The UK's coronavirus death toll has climbed by 11 bringing the number of fatalities in all settings to 41,358.
The number of new Covid-19 cases was reported to be 1,441 on Friday - a huge increase from 1,009 cases reported on Wednesday and the 1,129 recorded yesterday.
The seven-day rolling average for number of confirmed cases is now more than 1,000. Overall, a total of 316,367 cases have been confirmed.
The number of new cases has hit its highest level since June 14 and will fuel fears of a second wave of the virus.
Separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies show there have been 56,800 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Earlier, the UK's coronavirus hospital death toll rose by nine taking the total to 34,085.
Eight deaths occurred in England and one in Northern Ireland, while Scotland and Wales recorded no deaths.
Health authorities are now recording deaths that have happened within 28 hours of a positive Covid-19 test following a government shake-up.
New daily infections from coronavirus are creeping up again, as government science chiefs warn the R rate could be as high as 1.
The Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) today warns that the R rate has stayed the same as last week, between 0.8-1.0.
This comes as lockdown rules in large parts of northern England and Leicester are extended, with strict laws will remain in place until at least next week.
Cases are still surging in Oldham and Pendle - despite the fact they are already under lockdown restrictions.
The reproduction number, referred to as R, for the UK as a whole remains unchanged from last week.
The growth rate reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day, as a way of keeping track of the virus.
In England, the R is between 0.8 and 1, but Sage has indicated it is not confident that R is currently below one in the country.
The R number represents the number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.
The latest data shows new daily infections from coronavirus are creeping up again.
The Office for National Statistics estimated there were 3,800 new infections a day in the week ending August 9.
This is up from 3,700 a day the previous week and was published as Government scientists announced the R reproductive number “may be increasing”.
