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England and Scotland record 10 COVID-19 deaths, 2 297 cases

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A further 10 people have died in England and Scotland from COVID-19 and 2 297 new cases have been recorded, official daily data showed on Sunday.

Both case numbers and deaths have been falling in recent weeks in Britain.

On vaccinations, 31.52 million people have had a first dose and 5.38 million have had a second.

Meanwhile British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out plans to reopen the economy and eventually relaunch international travel on Monday when he updates the coronavirus roadmap, aided by one of the fastest vaccine rollouts in the world.

As much of Europe enters new lockdowns to tackle surging cases, Johnson will give an update on his staggered plan to ease restrictions in the coming months, a huge boost for one of the worst-hit countries during the pandemic.

Johnson is expected to confirm that non-essential retail, outdoor hospitality and hairdressers can reopen on April 12 in England, while he will also give more details on vaccine passports and international travel.

Airlines are fighting for survival after a year of nearly no travel, and the government’s plan to use a traffic-light system for countries based on infection and vaccination levels gives a glimmer of hope that some form of holidays could take place.

The gradual relaxation of rules will also be aided by an increase in testing availability, with everyone in England entitled to take a rapid COVID-19 test twice a week to prevent outbreaks and find those people not displaying symptoms.

“As we continue to make good progress on our vaccine programme and with our roadmap to cautiously easing restrictions underway, regular rapid testing is even more important to make sure those efforts are not wasted,” Johnson said in a statement.

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