England records zero COVID deaths in 24 hours — first time in nine months

For the first time since July 30, 2020, England has reported no coronavirus deaths in 24 hours.

According to data by Public Health England (PHE), Northern Ireland and Scotland also reported zero deaths, but Wales recorded four new deaths.

This development comes as Boris Johnson, UK prime minister on Monday, said England will begin to lift restrictions on public gatherings by May 17.

“I can confirm today that we’ve met our four tests for further easing of lockdown in England,” he said.

The prime minister added that gatherings of more than 30 will, however, not be allowed.

The UK government also said it will allow citizens to begin international travel on May 17, but placed a limit on the countries that can be visited.

The UK’s vaccination programme, which started in December 2020 with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, initially gave priority to the elderly, care home residents, and health workers, before it was later offered to people below the age of 50.

With the latest development, the vaccination plan appears to be making a positive impact on the rate of infections and fatalities.

After hitting an all-time high of 70,000 cases per day in January, the UK is now recording an average of less than 2,000 new infections daily.

In total, 35,472,295 UK citizens have now received the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while over 17 million people have been given their second doses.

Rowland Kao, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said the decrease in the fatality count shows the impact of vaccination.

“There is always a higher recording of deaths in the second half of the week, but overall it is good news, and does reflect the fact that the shift in recorded cases has moved heavily towards younger age groups, with many more cases per unit population now occurring in the younger adults and teenagers who are much less likely to die,” he said.

Since the start of the pandemic, England has recorded 3,876,424 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 112,245 deaths.

In UK, over 4.4 million persons have been infected with the virus, while more than 127,000 person have died.