The government said more than 39,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours - the highest ever number of new cases recorded on a single day at any point during the pandemic.
It comes as a further 744 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 69,051.
It is the highest death toll reported on a single day since April 29 during the first peak of the pandemic.
The government said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 39,237 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, the highest figure reported on a single day throughout the whole pandemic.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,149,551.
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 85,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
The total seven-day figure of positive coronavirus cases now stands at 236,375 - a rise of 89,816; or 61.3 per cent.
The death toll over the last seven days, meanwhile, has increased by 544 to 3,531 (a rise of 19.5 per cent).
Separately, Health Secretary Matt Hancock introduced new tiers for many areas from Boxing Day which have seen the new mutant variant strain of coronavirus spread rapidly.
Greater Manchester remains in Tier 3, but neighbouring Cheshire and Warrington were elevated from Tier 2 to Tier 3 due to a rise in cases. A number of areas in the South and East were moved into Tier 4.
Mr Hancock announced that a separate mutated strain had been discovered, which had emerged from South Africa. It has led to recent arrivals from South Africa being urged to self-isolate as travel restrictions were brought in.
