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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Fionnula Hainey

UK records highest number of daily Covid deaths since March

The UK has recorded the highest number of daily deaths since March.

A further 223 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday, according to the latest government data.

It is the highest figure for daily reported deaths since March 9, when a total of 231 new deaths were reported.

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The additional deaths bring the UK's total death toll to 138,629, according to the government.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 164,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

A further 43,738 new cases of coronavirus have also been confirmed in the last 24 hours.

It comes after the UK recorded 49,156 cases on Monday - the highest number of daily reported cases since July 17.

Covid-19 cases are now at their highest level for almost three months, with the seven-day average standing at 44,145 cases per day.

Hospital admissions and deaths are also slowly creeping up, though vaccines are still working well overall to prevent severe disease, the latest data suggests.

Downing Street said an increase in coronavirus cases had been expected over the winter and the government would keep a “close watch” on the situation.

It comes after a leading member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warned that it was “critical” the Covid booster programme is accelerated ahead of winter.

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said there is a need to speed up boosters and the vaccination of teenagers.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Ferguson said the UK has "lower functional immunity" in the population than most other Western European countries due to how early the vaccination roll-out began and the widespread use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which protects "slightly less well" than the Pfizer vaccine.

Asked if Covid booster jabs are the answer to waning immunity, Prof Ferguson: “Absolutely, and there’s data coming through now, which is not completely clear cut, but good data coming through from Israel, which shows that, if you’ve had the third booster dose of the vaccine, then you get very high loads, better than even you had after the second dose.

“And so I do think it’s critical we accelerate the booster programme.

“The other thing is infection rates are highest in teenagers at the moment and most other European countries are ahead of us in vaccinating teenagers and giving them two doses, not just one dose.

“Two doses really are needed to block infection and prevent transmission, so I think that’s the other problem, keep pushing on, getting coverage rates up higher in the teenagers who are driving a lot of this infection.”

The health secretary has announced that the national booking service will be open to children between the ages of 12 and 15 in a bid to "ramp up" vaccination in younger teenagers during the half-term break.

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