UK COVID-19 deaths rise to 34,636 as another 170 patients die

Another 170 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Saturday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 34,636, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Alok Sharma said Sunday.

The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

Chairing Sunday’s Downing Street press briefing, Sharma told reporters that to conquer the disease “we need to find a safe, workable vaccine”.

All phase one participants at the University of Oxford clinical trial have received their vaccine dose on schedule and are now being monitored. The Imperial College London vaccine will move into clinical trials by mid-June with larger scale ones planned for October, he said.

The government will invest an extra 84-million-pound (101.7-million-U.S.-dollar) funding to help accelerate their work, said Sharma.

He said this money will be used to start mass producing the Oxford vaccine if the trials prove successful.

The Oxford University has confirmed a global licensing agreement with AstraZeneca, which will make 30 million vaccine doses available to Britain by September if the trials are successful, as part of an agreement for 100 million doses in total, said the secretary.

He also announced that the government is investing a further 93-million-pound (112.6-million-dollar) in the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire, ensuring it opens in summer 2021 ahead of schedule.

Source: Xinhua