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(Adds Oxford University deal with AstraZeneca)
LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The number of people who have
died in the United Kingdom after testing positive for COVID-19
rose by 170 to 34,636, business minister Alok Sharma said on
Sunday, the lowest increase in the official death toll since
March 24.
The increase reported on Sunday was sharply down from the
468 rise in deaths reported 24 hours earlier and the lowest
since Britain brought in a lockdown to curb the spread of the
virus on March 23.
However, at weekends the number of recorded deaths has been
lower than the number reported during the week, and health
officials in England also said its Covid Patient Notification
System had not operated for a while on Saturday.
"The consequences of this situation may therefore be
reflected in the number of deaths reported today," NHS England
said.
The rise in the number of deaths in Britain from the virus
peaked at 1,172 on April 21 according to official data and has
been falling steadily since then. Other government statistics
which include deaths due to suspected cases indicate that
Britain's toll is over 40,000.
Sharma said 243,303 people in Britain had so far tested
positive for the virus, an increase of 3,142 since Saturday.
Sharma also said that Oxford University and drug maker
AstraZeneca had struck a global licensing deal for a
vaccine that Oxford scientists were working on, one of the front
runners in the global race to provide protection against the new
coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the vaccine proves successful, AstraZeneca will mass
produce 100 million doses with up to 30 million doses available
for people in the United Kingdom by September.
"The UK will be first to get access," Sharma said, adding
that the government was providing an additional 84 million
pounds ($101.67 million) in funding to British researchers
working on potential vaccines.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Elaine Hardcastle)
