London (UK), September 19: Another 30,144 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 7,400,739, according to official figures released Saturday.
The country also recorded another 164 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 135,147. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
The latest data came as the British government announced that a new antibody treatment for COVID-19 will be rolled out to the National Health Service (NHS) patients across the country from next week.
The new COVID treatment, approved just last month, uses a pair of laboratory-made antibodies to attack the virus.
Ronapreve, an antibody cocktail developed by Roche and Regeneron, will be initially used to treat COVID-19 hospital patients who have not developed an adequate antibody response.
It was famously used as part of the suite of experimental medicines given to then-U.S. President Donald Trump last year.
The antibody cocktail has been shown to reduce hospital stays by four days and cut the risk of death by a fifth.
It will be provided to those without antibodies who are aged 50 and over, or those aged 12 to 49 who are immunocompromised, including people with some types of cancer or autoimmune diseases.
More than 89 percent of people aged 16 and over in Britain have had their first dose of COVID vaccine and more than 81 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.
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.
Source: Xinhua
