Prime Minister Boris Johnson
As the number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 798, the British government on Friday postponed the local and mayoral elections in England for one year. A government spokesperson said: "We will bring forward legislation to postpone local, mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner elections until May next year."
The postponement came after England polling authorities recommended delaying the local elections to 'mitigate' the impact of deadly viral infection.
As reported by news agency ANI, the Electoral Commission said that there were "growing risks to the delivery of the polls" and "significant numbers" of people may not be able to cast their ballots with the number of COVID-19 infections rising.
Till now, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Britain saw the highest 24-hour rise of 208.
It is also the first time the day-on-day increase has been higher than 200.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the threat of coronavirus as "the worst public health crisis in a generation", but he would not follow the example of other countries to close schools.
(With inputs from ANI)
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