UK reports 532 new coronavirus fatalities

LONDON (AA) - Britain on Tuesday reported 532 new coronavirus fatalities over the past 24 hours, the highest number since mid-May.

With the latest additions, the death toll in the country has climbed to 2,520 in a week.

Health authorities also released the daily number of new infections as 20,412, bringing the total number of cases in the last seven days to 159, 896.

A national lockdown is in place in England for a week and it will end on Dec. 2, which then will be reviewed.

The UK officials say they have secured 40 million doses of the vaccine candidate by Pfizer and BioNTech, which said their vaccine is 90% effective in preventing people getting the virus.

Welcoming the news on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said these are "very, very early days" and "the biggest mistake we could make now is to soften our resolve".

Between Jan. 2 and Nov. 9, 2020, there have been 49,766 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, according to officials.