Another 1,052 coronavirus deaths were reported in the UK on Tuesday, the highest number in the past five days. 

According to the latest government data, 12,364 more infections were recorded in the UK, raising the overall tally to 3,972,148.

The new cases raised the seven-day count from Feb. 3 to Feb. 9 to 119,525, which is 26.6% less than the previous seven-day period.

The figures, the lowest in the past nine weeks, reveal that infections are falling sharply as vaccinations and testing continue to grow steadily.

By Monday, 12,646,486 people in the UK had received the first vaccine dose, while the number of people who have been administered two doses stood at 516,392.

With 616,718 tests carried out on Monday, the number of tests done between Feb. 2 and Feb. 8 was 4,519,426 – an increase of 1.8% from the previous seven-day period.

Hospital admissions from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5 were at 16,356, marking a 22.2% decrease from the previous seven-day period from Jan. 23 to Jan. 29, latest data showed.

On Tuesday, the government unveiled new rules for people arriving in the UK, with violators facing the possibility of a 10-year jail sentence and a fine of up to £10,000 (over $13,500).

The UK is in a race against time to contain the spread of the South African variant of the coronavirus, which has been detected in multiple areas, including major cities such as Liverpool and the capital London.

The sense of urgency was further heightened after a study revealed that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is less than 10% effective against the new mutation./aa