The number of coronavirus cases in the UK has risen by 74% since this time last week with several thousand new infections recorded.
The Government said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 7,540 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, the highest single-day rise since February 26.
The Government also said six more people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 127,860.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental to the UK locking down in March 2020, said that new modelling data submitted to the Government suggests a risk of “a substantial third wave” of coronavirus infections in the UK.
Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, Prof Ferguson said the data, which was compiled by SPI-M – a subgroup of Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) – suggests the third wave may not be as severe as the second wave in January, depending on the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines.
He said: “Basically it (the modelling) is saying there is a risk of a substantial third wave, (but) we cannot be definitive about the scale of that – it could be substantially lower than the second wave or it could be of the same order of magnitude.
“That, critically, depends on how effective the vaccines still are protecting people against hospitalisation and death against the Delta (Indian) variant, as well as a few other unknowns.”
