*As Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 196,335
Britain is close to agreeing a 500 million pound ($624 million) supply deal with Sanofi (SASY.PA) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) for 60 million doses of their potential COVID-19 vaccine, the Sunday Times reported.
The newspaper said that Britain was considering taking an option to buy the vaccine should it work in human trials, which are due to begin in September, reports Reuters.
And in a related development, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 239 to 196,335, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 2 to 9,012, the tally showed.