The United Kingdom has recorded more than seven million COVID cases since the start of the pandemic, according to government data.

It comes after 41,192 new infections were reported in the latest 24-hour period, along with 45 more coronavirus-related deaths.

The daily figures compare with 37,011 infections and 68 fatalities reported on Sunday, and 26,476 cases and 48 deaths announced this time last week.

Since the pandemic began early last year, a total of 133,274 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive COVID test and there have been 7,018,927 lab-confirmed cases.

According to the latest data, 988 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospital on 31 August, while there were 6,573 admissions in the last seven days, a 3.7 percent rise on the week before.

Some 21,795 people had their first COVID-19 vaccine dose on Sunday, taking the total to 48,270,113 (88.8 percent of over-16s in the UK).

And 73,193 had their second jab on Monday, meaning 43,455,083 are now fully inoculated (79.9 percent of over-16s).

(With input from agencies)