UK reports over 18 million people have had first COVID vaccine shot

LONDON (Reuters) – More than 18 million people in Britain have now had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to official government data on Wednesday.

A total of 18,242,873 people have had the first shot, the data showed, while the number of new COVID-19 cases was up from Tuesday to 9,938 while there were 442 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, down from the previous day.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton)