LONDON -- Britain recorded 174 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, the highest since March 12, and another 30,838 new cases, official data showed.

With 88 per cent of the adult population receiving a first vaccine and 77 per cent receiving both doses, Britain lifted nearly all its restrictions in mid-July, allowing people to socialize, travel and return to work in offices.

While many people are still wearing masks and working from home, daily infection rates have started to rise. Daily case numbers in the last seven days are up 13.5 per cent on the week before.

On Monday, there were 31,914 new infections reported and 40 deaths.

Britain has now reported 705 deaths in the last week, up 8.8 per cent. Death rates refer to those people who have died after testing positive for COVID-19 in the last 28 days.

While the daily figures are rising - and Tuesday's numbers are often high due to delays in reporting fatalities at the weekend - they remain well below the more than 1,000 deaths reported a day at the peaks of the pandemic.