Nearly 120,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK since yesterday.
According to the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency, a further 119,789 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the UK as of 9am on Thursday.
It is a new record high for daily reported cases, and only the second time that cases have exceeded 100,000 since the pandemic began.
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On Wednesday, the milestone of 100,000 daily cases was hit for the first time, when 109,655 cases were confirmed.
The government also said today that a further 147 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 173,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
It comes as further data shows that Covid-19 infection levels have reached a record high in the UK.
An estimated 1.4 million people in the UK had the virus in the week ending December 16, the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today.
The data emerged within hours of Sajid Javid telling broadcasters the government is not planning to make any more announcements on restrictions in England this week.
It follows a warning from NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis that the service is on a “war footing” as the Omicron variant sweeps through the country.
In England, around one in 45 people in private households had Covid in the week to December 16, up from one in 60 the previous week, according to the latest ONS estimates.
Equivalent to about 1.2 million people, this is the highest number since the ONS began estimating infection levels for England in May 2020.
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