Britain reports slight dip in new COVID-19 cases on Thursday

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday reported 6,914 new COVID-19 cases, a slight fall from the previous two days when there were more than 7,000 cases reported daily.

There were 59 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, down from 71 cases reported on Tuesday and on Wednesday.

Tuesday's case number was the biggest single daily case total recorded - 7,143 - although Britain is now processing more than 200,000 tests a day compared with fewer than 100,000 at the start of the pandemic.

A study published earlier on Thursday suggested the prevalence of COVID-19 infections in England was much higher than at the end of August but there were signs that growth in infection rate was slowing.

Britain has reported more than 42,200 deaths from the virus - the world's fifth highest total.

(Reporting by William James, Editing by William Schomberg)