LONDON (Bywire News) - On Thursday, the government reported a total of 53,945 new coronavirus cases, the highest number since mid-July. The rise in numbers has been attributed to the spread of the Delta variant and the new threat imposed by the Omicron variant.
There was a slight decrease in the number of deaths from Wednesday, with 141 deaths within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden and Klaudia Fior)