LONDON, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Britain has confirmed 36 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the country's total number of infections to 87 in its biggest day-on-day increase so far, according to the country's health authorities.

Among the newly confirmed cases, 32 were in England, two were in Scotland and two in Northern Ireland.

Regarding the 32 patients in England, 29 of them had recently travelled to "recognised countries" or contracted the novel coronavirus from people known to have travelled from abroad, according to Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty.

Meanwhile another three patients in England contracted the virus within the country but it is not yet clear how they contracted it, said Whitty.

Of the 87 cases in Britain, there are 80 in England, three in Scotland, three in Northern Ireland and one in Wales.

The London Book Fair, one of the biggest events in the literary calendar, was called off Wednesday on concerns of the coronavirus outbreak. The release date of the new James Bond film, No Time To Die, has been pushed back due to coronavirus, Sky news reported.  ■