UK coronavirus cases rise by 6,634 in highest increase EVER in 24 hours as 40 deaths recorded
UK coronavirus cases today rose by 6,634 in the highest increase EVER in 24 hours as 40 deaths were recorded.
It’s a 95 per cent increase on the number of infections that were reported this time last week with the number of infections now sitting at 416,363.
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The total number of lives now claimed by coronavirus sits at 41,902.
Revealing the staggering increase, Public Health England medical director Yvonne Doyle said: “This is the highest number recorded and a stark warning for us all. The signals are clear.
“Positivity rates are rising across all age groups and we’re continuing to see spikes in rates of admission to hospital and critical care.
“We must all follow the new measures that have been bought in to help control the virus and download the new NHS Covid-19 App which is the fastest way of knowing when you’re at risk.”
The new figures come as…
- Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces new furlough plan
- Brits urged to finally download NHS Test and Trace app
- Covid cases in England almost TRIPLE since end of August
- Devon and Cornwall are the worst lockdown flouters in UK
Today’s increase marks a 95 per cent rise to last Thursday’s figures that saw 3,395 infections reported in one day.
The seven-day average now sits at 4,964, increasing by more than 1,000 compared to the seven-day average on Thursday last week that sat at 3,354.
The last time that infections were close to being so high was on May 1 when 6.201 cases were recorded.
Rishi Sunak announced today that he has shelved his Budget of tax pain[/caption]According to the Department of Health and Social Care, more than one in 10 people in England have now been tested for coronavirus.
Experts have previously warned the daily figures could be “misleading” as there was not as much testing at the height of the pandemic.
However, the UK’s positivity rate – the ratio of positive tests to number of tests overall – is now at 2.51 per cent, compared with below one per cent for most of July and early August.
This is edging towards the World Health Organisation’s recommended level of below 5 per cent and suggests that the number of infections is growing.
But Sir Patrick Vallance warned Brits on Monday that the increase in positive cases is not just because more people are being tested than earlier in the pandemic.
Speaking on Monday he said: “Could that increase be due to increased testing? The answer is no.
“We see an increase in positivity of the tests done, so we see the proportion of people testing positive has increased even if testing stays flat.”
Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty echoed these thoughts, adding: “in every age group we’ve seen an increase”.
He then explained this was because of an increase in test positivity and results of an ONS study, which says around 70,000 people in the UK have Covid-19.
Rishi Sunak announced today that he has shelved his Budget of tax pain and will announced a part-time furlough scheme, amid another major spike in daily covid cases.
The Chancellor has delayed paying for the crisis until next year.
And with growing Tory fury over the latest clampdown, Mr Sunak has bowed to pressure and unveiled new measures to subsidise the wages of struggling hospitality staff, including pubs and restaurants, if they can find only part-time work.
The Chancellor told MPs: “The resurgence of the virus, and the measures we need to take in response, pose a threat to our fragile economic recovery.”
He acknowledged “we can’t save every business” and “we can’t save every job”.
Mr Sunak warned that the economy may be permanently changed as a result of the pandemic.
He acknowledged that people were “anxious, afraid and exhausted” at the prospect of further restrictions but insisted there were reasons to be “cautiously optimistic” about the country’s ability to cope.
But he said that while in March it was hoped there would be a “temporary period of disruption” to the economy, it now appeared there would be a “more permanent adjustment”.
“The sources of our economic growth and the kinds of jobs we create will have to adapt to the new normal,” he said.