The UK recorded 16,135 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a large jump from a day earlier and the highest figure since early February, official data showed.

There were also 19 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test, up from five recorded the day before.

Israel is delaying its plans to allow vaccinated tourists into the country by a month due to an increase in new infections.

Tourists will only be allowed to enter the country without prior approval starting on August 1, a spokeswoman for the Tourism Ministry confirmed on Wednesday.

As recently as Sunday, the interior minister had said on Facebook that tourists could come in starting July 1.

However, on Monday, more than 100 new infections were recorded within 24 hours - most of them linked to the Delta variant.

The infection figure - the highest in two months - prompted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to speak of a "new outbreak" of the virus in the country.

Israel, which had practically sealed itself off after the start of the pandemic, had again allowed the entry of groups of vaccinated tourists in limited numbers in late May in a first opening step.

More than 5.5 million of Israel's 9 million residents have had a first jab and about 5.2 million have received their second dose.

Meanwhile, Cuba has registered a record number of new confirmed coronavirus cases for the second time this week, with the Ministry of Public Health confirming on Wednesday that 2055 more people have contracted COVID-19.

The previous one-day record on the island had been set on Monday, when 1561 confirmed cases were reported.

Since the onset of the pandemic there in March 2020, Cuba has registered a total of 172,909 confirmed cases and 1193 deaths attributed to the virus - 13 of them reported on Tuesday.

Wednesday's cases were detected following the analysis of 30,462 samples, with 2008 listed as local transmissions and 47 others deemed to have been imported.

with DPA and EFE

Australian Associated Press