Britain reported 41,385 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, a new daily record, as a rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus increases infection rates and the holiday weekend impacted the reporting of some new cases. There were 357 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test, the government’s coronavirus statistics portal said.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director at Public Health England (PHE), said: “This very high level of infection is of growing concern at a time when our hospitals are at their most vulnerable, with new admissions rising in many regions.
“Despite unprecedented levels of infection, there is hope on the horizon.
“We can tackle this virus by working together as the vaccine continues to reach the most vulnerable first, and then many more over the weeks and months ahead.”
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 87,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,329,730.
But the figures for deaths and cases are likely to be higher as Scotland is not releasing death data between December 24 and 28, and Northern Ireland is not providing either case or death data over the same period.
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