The UK has seen its coronavirus case tally rise by 6,634 across the space of 24 hours – the highest figure ever reported by the Department for Health and Social Care.
The new record tally brings the total number of cases reported in the UK to 416,363.
Experts have previously suggested that despite numbers reaching higher than confirmed figures from March, the lack of community testing available at that time could make direct comparisons between the first and second coronavirus spike in the UK “misleading”.
Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England, said: “This is the highest number recorded and a stark warning for us all. The signals are clear. Positivity rates are rising across all age groups and we’re continuing to see spikes in rates of admission to hospital and critical care.
“We must all follow the new measures that have been bought in to help control the virus and download the new NHS Covid-19 App which is the fastest way of knowing when you’re at risk.”
The government also said a further 40 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday. This brings the UK total to 41,902.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,600 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
University of Oxford professor James Naismith said: “The rise in cases is yet further confirmation that the virus is spreading rapidly.
“This will result in increased pressure on hospitals, more serious illness and a rise in deaths that will bring tragedy. Scientific and medical advances will lower the toll. We all need to do our part.”
Commenting on the surge in case numbers he added: “The pattern of daily numbers suggests oddities on testing and reporting. Yesterday saw a much larger increase. This means identifying a trend based on simply taking two daily numbers is unreliable.
“This is to be regretted. Trends in the seven day averages may be a more reliable guide to trends. The ONS sampling series is a very reliable guide but has a lag.”
