UK reports 12 new coronavirus cases, bringing tally to 35

British health authorities on Sunday announced 12 more confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, bringing the country's overall tally to 35.

The government's chief medical officer, Prof. Chris Whitty, said one of the new patients had no relevant travel and it is not yet clear whether they contracted it directly or indirectly from an individual who had recently returned from abroad.

Whitty said medical workers were still investigating the cause of that one infection.

Three of the new COVID-19 patients were contacts of an existing patient.

Of the remaining eight new cases, six infected people had recently traveled from Italy and two had arrived from Iran, both countries hard hit by the coronavirus that emerged late last year in central China.