A record 2.3 million people in the UK had Covid-19 last week, the Office for National Statistics said.
The number is up from 1.4 million in the week to December 1. It is the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020.
Despite this, NHS bosses reportedly do not believe the threshold for new Covid-19 restrictions have been met even though there has been an increase in hospital admissions.
The latest data from NHS England, published on Friday, show there were 2,370 Covid-19 hospital admissions in England on December 29, up 90 per cent week-on-week and the highest number since January 29.
However Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, told The Times: “Although the numbers are going up and going up increasingly rapidly, the absence of large numbers of seriously ill older people is providing significant reassurance.”
