UK records 87,188 more Covid cases and 213 deaths as hospitalisations rise again

Pedestrians stop to look at the National Covid Memorial Wall in London on March 23

(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

The UK recorded 87,188 more Covid-19 cases and another 213 deaths within 28 days of a positive test on Wednesday.

The infections figure is 15 per cent lower than the 102,482 cases posted a week ago, but up on Monday’s 80,830.

The number of people in hospital with the virus reached 19,387 on Tuesday, a rise of 231 on Monday’s total. Covid hospitalisations have now risen over 23 successive days.

It comes as the chief scientific adviser to the Government said current wave of Omicron Covid-19 cases may have peaked - but warned of further rises in hospital admissions and deaths.

Sir Patrick Vallance said that there are “consequences” for the very high rates of infection in the community.

Meanwhile Sir Patrick warned that a reduction in testing will lead to a “decrease in precautionary behaviours” which could drive up transmission of the virus.

Free universal testing is due to end on Friday in England.

Sir Patrick also told MPs on the Science and Technology Committee that it was not a “credible” strategy to give people booster jabs every four months and that he expected for the UK to fall into a pattern of giving annual vaccines “like we do for flu”.

And he suggested that in the future the vaccines currently heavily relied on by the nation, mRNA vaccines such as the Pfizer or Moderna Covid jabs, or the viral vector jab created by scientists at the University of Oxford, “might not” be the right ones for a yearly vaccine.

Sir Patrick said that the virus “is not going away” and that there was a “lumpy and bumpy” road before it becomes endemic in the population with the threat of new variants which could be more severe than Omicron.

In a further development, Nicola Sturgeon announced the legal requirement to wear face coverings in certain public places in Scotland will be converted to guidance.

The First Minister said the changes would begin on April 4 for places of worship and weddings, with the wider legal requirements for areas like shops and public transport converted to guidance on April 18.

Scotland’s seven-day Covid infection rate is by far the highest of any nation in the UK, at 1,411 cases per 100,000 population. That is more than three times the rate in Wales and well above England’s rate of 882.