LONDON, May 24. /TASS/. The number of novel coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom hs topped 257,000, while the death toll has exceeded 36,600, the country’s Transport Minister Grant Shapps told reporters on Saturday.

According to him, 257,154 people have tested positive at present, up 2,959 in the past 24 hours. A total of 36,675 patients died, including 282 people added to the death tally in the past day.

On May 10, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the level of threat posed by the coronavirus had declined in the country. This gives the government the opportunity to gradually lift the quarantine introduced in the country on March 23.

Starting with May 13, citizens are allowed to exercise and do sports outside more than once as well as sunbathe and drive to remote places for leisure. Construction workers and employees of many industries who cannot work from home were cleared to go back to work. Garden centers will also reopen. Johnson conceded that many other shops could welcome customers back in June as well as partially schools, while certain hotels and other public spaces could be cleared to reopen.