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for WHO, said "we really have to do other measures" to recover from Covid-19.
More than 86 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 79 per cent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.
--IANS
int/pgh.
Source: IANS
