London January 3 (ANI/Sputnik): The United Kingdom registered another record increase in COVID-19 cases with 57,725 new infections in 24 hours.
This takes the total number of registered cases in the country to just under 2.6 million, according to government figures.
At the same time, an additional 445 fatalities put the overall death toll at 74,570.
UK’s health authorities do not keep a tally of recoveries, which leaves the number of active cases in the country unknown.
The UK may have been the origin of a new strain of the coronavirus which is believed to be 70 percent more infectious than its predecessor and may be driving the new wave of transmissions. Much of the UK is under the strictest level of lockdown with the holiday season effectively cancelled this year.