Britain has reported 33,904 new cases of Covid-19, government data showed, meaning cases between Aug 12 and Aug 18 were up by 7.6 per cent compared with the previous seven days.

A further 111 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19, taking the seven-day increase to nearly 8pc, Reuters reported.

A total of 47.4 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by the end of Aug 17 and 40.9m people had received a second dose.