A total of 32,552 people have tested positive to coronavirus in the UK in the last 24 hours and there have been 35 deaths.
This is now the highest number of cases recorded in the third wave and since January 23 when there were 33,431 new infections.
On Wednesday 32,548 people tested positive which was the previous highest total in the third wave.
The news comes as the latest Test and Trace figures show that the number of people testing positive for Covid has rocketed up 71 per cent in just one week.
A total of 135,685 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to June 30, up 71% on the previous week.
It is the highest number since the week to February 3.
Data showed 5,185,145 people were tested at least once between June 24 and June 30, 2021 for Covid-19, a 6% increase from the previous week.
Earlier this week Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned that Brits could see 100,000 cases per day as restrictions are eased.
Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling led the government to bring in the lockdown in 2020, suggested that around one in 1,000 people who contract the virus will die going forward.
From July 19 a raft of restrictions will vanish, and face masks, social distancing, QR codes and ordering at the bar in pubs will all no longer be a legal requirement in England.
Full-size stadium gigs and theatre shows will also be able to restart with no social distancing restrictions.
A new study warns there could be as many as 120,000 cases a day by so-called 'Freedom Day.'
The REACT study revealed cases have surged by a factor of four in England since June and they are doubling every six days.
The publication writes that with daily cases at about 29,000, this would lead to about 120,000 daily cases by the day restrictions are lifted.
About one in 170 people are testing positive for coronavirus, they found.
Imperial College London’s Professor Paul Elliott was reported to have said: “We see in our own data the effectiveness of the vaccine and we certainly see it in the older population.
“We see much lower hospitalisation rates now than we saw in the second wave.”
He added: “Even though the vaccine is effective, it's a fantastic vaccine but it's not a perfect vaccines, the proportion of people from round 12 to 13 that are vaccinated that are testing positive is increasing.
"We are not seeing the absence of infection in the vaccinated group, we are seeing growth."
The latest Test and Trace figures show that the number of people testing positive for Covid has rocketed up 71 per cent in one week.
A total of 135,685 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to June 30, up 71% on the previous week.
It is the highest number since the week to February 3.
Data showed 5,185,145 people were tested at least once between June 24 and June 30, 2021 for Covid-19, a 6% increase from the previous week.
