LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom on Thursday reported 280 new deaths of people who had tested positive for COVID-19 within the previous 28 days, bringing the total in the last seven days to 1,608, an increase of 52.6% on the previous seven-day period. Government data showed there were 23,065 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. The seven-day total of 154,873 cases was up by 13.2% on the previous seven-day period.